Walking, Talking Update

Porter is now 1 year and 2 months old. He's turning into a cute little toddler and we love him more & more each day!

 Porter recently took his first steps. But he's not walking yet. He's still much more comfortable holding a hand or the couch for support.

Porter also started brushing his teeth on his own. Of course we take turns to make sure his teeth actually get cleaned. But it's so cute that he tries to do it himself!

Porter still loves books more than anything. That makes his mommy very happy considering I've been buying books for him from book orders since before I was pregnant. It's so cute because he's so gentle and careful that we can give him the Webster's Dictionary and he'll gingerly turn the pages and keep himself busy for 5-10 minutes.

Porter's vocabulary so far:
dog, Dada, Mama, ball, balloon, Jesus, yum, banana, dude, no, more, all gone

St. Patrick's Day

I never fully appreciated St. Patrick's Day until I began teaching 1st grade. A sneaky leprechaun plays tricks on our class for the first few weeks of March every year. And each year, we try to catch him. This year, my kids were amazingly creative with their leprechaun traps. I thought I'd share a few:

 The trap above has a gold ring inside attached to the string holding the peg. When the leprechaun grabs the gold, it pulls the peg out and the door closes, trapping the leprechaun in!

Our traps didn't work. Instead, it made him angry and he trashed our classroom!

Although we didn't catch him, he did steal some of our gold coin candy then sent the kids on a treasure hunt to find it.

Unfortunately, I fell for the leprechaun's trick again this year when he left a drink that was only for kids. He left a note warning adults not to drink it, but my students talked me into it and my feet turned green! Those kids thought it was hilarious!

Birthdays

Brian and I both had our birthdays over the past few weeks. For Brian's birthday, we spent the day relaxing & watching movies, went to the mall to get Brian & Porter matching Jazz hats, then went out for yummy Indian food, and had strawberry shortcake with Brian's parents, sis, & bro-in-law.

For my birthday, I worked a half day. Brian came in to school that morning and brought a birthday treat for my class. Then I left work at lunchtime and Brian's mom watched Porter most of the day (Thanks Bev!) while Brian took me on a shopping spree for new clothes! My little sis came up from Provo and we went to dinner at a seafood restaurant. Then after dinner, Brian had family & friends waiting at our condo to have some ice cream cake with us. My cake was one of the best parts: Brian had DQ make a special ice cream cake out of my favorite blizzard flavor, mint m&m (looks disgusting, but tastes divine!).

I know what you're thinking . . . Brian was way better at spoiling me on my birthday than I was on his. I guess I'll have to step it up for next year!

Seuss

Happy Dr. Seuss Day! (aka Read-Across-America Day)

Yeah, I totally bring my work home with me. =)