My Little Trooper

Porter has always been a tough kid. Thursday he went in to hospital get his tonsils taken out. He has been getting a lot of ear infections lately, so we are hoping this can help. When I explained to him what was going to happen, and that he was going to have to eat ice cream, popcicles, yogurt, etc. for 2 weeks he ran around doing his happy dance! He has had such a good attitude about it. We took him in at 8:30 Thursday morning. They took him to get prepped right away. Because he has VonWillebrands (a blood clotting disorder) they had to put his IV in before the surgery to give him some meds to help his blood clot normally. He was nervous about it, so they gave him a seditive and numbing cream. The nurse was so great with him.

The surgery went well, with no complications. Because of the VonWillebrands, they kept him 3 days in the hospital to monitor his bleeding. Rob spent the days with him, and I took the night shift. He spent most of his time during the day playing games on Rob's tablet. When I came in with the boys to trade out with Rob, I think they were a little jealous!

Porter never complained when he was in pain. You could tell when he was hurting when he wouldn't talk. Rob got him a clip board, so he could point out his commonly used words instead of saying them.

These are the things that Porter came up with that were important to tell his dad:

Dad

No

Yes

Nap

Love you Dad

No kissis

Hug

I fartid

TV 

Every nurse that came in got a good laugh!

We missed having Porter around the house. It was too quiet without him. On our way to pick him up yesterday, I asked Ethan what he missed about him. He was really embarrassed to talk about it. I had to bribe him with a piece of gum to tell me.

Finally he says,

"You know how when we watch shows together and I like to talk about the funny parts? I caught myself about to tell him something, when I realized he wasn't there." 

I thought that was so sweet. He just missed hanging out with him.

Porter finally got to come home yesterday. We celebrated having our family back together and went to the drive in. It was perfect for him. He was able to lay down in the back of the car and enjoy the movie with us. We are so glad to have him home!

Super Monster

Ethan spent all day making his own puppet.

Meet, Super Monster! 

Every detail had to be just right. He had a belt with his initials on it, and he had to have a cape! Ethan says that he has an "E" on his cape because he is evil.

Then he showed me how he flies.

 He insisted that he was not in the photo of Super Monster flying because "Only babies fly toys around." :)

Bryson's 5 months!

My little man is growing up too fast! He just turned 5 months, so that meant it was time to try out some rice cereal! He ate that stuff like a pro, and loved it!

He maybe loved it a bit too much. He kept grabbing the spoon, trying to feed himself.

He kept trying to suck on his toes in between bites too, so by the end of the feeding, he had it everywhere!

We love this little guy so much. He probably gets more attention than he wants, with all his brothers fighting over him! He's starting to get more mobile. Along with rolling everywhere, he's learned to scoot himself a bit, so it won't be long before we need to do some serious baby proofing! 

Porter's Birthday

Porter's birthday was Thursday. We celebrated Saturday at my parents house. Along with family our good friends the Jacklins and Lindahls came too. His birthday party has become the highlight of the summer. I can't believe this boy's six already!

Porter decided on a pirate party this year. We had so much fun with it. When I asked him if he would prefer a pirate ship cake or a treasure chest cake, it didn't take long for him to decide!

I wonder why?! :)

I found some awesome pirate accessories. It was hilarious to see everyone wearing them.

Especially going down the slide in their pirate gear!

The water slide is always a big hit. This year there were a few new tricks tried out. Hannah tried to surf down Bryan's back...

It didn't go as well when Bryan tried it on Rob's back, but we all got a good laugh!

 Some other good moves...

After some play time and lunch, it was time for cake...

 

 ...the pinata...

...and presents!

 Bryson enjoyed getting a lot of attention, and got a lot of love from my brother and soon to be daddy. 

The rest of the day we just hung out in the pool .

We were having so much fun that we didn't realize until it started getting dark that everyone forgot about dinner. Oops.

We love Porter and are glad we got to celebrate him.

Porter Fun Facts:

Favorite food: Cinnamon Rolls

Favorite color: Gold

Favorite game: Skip-bo (probably because he always wins!)

Luckiest kid I know.

Wants to be a spy when he grows up.

He is a ball of energy! When he plays the kinect he jumps the whole time...even if he's not supposed to. He even jumps watching someone else play! 

Is very thoughtful. Part of the reason he chose the treasure chest cake was because he knew that Ethan doesn't like cake, and that he would be able to eat the candy.

He loves to learn.

Has learned to read, and enjoys a good book.

I'm So Lucky...

...To be the mom of these boys!

Sometimes I need to remind myself! :)

4th of July

We started celebrating the 4th early on Sunday when we got out the sparklers for the kids. It was the first time they had played with them, and they loved it.

Then Wednesday we went down to San Diego for a few days. We stopped at the Mormon Battalion historical site first. The boys loved it. They especially loved panning for gold.

 There was a tower with binoculars that you could look out too. Ethan took this picture of us at the top. 

After we were done there we drove over to our hotel and realized that it was only a few blocks away. We were right next to old town, so after we settled in, we walked from our hotel to check stuff out. There was a lot of fun little shops to look through, but the boys weren't too interested. Instead they wanted to climb everything in sight! It cracked me up to watch them "help" each other up these big beams!

Then they found a great tree to climb.

After getting some dinner, we walked around some more shops and got a tip of where we could see some fireworks. So we hiked up a nearby hill and were lined up to see the fireworks at Seaworld when we heard loud booms to our left that lit up the sky. We instantly though there was a much better show that we were missing, so we headed that direction. By the time we got to where we could see what was going on, all that was left was smoke. All the fireworks from the bay went off all at the same time. Big mistake! Luckily we could still see the other fireworks from our new location.

The next day we went to the beach. It had been a while since we had been, so the boys were so excited! Even though it was cold the boys were in heaven. I had got them some new beach tools for digging, and they spent the first hour digging up the whole beach while Dad went out and tested out the new boogie board.

Porter found an enormous pile of seaweed. He really wanted to throw it at somebody, but it was so heavy that he could barely drag it.

Ethan wanted to be buried in the sand like a "mermaid man". LOL. He was happy...

 ...until Dad got him with some seaweed!

After we were done with Ethan, Porter wanted a turn. He had been rolling in the sand all day, and it was caked on his chest. It made him look like he had chest hair. Rob and I couldn't stop laughing!

Rob got the boys on the boogie board and they loved it until they got tumbled in a wave and were done.

 Ethan loved jumping the waves with Rob. They were so cute out there together.

 Lincoln didn't care for getting in the water. He spent most of the day hanging out with me watching his big brothers.

Bryson spent the day sleeping in a little tent we bought for him. I'm so glad we brought it. With the wind and cold, he would have been miserable without it!

After we were done at the beach, we went back to the hotel and swam in the pool some more, and then settled in for the night.

Friday we stopped at the San Diego temple on our way home. A sweet little man on his way in offered to take our picture for us. I love how it turned out.

I love quick little getaways to recharge!