What we've been up to . . .

We've been up to a lot. It has been busy. The kind of busy which is so relentless that I have to stop to take deep breaths now and then so I don't get stressed. I consult my calendar and to-do lists on my phone many times a day to make sure I'm not forgetting something important. It's been so busy that Dan and I have to schedule time to talk to each other. And I have had some things on my list to talk about for the last three weeks - there hasn't been a long enough stretch of time to finish an in-depth conversation, so I haven't tried.  (The good news is that when I have to wait to discuss something I'm unhappy about I usually forget why I was upset in the first place. I seem to have discovered a secret for marital harmony.  ???)

Sometime I want to blog more in depth about some of what has been going on. Sometime I want to do a lot of things, like catch up my digital scrapbooks, write emails to friends, edit home movies, make it to the gym more often, read the pile of books I checked out from the library a month ago, and so much more. But I'll just have to wait. For now, here is a peek into life at the Porters these days . . .

Joseph: wrapping up indoor soccer, beginning baseball, ongoing basketball, new Cub Scout, first Pinewood Derby,  birthday (8 years old!), big birthday party that completely wore out his aged parents, a narrator role in the Three Piggy Opera, constantly playing ball of some sort. 

Aubrey: musical theater/vocal/dance classes 10+ hours a week, Mathletes, a role in Little Women (to be performed in May), plenty of homework, babysitting, birthday (13 years old!), two birthday parties.

Bailey: driving as much as possible (after taking a break for a few months), parties with friends, joined the tennis team, lots of homework, YCL (youth camp leader) meetings for Girls Camp, awesome Faith value project, babysitting.

Brandon: birthday (21 years old!), working hard and sounding very happy in Ukraine, home in 43 days!

Tiffany: driving kids here, there, and everywhere, four book clubs, school volunteering, busy church calling (Relief Society), helping with the stake Life of Christ event, meetings to plan Stake Girls Camp, coordinating the universe. Or maybe it just seems like that.

Dan: early morning Seminary (those three words don't communicate well enough how busy this has been), the busiest he has ever been at work, a new daily workout (Crossfit) which is making him walk like an old man and is helping him "rediscover muscles I haven't met in a decade."

As I write all that, I'm thinking that it doesn't sound all that busy. But it feels busy enough that we are all really looking forward to our upcoming trip to the beaches of Mexico. Woohoo - time to re-acquaint myself with the sun and read my backlog of books!

Joseph's Room

When we moved into our current home 6 1/2 years ago everyone was able to have their own room with the exception of little Joseph, who was only 18 months. His stuff was set up in a tiny sitting room accessed off our master bedroom. The room has french doors which close it off to make a small nursery. It was just big enough for his mattress (on the floor), a small wardrobe for his clothes, and some shelves to house his toys. Seriously - with all that in the room there was nowhere to play or hang out. We thought it was a temporary fix until we figured out a better option. Well, our temporary fix lasted for over six years!  It turns out that you don't need a really big room - just big enough is fine.

But when Brandon left on his mission two years ago, we began the room shuffling. It was time - when I talked about the impending room switch, Joseph's eyes got big and starry and he said, "do you think I would be able to have a bed that is off the floor?"  Uh, yes. I just hope we haven't scarred him too much by making him wait 7 1/2 years to have a real bed on a frame!

It actually took me about a year to tackle the project. I knew it would be a big project.  First step: boxing up all the stuff that Brandon was supposed to box up before he left but didn't.  Yes -  that took us an entire Saturday last summer, and now everything Brandon left home with he left to Ukraine is sitting in plastic bins in the garage. It is not well organized or tidy, but that's what happens when you leave all your precious worldly possessions and important papers to be sorted and stored by others.

Next, I had to paint the ceiling in Brandon's old room/Aubrey's new room (I painted it badly when we moved in and it desperately needed a fix). I really hate painting ceilings. Then we began the process of designing and re-doing the room for Aubrey. I'll show the finished product in another post.

Finally, late last fall we began the process of re-doing Aubrey's old room/Joseph's new room. This included listing and then selling Aubrey's white girly furniture and purchasing new Joseph-appropriate furniture. I thought about this step for awhile because, while Joseph's new room is certainly bigger than the room/closet he slept in for many years, it's still a very small room. So, all the furniture in the room needed to maximize storage and make an efficient use of space.

Joseph and I picked out bedding for his room, and I painted the walls and made the window treatment. That was the extent of my involvement in his room. I am completely okay with him decorating his room the way he wants. He is the boss of his personal space. I think he has done an awesome job making his room his personal sanctuary.

I love this corner of the room. We found a great little corner desk and chair on Overstock and a bookshelf at Ikea. Joseph was really set on hanging a white board and a pegboard above the desk, so we did. 

He added a Spiderman calendar and lots of drawings and pictures that are important to him for various reasons.

Notice the bottom shelf of the desk - it  is the perfect spot for him to store his trophies.

 He printed out all the pictures posted on the pegboard and annotated each picture with an explanation about how it relates to him. It has been fun for me to see the things that are important to him at this moment in time. And he added a mustache to his school picture. Of course.

 A close-up of the Lego figures he got last summer at Legoland at the base of his desk lamp.

We hung a shelf above his bed to house his favorite Lego creations. We might add another one above the dresser, as the Lego creations keep multiplying. He temporarily hung a Lego Pirates poster above the bed, but has now replaced it with the Air Jordan basketball picture he received for his birthday.

He wanted a hook on the wall next to his bed so his robe could be easily accessible.

 A close-up of the important stuff he keeps on his bedside table. In addition to his piggy bank to hold his spending money, he decided to make separate containers for mission money and long term savings. He is not a fan yet of our Porter Kids Ledger System and the Porter Bank, but we're working on it.

 To the right of his dresser he has a hamper and a host of miscellaneous drawings. We also hung the remote control earth and moon he got for Christmas. They are controlled by the remotes on his bedside table.
One side of the bed has two big drawers. The other side has a perfect hiding spot. He has equipped it with photos, toys, a notebook for "awesome stuff", a blanket, and slippers.

 And, last (but definitely not least), the signs he posted on the door of his room. 

 "Danger - the getting in trouble kind! Don't come in!  Joseph's Room!  (technical difficulties)  According to the master of the room Joseph."

 Very, very dangerous.

 And don't forget: "Keep calm and call Batman."