Porter Post

One thing I learned from day one of school is that there are so. many. fundraisers. Seriously, we are hounded. Y-Ties, cookie dough, Charleston Wrap, book fairs, Chick-fil-A nights, and printing art on pillows just to name a few.  And they know how to work these kids too. "Mommy, and then they said that if I do ________, I'll get _________!" They show no mercy. I have to say that the most well-crafted of all of the fundraisers so far was the Boosterthon Fun Run. A Fun Run with a week long build up of relentless conditioning of children to ask their parents to pledge money. "And then the Boosterthon Team came in and they were the best!! They showed us this video and we're going to do good! Then they started dancing and it was funny. They gave me this bracelet and I have a very important paper for you. Mommy, it's very very very very very very important!" Cameron hops in the car in the car pick-up line, "Mom, did you see that man out there ...

Valentine's Day has always been a nice/fun holiday in my books, but after this one I think it's moved up in my holiday rankings. Really, we just celebrated being a family and loving each other all day. It was the perfect mix of relaxing and festive for us. It helped that we have been talking about love since the beginning of February because it's our focus this month (thank you Alexander's Amazing Adventures). I could tell that Valentine's Day meant more to the boys because of the build up. One thing that I can tell really lit the boys up was telling them something that I love about them every night at bed time the week leading up to V-Day. It made for sweet moments with each of them at their bedsides. More heart felt, "Mommy, I love you"'s and Benson started saying things back to me. "Mommy, I love when you read books at special time with me." Try it. Let go of the rush to be "done" with bed time and soak them in a little long...

Here's a peak into what's been happening around our house in the last month and a half or so. JACK He is our budding artist and architect. He told me that the Legos above were a gas station for the animals to go to. The other day after quiet time he was excited to show me five or six other little creations he had made from Legos. We all have to watch out when we play with the Legos because we're likely to touch spit since Jack's way of separating the little pieces is by way of his teeth.  Jack loves to color. One of his favorite activities to do with me is to open his coloring book and have me color one side while he colors the other. It's satisfying for both of us. The floor of our study is currently decorated with eight Star Wars coloring pages (which he won't stop asking me to print for him) that he was working on earlier. He drew this when we were making valentines to decorate our cabinets with. It's two Jedi battling. :) ...

I've decided that this is me: Forget the tortoise, I am the snail. And I'm cool with it. It feels pretty good to embrace snail speed. I tried so hard to push against it, but it turns out acceptance of snail speed is the first step towards tortoise speed, which I may graduate to next year. Or in 2027, I like being unpredictable that way. In the meantime, I'll be sliming along with some sun glasses on and a tall glass of ice water. Want to know what else?  Patience . Isn't that a great word? It's my word for 2017 and the reason I was able to finally embrace the snail in me. That word kept shining brightly in my mind towards the end of December when I thought more about what I wanted for the upcoming year. Dieter F. Uchtdorf  said , "Indeed, patience is a purifying process that refines understanding, deepens happiness, focuses action, and offers hope for peace." Oh man, doesn't that sound dreamy? "A purifying process," I lov...

We learned that Jayce was actually going to have Christmas off, which I really hadn't let myself even imagine and we were so grateful. We joined forces with Team Stay for a few days. This one makes me chuckle. Pictures and Terry descendants! Lucy was Baymax for the duration of our stay and it was adorable. She'd stick her arms out like that with her palms facing forward and run. If you called her Lucy she'd correct you with, "No Baymax. I'm Baymax." Ben was Hiro to her and Jayce and I both swooned for a girl. Also, Lucy let me be her friend! Cookies for Santa. Santa really appreciated them. While Jack was eating a cookie he pointed to that piece and told Rebekah, "This one's for Santa." Coming from Jack, I think Santa got a bargain. We did a nativity play Christmas Eve, but somehow I missed getting pictures! The Stay's filmed it though. I was proud of all the boys for participating, especially Jac...