Happy Turkey Day!!!

I am Thankful for so many things this year!  It has been an amazing year and SO much fun to watch Quinn & Kellen grow!  I still can't believe that I will be sending Kellen to Kindergarten next fall!  AND I can't believe that Quinn will be 1 next month.  It has really been an amazing year!

This year we totally slacked on Thanksgiving and headed to Cracker Barrel for lunch with Nana, Uncle Andy & Cousin Ansley!  BOY were we in for a surprise!  The line was crazy!  We waited for almost 2 hours for our table...which is a miracle with an 8 year old, an almost 5 year old and an 11 month old.  Thanks goodness they have a toy section!  There were so many people that you could barely move!  BUT the wait was worth it!  The food was so yummy and there was plenty left over to have for dinner and even lunch the next day.  The best part is the dinner cost less than what our grocery bill would have been and it was way easier to order the food than to actually cook it!  :)  I think next year we will take it to go though and then no wait!!!

 Take 1 & 2

 Take 15 &18

The best one of the two of them together!

Quinn (11 Months) Very cute dress given by Aunt Jerilyn as an early birthday gift!!!

Kellen (age 4 years, 10 months)

Playing games while we waited for our food!

Rocking and Waiting!!!!

11 Months (ALMOST 1)!!!

Can you believe it?  I can't!  Every morning she wakes up and what baby is left continues to get smaller and smaller!  Here is what she has been up to this month....

 Quinn Vs Kellen at 11 Months

• She still in 12 month clothing with a few 18 months thrown in!   :o)

• She is getting 3-6 oz bottles and three meals a day with some snacks.  She is eating all table food! If it is on my plate she wants it!  She is getting better with a sippy and loving water!  She has still not had any juice and I am thinking I am going to leave it that way! I really don't see the benefit of drinking juice with all that sugar!!!

• She is on the move!!!  Oh goodness she is going to keep me busy!  She is loving her new found freedom!  I am sure that she will start running soon!  She loves going up stairs and will go for them the minute the gate opens!  She is not loving her bath right now, but Santa is thinking about bringing her some new toys to help her want to stay in the bath!  She jabbers ALL day long.  She is saying mama, dada and baba.  Along with a whole lot of other words that sound a little like she is speaking Chinese!  She is still hating the car seat and I can't wait to turn her around!  I am really hoping that helps!

• She is a lot better about going to Wumba land...I still think it is beacuse she knows she is going to get goldfish!  I am a little sad because she will be moving classes soon because she is now walking!

• She is still taking 2 naps at 10 and 2.  We still head up stairs around 6:30ish for bath time, but have been pushing it closer to 7...just to get a little more play time in with her!  Then we have some snuggle time with a bottle and she is off to bed.  She usually goes down around 7ish.

• The amount of drool that comes out of her is still ridiculous!  4 more teeth are trying to come through and all at once!  I feel so sorry for her!   

• We are keeping busy running errands and getting ready for the holidays!  Quinn has been a pretty good sport.  When we are not running around like a crazy person we try to get together with her little friends!  She loves it!  She is slowly becoming a little more social!  

• I love watching Kellen and Quinn together!  The bond that is developing between them is so special!  He has his moments when he gets tired of her getting into his stuff, but for the most part he is so great with her!  It does this mama's heart good to see that!

Go Quinn Go!!!

for the last couple weeks she has been getting brave and taking a step here and a step there, but she has finally taken off!  I have been trying to get a video of it and finally I have!  Yay!!!  Go Quinn Go!  I know that you will be running soon my sweet girl!

Goin' Ridin...

Being from Montana one of the things that I feel like my kids miss out is the opportunity to be around farm animals.  I grew up surrounded with animals...I especially loved riding horses.  So when we got an invite from one of Kellen's school friends to go to a horse farm for her Birthday, I was so excited for him!

It turned out to be REALLY cold that day, but I don't think the kids cared.  They had so much fun!  They each got to take a turn riding a horse and because Kellen was one of the last kiddos he got to ride the horse up to the barn!  They also got to paint the horse.  Each kiddo got paint on his/her hands and then they all made hand prints!  It was so cute!  They had pizza & cake and then got to hit a pinata!  There was some baby kittens and I did have to sneak some time holding one!  They were so cute!!!

Kellen's Class Thanksgiving Feast

And what a Feast it was.  There was so much food and so much GOOD food!  There was all the fixings!  It started off with a program and it was SO cute!  Kellen had been singing the songs for weeks and it was SO cute to finally see it all put together.

Kellen and Ms Rich & Ms Sutton

Small Changes...

Kellen checking out the new diffuser and loving the smell...diffusing OnGuard

This summer while we were at the beach, my sister-in-law introduced me to doTERRA essential oils.  I have been really dealing with headaches and have gone through a ton of ibuprofen.   While we were at the beach Amanda would use Peppermint and Deep Blue on me every time I had a headache...it was a wonderful relief.  The Peppermint worked with in a few seconds...no more popping pills for me.  She got me a bottle of peppermint to try and I was hooked.  So in October I signed up under my mother-in-law and decided to see what else I could change within my family.  What other man made chemicals could I stop using and change my family forever?  I am just beginning my journey and all the information is overwhelming so I am trying to take one step at a time and focus on one change at a time, but I will get there!  But I am looking forward to trying to make my own cleaners, kids soap/shampoo, my soap, laundry soap and so many more things!  See so many possibilities.  I look forward to making these changes and then sharing them with family and friends.

Tis The Season...

I think that is face says it all!  It means I am on the right track!  This Christmas season could have so easily turned out so differently!  In the beginning of October I began to dread the upcoming Holiday season.  Money has been tight and the thought of putting Christmas on a credit card turned my stomach!  But then I began to realize that Christmas was not about how many Christmas presents are under the tree or even how much I spent on each of those gifts.  Christmas means something totally different than that!  So I set out on a mission to change the way we view Christmas in the Portman house!  I am still working on how everything will turn out.  But Operation Shoe box was a perfect place to start!  Kellen had so much fun from the moment we let him pick up the shoe box to fill from Church to going to picking the age of the child, then on to Walmart to fill it with as many things as possible, and finally to delivering it back to Church.  I would say that this Christmas season is off on the right foot.  I also believe that this is going to be my favorite yet!  

Grandma Keeta

We always look forward to Grandma Keeta's visit.  It is always to short and it will leave Kellen talking about it for weeks!  This time we enjoyed some shopping and eating and playing!  She even got to Trick or Treat with us this year.  One of the other things I enjoy is getting yearly pictures with her.  She enlisted Clear Creek Images this year to catch a few pictures.  


Photography takes an instant out of time, altering life by holding it still.  ~Dorothea Lange

Silly Faces!!!

Red hats were made by Great Grandma Martha!

Did someone call the Fire Department???

 Happy Halloween from Fire Chief Kellen & Dalmatian Puppy Quinn!!!

We had so much fun this year!  Kellen had been asking and asking to carve a pumpkin and time just got away from us!  SO what did we do on Halloween...Matt drove around to several places looking for a pumpkin so that we could carve a pumpkin with Kellen....Thank you Home Depot for still having pumpkins!

 I was so excited when we were able to carry on our tradition of getting together with the Goodwald family!  This year I think we finally found our traditional meal!  We made Taco Salad and it was perfect!  :o)  It was still a little chaotic trying to get the kids all fed and then dressed and then out to trick or treat...BUT I know it will get easier as they get older!  It was SO nice to visit with Sarah and the kids had so much fun trick or treating!  Kellen made out like a bandit, but I have to say that Mommy and Daddy confiscated most of it!

Quinn (10 Months), Kellen (almost 5), Grant (20 Months), Ansley (almost 8) & Gabbi (almost 3 1/2)

 Happy Halloween!!!