Two years of Pictures.

This post was promised back on Simon's Birthday.  Here it is.  Two years of Simon

The Promised Pictures

April 3 2008, He waited for daddy to get home to Utah, then said "Look Out World, Here I Come!!!"

Micheline Baby

Look at that baby chub

Patriotic Boys

Grandma tastes nice and fourth of July-ie

 Being read by big brother

 Ha!  Stole one of big brother's fishies.

 This grin will stop anything.  This was the first picture where I, on the other side of the world, started to see a personality in him.  He was more than just a baby.

 And this is when I got to meet and get to know him.  I'd been there for his birth, but had to leave the day we brought him home from the Hospital.

Playing with Christmas toys.

 Daddy is Home from War

 1 Year Old.

 Oooooooh  Look at all the water!

 Chillin at Bear Lake

Playing in Bear Lake

Simon really enjoyed the miniature golf course at Cherry Hill

Still just learning to walk while camping at Cherry Hill over Labor Day.

A cute clown for Halloween.  The hat always came off within moments.

Cute happy Boy!

Eating Lunch

Painting Christmas Tree decorations

Playing with one of his presents.

And finally, this kid has a big mouth.  I believe that is one of the balls from one of his pneumatic ball popper toys.  

Birthday BOY!!!

Someone is now



Years Old!!!

Pictures will be added later today.

Haircuts for Boyz

We didn't think to get before pictures, and the photo quality isn't that great because the only camera we had was a cell phone but...

Today the boys got haircuts.

It's blurry but note the massive rooster tail Simon is sporting.

The sides are gone now to start on the long stuff on top.

Any trip to this barbershop ends with a Balloon!  Notice the gel spiked hair.

And a chance to play on the slide!
He really looks different after a haircut.  His big Porter family cheeks dominate when he doesn't have hair to better frame his face.

And this is Ben's turn

Looks like a style out of the 80's, long on top shaved on the sides.  But no tail, so it's NOT a mullet!

Ben and his naturally spiky hair!

He looks so much different, but notice the naturally spiky hair, no gel needed.

And Simon again at bedtime:  Happy boy gets a drink of Milk!

And we finish with a prayer before sleep.
He just started doing this the other night.  He's obviously been listening to Ben's prayers and a couple nights ago started grunting after I finished praying with Ben.  So I went to his crib and gave him a simple prayer and he repeated it back like big brother was doing.  And of course they both have "Amen" down pat.

Long time no Post

We've been meaning to post for quite a while but really life has been quiet with not much significantly different going on.

But a few things of note recently.

First, Da is now into the third trimester. We're still looking at a late delivery for "He Who Has Not Yet Been Named." We had names for Ben and Simon by this point, we have a few options but nothing is jumping out like their names did.

Second, Da just got a new vehicle. Unlike me she was more than happy to go used, we ended up with a 2006 Chrysler Town and Country Mini-van. (Picture soon) We didn't go looking specifically for any make. We had a price range and a couple preferred manufactures. Let me heartily recommend CarMax in Sandy for buying Used cars. We were in and out in less than two hours, and that was with looking over their stock of mini-vans, deciding we liked this one better than a couple a year newer, and Da taking it for a test drive. I've never been through such a quick purchase process at a dealership for new or used, not even when I paid in cash for my truck was it this quick.

The boys are both cute, growing and learning. Ben is partially potty trained, he usually tells us in time to avoid accidents. Simon is learning and using new words almost daily, and sometimes rather complex work combinations are dropped so quickly we have to pause to make sure we heard what we thought we did. On vocab, Ben is also learning more, he's currently working on adding pronouns to his speech which makes prayer time interesting. Where before we could prompt him with "Bless me to sleep well." And he'd repeat it, now he says "Bless you to sleep well." So he understands first and second person and uses them correctly even when we don't.

The boys are both starting to play together a lot more. Just the other day I came down the stairs to seem them working together to carry a larger item across the family room. The funniest part was they were both grunting and commenting like it was heavy yet I've seen each of them individually carry that item around. I tried to get it on video but they were done by the time I got back down there with the camera.

Otherwise things are going good.
Hopefully I'll post again soon and include pictures.
Happy Valentines Day

Dirk

One Toy to rule them all

     Or at least keep the boys from even noticing anything else.  Here we are Sunday night and their stockings are mostly untouched except for the stuff we've pulled out (quiet games for church and their movies). Why?

     Because of the TRAIN!!!!

     Not that all has been peaceful, Ben of course is free to play with whichever train he chooses but heaven forbid Simon to touch his train. And nobody, not even daddy is allowed to reconfigure his train, it must always be structured the same.

     But his first waking words each morning since christmas have been "Play Trains?"

Next April

We'll have three little boys running this place.

A Giggle

Did you know Cheerios can do double duty as a monocle?