Kitties vs. Kiddies

About a month ago, I took the kids to work and they met the Head of Academics.  As I was trying to hold a professional conversation with him, Emma Rose and Porter explored his neat and calculated office with wide-eyed wonder.  "They remind me of my 2 new kittens," he said.  As I'm watching Daisy & Duke interact and explore their new world, I completely agree with his description.  Daisy and Duke took almost a week, but they are now the best of friends.  They still fight and spit (for fun) and Duke tries to keep up with Daisy, so agile and fast, but he's still clumsy and hasn't nearly grown into his oversized paws.  They are SOOO curious and mischievous, so sweet and cuddly --- on their terms.

Porter got a new bike for his birthday, and he is SO proud and excited.  The day after he got it, he rode a mile to get frozen yogurt and all the way back without stopping!

Emma Rose couldn't want to be more like him.  She immediately grabbed his old helmet, put it on backwards and attempted to ride the neighbor's old, too-big tricycle.

They are still, nonetheless, their own person.  Emma Rose is getting more and more girly all the time.  She ALWAYS wants a bow in her hair, and was very proud of her new hair cut!

Porter is as boy as you can get. I love this picture almost as much as he loves watermelon! (He had about 12 slices at his cousin, Haley's, 1st birthday party.

After her birthday party, Porter's birthday party, and Haley's, Emma Rose is obsessed with "Butt-days." Every morning she wakes up and announces, "It my Butt-day!" Or she sees balloons at the grocery store and says, "Can I have one? It my Butt-day!" Her face says it all regarding her excitement at Haley's party:

Here's a cute pic of some kids at the birthday party:

And 2 siblings who long overcame their own cat-fight days:

(Love you, Jenny!!!)

It seems that every day, the kids are playing together better and better.  Here are a few pictures of our adventures over the past week:

I love this picture - it shows how much she admires and wants to be like her big brother:

Just like the kitties, Emma Rose & Porter are learning to love each other, and it makes my heart melt the same way a picture of two cuddling kitties does.

"Bob the Builder, Can You Fix It? Bob the Builder, Yes You Can!"

Porter wanted a "Bob the Builder" party with his favorite little friends for his 4th birthday party celebration this year.

Ironically, Corey started demo-ing the front yard a few weeks before the party and has been working so many hours that we decided to embrace Bob the Builder's "Yes You Can!!!" mantra and give Porter's friends a true taste of Bob the Builder's work as they entered the party.  

We had lots of fun activities for the kids, from "Pin the tool on Bob's belt" to tool tattoos to a construction worker pinata.  I think the kids most enjoyed "fixing" Bob's house with the toy tools.

The food was fun too.  We had Bob the Builder cake pops (Thank you to the amazing Natalie's Cakepops) and tool cookies (I will NEVER make these labor-intensive things again, though they did turn out pretty cute...)

Porter has been wearing this silly construction hat since the big day, and carrying his tools all over the place.  He LOVED his party!

We are so lucky to have so many fun friends nearby!  Porter loves each and every one of them!

Happy Birthday Porter!  Can you make me smile? Yes you can!!!

Happy Birthday Porter!!!

Porter is 4.  I can't believe it and I can... The boy towers over a number of 6-year-olds, and he talks like a 30-year-old, but he's sweet and emotional like... a 4-year-old.  I love him.  I'm proud of him.  He is such a blessing from God...

Because of the local wildfires and all the smoke in the air, I had Porter divert to his 2nd choice of birthday activities today, so rather than going to the zoo, we spent the morning at Monkey Business (followed by an evening of Mac 'n' Cheese Bites at Parry's!)

For weeks (maybe even months) Porter has been asking God, in his prayers, for a crane truck, a snow plow truck and a bike.  He was so excited to open his presents.  When he opened his crane truck, he was exstatic (as was Emma Rose.)  I asked him who he should say thank you to for his new truck.  "God!!!" he shouted.

He was so excited that he didn't even want to eat his birthday ice cream (this is a first, for sure...)

Porter, I love you and have had such a great journey over the past 4 years.  As always, I have written you a letter to let you know what you've mean to me this year.  Here is a part of it:

To my smart, sweet and energetic boy,

You are 4 years old today, and so full of life and wonder at how the world around you works.  I have so enjoyed watching you grow into the little man you are - deep inside of you is an old soul who is committed to doing what is right and making sense of how it all works.  How you make me laugh with your hysterical questions and determination.  While this year was definitely a challenge as you explored your independence and often put me into tears, I have absolutely cried laughing over your 30-year-old vocabulary and quick whit.  Some of my favorite stories & quotes from you this year include: 

“Mommy, is Axl gonna fall out of heaven?” 

Upon telling you to thank God for your toys, “Mom, I’m pretty sure my toys came from the toy store,” 

“Dear Jesus, please help me to have enough money saved up to buy a snow plow,” 

At Target, so loud in front of a slew of construction workers and everyday shoppers,: “Mom!!! Is one of those men my daddy?” 

“Hey James, who made your bike? My bike was made in China,”

“Mom, this is terribly horrible...”

“I don’t want to be a doctor like Papa.  I wanna be a concrete mixer like my dad!”

And my favorite, after I was so frustrated from you and Emma Rose fighting over Christmas toys that I sat you down in front of my new iPad 
   to show you videos of starving, clothe-less children in India, “Mom! I have an idea: Why don’t we give those kids with nothing your new
   iPad!!!”  

You are also extremely diplomatic.  If I ever ask you who is the prettiest, or who/what you like the best, you always smile and say, “I love 

   everyone!”  

I have to tell you that while you make me laugh, I am SO proud of how much you have worked to be a good, sweet and kind boy.  You know what is right and, especially in the last 2 months, you have really worked at choosing right.  I love how you have worked to share your toys with your sister, to play with her, and to teach and show her what is good.  I love that you tell your daddy and me how much you love us and your baby sister.  You really are a kind boy - even your preschool teacher told me that while she has a number of rambunctious boys (including “Bad Luke,” who you often reported about), you rarely are caught in the middle of acting out; rather, you step in, and set everyone right before going back to playing on your own.

You have grown up so much this year.  You no longer wear pull-ups at night, you started preschool, your vocabulary is immense, and you’ve learned to ride and balance on your strider bike like a maniac!  This year, your cousin Haley was born, we took you to San Diego to visit Uncle Bryce & Aunt Julia, and you took a big trip with us to New York where you walked miles all over that city - and loved it!

...

We also had to say goodbye to Axl & Fiona, who you often tell us you miss, and even believe that “God’s just borrowing them for a little bit.”  However, we did get a new kitty, Daisy, this year, who you and your sister love to terrorize.  

Some of your favorite friends this year have been the neighbors, James, Ryan and Haley, and you have 2 “girlfriends,” Caitlyn, from preschool, and Brooke, one of mommy’s students.  You LOVE to play hide-and-seek with mommy, and “grown ups” with your sister (you two love to play “Corey and Jackie” - you are Corey and you’re often calling Rick to have him come and help you with jobs that Jackie has for you, and Jackie is usually tending to her babydoll, “Haley.”  While you still love to put train tracks together, your favorite toys are your Bruder construction trucks - especially the snow plow.  You ADORE your dad and want to be just like him. You love to dance to songs like Macklemore’s “Thriftshop,” Bruno Mars’ “Paradise,” and “Hey Ho” by the Lumineers.  Something that has made us laugh and laugh is your “Rodney Dangerfield” face that you make as you say, “I get no respect!”

Porter, thank you for being my son.  Like you often tell me, I love you all the way to the moon and back.  I pray that you will never cease to wonder at the world, that you will be exactly who God made you to be, that you will ever know that you are loved, and that you love and honor Jesus.

Happy Birthday Porter!

Love, 

Mommy

Where did May go???

 I can't believe May has already come and gone.  The kids are getting so big.  Porter's "terrible 3" days are nearly over (though Emma Rose is in the height of "sassy-2's") and it's been so fun to watch them become closer and closer friends who adore each other about 75% of the time...

Emma Rose is pure personality on wheels.  She sings all the time ("You are my sunshine" is her personal favorite; and, cute story: the other morning she crawled in bed with me at about 5 am and was stroking my face.  "I love you," I told her, to which she responded, "Why, mama? Cuz I your sunshine, make you happy?"), and she dances to her own tune.

I love this picture - we took a long bike ride up to the Highlands on Mother's Day, and the kids fought for a good hour of the ride before finally comforting each other and singing to each other.  This is how we found them at the end of the ride:

Porter continues to be a little ladies' man.  This is his preschool girlfriend, Caitlyn (Erin and Stella were his other 2, but he says that Caitlyn is his REAL girlfriend).

Porter finished his first year of preschool with a field day that started with circle-time, and then led to sidewalk chalk, tug-of-war, and hop scotch.  He didn't like the bean-bag toss though; in fact, when we were talking about fun activities to play for his upcoming birthday, he told me, "Mom, I don't want to have a bean bag toss because I'm not very good at it."

Emma Rose HAD to help Porter with the artistic stuff, of course...

We also got a new kitten, Daisy.  She is a sweet, wild little girl, tortured by the kids but quickly worming her fuzzy little way into my soul. 

Of course May brought tons of fun in the sun.  The kids would sleep outside if they could!

"Baby Haley" joined the kids for a day outside in the sun.  Since then, Porter and Emma Rose have been playing grown-ups, and Porter is "Corey" and he always has to do a ton of construction jobs to do for "Jackie" (Emma Rose), and of course Jackie has to take care of her baby doll, "Haley."

Since Porter left his strider bike under the wheel of Corey's truck, we've been talking about getting him a bigger bike, and he's had to become really innovative about how he plays outside since he no longer has the rush of going 90 miles an hour on that thing.  So he pulls trucks and other things so he can do his construction jobs.

We took Porter bike shopping the other day, and Emma Rose ran off and found her own helmet and bike and kept on saying, "Look me!!! I cool!!!  Look me!!!  I cute." Yes you are...

My first official day of summer started on June 5.  The kids and I went to the zoo:

I'm so happy summer is here and that the kids are at such a fun age!