A Month Without Preschool

Sad story. Gavin's cute preschool teacher broke her ankle. It really is miserable for her. And me. :( It was my first day home alone with the baby and my mom was gone. Understandably, his teacher had to cancel preschool for the month of November. She can't get down to her basement and teach twelve 4 year old kids. But that left me with our darling G-man. He is really a great little buddy to have around and he completely ADORES Quinn. He calls her "Cutie," "Princess, " or "Quinn E Bear."
But, come on! He wants to do these amazingly creative projects all day - and he wants to start them by 7:30 am.

He created this little project with candy, graham crackers and frosting. Another day he wanted to create city buildings out of empty cereal boxes and paper. He built a boat out of wood with Kenyon. We have played with play-do. We have played every game in the closet. And you know it is really bad when he wants to do Barbie fashion-plates (one of my favorite childhood toys). He came up with some pretty great outfits. He has also practiced writing his Christmas list a thousand times (I'm not kidding).

Good news - He gets to go back to preschool on Monday. He will be so excited and so will I.

Spaseba!

That would be THANK YOU in Russian. We have been spoiled by gifts, adoring visitors, and meals. I think I need to start doing my own cooking but it has been so nice. I have to send out a special thank you to my dear ILP friends. I taught English in Russia (Fall '95) with the greatest group of girls. The whole experience was a amazing (crazy, scary, fun, hard, cold, etc). A major part of the Russian experience - at least for us - was FOOD. And it wasn't always a good experience. I mostly hated the food but somehow that didn't stop me from coming home a good 15lbs heavier. I think it was all the nutella and bread we shoved in our faces. It was our way getting through the whole thing. My Russian mother would grab my cheeks to see if I was getting fat enough. To her - it was a sign that she had treated me well. A little too well. I have some pretty choice pictures of these amazing girls but they aren't digital and I currently don't have a working scanner. It is probably better that way. But, I am so grateful to them. They have organized meals (from Idaho), cooked amazing dinners, drove a ways to deliver them. Spaseba! Let's get together soon. December?

Different Subject: Craziness. I am one of those seriously crazy people who went to see Twilight at midnight. Who does that? The movie isn't going anywhere anytime soon. The District sold out all 20 theaters. All the showings started at midnight. That means there were about 4000 crazy females in one place. Aghhh! I am not a big fan of crowds of crazy woman. It probably is the easiest time for me to leave the house but it is also about the only sleep I am getting. And I gave it up! It was fun and I thought the movie was good. I am sure critic will rip it up. It certainly has some problems but as a Twilight fan - I was happy. I am too tired and brain dead to write a decent review but my die-hard Twilight friend, Andrea, wrote a great review. I thought the same thing, so I will call it my review too. :) Thanks to my niece, Annie, for getting us the tickets. And super thanks to Jen and her girls for going with me. (I think I said crazy too many times. I need to go to bed.)

Death By

...Haircuts and Socks. What? I know. My kids are extra sensitive or something. Both the boys were sure that they were just going to DIE during their haircuts today (Kenyon cuts their hair). We had a song playing about Joseph Smith and his trials and Teague told us that he thought his life was just as hard. PLEASE! Clearly he doesn't know what a hard life is. Then it was time to put socks on for church and once again - the boys were sure that death was imminent because the socks just didn't feel right. Sadly, my mom told us that they got this lovely quality from me. I am happy to say that I am no longer like that (I hope!) but apparently I struggled with these issues as a kid. So, I will try to be patient with my kids. It certainly makes our home interesting.

Meanwhile, we all LOVE Quinn. She is changing every day. Her hair is out of control. I don't really know how to manage it but it gives her character (right?). Tomorrow is her 2 week check-up.

My Mom is the best!

I really don't think I could have a baby if my mom couldn't be in town. She was a life saver. She always steps in to help in anyway. She got up every morning with the kids and managed their crazy schedules. Plus she cooks, cleans, and does whatever needs to be done. When she leaves it is always a little overwhelming for me. I always have that feeling like - "wait - you are the mom. you can't leave me with all these kids by myself." Oh well. She does have her own life and I seem to manage (with a few tears here and there). I am so grateful for such a great mom.

Quinn is officially one week old today. I can't really believe it. She watched her first BYU football game this weekend. She has been loved to pieces by so many. We have been spoiled.


This morning when I woke up at 6:45 to help the kids get off to school, I looked out the window and found that someone thought it would be funny to toilet paper our front yard. I am in way too hormonal a state to think it was funny. Plus it was raining. What a mess. I don't know if it was random or someone is just mean but I really didn't think it was funny. Thankfully - some good neighbors cleaned it up for me. Thank you!!!

Anyway - that is our update for now. Nothing new to report on Kenyon. He continues to do pretty well.

More of Quinn

Gavin has finally warmed up to having a little baby. He has always been excited but a little nervous to get to close. Now he loves holding her. We all do. She is such a sweet, little baby.

Announcing...

Quinn Evaline Porter! She was born at 3:14 today. She is our heaviest and shortest baby - 7lbs 15 oz and 20 1/2 inches. We love her. It was a really lousy delivery. I had 4 epidurals - the first 3 didn't work and finally when I reached 10 cm, the anesthesiologist was able to get the epidural to work. But, otherwise it was a pretty good delivery. We are so grateful that she is healthy and here. The kids can't wait for us to bring her home. They were very interested in giving her a bath and getting her dressed. That will come with time. I am going to try and get a little peace and maybe some sleep before we come home.