Porter's First Talk & The Articles of Faith

Ok, forgive me for a second for my proud parent moment.  Apparently he has an incredible ability to memorize. (not so good with numbers, did you know eleventeen is a number?) Does anyone else notice when he says name of Jesus Christ that he closes one eye like he is saying a prayer?  And I totally love it when the King says "NO!"

He is learning the Articles of Faith right now. They get to pass them off in Primary.  He's done two. Here are the first three. Love this little boy!

Sometimes You Have to Laugh

Do you ever feel like if you stepped back from your life for a moment that you would find that you live in a comedy?  At the risk of becoming a social pariah, let me share with you my week so far.  To think it is only Wednesday almost makes me cry.

So I decided to organize my pantry, something I have done not too long ago.  The first three shelves looked great and I was moving on to the next one that has first aid supplies and electronics.  Well, it also has corn and rice bags as well to use as heating pads.  Well, I noticed there were pieces of corn  on the opposite side of the bags.  What the. . .?  So I pulled out the boxes and the corn was spread all over the back of the shelf.  Weird. And then I saw little black flecks and some were smeared.  I knew what this meant.  SICK!  (let me just say that I used that bag no less than 1 month ago so this hasn't been going on for too long.  So I cleaned all that up and moved to floor.  I pulled on box out and saw what looked like  black string.  Although I knew that it wouldn't be that simple and when I started to move the box the black string disappeared.  I grabbed the kids and drove to my mom's and told Tom that I would not return until the mouse was caught.  My mom informed me how impossibly that probably was to think he would be able to just go home and get it.

Well, he caught the mouse by throwing a sticky trap at it!  Seriously, my husband is awesome.  Then caught another one.  So I came home and slept the night thinking maybe the problem was solved.  The next morning I sent Tommy down again to see if we had caught anymore. One more in the same place as the other two, so I grabbed some clothes and went to my mom's to hide out again.  Tom came home from work that day to find two more had been caught.  So he stayed home from class and went on a tirade.  Well, we discovered that there was an electrical cord going in to the house with quite a large opening that the mice could easily get in to our house and then climb out the vent.  He caulked it up and since then we have not seen any signs.

Just to give you an idea, they can fit through the tiny vent above, SICK!!

I took the boys down to Provo today to see Josh and McKay and guess what?  My car died, Porter pooped his pants and I missed my work meeting.  Then I headed back to my mom's house to have dinner until Tom came home to be sure there were no more mice before I came home.  I refuse to be the one to dispose of them!  I am that ninny stereotypical house wife, who would have thought?  But then in the middle of cooking chicken the power went out.  My mom drove up the street to see two boys being arrested after having crashed into a power line while under the influence I am guessing due to the cuffs.  But seriously?

Some days you have to laugh just to keep from crying.

What We're Up To

Since I'm never good at updating, I present an update of the past month through pictures:

 Jack never gives up on the baby gate.  He has an entire floor to explore but he stands at the gate and cries as if he is in prison.  He has totally mastered going up the stairs, but we don't get the going down so the gate stays for now.  And what is he looking at?  Yes, Miko taunts him at the top of the stairs.

And sometimes makes things worse by blatantly teasing him right next to the gate.

We spent a day at Discovery Gateway.  Porter absolutely love the Grocery Store and the Post Office.  However, the majority of our time was spent with the ball tubes and the paper airplane simulator where an odd 13ish year old boy informed us of the variety of different ways to fold a paper air plane.

 Out of a complete loss of ideas on how to entertain my 3 year old, we have started a Letter of the Day game.  Yesterday was S for Superhero Day.  We had to stay in costume all day (even Jack, although for some reason I don't have his picture) and everything we did and ate had to be related to Superheros.

 But despite the dreary weather, we managed to make it through a depressing January quite happily.  

Porter's newest obsession is Bible Scripture Stories, courtesy of "Follow the Prophet", which by the way is an extremely confusing song that is impossible for me to remember. Not to mention I have realized how much I don't know about all the details of Bible stories and with a child that is continually asking why, I often find myself at a loss.   His favorite story for the moment is Daniel, however he is completely fascinated by the story of Enoch.  He has informed me that it would be a great idea if we all were righteous like Enoch so we don't have to die but can just go straight to heaven.  Wouldn't that be a great idea indeed!

Happy 27th Birthday Tommy!

Today is Tommy's 27th Birthday and in perfect mormon mommy blog fashion, please indulge me as I tell you how much I love him and why he is such a great husband and father.

-Tommy has amazing patience.  He is always so calm and collected, which is such a great balance to an anxiety ridden perfectionist. 

-He is an AMAZING father.  His little boys can't get enough of him.  He is awesome at playing guys with Porter (which apparently, Porter has informed me that I am not), he is a great story teller, and is always willing to man one of the kids at all times, but most especially at night.  

-He is such a hard worker and manages to get so much accomplished each day.  It can't be easy to wake up at 6 to be sure he has enough time to eat breakfast with porter before he leaves for Ogden at 7, comes home at 5 to head to school or later to a Young Men's activity, and gets home with just enough time to put Porter to bed with a story.  (he does usually fall asleep and doesn't wander into bed until 10 or 11.  But man he is a busy guy but keeps a positive attitude about it all.  And even manages to pull off running the Wasatch Back (pictured above).

-He is an INCREDIBLE cook.  Have you guys ever tried Tommy's cooking?  He is a master at the grill and can cook an amazing piece of meat, he makes homemade waffles every weekend (even trying recipes with yeast), and is great at making homemade bread.  You just wish you were in his Early Morning Mission Prep Group on Sunday because even though it is at 7am, he gets up early enough to make a homemade breakfast treat.    

-He is a great Handy Man.  He can figure anything out and knows how to build just about anything:  decks, shelves, beds, floors, doors, cabinets, and more.  He can fix toilets, solve flooding problems, change oil, and do almost anything else you can think of.  It is quite nice to have a handyman around.

-He has an awesome sense of humor and can always make me laugh, even when I am crying.

-He has a wonderful testimony and understanding of the gospel.  He is doing an awesome job teaching out children the gospel and its principles.  Porter already knows by heart tons of bible stories and can recite the 1st Article of Faith to you.  

There are a million other reasons why I love Tom, but I'll refrain from going on for now.  I am grateful to have such an Incredible Husband.

Happy Birthday Tommy!

Big Baby Attacks and Too Many Questions

Not much is going on lately around here but working and playing "Tato Heads" and "Joker Castle".  My OCD child doesn't really like to switch things up too much which makes some days seem a little like 'Groundhog Day'.  Who would have thought that a potato could bring such joy to a child?  I try to add new scenarios, some of which he embraces, but you can always tell he doesn't like to get thrown off and gives a kind of courtesy laugh with uncertainty in his voice.  I guess that's the way you break OCD right?  The latest scenario?  Big Baby Attacks!

And boy does he ever!  Jack has become crazy, hyper, out of control wild child.  Who knew a 9 month old could be so crazy?  It is exhausting but comical at the same time.  Jack's days consist of speed crawling, continuously trying to climb the stairs as fast as he can as he squeals in naughty delight, climbing on EVERYTHING, happily kicking his chubby legs together as he is placed in the highchair to eat yet another meal that he can't hardly wait for, racing me to the dog food (throwing up in my mouth right now as I know there has been at least one time that I didn't get there in time), and nuzzling his face into every blanket, sheet, and article of clothing he can get his hands on.  He is crazy and can apparently live on limited amounts of sleep as this morning began at 5 am when I finally gave up trying to put him back to sleep and laid on his floor working while he happily played.  I'll post a video of him speed crawling and squealing because he knows he is being naughty.

Porter's curious questions are non-stop all day long.  Today's questions?  What is growing up?  What's college?  Where is an attic?  What is a dump?  What is trash?  (all inspired by our latest obsession, Toy Story 3)  The questions I am still at a loss of how to answer for him because apparently my answers have not satisfied him:  Why did Jesus have to die?  Who killed him?  Why did he come back to life?  Why did Heavenly Father send Jesus to Earth to die?  I realize the more I try to explain the more confused he gets.  The other day he was watching a show with Justin and was asking tons of questions after which he stated, "I'm asking too many questions."  On another note with Porter, I believe we may have mastered the Potty Training in full.  Ask me in two weeks to see if it has stuck.

My New Calling

Well folks, you are looking at the new Cub Scouts Den Mother for the Bears.  Yes that is right, my new calling is scouts.  Isn't that a man's job? I don't even know how to tie a knot.  I'm in charge of the colorguard this month for Pack Meeting.  Never done it in my life. And I get to go to cub country.  While I would like to believe I was meant for this calling, I think really I was the only one that would say yes.  Apparently this is a hard calling to fill in our ward.  I don't have the faintest idea why :)  I'm sure Porter will be in heaven! Oh, and since most of you have never or probably won't ever have the wonderful chance of getting this calling, yes I do indeed get to wear the yellow cubscout shirt.  I know you are all so jealous of me right now!

Oh, and on those resolutions?  So far, I have crafted, played and exercised.  As for the sleeping, not so much. If any mother out there has any suggestions, I'm open.  Over the past couple of months I've tried the 'Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child', the "progressive waiting" according to the Ferber method, the cry-it-out method, not allowing him to take longer than half hour naps during the day (this one isn't hard because he rarely sleeps longer than that most days), early bed-times, late bed-times, a very strict bedtime routine, and even co-sleeping on the really hard nights.  I am at a loss and so far so is my doctor.  The only thing I think is that it is TEMPER, but something has got to give.  Any suggestions are welcome, PLEASE!

2011

Although most people aren't for resolutions because they are usually broken, I look at it more as a way to re-focus.  Even if I'm not perfect, I would like to work on being the person I want to be.  With that said, here are my 2011 goals:

SLEEP-  I know to most of you this may seem odd, but at our house we average about 4-5 hours on a good night.  Jack has a HORRIBLE temper and wakes up screaming.  I've taken him to the doctor to be sure nothing is wrong and we can't figure it out.  He screams for hours, I've even recorded it for the doctor to ask him advice.  Combine that with Porter's bowl movement problem which usually creeps up at around 1am and it makes for a great night!

PLAY WITH MY BOYS-  Sometimes I take being a mom for granted.  Porter has a wonderful imagination and entertaining him can be exhausting.  Today alone I have been a nurse, a patient, a princess trapped in a castle, a pirate, and a house cleaner dancing around singing "almost there!"  Although I got virtually nothing else accomplished, I feel fulfilled and wouldn't have rather spent my day any other way.

CRAFT-  I attend craft night with my friends once a week.  It's late after the kids go to bed.  For the past few months I have either worked or just sat and enjoyed the company.  I would like to get back to crafting.  Here are just a few of the projects I have been considering:

ATTEND THE TEMPLE ONCE A MONTH:  This gets tricky with a baby that even his grandma's get weary of after a few hours and a husband that goes to school at night, but we all know how important this is.


EXERCISE AND EAT BETTER:  Believe it or not, I have slacked off on the healthy lifestyle.  When I was pregnant with Jack I developed some bad eating habits of pretzel m&m's, hamburgers, and diet coke (before then I had steered clear of these vices basically since junior high) and although they are fine in moderation, I've been consuming too many of them.   I need to get back to my P90x but finding time is the challenge.  It might have to be during afternoon naps.

Well, there you have it.  Basic goals that I hope I can work on.  Oh, and also to track and budget my grocery bill.  I won't tell you my goal, but I think with my rite aid savings I might just be able to do it!