Broken Leg

Last Sunday, Porter broke his leg. I want to tell the whole thing so I don't forget, but feel free to skip the boring parts.
It was about 4:30 when I heard a loud crash from the boy's room and then Porter started screaming. I ran in there and picked him up trying to figure out where he hurt himself. Apparently he fell off the ladder on the bunk bed. Nobody saw exactly how it happened but I found him on the floor next to the ladder when I went in. He screamed for about 15 minutes and then calmed down. We tried to get him to stand up, but he refused to put weight on his leg. I was really worried about it and was trying to decide if we needed to head to the emergency room but decided to call my friend first. She is a doctor and is pretty laid back about things and was really helpful. She said to wait a while and see how he acted. She said that if it wasn't visibly deformed or bone sticking out anywhere it wasn't going to hurt him to wait. I gave him some medicine and we watched and waited. A few of my siblings came over to hang out. Porter seemed happy and content, but still refused to put weight on his leg. I talked to my friend again and she said it wouldn't hurt to wait till Monday to take him in, so we decided to wait. Monday morning I called and set up an appointment, taught Joy School and then took him in. They splinted his leg and then sent us over to the hospital for x-rays. Porter did amazing with all the doctors. He seemed a little nervous but never cried. It took a few hours to get everything taken care of, but we finally got the results back saying it was a simple fracture on his tibia just below his knee. They wanted to make sure all the swelling went down before they casted it, so we had a long week with the splint. He picked a green cast and did awesome when they put it on. He only has to have it on for 3 weeks, but he's not allowed to put any weight on it. I'm sure he'll figure out how to crawl or do whatever he needs to do to be able to get around. He is still a bit grumpy but I think he is starting to feel a little better now that it is in a cast. I've never broken a bone so this was all new to me and a little scary. It breaks my heart to see my kids get hurt, but he really has handled it pretty well.

Life back at home

After getting back home we tried our best to get back into our normal routine. Zeke adjusted pretty well, but Porter struggled a little more. I think it took him 2 weeks before he slept all the way through the night again. It didn't help that he came home with a cold and then later I discovered he was growing his 2 year molars. All that explained the grumpy boy walking around.



It has been a cold winter, but surprisingly snow free. We spent some time cleaning out the house and then took the boys outside to play with their new toys. Nana and Popi got Zeke these new fun roller skates and Zeke is having a blast figuring them out.

Grandma and Grandpa gave us some special squirt bottles that even work when you spray them upside down. Of course that makes them the perfect toy for a little boy. They spent hours outside spaying everything they could see.


Oh and lastly a cute picture of the boys with their new pillowcases from Nana. I think she picked the perfect ones this year. They were so excited to change their old ones right away.

After Christmas Fun

Christmas was so jam packed with action, the kids didn't have very much time to play with their new toys. We spent Monday relaxing, taking naps, and playing with our new presents.





The weather was wonderful and sunny so the kids were excited to play outside in Grandma's new sand that she got for Christmas. We then went over to Daniel and Bethany's house to make dinner and play games. Jacob gave Grandma and Grandpa and huge Jenga game that we had to try out. It was really fun, but watch out when it falls!

On Tuesday we went over to Jacob and Deborah's house for a few hours to work on their Christmas present. We did a few odds and ends jobs around their house and then Jacob made us some of his famous pizza. It was SO good. Porter out ate every kid their.


We had a blast in Oregon and it was over before we knew it. The boys loved playing with their cousins and have been asking when we get to go back.

Christmas

Zeke and Porter were so kind as to sleep in till 8am. We got them some breakfast and all ready for church and then waited for all the cousins to come over so they could open their stockings. They were so excited, they kept running back and forth from the tree to the stockings.


It would not be Christmas at the Lander house without some fancy wrap jobs. Toby and I did the penguin this year and Tyson went all out with the rest.


Finally the cousins all showed up and we got to open stockings.

Unfortunately, after church when we met back together to do Christmas, the Grinch showed up as well.

For some reason, Porter was terrified of the Grinch and would not come out from under his blanket whenever the Grinch was near. They eventually washed the paint off so that we wouldn't have a miserable boy for all of Christmas. It was so silly.

Porter was so excited to get a sticker book. That kid LOVES stickers.

Zeke went to the store with us to pick out a present for Porter. We showed him all kinds of fun toys, but he picked out a slinky and would not budge. He was so excited to give it to him.

We made sure everyone knew that we needed to be able to pack everything home again in our suitcases so to do small presents. So naturally they gave us the biggest Nerf guns that you can buy. 3 sets! With the help of Tyson we were able to get everything home again. Watch out everyone, we are going to have a major Nerf night sometime.


Daniel and Tyson made us these awesome croquet mallets. Good mallets are hard to come by, so they cut, poured lead, and sewed leather to make us some custom made ones.

Toby and I worked more hours than we can count on compiling an account of our Mali trip. We made a 358 page photo book with notes from my journal, Toby's journal, and all 30 pages of Dad's notes. It was a major accomplishment and we were really proud of getting it done. I hope they enjoy it.

Zeke got sent on a scavenger hunt by Santa for his present.

He loved it and was excited to find a RC Car at the end.

We finally finished unwrapping presents at 7pm and rushed over the Grammy's house for more Christmas.

Some of the adults kept the kids entertained while we finished dinner and while Grammy and Cindy finished getting all the stockings filled. We finally wrapped up Christmas at 11pm and put a couple very tired boys to bed.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was special day. We all got to go to the baptism of Taylor. He was baptized by his dad and everyone in the family was able to be there.

Yep, that's the whole family. Even the newest baby Gideon. He is so cute!

Grandma and Grandpa got this race track for all the kids to play while they were there. As you can tell, the "kids" really enjoyed it.



We had an amazing Christmas dinner and somehow managed to fit everyone around the table.

I was put in charge of the program for the night so I pulled out an old primary lesson. We sang and acted out the different verses of the song Nativity from the Children's songbook. It was about as much as the little kids could handle yet we were still able to talk about the Savior's birth.




Before bed, Zeke and Porter remembered to put out milk and cookies for Santa. They were so excited for Christmas.

Trip to Oregon for Christmas!

We flew to Oregon for Christmas this year. The boys did great on the plane (with only a little ear pain) and were excited to fly. We managed to get our rental and hit the road. We stopped in Wilsonville (wow things look so different) for food and then were on our way again. Zeke ate his hamburger and within 1 min. of us switching drivers Zeke cried saying his was going to throw up. We threw him the fast food bag and he managed to aim a little bit, but the bad didn't do much. It got everywhere! I stopped the car and in the freezing cold, stripped Zeke down to his underwear, wiped him, my coat, his coat, the car, and his car seat off with wet wipes. We threw some new clothes on him and got back on the road. We arrived at Kristel and Taylor's birthday party at about 9pm.

We got up Friday morning and head over to Jacob and Deborah's house to make gingerbread houses. They did a couple real sets of gingerbread for the older kids and then we cut up some cake for the younger kids. It was so fun to watch their different personalities come out during the project. Porter and Jacob ate the candy and marshmallows as fast as they could and were done before too long.


Zeke was meticulous and spent a good hour and half on his. Isaac added some frosting, candy and marshmallows, smashed the cake up really well, and then stuffed it in his face. It was so funny!

The rest of the day was spent checking out Daniel and Bethany's house, going to Costco and working on Christmas projects.

Zeke put on a Christmas program with his Joy School before Christmas. They sang some of the songs they learned and acted out the nativity. Zeke loves going to Joy School and has fun being able to play with his friends.