Testing - me and the kids!

Just thought I'd see how this time works. It seems the kids think it's more fun to play around when they are supposed to be cleaning off the dinner table, sweeping and unloading/loading the dishwasher (not that I blame them) so I have a test for them and we'll see if it works! I've let the kids know that I am coming into my room to read (I thought I better blog first) and I will come out at 7PM. They are to have the table cleaned off, the floor swept, the dishwasher unloaded and the dinner dishes loaded. This gives them 20 minutes, as they've already wasted 10 minutes playing around. If it's done when I go out, we can go play on the field at the church, if not we'll read for a while and they'll go to bed. While coming to my room, I heard Christopher say something to Bryce about it and when I got here, Bryce knocked on the door and asked what they were supposed to do! It's kind of funny because they have had these exact same responsibilities for at least a month! They only have 9 minutes left and I am tempted to check their progress, but I will refrain. I'll let you know how it turns out!
It looks like we're going to the church to play! Unfortunately, I didn't get the quiet time I was hoping for and this laptop is really irritating me because the cursor keeps bumping me around to a different line of text and I keep having to erase and re-position my cursor!

Sorry It's Been A While!

It's been several weeks since I posted and I'm having a hard time deciding what to write (there are too many things to choose from) so this post may be really long! I'll just make a list...

*Jacob is almost 6 weeks old! I can't believe it. He is keeping his big eyes open quite a bit and it is so fun to see. It's not too different being the mother of 5 versus 4, I just find myself counting to make sure I know where 5 kids are now, instead of 4. Christopher and Bryce are very good at helping me so I can shower or get some work done. Since Bryce is only in school in the morning, he has had to help out A LOT! Luckily, for the most part, he is very willing and very good to help play with Tacy and Rachel, or hold Jacob. He held Jacob for over two hours the other day while I got a ton of work done for our business! Of course, it did help that he was able to watch TV the whole time! I was already having a hard time balancing our business and being a mom, so now it is even more of a challenge. Our business is doing very well and I am grateful it's online and I can stay at home and work when I can. I haven't done a lot of extra things for the website, but this time is very important to me to spend with my children right now and I feel like we will be blessed in the long run. I still think it's amazing I am able to get as much done as I do - for the business and with the kids - although the housework has suffered.

*If you want to put everyone, including yourself, in a bad mood, try to take a family picture before you have to be somewhere! It doesn't matter what we do, someone always has to try to be silly during a picture and ends up getting in trouble and being grouchy. This picture was taken on the way to church on Mother's Day. I'll bet no one can guess who wasn't cooperating during this picture! :) Aaron was in charge of the Post Office Food Drive again this year, which was the day before Mother's Day and was so busy he didn't get a chance to go with the kids to pick out presents for me, but the things the boys made at school were so much better than anything they could have gotten at the store. I had just bought a new diaper bag, so I had Tacy give that to me! We had a lot of fun helping Aaron pick up food. This has been a tradition we look forward to. Even Rachel got to get out and help at one stop. It was pretty exciting how much food they were able to pick up this year and I am pretty proud of the job Aaron does with it. He is really dedicating to working with the radio station and other media to spread the word so the Food Pantry can get food.

*Well, I'll have to post again, Jacob needs to eat and now is the countdown for church - hope we make it with cheerful faces!

Jacob Porter - 9 days

Here is what I took of Jacob yesterday!

Rachel Porter - Age 17 months

I got a webcam to try and stay in touch a little better with my parents who are in Hawaii on a mission. Here is a cute clip of Rachel - trying to figure out where to hold the camera was a trick!

Announcing: Aaron Jacob Porter

Aaron Jacob Porter was born Monday, April 13, 2009 at 1:52PM in Logan, Utah. He weighed 7 lb 9 oz which really surprised me because my other boys were over 1 pound bigger! He was 19 inches long. For some reason, we had a really hard time picking a name this time. Tuesday night we finally finalized it. We thought Aaron would be the middle name, but I wanted him named after Aaron (as a first name) and it made the name A.J. available in case we want to call him that when he gets older. I must admit, though, it has quite confused me when filling out paperwork to write Aaron, even though we call him Jacob. The other kids were so cute when they saw him and it was really fun seeing all of the different reactions to him. Chris and Bryce are very 'mature' about it and hold him very well. Tacy is really sweet with him and Rachel has turned into his little mother, even though she is only 17 months old herself! Luckily she doesn't try to hold him all the time - just give him kisses (on the lips) every minute! All of the kids are very proud of their new brother.

Only 2 More Days!!!

Unless the hospital gets really busy, I am scheduled to have my baby on Monday the 13th!!! (and no, we have not decided on a name, yet - and we haven't even really narrowed it down!) The time should go fast, as we are celebrating Easter in Preston tomorrow and today I am going with Christopher to a friend's baptism and we are planning on going to Lee's Marketplace for an Easter thing today. Luckily, my sister Cathy is having Tacy and Rachel sleep over at her house on Sunday night. I might actually get some sleep that night, before I have to start waking up to feed a new baby. Rachel hasn't been sleeping well and it doesn't help that my belly is so big she really doesn't fit well on my lap to hold her! I guess this is all preparing me for the months ahead! Her back teeth are coming in and I guess that probably has something to do with it.
Although there are several things I wanted to get done before the baby came, I guess I will have to do them after! Isn't that how it always is? Well, I just thought I should update on our plans. Until next time....

Fortunately/Unfortunately

Fortunately... We can ALL go to church today!
Unfortunately... It has been snowing heavily all morning and I will probably drive us all to church, although it is only a block away!
Fortunately... I only have 2 1/2 weeks until my baby is due!
Unfortunately... I haven't been able to get anything done because the kids and I have been sick on and off for several weeks.
Fortunately... Aaron has been a huge blessing and has taken care of the dishes and much of the cooking lately.
Unfortunately... I am enjoying it way too much!
Fortunately... We don't have church until 11:30AM.
Unfortunately... I am still not completely ready and have several more things to do first.
Fortunately... I have two good boy helpers who can mostly get themselves ready.
Unfortunately... They seemed to have woken up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.
Fortunately... I need to stop writing because we really need to get ready!!!
Unfortunately... I'd rather not!