Happy Birthday Cubs!

Two years, seriously?  Will we ever quit asking where the time has gone?  Maybe these years went by so fast because this crazy ball of energy always keeps me on my toes and running!  The sleeping thing with this babe has been rough over these two years, but I think we are finally getting there (no thanks to any how to make your child sleep books)  The odd thing is he LOVES to go to bed.  Yesterday he said led me into his room and tried to climb in his crib.  He hates any sort of bedtime routine.  Forget the fluff, he doesn't want a song or a story or even a snuggle, when he is ready he is ready and snuggles right in with Mickey and Elmo.  All he insists is that he gets to turn off the light.  Right now I am loving everything about this little boy. He truly is my constant companion right now as the only breaks we take from each other lately since Tom is always gone are when I volunteer at Porter's preschool.

He may quite possibly be the BEST eater hands down anyone has ever seen.  From lettuce to meat to any vegetable and practically anything I make, this little boy can't get enough food and is constantly shoving his face as if he has been starving. His favorites:  pasta, pineapple, cottage cheese, hamburgers, rice cakes, and bagels with cream cheese (yes all of these are pregnancy cravings of mine so it is nice to have an eating companion to share with)

Jack is definitely my crazy hyper ball of endless energy which is somedays hard on his exhausted mommy. He loves to hop everywhere and say "hop" while he is doing it.  He is a runner.  I have two seconds to lock the door when we leave before he is halfway down the street with Porter and I chasing after him. He also loves to wrestle.  We have a true little boy here and sometimes Porter can't catch a break because Jack is always trying to wrestle.  And if he could choose he just might live outside.

He LOVES Elmo and all the characters of Mickey Mouse Club House.  Oddly enough, he doesn't really like to watch Sesame Street but Elmo has a special place in his heart.  And a new found favorite is Ferb.

He may not say much but he is one smart boy and can problem solve his way out of anything.  My favorite words he does say are Elmo, Elephant, Hello, and Be Happy!

Although it is hard to believe, I feel like I'm loving this boy more and more EVERY DAY!  I love him more than life itself and am so happy he is part of our family!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CUBS!

One More From Porter

Like I said, Porter has been talking about wanting to be a paleontologist when he grows up.  The other day, we were with my mom so I thought I would pose the question to him again.  Oh, he didn't respond with what I thought.  Instead he said,

"I don't know, maybe like a Prophet or something."

Because normal kids think about wanting to be something like that when they grow up right?

OH Porter

I couldn't let anymore time pass before I documented some memorable things for Porter as of late.

First up, Porter is OBSESSED with dinosaurs.  He knows probably more than most adults know now about them and has by far surpassed my knowledge even when I am often the one looking up the information for them.  His current "what I want to be when I grow up..." is paleontologist.  At preschool this week they are learning about dinosaurs.  His teacher held up a dinosaur figurine and asked the class what it was she was holding.  While she was most likely expecting to hear "dinosaur" instead Porter informed her that it was an "Ankylosaurus which is an herbivore from the Cretaceous period".  Yes folks, I do believe we have a budding Paleontologist in our midst!  For all of us who have no idea, this is an ankylosaurus:

 

Last weekend we had some friends over.  Jillian is one of Porter's best friends but they also fight like brother and sister.  We carpool with her to preschool and spend a lot of time with them.  Well, at dinner the other night they got in a little fight and Porter proceeded to throw his shoe at her.  Yes, his shoe.  While was sat their discussing with him why his actions were wrong and also trying to console his crying he yelled tearily, "Blasted Barnacles, I don't know why they are making fun of me."  Considering the other choices of words out there I guess I prefer this one, I just couldn't keep from laughing at him when he said it.  

Speaking of tears, Porter has shed a lot lately.  I don't know if it is because he is having a hard time adjusting to Tom being gone or it is just him being 4, but seriously we cry or whine daily.  Yesterday I told him he needed to stop whining.  He desperately informed me that he couldn't find his happy voice and if I could tell him where to find it he would use it instead.  Apparently the child doesn't understand that he is in control of his voice or emotions.  He also gets so mad when tears stream down his face and yells at them to stop.

I love my sweet little boy.  I love that he is such a good helper even when he informs me that he does everything.  I love that he loves the scriptures and that he enjoys reading them with me.  I hate that he has inherited my foul temper and uncontrolled emotions as I can see my childhood taking shape in his own and I feel sad when I see him work himself up to the point of no return.  Hopefully since I do understand it I can help him take more control over it.

Just Hanging Out

Life has been lonely lately without our daddy around, but we are managing to keep ourselves busy despite the nausea and exhaustion I can't seem to kick.  Today's beautiful weather, (minus the crazy wind gusts) took us to Nanny's house where Porter assisted Nanny in preparing her grow boxes for spring planting.

 Yes my cubs has inherited the love of hats!

And of course we must always have a friend tag along.

As all little boys, my kiddos could live outside.  Only one problem: no real backyard here in our townhome so we are forced to venture out to parks, nanny's house and the zoo (which was amazing yesterday and we watched the tigers and the gorillas eat and my boys were speechless!).  Which isn't all bad, but again, I can't get a grip on the tiredness so keeping up with these two is exhausting.  Especially when daddy isn't around to even put them to bed.  6:30 comes all too early to sneak in 20 minutes of breakfast time before he leaves.  Sheesh.  Here's to overtime right?

Oh and we have been doing one more thing.  Porter and I have a goal to finish the Book of Mormon together this year.  Cubs usually isn't interested, but here's how I caught him yesterday:

Never mind that they are upside down, look at the concentration on this kids face.  Oh, and his scrumptious belly!

Cap, Snock Hops and Sleep

We've been busy around here. With what I don't know, but it feels like life is busy.  Maybe its the whole single parent thing that is exhausting!?  I've been trying to come up with exciting and different activities and every once and  while I am successful.  Case in point:

Porter meeting his idol Cap at the Safe Kids Fair

 And the Storm Troopers.  Elmo was there but cubs was too scared to even get remotely close.  Who knew a FREE event could be so exciting for the kiddos?  Mental note, I need to find more of these activities to keep us busy!

My kiddos were thrilled to attend the Sock Hop Birthday Party for their cousins Tillie, Sisi, and Olivia!  How cute is this?

 Porter was convinced this was called a Snock Hop and ever since this party we have had to play the CD and have a Snock Hop over and over again.  Quite exhausting let me tell you!

In Jack news, he has been SLEEPING!  Three nights in a row the entire night!  How pathetic to say this about an almost 2 year old, but it has been magical!  All you parents with children who sleep, count your blessings because you have no idea how hard life is when they don't.  He must be getting ready to grow because he has been sleeping a lot lately.  I always get nervous when things get quiet, but love it when this is what I find:

Yes my child is so vampire like in his paleness and yes that is a GIANT Fruit Loops box he may have confiscated from the cupboard.  But who can resist a SWEET sleeping babe?  He has been completely obsessed with Woody and the gang.  It is no small feat to haul all three of them around the house with those little arms with hats to keep track of too!  I love my cubs!~

Almost, But Not Quite

Last year at tithing settlement, the bishop asked Porter if he had paid his tithing.  I never had considered having him pay any tithing yet because, for one, he doesn't earn money except for birthdays and holidays, and two, he technically he doesn't need to pay tithing yet right?  But Porter was mortified that he hadn't been paying tithing and has insisted ever since that he pay tithing.  Last year the kid paid $12 in tithing and I know for a fact he probably only owed $3 at most and most of that would have been from finding money around the house.  But who am I to discourage such rightousness right, even if he doesn't get the whole 10% thing?  Well, yesterday he insisted he was going to pay tithing and he brought in a whopping 12 cents to take with to church.  He said, "Mom I just love paying tithing because it helps build temples."  And I'm of course thinking to myself how awesome I am because my child gets it.  And then he continues by saying, "Because it's good to build temples and have some that look the same so when the bad guys blow them up and use them as their headquarters we have other ones that look like them and it's important to have some temples." What?  Who is thinking of blowing up temples? At least we are headed in the right direction with our gospel knowledge right?

February So Far

I feel like every time I sit down to blog I start off my post by saying how crazy life has been.  So I guess it is just the standard for life and at this point I should just take it as the norm.  I can hardly believe that it is already the middle of February, can we start this month over?  

What We've Been Up To?

We had two darling visitors (my 4 year old cousins Josh and MacKay) at our house last week for a two night sleep over and Porter was elated!  We brought the blow up mattress into his room and the three of them had a campout.  My boys were in heaven and I realized I can never have more than one child the same age at the same time.  Meeting all of their demands was exhausting to say the least :) They left last Friday and Tom left for California the next morning and was gone until Wednesday and life has been rather lonely with only children to make conversation.  I continued to only associate myself with children when our Relief Society Activity for couples had an impressive turn out and I had to jump in to the under staffed nursery to help take care of the 30 kids that were ready for bed.  Saying I was excited to have Tom home was an understatement.  

We have also been busy helping my mom and dad prepare and move.  After 20 years in a house there is a lot of crap stuff to sort through and a ton to pack!  We discovered a box from our house in Sandy of items from my bedroom.  Jenna, I finally found my Sullvanian Family Critters (ok, it is 20 years too late but hey I knew I had them somewhere!)  My dad keeps trying to give "cool" stuff to Porter until he finally responded, "Papa, I love you but we don't need any more of your junk."  And I have come to the realization that I in my small house have too much crap and have gone on the rampage.  Maybe the fact that I live so close to a dumpster is a bad thing :)

What else have we been doing?  Well, baking of course because we love to bake lick the bowl clean!