Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Ben's First Blog Entry - It's a little one!

When Valerie told me she wanted to start a blog, I said "OK" but she shouldn't expect me to contribute anything, because I had no interest. Well things have changed and I really like all the blogging going on, so I thought I'd give it a try.

Many of you have not seen our apartment, so I thought I'd share some pictures with you so you could appreciate how little it is and laugh at how we spend about $2 per square foot each month in rent (barely over 700 sq ft - you do the math).

Photobucket

Try to ignore the ugliness of the pictures (Val takes much better ones than me), and I'll walk you through things (feel free to click on the pictures to get a better look). This is one wall of our living room. You can see the TV is bookended by 2 deep IKEA bookshelves. The one on the left holds our movies (stacked 3 deep) and the one on the right holds books (also stacked 2 or 3 deep). Notice the rocking chair is facing the wrong way. It has 2 purposes, one, to block Xander from getting the movies, and two, to hold the exercise ball (we don't have a closet). On top of the bookshelves you can see my Wii, Guitar, Videogames, Videocamera, speakers, and some flowers. If you want to see better pics of the flowers, check out Val's photo blog - the link is on the right. They had a deal on flowers for $4 a bunch. I thought I would get Val a bunch for each kid, so I shelled out the $16 and earned a bunch of brownie points!

Photobucket

This is our kitchen and dining room. Notice the bar stool chairs. They are great, except that there is no overhang on the bar so your knees are flush against the wall. If you look to the far right, you can see our "stroller garage" - right in front of the front door. Of course sometimes we set up a mini card table and colorful chairs for the kids. It's exciting to have something new every once in a while to trip over as you enter or exit the home! To the left, past the pictures of the kids, you would see a hall the size of a phone booth (you know what a phone booth is right?) with 3 doors, one on each side. One goes to the master bedroom, one to the girls room, and one to the port-a-potty that isn't portable so it's really a bathroom.

Photobucket

This is the opposite wall from the TV. On the left you see our external coat closet. On the right you can see an external toy box. In the middle you see my bed. Yes I sleep on the couch - except for the nights when Val sleeps on the couch, then I sleep on the floor in front of the couch. See, we only have 2 bedrooms, one for the girls and the other we share with Xander. Lately if we sleep in the room with Xander, he wakes up a million times a night and cries. When we sleep in a separate room (pictured above), he only wakes up half a million times. At the end of July, our lease is up and we will be moving into a bigger place - with 3 bedrooms! One for CJ and Mia, one for the other two and one for US! Our backs can't wait!!!

Well, I've rambled long enough. I hope I didn't bore you with this tour, but if I did, at least (like our apartment) it was a little one!

12 comments:

Andy Porter said...

is val cooking a bun in her oven? You say the other 2 like you have another 2, but you don't. Congrats if this is the case. I wanted to be first.

Russell said...

4 x's 3 is only $12 Ben--why did you spend $16? You should go back to the store and get your money back.

Ben Porter said...

4 X 3?

Kathy said...

Congratulations!!!!!!! All those hints were adorable. I'm happy for you.

The Joe said...

Very clever blog Ben. I am so happy and excited for you guys!! You have adorable kids. I hope you are feeling ok Val.
Love,
Andy

Abby Marie said...

The e-mail that said "Important Blog Update" gave it away for me. I knew right away. GOOD ON YA! Congrats guys that's SO exciting!!!!

Maxmomma said...

HUGE congrats guys!!!! I hadn't finished the whole entry and was trying to figure out why your family photo on the wall had six people in it instead of five! I kept trying to zoom in to see which of your children I had somehow forgotten about!

Hannah said...

Okay- i guess I'm the only dumb one. i had NO IDEA that this is what your blog was saying! I didn't catch any of the hints that, apparently, were so apparent to everyone else. Oh well. CONGRATS!!! I'm so excited for you guys!

Hannah said...

Okay- i guess I'm the only dumb one. i had NO IDEA that this is what your blog was saying! I didn't catch any of the hints that, apparently, were so apparent to everyone else. Oh well. CONGRATS!!! I'm so excited for you guys!

Ben Porter said...

Here are the hidden hints for anyone (cough hannah cough) who didn't catch them all. Look carefully at the family picture above the TV, Count the pictures of the kids on the left side of the kitchen. 4x3 would be only 12 - not 16 (4x4 however...), and of course the room arrangement we will have at our next home.

Sarah said...

HELLO!! I've really been checking blogs quite frequently lately--I thought everyday! How can I be 2 days late on your news! Someone could have called me! Oh, wait--we don't do that in this family anymore. If you don't check the computer you don't have a clue what's going on with everyone! I'm happy for you--way to go.

Valerie said...

Sorry Sarah! We thought it would be fun to announce on our blog instead of calling. I made the mistake of sending an email labeled, "Important Blog Update" and gave it away, right away to those who check their email everyday. We were hoping that people would just stumble upon it like you did.