Porter's 5th Birthday

Today was Porter's 5th birthday. He has been such an amazing trooper through this whole move and now staying home by himself while Andrew and Taylor go to school. He is constantly showing love to both Andrea and I, and being just as sweet and good natured as a person can possibly be. It has been really amazing to observe a person so caring and seemingly self-assured as he is. In some ways, I am very jealous of the traits he has demonstrated at such a young age.

So in light of all that Porter has done, and how well he has handled the changes, we really wanted him to feel special on his birthday. Andrea had asked him what kind of cake that he wanted, and Porter said he wanted a three layer cake, bottom layer chocolate, middle layer tie dye, and the top layer strawberry. Then put strawberries all around the outside and stick enough forks in it that everybody can just start eating. So that is exactly what Andrea did. She put the cake in front of Porter, and said dig in. The kids all grabbed a fork and started devouring the cake. Andrew and Taylor were making such pigs of themselves, it made me feel really uncomfortable, and I kept on telling them to calm down. Eventually though I conceded as I realized that this is what Porter wanted. Papa confirmed that I should just relax and let it be. After the kids ate about a ¼ of the cake, we were finally able to get the ice cream and everyone else got an individual piece in a bowl like normal.

Since this was only our second Sunday in the new ward, our records were read in today, and each of us had to stand in church. Papa was conducting, so as Porter stood up, Papa mentioned from the pulpit that it just happened to be Porter's birthday.

Because his birthday was on Sunday, Porter got to open one present before church which started at 11 AM, and then had to wait until Papa came home after church, before he could open his presents. When Papa finally came home around 3 PM, Porter was so anxious to open the presents. I told Porter that he had to wait until Papa had changed out of his church clothes. Papa went up to his room for a while, and then came back down still in his church clothes. Porter said," Papa, why are you still dressed?" This confused Papa until we explained to him that Porter was told he couldn't open his present until Papa had changed. Papa said that he wasn't planning on changing, so Porter proceeded to open his presents, finally.

Porter got a remote control tank and monster truck, which he really likes. The tank came with bullets that launch by remote, and rechargeable batteries. It is funny watching the kids recharge it. It takes about 5 hours to fully charge, but the kids have the patience for just over 5 minutes. So as soon as they plug it in, they want to take it out. Needless to say, the tank only lasts a few moments before they are plugging it in again. Porter also got a puzzle of the United States, and a weighted, inflatable punching bag which returns upright after each punch. They had a lot of fun with that until they hit it too hard and it started to leak.