I love my kids!

Mia is in a soccer class and she loves it! As Ben was tucking her into bed one night he was talking about what her soccer class may be like. "Even if there are lots of kids all around, try to kick the ball." Mia replied, "I will kick them (referring to the other kids) HI YAH (as she did a kung fu motion)!"



One of Xander's favorite pasttimes is emptying the pots and pan cupboard. He loves banging on them creating a beautiful melodious sound. He also likes climbing in them and that's why I decided to cook him for dinner. Don't try this at home unless you have adult supervision. Just kidding, this picture is one of my photoshop experiments.



I can think of a list of reasons why I would like to move out of our apartment. The other day CJ made living here more bearable. Out of the blue she says,"I love our apartment." She said it with such sincerity it made me think about the saying, "Home is where your heart is." We may not have a house, but we will always have a home. Thanks CJ!

Yay for Ben!

Ask Ben when Mariah Carey's birthday is and he'll tell you the exact date down to the year she was born. Ask Ben about Gwen Stefani and he could probably tell you when she had her baby and its name. Ask Ben when his wedding anniversary is and he'll probably tell you the right month with the wrong day, until. . .last week. I decided this year instead of reminding him every day in the month of January until our anniversary, I would see if he could remember all by himself. He was triumphant and even bought me a sweet 9.6 V cordless drill that I got even before our anniversary (is that cheating?).

So YAY for Ben. Even if he forgot what day our anniversary was, it wouldn't change how much I love him. He is the best father and husband that anyone could ever ask for.

Family Resemblance

Our kids are looking more and more like us everyday.Man, we're goodlooking!

Anything is funny after 11:00 p.m.

I know for a fact that after 11:00p.m., the rules for what is or can be "funny", no longer applies. Ben and I have experienced this phenomenon many times and therefore would like to share our findings with our friends and family. Here is an example: Last night at approximately 11:10 p.m. Ben and I had a dance a thon without any music. Ben demonstrated many dance moves, but more memorably, how to do the "Puff Daddy" dance. Now, in the earlier hours of the day this demonstration would not have been received with the same enthusiasm and laughter as it would after 11:00p.m. In fact, if done in public, I am sure that he may be ignored or even labeled a "nerd".

Here's how to make anything funny after 11:00p.m.
1. Make sure you have a heavy intake of sugar just prior to 11:00p.m. With Ben and I our choice was gummy bears. Not lethal in large doses.
2. Start by saying anything like "your mama wears combat boots". If you instantly begin laughing, you know you are in the funny zone.
3. Do dance moves from the 80's to kick off the night and enjoy being the stand up comedian you know you are and that others may not.

So go ahead, try it. You may find that you are funnier than you think.


Here are some pictures of my favorite little man that I took with my new lens that Ben got me.

Don't let his cute looks deceive you. His nickname is "The Destroyer" and he lives up to it.

CJ, my hero.

So I have to tell you about my favorite biggest girl. Her name is CJ. Most of you know that when I was married, I became a wife and a mother at the same time. It was a difficult adjustment at the beginning. I remember being overwhelmed at times. Through it all, CJ has helped me be a better mother over the years.

The other day I was just listening to CJ play with Mia and felt so much love for this kid. She is such a good example to her little sister Mia and trys really hard. Sometimes,CJ can get Mia to do things I can't. For example, getting Mia's nightclothes on. Mia will be putting up such a fight, when all of a sudden CJ comes around and says, "If you put your nightclothes on, I'll paint your toenails." Mia will quickly say, "Okay" and does what CJ asks.

I remember my mother telling me that even though I didn't grow under her ribs that I was still hers and that I was special because she got to choose me. My parents are great examples of how you can love someone as your child no matter how they came to you and no matter where they came from. CJ is definately my girl. Although, she may not share my physical traits (although we fool most people),she is mine 100%!

So you see, I love CJ and yes, she is my hero. The end.

F is for family!

F is for family, not "fetch" if your from Utah, or "fat" because that is how you feel after the holiday, or even "farfenoogan". I changed my post entry after writing about what we did during Christmas because judging from the response in our last blog, our "Most Noble friends" are obviously our family and hey, they were there.



So to honor our "Most Noble friends", I will tell you my most favorite thing about them during the time we were together. While playing charades, most of the focus is on the person trying to act out the clue, and little notice is given to the people who are guessing. Well, Betsy is definately my favorite guesser person to watch. I mean, who else jumps out of their seat, yelling answers out, all at the same time getting closer and closer to the person who is trying to act it out for everyone else.

I appreciate people like Russ who are grammer snobs. He may be reading this right now thinking about all of my grammer mistakes and thinking about dangling participles . My parents speak with "country grammer" and I have inherited it. My first year as a elementary school teacher a fellow colleague said to me, '"Valerie it is not "I seen", it's "I've seen" or "I saw"."' I wasn't offended, even at 22 years old, in fact, I worked really hard at correcting myself. I asked my roommate if she noticed I used "seen" incorrectly and she said "yes." I asked her why she didn't correct me and she said "I thought you were trying to be cute." Over the years, I have tried to steer away from "cute", thanks to people who are brave enough to correct me. So Russ, more power to ya!

Andy and Joe's house is decorated right out of a magazine, or, that is what you would think. Their house is filled with color and life. I love their homemade shelves and their choice of decorations. In fact, 10 years from now, or whenever we can afford a house, I am going to get some ideas from these people.




Since I am on the subject of family and favorite, I would like to share my top ten favorite things about this Christmas holiday in no specific order:

1. Doing a puppet nativity with my mom, Autumn, and the kids. The kings kept popping up at the wrong time! Ah hem, mom was that you?

2. Seeing my mom and Autumn bundle up like they were in a winter in Michigan. Did you forget you were in California?

3. Xander demanding that I hold his hand in the car.

4. CJ and her cousins making a picture slide show.

5. Finding Mia and her little cousins hidden in a small corner, giggling.

6. Watching Jim do Guitar Hero.

7. Playing games with Ben's siblings til 2:00 a.m.

8. Watching Kathy try to take a bite out of her 10 lb chocolate bar.

9. Jes' mohawk.


10.Mia, Porter, and Sam all taking a bath together.(That looks funny. Mia and Porter names together. Isn't that her name?)

Photoshop Fun!

I've decided if you read our family blog without an email reminder, you have passed the test and will hereby be addressed as "Most Noble friends of the Porters". You will also be given a lifetime supply of tuna. You may leave your name in the comment section so others may know who you are and can address you appropriately.

So I have been playing around with Photoshop and have had so much fun. Here are some of my experiments:

BEFORE


AFTER


This one I just played with the colors. Aren't little bums cute?



I just absolutely love Xander's face on this. What I did here was much harder than the first picture although I was going for the same affect.

BEFORE


So this is how I got the color in this picture. I opened a color picture and used the color from that neckless and then tried to fill it in the black and white picture. Ben informed me that this was the hard way. I have learned that if I want to isolate color in a picture it is easier to use a color picture, select what I want to stay colored and then make it black and white.

AFTER


So much fun! I would just like to thank my husband Ben for opening my eyes to the world of Photoshop, my kids for taking naps and giving me some time to play with the computer, and last but not least, chocolate, for being my constant companion this holiday season!