So I forgot...

...to upload pictures!! Sorry about that! I will do so when I get back into town! I am in Williamstown, MA until Friday. The workshop I am attending is very interesting and informative but let me tell you, MA is way different than TX. Its chilly, I have been wearing a sweatshirt! I guess I should appreciate the break from the 98 degree weather at home, but I kind of miss the warmth. Also, the landscape and architechture is very different as you might imagine. Unfortunately, I left my camera at home, so won't be able to share the images with you.

Nickolas has done so much already considering that he hasn't even been back for two weeks yet. He seemed to really enjoy robotics camp last week and this week is the Tracy McGrady Basketball camp. Some of you may know that we decorated the boys' rooms in Houston sports team themes, NBA Rockets for Nickolas and NFL Texans for Donovan. Thus, it is pretty exciting for Nickolas to be able to go to a camp hosted and attended by the superstar player who is in the poster hanging up on his wall! This was Nickolas' reward for keeping his tardies down again this year and improving on time management (he actually wore his watch most days!).

On Sunday, the boys went to the pool to hang out with Nickolas' buddy Austin. Austin ended up inviting Nickolas over for a sleepover for that night. Nickolas was so excited that he could barely sit while he waited to be picked up (it was his first night staying at a friend's house). Donovan was devastated when Nickolas left as he has been wanting to have a sleepover with a (any) friend for months now! Poor kid!

To give you the back story, Austin is from CA but is in town visiting his grandmother who lives in Bridgeland. Nickolas and Austin met last summer at a drama camp held at the activity center. They hung out quite a bit last summer, so its nice that they will get to do so again this year as well.

I just erased the statement "nothing much new to report on Donovan" as I forgot to tell you all that he is officially READING!!! YEAH! He just "got" the concept a few weeks ago and has been improving exponentially. He started a Headstart to Reading Class as well that has done nothing but increase his excitement about reading. His face just lights up when he reads....he's so pleased with himself. Its always so fun to watch him learn something new. He knows about 20-25 sight words that gets him very far with simple early reading books (or ones we make up ourselves)!

I can say that there is not much new with my husband. He's been working and hanging out with the boys. I will speak for him and say that he is pretty happy these days and having a blast! Data analysis and the two knuckleheads are definitely high on his list of favorites.

We love you all, Tamiko

Summer in Full swing

Well, summer is in full swing in the Porter household. Nickolas has been here since about 5:30am on Saturday morning. He seemed pretty excited and ready to go as soon as he got off the plane. Two of our neighbor kids, Sierra (age 10) and Dionte (13) happened to stop by that afternoon to see if he was in town just as Nickolas was heading outside to go for a bike ride with Christopher. They had good timing! Later, we went to the pool in the evening to meet up with Sierra and Dionte and ran into the Marions who have FOUR boys. I have finally gotten the names straight.....Bryan (5), Braxton (9), Brandon (11) and Bryce (13)! Thus, Nickolas had a great first day of playing with lots of kids (including his brother).

Donovan has pretty much hung out with Daddy this week while Nickolas has a Robotics camp at the local community college in the mornings. It ends on Friday and it appears that Nickolas is enjoying it and meeting some interesting kids. One of them, Nick, gave him some good advice. The gist of it was to make good choices because if you don't things could get pretty bad. Pretty wise advise from a 7th grader.

Today, Nickolas also went to the pool to hang out with another neighbor, Marshall (he's almost 10). Seemed like they had a good time. I have a feeling that we will end up at the pool again tomorrow and Friday since it is SOOO H-O-T here!

I leave on Sunday for a workshop in Massachusetts. I will try to remember to add pictures before I leave. Hope everyone is doing well. We love you all, Tamiko

"Camping" and flag football pics

As promised, I posted the proof that D and his dad know how to "rough" it! :)

Nothing much new. Soccer has ended and now Donovan is playing flag football. He's had two practices so far, and one more on Monday before the first game on Tuesday. He's the youngest and smallest on his team, but his behavior and listening is so good that we are really enjoying watching him. If you click on the slideshow to go to my other pictures, you'll see more of my football images.

All Access

Hello!

How's it going? All is well here in beautiful (and hot) Texas.

The preK graduation was pretty cute, I have to admit. I didn't cry nor did Christopher but the mothers on either side of us did! Donovan did great! I was nervous that he wouldn't sit through it or wouldn't listen to instructions (it didn't start until 7 and his bedtime was around 7:30) but no problems there. He was so hyped up afterwards though as you can tell from some of the pics in the slideshow on the side. If you click on it, you should still be able to get to the rest of my pictures (i.e. the soccer pics).

We did a few things last week that were fun as well. We went to the Houston Texans All Access day. It was an event for season ticket holders to get to go and tour the football players' locker room, cafeteria, training room, etc. We also were able to get some signatures from players and cheerleaders! This was a lot of fun and perfect since Donovan's room is decorated in a Texans theme. Over the weekend, Donovan and Christopher camped out in our gameroom in a tent. They ate dinner (hot dogs, chips and smores) and slept in their tent. Of course, the tv was on so Donovan could watch Spongebob while he was camping! Funny!

Nickolas seems to be enjoying his end of the school year activities. His last week of school is next week (last day is on Thursday). He lands in Texas early next Saturday morning (june 13). We've got some fun activities planned for him right from the start. He's got a class at the local community college his first week, and then a basketball camp the next. After that we've got him signed him up for a drama camp and swimming lessons. We are also planning a trip to NC and to the midwest, so should be a very active summer for him!

I don't have as much planned for D. I am still adding activites for him since it was a recent decision to take him out of daycare. He is going to do a Headstart to Reading class, swim class and his usual therapies (physical, occupational and speech). As I write this, I'm thinking that all of this might be enough. What do you all think? I think Christopher and I will feel like taxi drivers most of the summer!

Hope all of you are doing well. Love T

P.S. pics below are from the Texans All Access Event! I'll include pics from the "camping adventure" next post!