Porter started pre-school about 2 weeks ago. I'm just barely getting around to posting about it. He loves pre-school and enjoys that structured learning/play time. It's taught him a lot of things already! (good and bad) But it's been great. Here is what I wrote down sort of as a journal that first day of school. It is kinda long and like I said more for my own remembrance than for share, feel free to read it though. 

Wednesday, September 7, 2011:

This morning Porter started his first day of Pre-School. We woke up and had a great morning. Started it off with having prayer with Dad and then breakfast. I asked Porter what he wanted for breakfast and he insisted on Pop-tarts. Yes! I’m that good of a Mom and gave my son Pop-tarts the morning of his first day of school. Don’t worry I made the meal a little more healthy with a banana. Hopefully that will tide him over til snack time. J  He was super excited to go to preschool and play with the Thomas the Train and the Bob the Builder toys. I had to tell him he’ll be doing more than just playing with toys there.  He was still pretty excited. We got ready and I took pictures of him with his backpack on. Went out the door, loaded the van up and drove to preschool. Four minutes later we arrived and I went to get Porter out of the car and it dawned on me… I didn’t even do his hair!! I felt awful. But the kid is still  cute even if his hair isn’t wet and looking done. (We all know by the time I pick him up it would look like I didn’t do it anyway, so cut me some slack) Porter jumped out of the van and got his backpack on and was running toward the door. I had to tell him to wait so Kinley and I could catch up to him.  Once we walked in I helped Porter hang his backpack on his cubby hook.  Then he started walking over toward the toys ready to play. As he was looking for some cool toys I couldn’t help but see in him his eagerness to play yet also his nervousness and feeling a little bit out of place because he didn’t know ANYONE! I tried to help him meet some kids and share toys with them.  Then stand back and watch a little bit. I am his Mom and of course I worried the entire time he was away from me. Before I left I made sure he knew where the bathroom was and pointed out his teachers to him. Who knows if he even got it, he was so into playing with the cool new toys.  Then I walked out that door not quite understanding the emotions I was feeling. I was excited for him and yet nervous. Wondering if he’d make friends, if he’d be good, if he’d forget where the bathroom was and go in his pants, if he’d do well with new environment and how he’d adapt(mostly WITHOUT me).  For me I was feeling some regret of leaving my child in that environment and making him learn and fend for himself. (silly me I know the teachers were there, but he has not yet learned to trust them) Yet I knew he was just fine.  In fact he probably was going to have a great time!

Then it was time for pick up. Kinley fell asleep because she was bored and tired while he was gone and got about a 35 minute nap and I had to wake her up to go pick him up. Welcome to the life of a real mom with older kids. (haha I just mentioned as if I have OLDER kids!) So we are on our way and Kinley is buzzing because she is so excited to see Porter. And I am feeding off her excitement. I missed him so much while he was gone. I was counting down the minutes til it was time to pick him up. We pull up and I see him outside with all of his classmates waiting for their parents in the drive way. He sees me and I wave while I park. I open the door and turn to go get him and he is running with the BIGGEST grin on his face towards me. Backpack on and bouncing on his back and arms wide open! As he gets closer I see a picture hung on a string around his neck and a bright red spot of something on his shirt. Leave it to Porter to be the one who comes home from preschool on the first day with bright red paint on his shirt! I didn’t care though. I was so excited to see him. I gave him a huge hug and almost didn’t want to put him down in his car seat. He was bursting to tell me everything he did at school. I was shocked ! He doesn’t normally know how to answer my question of “What did you do?” Yet he told me that he played toys (Thomas and lightning Mcqueen to be exact) He colored and had snack and even some smarties!  I asked him if he made friends and he said “Yeah!” I asked him if he knew their names but he replied “No.”  When we got home he couldn’t wait to open his backpack up and show me everything he did. We pulled in the garage and next thing I know his backpack is open and he is trying to show me everything in the van. I had to encourage him to show me inside. So then he runs inside just bubbling over with excitement of the neat things he did. Sure enough there were two handprints in red paint and a picture of an apple painted with red finger paint! He was really proud of himself and so am I!

And as for kinley…they were both very happy to see each other. We walked in the door and after showing me his pictures he immediately got down on the ground and helped Kinley take off her shoes. Both with big smiles on their faces. Adorable!!  Such a good day! 

August 2011

This month was a fun month! We tried really hard to fit as much as possible into our month.  It started out with our ward camp-out. We decided not to stay the night because we wanted to be nice to our ward family and not put them through a night of dreadfulness with our kids. It was themed Superheros and people came dressed up as superheros. There were blowup bouncy houses and fun things. I enjoyed being a kid racing on a bouncy house a couple of times! Also at the start of the month we worked on our Adirondack chairs. a lady that Patrick works with gave them to us and they  needed some work done. So we sanded and painted them! It was a fun project.

We enjoyed a 5 1/2 day family vacation to Park City. That was probably the highlight of our month. We enjoyed bike rides and a "Fun" shopping trip to the outlets. I say "fun" because if you have kids then you understand how fun it can be to shop with them! We went swimming and Grandpa got Porter jumping into the pool and then eventually going under and swimming all on his own (of course he was wearing floaties). We were so proud of him. We tried to take family pictures there, that was kinda a flop but we at least got some of the Munson family. That was really good! We had fun on evening riding the bus over to catch a Trolley and riding that! Porter really loved that and then walking up and down main street. It was an enjoyable evening. And another evening we played minute to win it games. I was in charge of planning some games for the Christensen reunion which was to follow a few weeks later. So we practiced some with the munson family and it was a hit! (You'll hear about the Christensen minute to win it later) Our favorite that night was Junk in the Trunk where you shake the ping pong balls out of a tissue box tied around your waist! Porter really enjoyed playing that game! see for yourself the fun that we had:( I can't load Patrick's... but I will soon.. his is pretty funny!)

Then on our last day we went and did the alpine slide/coaster and the kids rode a space track(which is a little train) and the merry-go-round! They loved the merry go round!!! Patrick and I did the slide and coaster later that evening with just us and JD and Lacy. We really enjoyed that little date night with them. Some memories we will always carry with us. It was fun watching Patrick get all scared to go on the slide...then to find out I'm the one who braked almost the whole way down. Then the real terror set in when we were on the coaster going up the hill. Patrick screamed like a girl and braked... I remember yelling at him saying STOP BRAKING! It really is better if you don't brake. You won't get hurt it's just like a roller coaster if you just let yourself go! It was lots of fun even if it was a little damaging on the wallet.We took some good naps, played fun games, watched some fun shows and ate good food. Doesn't that sound like a good family vacation?! We sure thought so!
We got back from our vacation and the next night Patrick and Porter left for the stake Father and Sons. They had a good time together and Porter enjoyed sleeping in the van.
This month has been filled with playing chalk and bubbles LOTS. Enjoyed seeing the fruits of our garden, bike rides, walks and Patrick participated in a stake golf tourney. We also went to Patrick's work summer Party. We went to Pine view and played in the water and went on the boat...watched Patrick get thrown on the tube and ate good food.

So if you were to ask us did we have a fun month? the answer is YES!! We loved the month of August and honestly wish it would hang around a little longer.