I promised my mom a post on tuesday I think it was and obviously never got to it, its been busy times around here and I'm lacking in energy most days, since some little girl is sucking all my energy away... well her brother helps too =)

A few weeks ago we went camping with Daniel & Lacie... before we left Bryce took Porter to walmart to buy JUST skeet... (I made him promise to just get skeet). Well those of you who know Bryce know what happened... in comes Porter carrying his very own sleeping bag, which I couldn't get mad about with how excited he was that he had his very own.

we used our new tent... which may seem big for just the 3 of us, but Bryce and I quickly realized how nice it was to have so much space in there (pack and play... airbed and lots of space)

Porter loved riding this with dad

(mom went too, but i'm not sure how much 'we' loved all the bumps and rough road):

even better grandma trudy/grandpa bill left a stash of snacks,

Porter quickly raided and devoured most of them

We didn't have to wonder where Porter was most of the time because he was always on his favorite toy the Ranger!

A week or so ago we decided it was time to get Porter a pool... while he didn't quite remember what he was suppose to do in it the night we bought it, he knew it was going to be fun so he attempted to sleep in it and played in it inside most of the night. The next day Sadie and him gave it a go even though it wasn't too hot yet, but they had fun.

Something in this drawer doesn't belong, but Porter sure thinks it does! I'm starting to find rocks in random places, a sure sign that there's a little boy living in my house =)

What does Porter do with his time... lately he has been learning so much every day and has started saying a lot of words and is learning animal noises (anything he is unsure of says quack). He also copies things he sees (good and bad) good- he does head, shoulders, knees and toes, the hokey pokey and other songs... bad- pushing other kids and not sharing.

He still loves apples, but cutting them up is for little boys... he likes them whole now, and eats the WHOLE thing literally. Did you know the stem is how you hold on so you can get every bite? If there is an apple in sight he wants it, and often steals it out of Bryce's lunch!

He LOVES to color... all day long he pulls out his color books... sometimes he needs to sit at the desk like mom and dad to 'work' on it.

He loves playing games on the computer... a favorite is lickety letters bingo from super why... what can we say he LOVES letters, such a smart little boy:

Here's a video of him doing head shoulders knees and toes with elmo... he does it better now, but still doesn't quite know where his shoulders are. (he actually touches his nose and mouth instead of being scared... still no eyes though... small steps I guess!)

His other obsession lately has been jumping off of everything... it started with this box and progressed to jumping off the coffee table, the couch... anything. But he has fun... he thinks its better than any of the toys he has =)

K that's it for now. Hopefully this holds the grandparents over until the next two weekends when we get to visit each of them =)

Wind Cave Trail Usery Mountain Park

I love these boys:

(and our growing little family, even if I'm the one who has to grow to make it happen)

I cannot imagine my life without them, nor being apart from them for very long (4 hours away from Porter last night was really hard, but wonderful). Some days are hard and some days they try my patience, but bugging me is their way of showing their love (a common cox trait i've had to learn)

Bryce and I are both grateful for our callings at church (webelos and young men) because we get to be with the boys... Porter really enjoys being around them and probably thinks he is somewhere between 10 and 16, I should really arrange more opportunities for him to play with kids his age!

But because of these boys we get to go do things we would never do on our own. I know that 6 months pregnant I would never have decided to hike a 3 mile trail with a 800 foot climb, but it really wasn't that bad and it was beautiful (ask me later when I start to feel each of those steps, but for now I loved going). These boys are awesome and I am so grateful I get to hang out with them and try to teach them something every week!

This boy got so tired he fell asleep on the way down.

This boy also loves his dog who also came on our hike.

(thanks again grandpa and grandma for giving her to us!)

And this is my favorite result of the hike... a puppy who will sleep a few hours today and leave me alone (and hopefully will not be as naughty as she has been the last few days!)

Where has the time and my little boy gone!

I can't believe its been so long since I really posted. I've written posts several times in my head with every intention of posting them, but I've been pretty busy and pretty tired so crashing at night has become more important that keeping up with this. Enough with the excuses.

Porter has decided over the last few weeks that he is going to grow up on us. It started the weekend we went up to Lakeside when he decided that he was big enough to rough house with his older cousins and wander off around grandma and grandpas house... serveral times I wandered around looking for him... which is the strangest feeling because when we are there he is usually right by my side. Here are some pictures from that weekend:

(playing in the snow and a picture to embarass him in the future...

lately his pants are often missing in pictures and I'm not sure why)

Porter's Uncle Eric is a cool guy, he volunteered to do a polar plunge in show low lake to support a cause... we we're cold just waiting for him to jump... Porter kept reaching over my shoulder and it was annoying until I realized that he wanted to touch the snow... my little curious george!

Porter's favorite cousin right now should be (and probably is)Lauren... she is so sweet to include him and play with him. While he doesn't share her love of Dora, these two both LOVE Little Einsteins so he shared his ipod so they could enjoy a show while the adults were not so exciting. We really wish she lived closer so these two could play together more often.

The night we got home he continued on his quest to be grown up and pulled out his high chair to tell me he wanted more dinner than he had at mcdonalds an hour before. Then later on he went and got his blanket and looked at us like guys its time for me to go to bed, what's wrong, lets get the show on the road. The next morning our routine was dragging a little and I heard weird banging coming from the bathroom... he had climbed in the tub because I guess I was taking too long.

He has decided he likes to sit on the potty... he still doesn't go, but likes sitting there to read. He knows (meaning recoginzes and says not in song) his abc's, he says peacock, duck, daddy, hi, bye... and my favorite and energetic 'yep' to lots of things I ask him-- sometimes he means it and sometimes he just says it.

His favorites of the moment are his sidewalk chalk, bubbles, letters, super why/little einsteins/word world... anything on pbs, playing xbox with dad (or anything daddy does, he loves it when dads home), jumping on Sadie and soon I know it will be the sprinklers and pool. Yes we have been playing in the sprinkler in March and been swimming a couple times already!

And today he tried out the carosel at the mall (I was feeling guilty about being home so much since we aren't nannying this week so I took him to the kids club show they do)... he was just excited that they did the hokey pokey (another favorite these days!)

(a little nervous, but once it started moving he loved it!

I can't believe how grown up he is becoming... I know in 14 weeks I will be grateful, but for now it makes me sad!

loving salami... his dad's idea of course!
(along with the spam he made for the two of them for breakfast)