Porter Post

So, we're having a boy. Good thing we love boys around here!! Cameron was more than disappointed at first. When we told the boys that there was a baby in Mommy's tummy months ago, Cameron so sweetly jumped for joy and said, "I hope it's a baby sister!!!!" Since then he has answered every, "Do you want a baby brother or a baby sister?" question with "A baby sister," and has been known to randomly say things like, "Mommy, I already have two brothers, but I don't have a baby sister yet." As if he was putting in an order or just letting me know in a round-about way what he wanted for Christmas. Welp, next time around buddy! I have to admit that I too had to put my mental "girl hope chest" back on one of the shelves of my brain for safe keeping, but I adjusted quickly and I'm really excited to meet the sweet baby boy kicking around (a lot of kicking around) in my tummy.  It's ironic that the ballerina who use...

Well, I can't post all about Thanksgiving this year and not talk about what I'm grateful for. I've written in my Thanksgiving journal already, but I wanted to put a few things on the blog for a gratitude assignment I had this month for my mom group. The assignment encouraged us to write down why we are grateful for motherhood specifically and what motherhood has given us. Here's the list I wrote last Sunday when I was brainstorming in my journal: I'm grateful that I am not in a profession where people are pitted against each other in a "dog-eat-dog world" kind of way to fight for success. I would not thrive there, it's not my element. I'm grateful that my life plan of being a mom has worked out for me. It doesn't for everyone and that's a difficulty I haven't had to face. I'm grateful that motherhood teaches me about my relationship with Heavenly Father. I'm convinced that this is one of the purposes of motherhood. I see ...

When I was a kid we'd always hang out with the Hamilton girls when we were in town. We finally got to recreate that a little bit this time around! I didn't grow up with cousins, so we used to claim these girls as our relatives instead. The boys got Henry all to themselves and it was great! Jayce went for a run around Stanford campus one morning on the left, and on the right we're in the movie theater to end all movie theaters for the Hunger Games movie.   While Uncle Ken took us to the movie, Aunt Tee watched all of the boys and even put them all to bed. Her marshmallow trick worked for James years ago and it's still her favorite go-to! I hope it lives on and that my kids grow up remembering Aunt Tee and marshmallows. :-) We went to the Magical Bridge Park with two of the Hamilton sisters and their kids. It's a park that was designed for handicap children and it's awesome. I hope these parks sprout up all over the place. Uncle Ken mad...

Another hot spot when we visit Aunt Teresa and Uncle Ken is Half Moon Bay. Now all three of our boys can say that they saw the ocean for the first time at Half Moon Bay. It was such a perfect day. I would love to live close to a beach for a few years of my life. The ocean breeze, the salty smell, the sea gulls, the sound of the waves, I love it. The boys were so entertained by the sand and going sea shell hunting. It was so sweet. Cameron was the only one who enjoyed getting his feet wet in the water though. Ben got really nervous and ran away every time it came close and Jack just kept saying,  "No, there's too much wa-tah," every time I asked him to come with me.       On the left we have Cam and his bum. I can't get this kid to not have plummer pants for some reason! Those cute little narrow hips. On the right is me and the boys walking the beach and hunting for shells.  

Thanksgiving we were in and out of watching the Macy's Parade while we made these paper bag turkeys.     I couldn't help putting up the picture of Jayce and Ben on the left. I don't know why, but Jayce is often blinking in pictures so it's kind of a running joke. Having this picture of him and Benson doing the same expression at the same time just tickled me. We also made it to the Duck Pond! I have been visiting this place since I was kid. Sadly for us, but I guess good for the birds, we can't feed the ducks anymore. I guess it's bad for the ducks and the park posted a pretty hefty fine for violators. It was still fun to walk around, play on the stumps, and get the necessary family photo with the sign. (Which they just recently changed!) I told you, it's tradition! Oh Jack. :-) For the next couple, all I can say is that it was really bright! My favorite Thanksgiving table by the hostess with the moste...

Well, we had a lot on our to-do list for this trip. We prepped the boys for the long car ride by talking about all the fun things we were going to do in California a couple of weeks pre-trip. They had a penny jar going to earn some things to do in the car too. Anything we could think of! Of the stuff that we pitched to them, the Golden Gate Bridge was what they seemed most excited about, especially Cameron.  One day in Joy School Cameron looked at his friends and said, "Guys, guess what?!" (with his hands out in front of him and a cute big grin on his face like he was about to unveil that Santa was about to come to Joy School THAT DAY.) "I'm going to walk on the Golden Gate Bridge ! It's the biggest bridge!" My heart melted. We had to do the bridge. Also, someone fact check me because I have no idea if it really is the biggest bridge. In the U.S. at least, maybe? We saw the bridge the night before when we drove in, but we drove across it for the first...