Happy Birthday Porter!!

Porter is a big boy! He turned two! We had a Cars party. I even attempted making a birthday cake for him! Thanks to a kit with excellent step-by-step directions, it turned out! I hated to eat it, because it was so cute!

Make a wish!

Porter's friends had fun eating cake, playing with play-doh and silly puddy, coloring, and playing in the toy room. They had a blast, but Porter missed his friends that couldn't come:(


We crammed a lot of people in our house! I'm glad we can accomodate this many people, even though it was crowded. Brandon said that he counted about 30 people total!

Havin' Fun!

It's just another day at the Hoopes'. Playing and having fun!


My two boys being silly.

Porter showing off his new slippers.

Funny Faces

Silly Hudson!

Makin' a Gingerbread House

It's going to be a tradition in our house to make a gingerbread house every year for Christmas. We didn't get to make one for Christmas this year, so I bought one after Christmas on sale. Porter had a lot of fun. If I would have let him, he would have tried to eat the whole thing!

Climbing Maniac

I walk into the room, and this is what I see... we are in trouble! Porter loves to climb on anything and everything. And he doesn't get scared! I'm surprised we haven't been to the Emergency Room yet!

I'm two months old!

Oh, so cute!

Hudson's Blessing

How handsome he is!

Catching up... Christmas!

We celebrated Christmas a few days late, because I wanted to be in our house for Christmas. I figured Porter wouldn't know the difference! This is Porter after he woke up and saw what Santa had brought him.


Hudson's First Chrsitmas... just chillin' in his new bumbo.

The boy's room...

My family has been dying to see pictures of the boy's room. They knew that we painted it, but I'm sure it's been hard to visualize. I decided I better at least post these pictures before they get mad at me!

Porter's big boy bed- surprisingly he does well sleeping in it. It's a good thing we got it because Porter climbs in and out of the crib, anyways!

Wall with the closet on the left and their bathroom on the right.

I'm so glad this room had a built-in bookcase! As you can see, we pretty much use the whole thing. That's what happens when you are a preschool teacher and start collecting children's books long before you have children of your own!

One room done- the rest of the house to do. It's gonna take awhile to get everything done that we want to do to this house! The question I have is, will I ever feel like everything is done or will there always be something else we want to do to the house?

I'm back!

When it rains, it pours! We got moved into our house (later than we wanted because of the darned snowy weather). My family barely made it with roads closing everywhere. They even made it into the Oregonian because they stopped at Multnomah Falls on the way here and there was a photographer there. Something weird happened and I wasn't able to sign-in to my blog to post and check other blogs. And then our wireless card went on the fritz. We just got our internet back and I figured out why blogger wasn't letting me sign-in to my blog, actually Brandon figured it out. Anyway, I am going to try to catch up with what we have been doing. We have been very busy with the move, Christmas, Hudson's blessing, house stuff, and right now I am trying to plan Porter's birthday party for this Saturday. Busy, busy, busy! I didn't realize how hard it is to live without internet!!!

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!