Washington, D.C. Trip

It has been a great time so far in Washington, D.C. Both kids are enjoying everything, but Alex claims his favorite so far has been the ducks on the reflecting pool and riding the trains. He LOVED the aquarium and so did Nathaniel. He kept trying to grab the fish through the glass. Alex has basically walked the entire trip and loves going up and down the escalators and running as much as he can. He has also tried to sleep with maw-maw and papa every night. I have included just a few pictures, but we have many more!

Summer is here!

Finally! The beautiful Michigan summer is finally here. We have planted flowers, worked to make our lawn green and beautiful and enjoyed the great outdoors with the kids! Nathaniel is 7 months old tomorrow and is growing like a weed. He is cutting his first 2 teeth and is still a happy and active baby. He cannot wait to start walking. He chases Alex around in his little walker toy. Alex is learning so much and enjoying being outside with his friends. We had a great trip to visit our family in the Port Huron area and Alex loved playing with his cousins and all of the great toys they have! He even had a 3 am playdate with Keith! Next, we are looking forward to coming home for Tom and Miranda's wedding and seeing our family and friends and heading to Washington D.C for a few days of fun! We cannot wait to see everyone.

Alex and Nathaniel hamming it up...

Six months old!

Wow! It has already been more than six months since Nathaniel was born. He is now a happy, active baby who loves to smile at everyone, but especially his big brother, Alex. While we are still pretty tired from lack of sleep at times, I cannot believe God blessed me with such wonderful boys. We have been very busy visiting with friends and doing work around the house. Alex especially enjoys helping me clear out the flower beds. He is actually pretty good at it, although we will see how the task of planting flowers with a three year old goes. Alex says that his favorite thing to do is play trains, but I would say a close second is watching the movie Cars nearly a thousand times a week. I am pretty sure he can quote the movie from memory now. In fact, he will randomly quote movie lines throughout the day. Nathaniel, who Alex says we should call Nate, is rolling over like a champ, and sitting up pretty well on his own. He hasn't really tried crawling, although I think he believes he is going to go straight to walking. He smiles all the time, and babbles and talks to us all day. The boys really love each other and I catch them playing with each other and laughing throughout the day and it just brings a smile to my face.

Kevin is finally finished with his year of overload classes and we could not be happier! It has been a busy and tiring year, but it has all worked out in the end. He is starting to teach his May class on Monday, but it is only a three week course. Kevin will be returning to Washington, D.C. this summer for Congressional Academy, and we are going to go before they start to do some sight seeing with the boys and my Mom and Dad. We will also hopefully be returning to Ashland this summer with Kevin to visit some friends and enjoy our old stomping grounds.

We look forward to getting to see many of you in our travels this summer and catching up on everything big and small!

Alex and Nathaniel sleeping after a long walk...

The Holidays are Approaching!

Well, Nathaniel has been here for over 2 weeks and he is such a sweet baby! We are all starting to adjust to having a baby in the house again and will soon busily be preparing for the holidays. Alex is very excited about Christmas decorations and candy canes. After a slightly rough start, Nathaniel is growing like crazy and is one of the calmest babies I have seen (besides Alex). He is a cuddler too. We hope to see many of you when we are home over Christmas time, but in the meantime, here are some pictures of the boys.

Alex helping feed Nathaniel...

First "real" bath (Alex is adding toys)...

Mom, leave me alone...

What a big brother...

Our handsome little man...

Nathaniel is Here!!!

We welcomed Nathaniel Edward Fowler Portteus into our family on November 3, 2009, weighing in at 8 lbs. 5 ozs and a whopping 22 inches long. It has been a busy transition, but Alex loves his baby brother and is very protective of his mom. We have had lots of help keeping the house moving, which has been great, but tomorrow we are on our own again. As I get more settled into my routine, I promise I will get back to those of you who wanted more detail on Nathaniel's birth. As many of you know, it takes time to settle into having 2 kids around. Here are a few pictures of Nathaniel and Alexander for all of you to enjoy! I promise to write more at a later time.

Our big boy Alex...

Alex wanted to read a story with baby brother...

Alex and his cheesy smile...

Proud daddy...

Relieved mommy...

Almost there...

Well, no October baby here! He will be here soon though. We have had a fairly warm week here in Michigan, so Alex got to play outside a lot this week and "help" Daddy rake the leaves. He was in heaven being outside so much. He was very excited to go Trick-or-treating tonight and looked very cute as a tiger. We just went around our neighborhood, but they treated him like a star! He didn't even tell anyone "trick-or-treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat", like he has been telling me all week. HeHe! Besides that, we are pretty much just preparing for baby boy to get here. I am uncomfortable and ready to evict him soon. :) Enjoy the pictures.

Our cute little tiger...

With Daddy after TOT...

Isn't he cute?

Loves his cars and trucks...

Loved the piles of leaves...

Preparing for baby...

Not much going on here besides patiently waiting (well, waiting anyways), for the newest member of our family to arrive. Just over 4 weeks until my due date and we cannot wait to meet him! Alex continues to learn new things and grow like a weed. We have been enjoying visiting with family and playing with friends over the past few weeks. Alex is getting excited to teach his baby brother how to "play ball". We are slowly but surely finishing all of the little projects we want to finish before baby arrives, but we are at least ready if he comes soon! We have most of the living room put together, including hanging my beautiful print Kevin got me in D.C. this summer. It looks great! Our new dining room table will arrive soon and we cannot wait to begin entertaining with a table where we don't have to all squeeze in. Fall is here and Halloween is right around the corner, which means Alex has a pumpkin that he just loves! He had to pick out a huge one of course. But, he picked a nice one for baby brother too. He is also ready to get candy trick-or-treating. He is going to be a tiger as long as he doesn't grow too much over the next couple of weeks. We will also be celebrating Kevin's 30th birthday in just under two weeks. Hopefully we will have a new baby around that time to celebrate! This may be the last time I post before the new baby arrives, so enjoy a few random pictures from the last week or so.

Alex with Aunts Kathy and Tomi Ann and Great Grandma

My new print...

Yeehaw!!! (Of course he was supposed to be going to bed...)

Alex's tiger costume...

Kevin's new "man toy"...