Horse Whisperer

This little baby is such a horse whisperer. 
He loves all animals, and gets so excited when he sees anything that even resembles one, but his favorite are horses.
He is so funny with them, Chad will reach out his hand, and talk quietly and softly to them to get them to come to him, and Porter totally mimicks him. 
Sticks his hand out, babbles quietly to them and pets them gently.
They love him.

"Where'd that Topher go?"

Conversation between Chad and Topher, Saturday morning.

Topher: Dad, what do you want to be when you grow up?

Dad: I want to work in medicine.

Topher: (giggling) No, dad, what do you really want to be when you grow up?

Dad: That is really what I want to do buddy, work in medicine, and work in a hospital.

Topher: Oh. Ask me what I want to be when I grow up.

Dad: Okay , what do you want to be when you grow up?

Topher: A pumpkin!!!

After, Chad related this story to me, while Topher was in ear shot, he came up to me all excited. The conversation that followed, cracked me up.

Mom: So you want to be a pumpkin huh pal? That's awesome!

Topher: Yeah, totally awesome! When bad guys come, I can turn into a pumpkin, and they will say, "Hey where'd that Topher go?" and the other bad guys will say, "I don't know....Hey! I think he turned into a pumpkin!"

Then he laughed a good jolly pumpkin laugh.

Porter has been breakin the mold since the day he was born. 
What I mean is, that Bekah and Topher were so similar in their milestones and everything else, that Porter sometimes seems alien to me.

First of all Bekah was born 4 days late-Topher 5 days late.
Porter decided to come 5 weeks early. Making him the first kid that had to stay in the hospital for any extended amount of time, and the only child that wasn't monster sized at birth (still 6 pounds at 5 weeks early, but it made for a much nicer recovery than the 9.5 of Christopher).

Then there was bottle feeding. Bekah would take a pumped bottle occasionally if she was starving and I wasn't around, but it was difficult. Never formula though. Christopher wouldn't touch a bottle, binky or anything in the fake plastic nipple form. Both nursed until they were 14 months, and I had to wean them through painstaking measures on both ends.
Porter had to take a bottle being born so early, he nursed after the first week or so pretty good, but was never a great nurser like the other two. He was too busy, and was much happier with a bottle, and I had to fight to keep him nursing until 9 months when we finally both just threw our hands in the air and said that's enough!

Bekah loved and still would love to sleep with us. Topher is the worlds best cuddler and would love nothing more than to cuddle with mom and dad every night.
Porter HATES sleeping with us. He tosses and turns and fusses and acts like he just can't get comfortable and makes everyone in the bed miserable. He welcomes his crib with open arms and gives you a happy little binky faced smile when you say night night and walk out of the room.

Next Bekah started walking at 9 months old. Not just a few steps, but walking. Topher was walking and running around at 10 months. 
Porter is now 13 months and still flat out refuses. He has taken one or two steps to get to the next thing to climb, but that's it. 
That's another thing. Bekah and Topher never started climbing up stuff until they were much older. This kid will climb anything and everything. I have found him on counters, high beds and on the back of the couch. He has learned what a stool, overturned bucket or a few strategically placed pillows can do for him, and utilizes whatever is handy.

Finally, Bekah and Topher have never been sick enough to require antibiotics. Not once. Topher for the first time, might need them this week-but he is 3 years old. I feel very lucky to have such healthy kids.

Porter once again decides to take a different path. I took him to the doctor 2 days ago and found he has infections in both ears and both eyes. Heavy antibiotic treatment required. This was one mold I wanted to stay in tact.

Still smiling and happy though, that is one thing that they all have in common. My kids have awesome temperments for the most part. Hopefully no one breaks this mold!

When Grandma comes for a visit...

I feel like I am the luckiest girl when it comes to Mother-in-laws. Mona is the sweetest little saint of a woman, the grandkids adore her, and we all look up to her so much. Chad unfortunately has to work a lot, so while she was here I took her and my adorable niece Asha out for some little 'outings'.
We of course had to go to the nearest temple, just to walk around.
I was glad to go see it, I haven't been to it, it's about 2 hours away and to go, I would have to leave my kids ALL day, which I am just barely getting to the point where I might feel comfortable leaving Porter for that long.We spent the day in Ashland one day, walking around and eating treats, and playing at an awesome park. Mona had her camera, and so I didn't bother taking out my big camera for anything but the temple-and then I forgot to get the pictures off of her camera before she went home.
The best part of the trip though, was the chance my kids got to spend with her. They have lived in Oregon most if not all of their lives, so the only chance they get to see her is when we go visit, and then she has all her other grandkids around and errands to run etc... It was nice to have her all to ourselves. Even Porter who is not a cuddler at all, except on the rare occasion with me cuddled up with Grandma and didn't move while she sang to him all the little songs she has in her repertoire.
We love and miss our Grandma Mona so much! Come back soon!

My kid can fly. He enjoys it. Topher also enjoys this. Bekah would kick you in the eye repeatedly if you tried to do this to her. Looking at this picture right here, makes me understand why. In other news that makes a mom cringe... I am leaving for girls camp for a week bright and early in the morning. I am going to not be able to cuddle my babies for 6 days. I might go insane. Stay tuned next week for more scary pictures....me covered from head to toe in dirt, and mosquito bites helping a bunch of teenage drama queens modge podge some frames, and paint some blocks. I know you're jealous.

Spelunkin'

This last Friday, Chad was able to hang out with us for a bit, so we went to the lava beds and went cave exploring. The kids had a ton of fun with their flashlights and being able to go at their own pace and really explore, it was a fun afternoon.
Here they are going down into the depths of one of the caves... ...and here they are in the depths...speaking of depths,look at how blue my McDreamy's eyes are...he is so adorable in every way.

Here they all are right before we were going into a cave, I don't remember why the kids were making frowny faces, just being silly I guess.

We would have stayed longer, but we had to get going to go feed the horses that Chad was taking care of for the day, we will definately have to go back again. It was a good time for all of the kids-and that my friends is a rare, rare thing these days.

We were in Portland this last weekend for a couple days. On Friday we took Zachary to Harry Potter for his birthday and then we went on a little trip to Target. 2 things- First: I miss and love you Target! You smell like dreams! (Only a select few might get that reference....) Second: Has anyone else seen the recent installment of Harry Potter, a little dark for a PG rating no? Is it just me?Then that night my mom took all of us to a nickel arcade and Bekah and Ryeleigh cleaned out the place. Ryeleigh won the jackpot on that ticket thing they have at all the Chuck E Cheese type places. Then Bekah has a hidden talent I never knew about...she rocks at the claw! She was able to win herself 3 stuffed animals and a ball. She is a rock star! Then we all went and saw Monsters vs Aliens in their cheap theatre. That was a funny movie, and none of us had seen it yet-so that was a bonus. Saturday morning we took the kids to the airport and it was bittersweet. It's always sad to see them go, but they were really excited to get home to see their mom, and pretty soon their new baby sister, she will be born any day now.Then Chad and Tyler went to the movie (again) while my mom, Tabitha, the kids and I went to IKEA. Yeah! Always the highlight for me. This time there was a damper on my high though. Topher was so excited about going in the play area, and since he is 3 and potty trained and all, I was all for letting him go play so I could enjoy my shopping that much more. Well I get him and Bekah all signed in, they are all excited and then the lady has him stand against this ruler. Then she tells me he is too short. What is there some dangerous kind of ride in there? Nope-them is just the rules. Topher is short for his age-heck he is short for a 2 year olds age. I thought it was completely discriminatory that just because he is short he can't play. So then I had to bring both of them with me, which was fine, they did fine, but they were upset, and I could have had a lot more fun shopping with them actually happy about being there. Anyway so that's my IKEA rant. I still heart you IKEA and your fantastic prices on all the wonderful goodness you supply...but please don't discriminate against short kids. It's not their fault-it's in their genes!That night we had a salmon bbq with some of my moms friends and had a lot of fun conversation, and then I had to get to work on school stuff. I'm in the last week of my first two classes! Time flies doesn't it?Sunday we made our way to the rhododendron gardens before we headed out to feed the ducks and the geese. That is where all these pictures are from.It was really beautiful and being able to spend a little extra time with my family was great.One thing Chad and I realized though while we were there is, there is no place like home. One time our home was Portland, and we loved it there, and still hold a special place for it in our hearts-the zoo, OMSI, IKEA, all the beautiful Targets, all the fun shopping, Sunny Hans, all the other fun and wonderful restaurants, and our friends and family that are there. We know though, that Klamath Falls is where we are supposed to be, at least right now. We love it, and wouldn't trade all of our wide open spaces for the nicest house in the little crammed in neighborhood, that used to be the neighborhood of our dreams. Funny how perspective changes, depending on where you are in your lives, huh?

Well they are officially gone. We drove the kids to Portland this weekend and dropped them off at the airport. Zachary is now old enough, that we didn't even have to escort them to the gate. They are getting so grown up! Since we weren't going to the gate, (and so I didn't have to lug my big old camera and Porter around) we took these pictures by the car. This summer was a lot of fun with them here. There was rarely a day that we weren't swimming at the pool or the lake or playing at a park or the library. The kids are getting to the ages where they are actually fun to play games with and have (sometimes) more grown up conversation. We were able to joke around more with one another and enjoy ourselves more than in the past. They didn't fight with one another hardly at all, (as for Ryeleigh fighting with Bekah...that's a different story). I think it was a success! We miss you guys already, and can't wait till next year!

The Resemblance is uncanny

Christopher drew this picture... of me.... obviously.

Oh Beautiful

Our fourth was so much fun. I love this holiday, for everything it represents, for the hot weather, the parades, the bbq's, the fireworks. This year though my favorite thing was how much this one was really into it.She has had a slight obsession with "the American flag" lately. She gets so excited to see them, draw them, wave them and read about them. Her enthusiasm was contagious and really made this a fourth I will remember for a long long time. Waving their flags...

This All-American will be one on the seventh...too soon!

Hope everyone else had a patriotic heart and a safe holiday!