Knee Meat

Another funny story from my kiddos.  (No pics, video camera stolen & recently replaced, now my digital camera is missing so I'm not having good luck in this area!)

Four year old Hanne skinned her knee up pretty good the other day and after a longer bath time last night - she shrieks "mama-come in here quick!"  I come running into the bathroom expecting something a bit more dire...she points to her now-water-soaked scab and asks "Is this my knee meat?"  With a little smile I confirmed that yes, that was definitely "knee meat."  She thoughtfully remarks "Well, I guess that's what the dinosaurs would want to eat off me.  Maybe they'll come try to eat me tonight!"  She giggles and runs naked into her bedroom to show off her newly discovered "knee meat" to her awestruck siblings.

Bedtime Routines

Well it has been awhile...

Sorry!  Since I have last written our house was "burgled" and my laptop (and some pics that I hadn't backed up yet) were stolen so I have had other priorities than updating the blog.  But one new home security system and laptop later...here we go!

Thought I'd share a typical evening at our house.  Bedtime for the kids is 8-3:30 PM, mostly for OUR sanity-not the kids!  Once we have baths, brush teeth, floss teeth, read Bible stories, pray, dispense any medicine, get bedtime drinks, give kisses, get tucked in...there is still this whole routine of getting out of bed to come tell mom & dad some important information.  See below...

LENA

• I'm not tired!
• I'm still soooooo thirsty, can I have another drink?
• I can't find my special puppy dog (or any other stuffed-animal-of-the-day).
• Its too hot up on my bunk, can I sleep in your bed? 

HANNE

• Sadie is being too loud!
• I'm scared of dinosaurs (or bears or crocodiles or...)
• I need...ummmm...I want.....ummm...I just want...to give you a kiss!
• My baby can't fall asleep because I need to change her clothes!

CASE

• I 'ant dink pease.  (I want drink please)
• I 'ant doo doo ains.  (choo choo trains)
• Hi mama!  (declared with a silly smile)
• I 'ant dada's bed!

Sadie, being 11 months, is the one kiddo confined to a crib but still manages to get her two cents in by spending at least 10 minutes crying in defiance of her bedtime.  This is the kid who will instantly close her eyes, cuddle up in your arms and sleep IF YOU PICK HER UP.  But we are mean parents and after she drinks her bottle (while being held & rocked mind you!) she does get put to bed drowsy but not asleep.

So to summarize:  After the 45 minutes or so to do the ACTUAL bedtime routine plus another 15-30 minutes of the kid's AFTER bedtime routine (accompanied by many trips walking our sweet kiddos back into bed, some threats of taking away favorite blankies or toys if they don't stay in bed, then following up on the threats and yes - even a spanking if necessary - Anthony and I are usually ready for bed ourselves!  Maybe if we start at 6:30 PM...

February: Farm Shows Part II

The kids had a GREAT time at the Tulare show!  The weather was a bit chilly and it poured one day so they had lots of slippery mud to splash around in but by the last day it was dry enough to get out of the rubber boots!  

Case and Sadie hung out with Mommy at Papa Erick's booth most of the time.  Case did his fair share of the work - shoveling bark for Papa.

  

We went on lots of walks to check things out - the girls enjoyed the Kubota equipment and loved this cow with cool sunglasses!  We passed by her everyday on our way to get the free chocolate milk from the dairy princesses!

 

Sadie was a trooper and went with the flow, even taking naps was an on-the-go deal!

This was too cute not to include!  At the end of the last day of the show - many exhibitors line up to get their equipment out of the showgrounds and loaded up to haul off.  It is like a parade of sorts in front of Anthony's booth (which is on a main exit road).  The kids were in awe and had great fun watching everything drive by!

February: Our Sweet Trips to The Farm Shows

I've always known February to be the month of farm shows, not necessarily the month of love.  So I guess Anthony got off easy since his wife is perfectly happy celebrating Valentine's Day sort of squeezed in around everything else going on in that crazy month!

We made a family affair of both farm shows, going to the local Colusa Farm Show during the first week of February and then the World Ag Expo in Tulare the following week.  I thought we did really well for the demands of the traveling, the shows, the kids, etc.!  I do believe that this is the last time I can do that without the help of an on-site babysitter!  So here are a few pics of the Colusa Show - I'll post the Tulare ones next!

Chubs, Exercise Machines and Meat-Eating Dinosaurs

Here is a bit of background before my "Funny-of-the-Day" story:  In our family we call that extra little bit around the middle "chubs" instead of flab, fat, etc.  Lena and Hanne are well aware that Mommy is working on getting rid of her chubs from baby Sadie.  They think that my elliptical machine will "make the chubs go away and make the boobies get bigger."  If that was only the truth!!! 

Hanne is our petite little one in the family; not an ounce of chubs on that girl!  So before dinner the other night the kids were playing rough and I warned Hanne not to slam herself down on the floor while they were wrestling because she didn't have a lot of meat on her bones and could get hurt.  Lena ponders a moment and asks "Mom, since Hanne doesn't have much meat on her bones...would a meat-eating dinosaur even want to eat her or would a vegetable-eating dinosaur eat her instead?"  I LOVE BEING A MOM!

Pumpkins and Trick or Treating

We love getting pumpkins and this year Lena ( & Daddy) had signed up to work at the 4-H Corn Maze that is at our local pumpkin patch so we had a great afternoon of fun! 

The older kids in the "scary" corn maze!

Sadie slept through most of the action!

On Halloween night we met up with some friends and family to go trick or treating at our church's assisted living facility (or the Grandma & Grandpa church as the girls call it) and all the residents just loved seeing the kids dressed up!  Case was a bit hesitant to participate at first - but once he realized that everyone had baskets of candy on their laps, he went down that line of folks and just reached right in to grab the candy himself!  What manners that little boy has!

Cousin Jessa (a beautiful maiden) & Lena (a shimmering butterfly or dragonfly-she kept changing her mind!)

Hanne (a purple flower) with her best little buddy Elsje ( a flapper)

Auntie Beth (a gardener) with Sadie (a pea in the pod)

A tired little pea!

Case (a very reluctant scarecrow, minus the cute hat) with Anthony

Trucks, Tractors And Makeup

Case has really come into his own these past few months. Maybe having yet another little girl has made me quite aware of the differences that God created in my little boy! He absolutely adores trucks and tractors now and will spend ten minutes (which is forever for him) looking at truck books or playing with matchbox cars or his John Deere tractors.

He became quite attached to his Daddy's John Deere hat when he realized that it was a "tractor" hat. So he wears it constantly-often off to the side or backwards so he can see what he is doing!

But living with lots of girls around does present some great opportunities for playing makeup (translation: getting all messy) and what little boy doesn't love that?

Prune Harvest (August)

Okay...so I know I am dreadfully behind on posting pictures and such on our blog! So over the next few days I'll attempt to catch you all up with what has been keeping us busy these past few months!


Sadie was born right at the beginning of prune harvest - just a few days before things really got busy. I work with amazing people who helped me coordinate harvest from home this year! Whose idea was this to have a baby during the craziest time of the year??? Well, it is over and we all survived with God's Grace!


I took these pictures when the guys were harvesting our prunes and Papa Erick came to help supervise with the kids!

Our Idaho Trip (in June)

Well better late than never! We took our first LONG road trip with the kids back in June to visit family in Idaho and attend Anthony's cousin's wedding.

What an adventure! I was recovering from a BAD sinus infection so we left a day later than we had planned and of course the route we picked out for our trip up to Idaho was a bit curvy in spots so Lena got carsick and Case had a few crying episodes because he wanted out of the car seat and we forgot the car charger for the laptop so the kids only got about half their movie in before the batteries died...sounds like a normal road trip with kids, huh? It actually went really well for a long trip and the kids were troopers - we made lots of little stops to pick flowers, go potty, get snacks and stretch, etc. And a little Tylenol at nap time made for a pretty nice trip on the way back, too!

We are so blessed to have wonderful families! We were welcomed into homes for meals, hanging out, spending the night...the Henry's even watched our kiddos while Anthony & went to the wedding! Thank you everyone! It was sooooo nice to reconnect with aunts, uncles and cousins that we have not seen or spent much time with in years! We had the most fun watching our kids interact with their little cousins and become instant buddies! I realized as I was posting this that I didn't get any pictures of MY relatives! Oops! (If you guys have any...please email a few my way!)

The Ankeny & Porter cousins taking an otter -pop break!

Watching Uncle Bruce work the sheep

Lena riding Dezi (with a bit of help from Aunt Greta!)

Hanne & Lilia riding Dezi

Hanne & Lilia hanging out!

We took the kids to a little water park in Nampa and they had a great time!

Even Case got in on the water fun!

Sadie's Birth

I was due Sunday, August 10th and my Dr. was encouraging me to be induced on that day (because once I get going with contractions - my labor goes REALLY fast) but I just didn't feel good about being induced. So I had a regular Dr. appointment the next Wednesday to be checked and then set an appointment to be induced later in the week. Over the weekend and early Monday I lots of "tightening" sensations but no actual contractions. I kept telling Anthony that something was bound to happen within the next few days - I just felt it was getting closer.

Monday was super busy...I had some help to clean the house (it feels funny to have someone else do all my cleaning-so I end up working right along with her & we get a bunch done!) AND it was Lena's first day of school AND the kids had preschool so we did a lot of running around.

By 6 PM I was having these short but noticeable contractions about 10 minutes apart. Now you may think that by baby #4 I'd have it all figured out. No. I actually Googled "false labor" to see what was going on. Apparently "REAL" contractions last 30-90 seconds & mine were just 15-20 seconds long and not very strong so I figured this could go on for hours, days, who knew? But by 11:30 PM with my "false contractions" growing a bit more painful & coming every 3 minutes (but still only lasting 20 seconds) we called my mom to come stay with the kids and decided to go to the Hospital. Thank you God that I had just packed my bag that afternoon!

We got to Enloe at 12:30 AM, They hooked me up to the monitor to track my contractions & the baby's heartbeat at 12:45 ( I was 5-6 cm dilated at the time) and I told the nurses to call my Dr. and explained that I go pretty fast when I reach a certain point. I just didn't realize that I was at that point!

They unhooked me after 7 min to move me out of the exam room to the delivery room (but it wasn't cleaned yet) so I was waiting out in the hall for maybe 5 + minutes. By then I was having pretty painful contractions with only a minute or so in between. I told the nurses that I didn't have to push yet, but maybe on the next few contractions. That got them in a tizzy and we slowly made our way back to the exam room to be checked (I was still having contractions almost solid so it was slow going!) The one nurse checked me in the midst of a contraction and said "Oh...the head is right here-don't push" right as my water broke.

She hollered down the hall to the other nurses and as they wheeled me out into the hallway I had another contraction and had to push - the five or so nurses are all telling me to wait, don't push, etc. WHO ARE THEY KIDDING? Not push? I told them I was fine just with them - we'd be OK without the Dr. and so I pushed. I think Sadie's head crowned out in the hallway and then I heard the nurses asking for clamps and telling me to wait-don't push anymore and they got me next door into a very tiny little delivery room and then told me to push and get the baby out ON THIS PUSH - so we did! Sadie Violet was born at 1:10 AM.

Sadie had the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck three times and so they had to take care of that before she could be fully delivered. God is good and He blessed us with a short labor that was best for little Sadie's health! She had to have a bit of oxygen right away but then we heard strong cries and she started to color up really good.

Anthony was surprised that she was a girl...he had gotten it in his head that we were just going to have another boy because that would work out real well - two girls and two boys. God must have known that we needed another little sweetie to join in with her two older sisters in their absolute adoration of their Daddy! Side note: At some point I'm sure that Mommy will be the favorite parent, but currently I am at the bottom of the totem pole. Daddy reigns supreme.

Since everything went so fast, we finished all the paperwork a few hours after Sadie was born, it took awhile to get in a room, they forgot my breakfast because I wasn't on the list, etc. It was funny, I even had to call to remind them of the newborn tests, paperwork etc. that had to be done that day because my release was scheduled for that evening.

Anthony was home by 3:30 AM to get some sleep and take care of the other three kiddos and I was home by 7:30 that same evening. It was wonderful! Thank the Lord for realistic Drs. and nurses - big difference with baby #4 - they must figure that you know the ropes so they release you much faster!

Lena's First Day of First Grade

Lena was sooooo excited to be back in school! She loves her new backpack, loves her new markers, loves her new clothes, loves her teacher, loves her real desk (no more colored square on the carpet in Kindergarten), etc. She is very self-sufficient and probably wouldn't have cared if mom walked her to class or not - but I enjoyed hanging out in the back of the classroom for the first 20 minutes or so of class. Sort of nice to have a feel for how it all works you know!

She complains because I pack a homemade, healthy lunch for her (almost everyday) to take to school - she wants to eat the cafeteria food like her friends! She likes PE and learning to read new words and says that First Grade is "so easy" but she "knows that it is going to get even harder!"

Lena is growing up so fast! Tonight she announced that she might have to go to another state to find a boyfriend. She said that there aren't any around here that she really likes. *Giggle-giggle* And then she's back to wrestling with Daddy and the kids on the floor. Who knew First Graders needed boyfriends huh?

Baby Sadie

Here she is! Sadie Violet Porter was born last Tuesday (Aug 11th) at 1:10 AM. God blessed us with a short & mild labor (yes, I actually said mild!) that was easy on Sadie. She had the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck three times and the nurses said that longer contractions/labor would have been so much harder on our little one! More details later! She is healthy and strong, 10 fingers and 10 toes! We are so thankful!

She has so much blond hair, full of cowlicks! She takes after both Hanne & Case in the looks department - but definitely has her own little sweet sense of self! She is a great baby and rarely cries, sleeps on and off during the day and spends the evening "stocking up" nursing and then sleeps from around midnight to 5:30 or 6:30 AM. I can't complain.


I just had to include these three pictures...here is our new family unit! Four kids! We must be nuts! In the first picture Case is sweetly checking out the new competition! In the second picture he has moved around back to get closer to her...notice that I'm holding Hanne's hand back and my mom is trying to grab Case before he gives too many "loves" to Sadie.

Seconds later in the third picture...Case throwing a tantrum and big sisters are full of smiles! This has become an almost hourly occurrence at the Porter household this past week!

Poor Case - he has had the toughest time adjusting to baby Sadie. He loves her...he'll come up to her and plop a matchbox car on her face (sharing) or lay his head down on top of hers (giving "loves") but he is a little guy and can't quite be gentle ALL the time, so we have to watch him closely!

Overall, our entire family is pretty much back into the new, adjusted routine. Lena is in First grade now and has school from 8:30-2:45 and Hanne and Case go to pre-school 3 mornings a week from 8:15-11:45 so we sort of have to be on a tight schedule. So far Sadie's feedings and naps have coordinated just perfectly with our 3 trips a day.

Prune harvest has also started (about the same time Sadie was born) so that has been keeping me busy on the phone but I have lots of help from my "right-hand-man" Valerie at the office and she has been covering the bases for me quite well! I won't be getting out into the field much this season!

Lena's Last Week of Kindergarten

Lena's class had a special presentation with a few songs and some square dancing followed by a family picnic at school. First Grade...here we come!

Muddy Kids

Are we raising dirt-ball kids or what? Anthony was spreading manure & compost in the orchard and if Case hears the tractor running outside he is just frantic to get out there & see what Daddy is doing...so we decided to hang out in the yard for awhile.

I turned on the hose to keep them cool and this is what ensued! Poor Case was being "painted" with mud by his loving older sisters and the girls were applying mud "tattoos" to each other! Case was preoccupied with hunting through the mud to find rocks to eat while the girls worked on him - he patiently sat still for his entire mud bath session!

Glenn County Fair

We took the kids to our county fair last month! We enjoyed watching Papa Erick's equipment in the parade (note the blue "Jessa" machine and the pink-lettered "Ashley" machine!) and checking out Lena's very first blue ribbon for her artwork done in Kindergarten class!

Of course it was only 103 degrees the afternoon that we decided to go...so we kept it short but got to see some animals, go on a few rides and most importantly - eat some cold ice cream!