HAPPY NEW YEAR...2009!

Unbelievable...Porter just turned 3 & now it is about to be 2009. Will someone please tell me how THAT happened???
We had a nice quiet New Years Eve, just the 3 of us together as a family. We ordered Chinese food (our recent NYE tradition) from our favorite place & watched a movie with Porter. After he was tucked into bed, Blair & I fought to stay up until midnight. We layed in bed & watched TV until the new year was upon us. I think the lights were out by 12:05am! Very low-key, but a great family night none-the-less.
Happy New Year!

December birthdays

Porter & I traveled to Wisconsin today to celebrate a belated 90th birthday (on 12/21) for my Grandma Schultz & Christmas with my dad's side of the family. We had a great time & of course, Porter being the "littlest" great-grandchild, he was the center of attention. Grandma Schultz ordered a birthday cake to celebrate all the December birthdays (there are about 5 of them) & of course, she ordered an Elmo cake...hmmm, who of the December birthday group likes Elmo?? :) So sweet.

Merry Christmas!

Today was Christmas Day & we had both sides of the family over to our place. It was a fun-filled day with lots of good food, gifts & company!
Santa came & spoiled Porter rotten. He was a little unsure of the "Big Guy" & kept asking if he was going to come back. We left a plate of cookies out for Santa this year & he ate most of them, but half of one was still left on the plate. (He must have been in a hurry!) On Christmas morning when Porter saw what was left on the plate, he said "Oh, Santa didn't eat all his cookies, so he won't get a Starburst." (At daycare, if the kids eat all their lunch, they are rewarded with a Starburst candy.) I thought that was sweet...and observant!






MERRY MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

It's the time of the year when surprise packages start arriving for the holiday. This year was no exception, but this year THE BIGGEST BOX I'VE EVER SEEN DELIVERED arrived for a Mr. Porter John Gruman. It came from his Great Gammy Lois in San Francisco, CA...It weighed 19 pounds! Blair & I couldn't imagine what could be in it!

Much to our delight, it was a cute little green wooden rocking chair that apparently was made 60+ years ago for Porter's Great Aunt Holly & then used by each of the following Gruman children through the generations. Gammy has had it at her house this whole time & she shipped it all the way to Minnesota so Porter could also enjoy it.


What a great gift, full of history & memories...

THANK YOU, GAMMY LOIS!

Happy Birthday...Take Two.

There were a few birthday cupcakes left & the three candles were still sitting on the counter, so we did round two of blowing out the candles. (Yes, we even sang Happy Birthday one more time.) You only turn THREE once, you know!

Can't get enough...craft time!

Porter recently came home with another creative Christmas craft from Anne's house. This one we actually duplicated at home this evening to keep him busy while I was making dinner.

Here is the craft:


Here is how you make it. First, bite half of a colored marshmellow off...


Stick the half you bit off on the paper...


Repeat...


The neat thing is that you get to eat the other half!
Porter loves to tell people how he made these Christmas trees (which are now hanging in our kitchen) & it is soo cute to hear him explain it.
"First, you bite the marshmellow..."

Real baby.

Porter just LOOOOOVES babies. He just eats them up. Always wants to hold babies, hug babies, help feed babies. He is so gentle & sweet to the babies at daycare & is the same way at home with my old Cabbage Patch Kids.
Today, out of the blue, he said to me, "Can we get a real baby?"
Oh, sweet sweet boy. I do hope one day we can have another baby around...

GROSS!!!

GROSS. Today, I took Porter to the doctor for his 3 year check up. (He still hates having his ears checked by the way...screams bloody murder!) As I went to get him out of his seat, he had his finger in his nose...He said, "I'm picking my nose. I'm just going to get one booger out. Just one." Ummm...WHAT??!!!
GROSS. GROSS. and more GROSS.
Is this a boy thing???

Happy birthday to you!

Today our little boy turned THREE! I can hardly believe it's been three years since he entered our world.
When he first woke up this morning, I said "Happy Birthday" to him & told him that today was his birthday. Having the birthday celebration last weekend must have thrown him off a bit because he said, "It's not my birthday...The people aren't here."
I stayed up late the night before his birthday making Sesame Street cupcakes for him to take to daycare on his special day. It took WAY LONGER than I thought it would & was much more involved than I anticipated, but the huge smile the next morning made it all worth while.





HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PORTER!!!

CREATE!!

Isn't this the cutest little Christmas tree you ever did see?


Porter made it at Anne's house. She always does the most creative (& often times, messy!) crafts with the kids. I still can't believe she does all that she does for crafts with 6 kids ages 3 & under!
This one is an ice cream cone turned upside down with green frosting over the top & decorated ever-so-brilliantly with M&Ms by Porter.


WE LOVE YOU ANNIE!!

Party time!

We celebrated Porter's third birthday today...Just the 3 of us with Nana & Papa, Gammy Jan, Bapa Robb & Tilly & Kendra. The cake was a big hit & Porter had a great time. We can't believe he is already THREE!



Porter LOVES LOVES LOVES the Toy Story movies right now, so Daddy & I got him the "real" Buzz Lightyear & Woody toys for his birthday. They were the favorites of the night!


He sure didn't forget how to open gifts!!

Frosty the Snowman!

So...Porter has been asking about building a snowman ever since the first flake of snow fell this season. One night while talking on the phone to Nana & Papa, he asked if they would help him build one when they came to town. Well, he didn't have to ask them twice! Nana & Papa came with all the snowman fixins...eyes, scarf, nose, even a pipe!...ready to build Porter's very first snowman. He had a blast & our condo neighborhood enjoyed their view of "Frosty" as Porter so delightfully named him!

That Crafty Nana!

Nana & Papa came to town this weekend to help us celebrate Porter's birthday. Nana came ready with 2 craft projects for Porter...one of his favorite things to do!
First, there was the snowman project....


Porter decided the occasion called for the Buzz Lightyear costume.

Next, came the santa cookies project...


Look at those little fingers hard at work!


WHAT FUN...THANKS, NANA!!

Bake me a cake as fast as you can...

Well, this is the third year in a row that I attempted to make the Porter birthday cake. I don't know why I always feel I need to take on this project, but my mom always made our birthday cakes, so I guess that's why I feel I should continue the tradition. I asked Porter several weeks ago what kind of birthday cake he wanted this year & suprisingly, he answered right away & never waivered. BERT & ERNIE. That'd do-able I thought. So the search began for the B&E pan...finally found one on E-Bay & had my dad order it for me. Next came the trip to the candy store for all the different colored frosting that was needed...7 in all!
I took the Friday afternoon before his party off from work so I could have several uninterrupted hours to work on it. I actually enjoyed making it; the biggest hassle was changing the colors in the pastry tube...(7 times!)
It turned out better than I could have expected if I do say so myself!

Birthday photos

We had our cousin, Sally Gruman, come over & take some 3rd birthday pictures of P today...

NO NAP TODAY!

Need I say more? This is how I found him about 4:15pm after "watching" a few minutes of football on TV with Daddy.

Say cheese!

I was taking this picture of our Christmas tree the other night, after we had finished decorating it & Porter says, "Is the tree going to say CHEESE?"

Too sweet.

Porter was having trouble sleeping on this particular night (no surprise there), so I crawled into his big boy bed with him, to settle him back to sleep & so that we ALL could get some much neede shut-eye. Well, on this night I was trying to go back to sleep in my new location when suddenly this little voice says, "Mama, you want me to rub your back?"

He's got a ticket to ride...

Porter has gotten very good at climbing up into Daddy's lap & sitting still while they tool around in his chair, but lately he's found a new spot to hitch a ride. He stands on the foot rests, leans back & away they go!