Gingerbread

This holiday season because Owen is getting to a fun age where we can do more we have been trying to add some more fun and serious into Christmas. This is going to be our first Christmas staying a home to open presents and Owen is already excited, which makes me excited because the last 2 years he has been to little to understand presents and wrapping paper. He has helped me wrap presents, he is in charge of the tape so there are always a few extra pieces here and there.

We decorated a Gingerbread house. It was my first time and Owens as well. It went so much better then I imagined it. For $10 we had a wonderful family evening. Owen actually wanted to decorate and he would tell me where things were going to go. He only licked his fingers and when a candy wouldn't stick where he wanted it to he would lick it and try again. Here is the finished product.

It was loads of fun. We have also started reading scriptures as a family with the Family Book of Mormon from Deseret Book. Owen loves the pictures and it breaks down the chapters into easy to handle sections for the kids. Every night before we go to bed Owen gets excited to get the story, which weighs so much that it's funny to see him carry it. After we read its time to say prayers and he doesn't understand why Lily gets to play and he has to fold him arms and be good. I hope that the little things we do now stick for the long run.

Snow

Growing up in California we didn't have many chances for snow days so it's fun to see Owen loving it so much. He used to walk outside look at it and then go in but now that we've pulled out the snow gear he's been making bum prints and digging in it. We can only go out when Lily is taking a nap because she is against the whole idea of cold but its fun because that is a fun alone time with Owen.

Here we go again. . .

My goal for this month was to blog more to keep everyone up to date but well sickness overcame the Porterhouse after Thanksgiving and I have been covered in snot for days now. Owen I finally getting better, Lily was wheezing yesterday but it's gone today and I finally got a chance to sleep mine off the last 2 days and feel so much better.

Lily is getting so much better at crawling and Owen has realized that she can get to everything and is trying to find a place where he can play without her. She won't have it and has developed a whine when he runs away from her. It's kind of funny to watch.

This years Christmas card wasn't going to have a picture due to the colds but we were playing in front of the tree the other night and I got the best picture of Owen and Lily so it had to be the Christmas card picture. Thank you photo shop because I was able to edit out the glistening snot from under their noses. The first few made it out today and hopefully I will gather the rest of the addresses soon.

Merry December!!!!

Thanksgiving

Well, Thanksgiving has come and gone and it was very thrilling. Lily now has her bottom teeth after what seems like years of waiting. And with those teeth came the ability to army crawl. She is finally on the move. She is still quite frustrated with the fact that it isn't efficient but she on her way.

As those who were with us saw potty training went on pause for Thanksgiving but the second we were home again we were in full swing he hasn't had any accidents since Grandma Porters house. We even had a breakthrough this morning Owen woke up at 6:30 am went to the bathroom and went back to bed until almost 7:30! I was so excited.

As every Porter family gathering goes my kids came home with colds and Lily is miserable. She barely slept last night which meant we barely slept last night. And since the FDA says that babies don't benefit from cold medicine and parents overdosed and killed there kids there is really nothing I can do for her which is very annoying. Hopefully she gets better soon.

Oh and we did go day after Thanksgiving shopping there were no deaths at the Walmart we were at but people were crazy enough to break the glass case housing the video games.

Best buds

We don't know why they love to play with each other they fight over every toy, chair, snack imaginable but they love each other.

Back on track

I finally started scrapping again after a long pause. I overloaded myself last time and now here we are. I started this page and then realize how late it was closed it without saving and I was so mad because i had edited pictures and everything and didn't save a thing. So I started it again and the page was the wrong size so here is the third draft of Lily.

Isn't she so cute. She could be in the worst mood and then you put her in water and she is all smiles.

Success!!!!

I know everyone wants to know this we went to Walmart today and it was so scary Owen didn't wear a diaper. While going through the store he said potty so I went as fast as I could to the bathroom expecting Owen to be a mess and he wasn't he held it until he was on the potty!!! I was so excited and he was clapping for himself and the other women in the bathroom clapped and said Good job he was so proud.

Now if anyone has any advice for nap time and bed time that's our new issue. Every time he gets into bed he has to go potty we go nothing happens, we do this 3 times and then finally I make him go to bed and he immediately wets the bed. ADVICE PLEASE!!!

Lily's 9 months

Today Lily is officially 9 months old. I can't believe it. It seems like yesterday she was born, she can only be a few months at most. But she's so cute and a joy and blessing in our lives. Even for Owen she is important. He hates to hear her cry. He's the first one there to check on her when she wakes up. Whenever we leave the house he stays by sister until someone gets her. Owen also wants so much to help take care of her. If he has a snack Lily (Lay-e in Owen speak) needs one to. It's so cute and frusterating at the same time because yesterday we had some cheese and Owen had a stick and Lily had little cubes, of course Lily dropped half of her cubes and Owen wanted her to have some more so he gave her his stick and she tried her darndest to eat it but when I came over to check on her she had it shoved in the side of her mouth and she was trying to eat around it.

We had her 9 month check up today and she is 28 inches tall and 20 pounds of pure cuteness. We talked to the doctor about the lactose problem and he told us that with luck it will pass we just need to try dairy every once in a while so she can have exposure to it but she still needs the lactose-free formula. When she gets closer to a year we have to start adding milk little by little to her bottles and see how it goes from there. Hopefully we won't encounter many more problems. Otherwise she is healthy and doing great.

New Layout

As you can tell I was so ready for Halloween to be over. I tried to be all artsy with my new layout but well its almost there. We are still pulling ourselves together since my parents left. Lily has made it difficult with her ever constant yelling. She is the loudest baby ever right now, I love her but I'm awake right now because of the peace that is in my house. I just know she is going to wake up at 6 again and throw me off.

I'm so excited for Christmas this year. Owen is finally getting old enough to know what's going on and we actually have the ability to get stuff which is new. Of course it's so hard to get something for Chet under the tree because either he buys it or he knows I bought it. I was going to get a monitor for our computer because we have been using a hand me down one which was probably one of the original monitors in existence but my dad used it once and got fed up (so what if the color changes if you bump the desk or its so small that web pages don't properly load or Chet favorite it's technology was so old that it didn't support the images from new programs) and went out and bought us one and said Merry Christmas. Now I have to think of a new thing for Chet that I can actually pick out myself. And with his fishing, hunting, camping hobbies I am at a loss (which is probably what he thinks when I make him go into craft stores with me:)). Well it's past my dead line to go to sleep so type at you all later.

Happy Halloween

Well for Halloween we went got Lily and Owen dressed up as Tinkerbell and Peter Pan with all sorts of layers underneath.

We took pictures with dad before he left for work. Ironically we were all wearing green for the occasion. Lily is in a bad mood because she is teething. Owen was a trooper with teeth he'd get 2 at a time a not even make a fuss, Lily's life is ending. She yells if you look at her wrong. I just want the teeth to come in.

We met up with Gene and Lisa so Owen and Cole could Trick or Treat together. Owen was all for everything loved going to all the houses, up to all the people. Cole wanted to eat the candy, and the wrappers. By the end he was in the stroller just holding out his elmo bucket and Owen was still running around holding up his bag that weighed to much for him to carry.