Porter Family News

Good bye 2009

2009-12-20T06:46:00.000-08:00

It's Christmas time and as we get closer to the big day I am getting more excited about how much fun it is going to be to watch the boys open their gifts. Carson of course knows that Santa will be bringing gifts to open, but I'm sure Jordan has no idea of what is in store.

I'm still thrilled with this house too. It is so nice to have so much more space. It's going to be so nice to have Christmas dinner here and not have to pack up the kids and take them away from their gifts. I'm a little worried about making dinner though. I hope I don't forget anything or worse, burn it.

The boys are getting so big. Carson is doing great in preschool. He is learning how to spell his nanme and recognize words. He seems to be a pretty popular and has tons of friends. Whenever we pick him up or drop him off kids run up to him like he is a superstar. It is so cute! Wed. he had his Christmas play and afterwards two or three girls ran up to him to give him a hug and thier moms told me that all they hear about it how they are going to marry Carson. Too cute. Carson, though doesn't seem as interested in girls yet. He keeps telling me that he is going to marry Emma, or me if daddy lets him. As for his play, he was more interested in looking around at the crowd then doing the motions and singing the songs. Although, even as I write, he is singing the songs from the play. He is such a "pleaser" so I'm not sure why he didn't do all of the motions and sing, but that's ok he was still adorable.

Jordan is going through a severe case of the terrible two's. He destroys everything in his path. The current target is the Christmas tree ornaments. He has diliberately destroyed numerous bulbs at this point so I had to move quite a few of the out of his reach. Aside from that, he amazes me everyday with how smart he is. He has been able to recognize letters and number since he was 21 months old and now keeps having me write letters together and then ask what they say. In addition to that, he loves books and puzzles. He will put puzzles together all day if you let him and his favorites are ones with letters from the alphabet. At night we have to read at least 5 books before we can get him to bed without a fight. Plus, he has a great imagination. He plays with little people and animals for hours and has a great imagination.

Overall, 2009 and was a great year. I still remember the day after Christmas last year thinking we were never going to get out of the old house unless we made a New Year's Resolution to make a serious commitment to figure out a solution to our housing issues and stick with it. Then when we found this house so fast in January (signed the papers on my birthday), I was worried that it was the start of another long year of disappointments, but here we are so much happier in our new home! I hope next year brings more wonderful things for all of us and everyone in our family.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Easter in the new house

2009-04-19T10:54:00.000-07:00

I love, I love, I love our new house!!!! So do the boys, the dogs and Jeremy. It is amazing how much better it is here then at the old place. I was so happy that pretty much everything was in place enough that we could have Easter dinner too. It was great to be able to use my good china that I have never used before and to have people hanging out in my kitchen without everyone tripping over each other. I enjoyed everything so much...I hope everyone else did too. I'll post some pics of the new house and from Easter.

Time for the move

2009-03-01T15:29:00.000-08:00

Just a few more hours and we get possession of our new house. Yea!!!! We have a lot to do before we move in. Hopefully we can get it all done with Carson & Jordan running around. Luckily we have a lot of help or I wouldn't even know where to begin.

Has it been that long?

2009-01-26T21:08:00.000-08:00

I can't believe that I haven't written anything since August. That was the one thing I was worried about when I started this, that I would eventually forget about it. I really do want to keep this up because I want the kids to be able to read about themselves some day and since I don't journal I thought this would be the best way to do that. Anyway, I guess I'll do my best to catch everything up.
Right now it is around midnight and Jordan has been screaming in his crib for the past half an hour. At first I thought that he just wanted up so I ignored him for as long as I could. After I couldn't take the screaming anymore, I finally decided to see what the problem was and ...oops...his bottle leaked everywhere. Now that I have him cleaned up he is wide awake and angry that I won't take him out of his crib to play. So, I am sitting here writing this and listening to him scream his head off right now. I feel bad, but we have learned from experience that as soon as we give in he'll get up every night so this could be a long post depending on how long he screams.
Other than this incident though, Jordan has changed alot in the past month in good ways. He is so much more cuddly, smiles and laughs more and is playing independantly a lot more. He is also learning new words so fast now. The other day he threw a ball at me and yelled "touchdown"! Car rides are getting better too. He actually sings the words to songs from his Doodlebobs CD. I just wish I could get him to listen to something else. Oh well, I'll take what I can get. Overall, he has really grown lately and is turning into an adorable little toddler (not that he wasn't before...).
Carson started preschool in the fall and absolutely loves it. Maybe I am just a bragging mom, but he seems to be very well liked by his teachers and friends. His teachers keep telling us how smart he is and one of them asks Jeremy how much we work with him because he is so far ahead of most of the kids his age. At first I thought she was just being nice, but the other day he started saying his numbers in Spanish! Jeremy asked the teacher about it and she said that one day she told Carson and another student about words in other languages including the numbers 1-10 in Spanish and he remembered them. He also knows a few words in Chinese that she taught him too. He does have a great memory and is very inquisitive about everything. He always wants to know more about things. I hope he always likes to learn the way he does now. Speak of the devil...now he is awake and wants milk and a tissue....
O.K. I think they are both finally back to sleep, so hopefully I can finally get some sleep myself. I'll try to get back in the habit of posting because I really like this way to keep updated on our family, but I guess we'll see how well I keep up. Nik

VACATION!!!

2008-08-02T13:29:00.001-07:00

I just wanted to get a few pictures up from our trip. There are even a few of Jordan having fun at the beach, which of course we know didn't happen to often. I also put up some pics from the way home at a plantation that we visited and the Luray Caverns. I looked to see if there were any pictures of Carson with "super Dad" but I only have a picture of the "big hole." Well, Jordan is flipping out because I won't let him play on the computer so I am going to cut this short. Enjoy the pictures everyone!

2008-07-28T16:52:00.000-07:00

We are back from vaction...pictures to follow shortly (I hope)...

The past few weeks adventures

2008-06-26T06:05:00.000-07:00

This summer has been pretty busy! Recently we visited the Pittsburgh zoo, Carson started summer camp at the YMCA, and he and Jeremy went on anther fishing excursion where Carson caught the biggest fish. My favorite so far was when we went to Boardman Park where they had all kinds of rescue vehicles and trucks that the little kids were allowed to climb in. By the time we left Carson wanted to be either a police officer or garbage man! Jordan, as always, was along for all of the fun but for the most part stuck in his stroller. He did get to play one day at the park and loved climb UP the slides instead of going down them and he adored the prarie dogs at the zoo. . Here are some pictures of it all.

Kennywood

2008-06-10T18:32:00.000-07:00

Here are some pics from our fun day at Kennywood. We had a great time hanging out with everyone and the kids really had a blast. I think the pictures say it all.

It's been awhile...

2008-06-06T19:03:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted in awhile so I have alot to catch up on (and this time I have pictures). We'll start with our fun Memorial Day weekend at Penn State. Of course I say that sarcastically because we spent the entire weekend cleaning up puke in our hotel room! First of all, I was hesitant to go to Penn State for the long weekend to begin with. I knew Carson would be ok with it, but I just wasn't sure about Jordan. Jeremy really wanted us to go though, so we made an uneventful trip down there. From there everything went downhill. Day #1 I took the boys to the park next to the hotel to play. The whole time we were there a helicopter keep flying by extremely low to the ground. Carson thought it was great, but I was worried. Finally, I asked another lady if she knew what it was doing. "Well", she said,"last year the trees here were covered with . So I bet they are spraying them to kill them." Great, just want I want my kids exposed to. Sure enough, I looked up at the tree near the slides and it was full of them and so was the top of the slide. I decided to leave, but in my haste I lost one of Jordan's brand new shoes! After volleyball was over and after Jeremy took the boys swimming, we decided to go to the local Memorial Day parade. While we're watching the extremely long, but nice, parade Jeremy decided to take Jordan out of his stroller. As he picked him up we realized that he had the worst diarrhea possible. There was no where to go to change him so in front of about 100 people I stripped him down and cleaned him up. We blamed the pool water and continued to watch the parade. Ten minutes later Carson says his belly hurts and he doesn't want to watch the fire trucks anymore. Now we are concerned! Carson LOVES fire trucks. We make it back to the hotel just in time for Carson to get sick all over the room. Then Jordan decided to be like his big brother and get sick all over the room too. Day #2 Both boys were sick all day. I spent most of it cleaning up the room. I finally had to admit defeat and call housekeeping to replace the linens, towels, etc. If you ever go to Penn State DO NOT stay in room 443 at the Marriott. Day #3 Carson feels better, but Jordan is worse. We head for home and straight to the hospital just to be safe. I drop Jeremy and Jordan off and take Carson to my moms. On the way I find out that Jordan will be staying the night at the hospital. The poor little guy was extremely dehydrated. So, Jordan had his first hospital overnight stay experience. Overall, he did pretty good. Of course he slept most of the time. He was released the next evening, but he is just finally starting to feel better and it's been two weeks! To top it all off, the month and half that we have enjoyed having 2 kids sleeping through the night came to an end with this illness. Jordan is back to getting up not once, but twice a night! Arghhhhhhhhhh.
O.k. on to better things. Jordan turned 1 last Saturday and boy did we have fun! Thank you to everyone who came to his party. Although I don't know who had the most fun, Jordan or Carson? Carson was very proud that he picked out the theme (Mickey Mouse Club House) and the decorations. He and Emma had a blast running around playing together. I was also really surprised at how well Jordan did, since he was still feeling a little down. He had a lot of fun playing with the cake, but I really think he enjoyed opening his presents. I think he actually knew that they were for him. He is really fascinated by everything he got and loves to play with everything. Of course Carson "helps" him play with the toys that Carson likes, but so far there have been very few fights. Thank you everyone for the wonderful gifts. While the boys like the toys I am grateful for all of the cool clothes for the summer. I was hoping Jordan could wear Carson's hamd-me-downs but that hasn't worked since they were born in different seasons.
Finally, I am posting a picture Carson mowing the lawn. I don't know if can explain just how cute he was but I will try. Jeremy and I both love to mow the lawn so we usually fight over it and I usually lose. Well, tonight somehow I won the battle. So, off I go on the riding lawn mower with an nice cold pop and my i-pod to listen to my music. Pretty soon I turn the corner and there is Carson with his toy push mower. I don't know if he thought he was really mowing the lawn or not (actually I think he though that he was) but that kid followed me the ENTIRE 1 and 1/2 hours that I mowed the lawn. Every once in awhile he would look at me and the "thumbs up" sign or he would stop and mess with his mower to make it "go" again. A few times I stopped to try to convince him that he should take a break, but he would just take a sip of my pop and say "let's go mom" and he get going again. It was the sweetest, most adorable thing ever. Even Jer thought it was cute because he's the one that took the pictures.
Well, I hope that catches everyone up. Just 3 more days of school for me (Jeremy finished already...darn Ohio schools...) and I am free for the summer!!! I can't wait. We have so many adventures planned (as long as no one gets sick)and I am ready to get started. I'll keep all of you updated as we do things and hopefully I'll be back on soon with some more fun times to talk about!

I've Been Tagged by Andrea!

2008-05-28T17:42:00.000-07:00

I was tagged by Andrea. So here's the rules as to what I had to do and if you are one of my lucky 7 below then you need to also do the following:1. Link your tagger and list these rules on your blog.2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.4. Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog .Here are my Seven:

1. I suck at computers (in fact I'm not sure I can follow the rules to this game because I don't know how to link people)
2. I am afraid of meeting a ghost, alien, etc. In other words I've been watching way to much Ghost Hunters
3. To elaborate on #2, even though I have never seen a ghost I believe in them, but I haven't made up my mind about aliens yet.
4. I want to travel the world, especially far off remote places.
5. I think I am looking forward to the end of the school year more then my students are. Who says only seniors get senior itis?
6. I wish I had the time and patience to write down all of the funny things that Carson says and does before I forget.
7. Everyday I wake up and plan to start dieting and exercising...tomorrow.

Here is the list of people who I tagged:

Nicole
Nicole (no I didn't accidently put Nicole twice, I figured I would tag people who have the same name as me or someone in my family)
Cindy

Oops...screaming baby...I will add the rest of the names later.

Day at the Science Center

2008-05-18T17:09:00.000-07:00

It's amazing to watch kids change and mature. For instance, yesterday we took the boys to the science center in Pittsburgh for the second time. Carson was 2 1/2 last time we were there and when we left we thought he was at least 2 years away from appreciating everything. Well, you know us, we decided to take a road trip yesterday and ended up there. This time though was a whole different experience. For starters, Carson could reach almost everything and most of the stuff he could figure out how to do himself, which was great! The funniest part was when we went to the kids play area on the 3rd floor. Last time he spent nearly the entire time playing in the water and a little bit of time with Jeremy in the ball machines (and it was mostly Jeremy playing there). This time I was cringing with worry about the water because I knew we didn't bring extra clothes and he would get soaked (as seen in previous posts), but I was worried for nothing. He went straight to the ball machines and played there for over an hour. When he finally decided to play in the water it was only for a short while and called it quits on his own!
Also, the last time we went Jordan slept the whole time since he was only a few months old, but this he was wide awake and enjoyed watching everything, especially the trains. Anyway, I can't wait to go again to see how their personalities, maturity and interests change again. (Sorry there are no pictures, we forget the camera--oops).

Carson and Daddy Go Fishing

2008-05-04T16:12:00.000-07:00

Today was free fishing day so Jeremy took Carson fishing for the first time. For a first timer Carson did pretty good. He was very patient waiting for the fish to bite. Jeremy said he was pretty funny because he would reel in his line and say "daddy all I keep catching are worms!" When he got bored he was still good because some lady gave him Cheetos to eat. The highlight of the day though, wasn't the very small fish that Jeremy caught and let Carson reel in. Carson's favorite part was when the lady who gave him Cheetos caught a huge walleye and her husband got bit trying to get it off of the line. I think Carson was the only one who thought it was funny. It sounds like they had a good time since Jeremy plans to get his fishing license. Maybe next time Carson will catch a fish too.
While Carson and daddy were fishing poor Jordan was stuck going to open houses with me. Jeremy says I have OHD (open house disorder) and if there was a such thing he'd be right. I love going to open houses. I've tried to limit them to ones I might actually be interested in, but I have to admit to going through a few rather pricey ones just out of curiosity. The three Jordan and I went to today are all good contenders, but we'll see what happens. Anyway, I'm going to put on some pictures from fishing and a few from the playground the other day. It has been so nice being able to go outside lately. I hope this good weather lasts. Talk to you all soon. Nik

Bill Clinton

2008-04-19T18:28:00.000-07:00

Today we went and volunteered at Nicole's school. We got to see Bill Clinton give a speech in support of Hillary. We were assigned to security believe it or not. We had to keep the line organized, tell the peopole NO bags, water, or signs. There were drug and bomb sniffing dogs, and secret service agents all around. It was a fun day, I just want to get a few pictures on here tonight. Nicole can tell you more about the speech later.

Visit to an Amish Farm

2008-04-12T18:34:00.000-07:00

One of the things that I love best about Jeremy is his ability to think of something fun and different to do with the kids almost every weekend. Today we packed up the boys and headed to southern Ohio. Jeremy and I talk about going there all the time, but never with the kids because it is mostly Amish shops and there are not alot of "kid friendly" things to do. At least that's what we thought. As usual we didn't have a plan so we stopped at a gas station and picked up a few brochures. It didn't take long to decide where to go. My grandparents had taken me to an Amish farm when I was about 8 years and I still clearly remember how much fun I had (thank you grandma and grandpa). Wouldn't you know it, the very first brochure I looked at had the SAME EXACT farm on it. Sure enough as I read the information everything about my childhood trip came back to me. So, of course we headed in that direction.
When we got there everything looked the same. Carson couldn't wait to see all of the animals, but first we had to take the tour of the Amish homes. That didn't go to well. Jordan started to fuss and Carson kept interrupting the tour guide. So, I got to finish the tour (thanks Jeremy) and Jeremy and the boys went to explore the farm. I found them in the barn feeding the sheep! Carson adored the sheep, baby goat (so cute), all of the horses, and pigs (usually his favorite), but he absolutely fell in love with the Beagle puppies. When I came into the barn he made sure to tell me to be quiet because they were sleeping. Pretty soon the rest of the tour caught up with us and one of the tour guides let all of the children hold a puppy, except Carson. The poor kid didn't cry he just kept trying to pet the puppies the other kids were holding, but they wouldn't let him. I felt so bad. I think the guide felt bad too because he told Carson that the biggest puppy was still in the dog house and he would let Carson hold him. So, as you can see in the picture Carson got to hold his puppy. I just can't get over how happy he was to hold the baby doggy (as he called it). During all of this Jordan just hung out with Jeremy and watched everything. Next it was off to the replica school house which I thought Carson would like, but he wasn't interested. He wanted to go on a buggy ride. This was the last stop on the tour and boy was Carson excited when the man let him sit up front with him. Jer and I were afraid that halfway through the ride Carson would get upset and want to sit with us, but instead he was mezmerized by "Pearl" the horse. When the Amish driver made her trot Carson was sooooo excited he kept telling us that Pearl was going fast. It was so cute.
Well, that ended our day. We thought we would be able to visit a few shops and eat dinner at one of the resturants, but Jordan and Carson had other plans. As soon as we pulled onto the road both of them fell asleep. So, we ended the day a little early and headed for home. Jeremy and I thought it was a great day and I hope that we can take to boys again when Jordan gets older he can enjoy this new tradition.

At The Playground

2008-04-06T16:06:00.000-07:00

We went to the playground today. It was 65 degrees here and suny. Carson loves the slides and swings and Jordan just watches him. Carson also loves to ride his bike up and down the driveway. He is also looking forward to "Robin" and Emily coming. We keep saying Rob and Emily but of course Carson now calls Rob--Robin. I think he means Batman and Robin but who knows. After the playground I tried to take the boys to the Outlet mall for shoes. Not a good Idea. Carson rolled around the floor in the Nike outlet and screamed for mommy (but we did get shoes.) At least Jordan seemed happy, until we all had to use the bathroom. That took about 30 minutes. Carson kept yelling "Daddy it is so stinky in here" Well another guy was in the stall next to us, and I didn't say anything to Carson because I thought it was hilarious because it Smelled so bad!!

Jordan's Walking...

2008-04-03T08:28:00.000-07:00

Jordan's walking....kinda.... He at least thinks he can walk. This kid has NO fear. He just lets go of what he's holding onto and takes as many steps as he can before he falls forward. His record is 6, but usually he takes only 2 or 3 before he lands on his face. We try to stay as close as possible to him because you never know when he'll decide to take off. A few times I thought we were going to be headed to the emergency room and I can't believe he didn't knock out a few teeth the time he fell with his bottle in his mouth.

I think Carson is officially addicted to his "bike game" that he got for Christmas. He finally has the hang of it and will go play by himself when he's tired of Jordan bothering him. Even when he is doing other things he is thinking about his game. For instance it was pretty nice out yesterday so Carson wanted to play outside. He told me he was going to practice riding his bike super fast so he could win the race on his game later. I think we definately need spring to arrive so we can get out of this house more!

Last Friday the boys had "well baby" visits at the doctor. Poor Carson has slowed down on the growth charts. He's now in the 75th percentile for both height and weight. Maybe he'll hit a growth spurt, but my guess is that the short genes are winning out. Jordan is still in the 90th percentile, but is smaller then Carson was at that age. Both boys were awesome at the doctor's Carson was checked for anemia (routine) and couldn't believe that the lady pinched his finger. He told me later that she wasn't very nice for doing that, but he didn't cry! Jordan didn't cry either when he got his Hepatitis booster. All in all it was good visit. Unfortunately though Jordan got a cold the next day and has passed it on to me and Jeremy. So far Carson hasn't gotten it and hopefully won't.

Well, the crying has started and it looks like nap time. So I gotta run.

Pittsburgh Childrens Museum

2008-03-30T06:36:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Jeremy, Amy, Jamie and I took the kids to the Pittsburgh Children's museum. Carson has been there with Jer a few times so he was our "tour guide." He had us all over the place but of course his favorite was the water room. Jeremy told us over and over again to bring an extra set of clothes. Once we got up there I could see why (o.k. so I'm trying to post pictures as I write but they are going all over the place...sorry). Jordan wasn't as impressed with the museum. My favorite part was the art room. I love to watch to kids paint and draw. I wonder what their drawing looks like to them (especially when you see Carson's blob of colors that he called the "mommy monster"). Afterwards we had a semi-peaceful dinner at T.G.I. Fridays and then decided to torture ourselves, I mean have more fun, by going to the Robinson Towne Mall. Amy and Jamie wisely decided to call it a day and head for home. We thought we would check the mall out and then go home, but we found a place with the bounce arounds and slides and a basically a fun kids play place. So, we let Carson run off some left over energy (how he had any left I don't know, I sure didn't) and there was even a place for Jordan to play. Sorry, but I don't have any pictures of it because at this point I had given up picture taking for the day. Anyway, all-in-all a fun day!.

O.k. so Carson and Jordan want to post so I'm going to let them:

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63+sxc+XcCFgSSDFDD2

nfnvmbnbmmv,bjsaiorpoiuuyttrewqeiotoypoiytrtrtuipp[uutriyiyuiasdfgghhhjklcxzzxxcvbvnm,,.c,mbnasdgshfkjlllkjcsbdgfhgghhgh

Carson told me that this says that if you are in trouble the firemen will come and save you. Jordan says that his says ba ba ba ba. Well that's all for now because the chaos of the day has begun and Jeremy is at Westminster for a tournament. Good Luck Trumbull blue!!!!

March 28, 2008

2008-03-28T17:51:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!
So this is the first blog Jeremy and I have ever created so bear with us while we try to figure out this "new fangled" technology. We thought it would be a great way to keep family (Aunt Emily) and friends updated with the boys (yes we are realistic and know that no one cares about Jeremy and I, only Carson and Jordan :)) Anyway, I'm going to keep this first post short because I'm really just trying to figure it all out. If I'm lucky I'll figure out how to post pics, but if not I'll log on and try again soon. Have a great day!