more house pics...

Here are more pictures of the house that some of you requested to see. We signed the paperwork yesterday and will be getting the keys on Monday, if all goes well. My family is coming up to help us move in and to spend Christmas with us. We will be staying in our house for Christmas amongst all of the boxes. It will be a Christmas we will always remember! All of the walls are very white, so they will be blank slates for me to color the way I want. That won't happen until after we move in. We will also need to landscape the backyard because it is full of nasty weeds right now. Here is a basic tour:

Livingroom/Formal Diningroom- we will be using it as a playroom:)

Kitchen- I love the numerous cabinets and the open floorplan:)

Great Room- Just off of the kitchen. I can't wait to use the gas fireplace this winter:)

Hall- The first door on the left is the office. The door at the end of the hall is the boy's bedroom. The master bedroom is on the right just past the closet doors:)

Master bath- I am calling the master bedroom the master suite because it is soooo big! I love the bathroom, which is a room in itself. The toilet room is on the left and the shower is on the right. Brandon and I joke that our closet is as big as the first apartment we had!:)

Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!

Porter had a blast playing in Portland's first snow! It is actually unusual to get this much snow in December. We got 4-5 inches and church was canceled! If he could have, Porter would have stayed outside all day, even if he froze solid!

"Sansa!"

We had to go see "Sansa" (Porter's pronunciation) because Porter has been excited this year about Santa. We got to the mall fairly early, but of course still had to wait in line. Try telling a 22 month old to be patient and wait for your turn! When we finally got to "Sansa", Porter didn't know what to think and only sat on his lap for a couple seconds. The things we do for our kids!

Family Time

Okay, I know that it is almost Christmas, but I wanted to share what I am thankful for- My Three Boys:) What Brandon and I enjoy the most is just hanging out as a family and watching Porter and Hudson interact. They are so cute!

Yeah!!!

We have had a very busy couple of months. Not only have we been getting ready for another baby, we have been house hunting. Portland is an expensive place to live (those of you that live here know that!). We have been wanting to buy a house for awhile and have been running out of room here. Our patience has finally paid off and we have found our house! We will be moving in right before Christmas. What a great Christmas gift!

Our little monkey

What can I say? We have a little climbing monkey in our house! Porter used his potty to climb on to the cabinet door, using his finger-like toes to hold on. Hilarious! Where does he come up with this stuff?!

Hudson's First Bath

We have started a tradition of Grandma Perry giving the first bath. We had to wait awhile to give Hudson his first bath because it took so long for his umbilical cord to fall off. Just like Porter, Hudson loves his baths!

Porter's First Hair Cut!

I took advantage of my mom being here, since she knows how to cut hair well. I absolutely LOVE Porter's curls, but I thought it was time for him to look like a little boy. I'm glad my mom cut his hair, because let's just say he wasn't the easiest to cut his hair. We put a movie on for him & let him eat a sucker, thinking this would distract him enough. We were wrong. Every time my mom would snip, Porter would say "ouch!" and try to squirm away! It's a good thing that Porter's hair is curly, so it doesn't show how uneven his hair cut probably is! It turned out really cute & Porter's hair still has those adorable curls that I love!

We love more visitors!

All of us breathed a sigh of relief when Grandma Perry came to help out. I think Brandon was the most excited because he offered to let my mom sleep with me, so she could help out with the many nighttime feedings & diaper changes! I guess he wanted to get some sleep, or something like that! Anyways, we had a lot of fun shopping, going to the zoo, and just enjoying the babies. Porter loved all of the spoiling that Grandma Perry did to him, and Hudson enjoyed all of the holding that Grandma Perry did to him. Now that my mom is gone, I get to take care of the aftermath of all of the spoiling that went on,but it was worth it to have her visit! We wish she could visit more often!

We love visitors!

It was so fun to have Aunt Marti visit us. We don't get very many visitors up this way, but it is only an hour flight or a 12 hour drive from Utah, so anyone else that wants to visit Portland and the Hoopes' feel free! Marti was able to see Hudson right after he was born and she also went to a Mary Kay convention. Hopefully she had as much fun as we did! (I know my mom was jealous, though, because Marti got to see Hudson before she did!)

What an almost two year old likes...

Two of Porter's favorite things... ice cream and bathtime

Brothers

Porter has been surprisingly good with "B", as he calls his baby. He hasn't been jealous of all of the attention we have had to give to Hudson. He loves his "B", but hasn't wanted to hold him, until now. It took almost a week before Porter showed an interest in holding Hudson. How cute are they!

More of Hudson

Here's a picture of Hudson with his umbilical cord still attached. Porter's fell off when he was a week old, so I was expecting Hudson's to fall off around that same time. It ended up taking over 2 weeks for the thing to fall off! Hudson was 18 day old!

Two days after Hudson was born, we went back to Birth Place to say goodbye to our favorite nurses, since we went home early & didn't say goodbye to them then. I have been so lucky with both of my births to have good- no outstanding nurses! Without their help, I wouldn't have been able to have both of my babies drug-free!

What a cutie!

Coming Home

We got the okay from the Docs to leave the hospital the next day. I was ready to be home. I missed Porter and didn't want to stay in the hospital another night. Porter welcomed Hudson home and treated him very well, for the curious toddler he is.

A Crazy Halloween!

I was so excited to have my little Hudson with us, but I was a little bummed that I wouldn't be able to go trick-or-treating with Porter. He was such a cute stinky skunk & all of the nurses LOVED seeing him in his costume. I knew when Porter came into the hospital because I could hear all of the nurses and other people saying how cute he was! Brandon took Porter to our ward's Trunk-or-Treat that night. At the end of the day, Porter was so tired that all he could do was lie on the couch! What a busy, fun, special, crazy Halloween this was!

Catching Up

I realize it's been nearly 3 weeks since my last post. I have been wanting to post more pictures, but frankly, I haven't had the time. I enjoy blogging, but I have been feeling guilty for not making time to get things up-to-date. Then I told myself it was stupid to feel guilty, because I have been doing what is most important, anyways; taking care of my boys! So, today, I'm not making time to blog by ignoring Porter and Hudson. Instead, I decided to forgo my shower! Both of my babies are sound asleep and because I am deciding to not get ready for the day, hopefully I will be able to catch up!

I love Hudson

A few weeks before Hudson's arrival, Brandon and I took Porter to the toy store and had him pick out a gift for his baby brother. He picked out a very cute vibrating frog that can hang on his carseat. Porter was so proud of this gift. Porter and I took the gift home and wrapped it up and got it ready for Hudson's arrival. (Little did Porter know...I had Hudson pick out a gift for Porter that same day).
When Porter arrived at the Birthplace with Grandma and Grandpa Hoopes, he immediately saw the gift for him. Porter helped Hudson open the gift that he picked out for him and then looked at the other larger gift. Porter opened it up and found a gift that he has not put down. Porter loves his little plane and helicopter tool set. Great Job Hudson on picking that gift. I think this scored some good points with your big brother Porter!

Big Brother

We were quite curious how Porter was going to react to the new addition to our little family. We quickly found out that Porter is an awesome big brother. Porter has been so very gentle with Hudson. One of Porter's favorite things to do is to give kisses on the top of Hudson's head.
The other day one of the cutest things happened. Brandon and Porter were teaching Hudson all about how to throw a ball. Porter said that he wanted to sit closer to Hudson. After doing this, Porter lightly patted Hudson on his little round head and said, "Ball...Ball...Ball!" We had a good laugh with that. Just hope Porter does not try to play catch with that "ball."

Late night silhouette

Our little pumpkin

Since Hudson was born on Halloween...He quickly took on the name of "our little pumpkin." Our nurse Kellie said, "Oh look at how cute your little pumpkin is" when first came out. I thought this hat was a perfect fit for the day and how unbelievably cute he was. Meet our little pumpkin.