porter update

We really enjoyed all the pictures from baby Noah to the beach trip. Bernie and Grandma look like they had a good time.

India broke her arm jumping from hay bales at the fair. She said she still had a great time and wants to enter a sheep for 4 H. I told her we should start with a bunny or cooking first. Tuck is enjoyng his combinded 3-4th. class and his best subject is still P.E. He did well on all his placement tests which is unusual since he typically acts like he can't read or do math. Then his teachers think he needs special ed until we take his computer games away and then magically he excells in his tests.

Christian is pretty small compared to his classmates and was leary of trying out for football. Thankfully he is having a wonderful time and the guy giving him his sports physical reassured him that with his long legs and big feet that he'd be plenty tall in a year or two.

I'm working full time in the infant/toddler room at the Condon Child Care. It's in the Elementary building, so I get visits from India and Tuck oftern. The work can be stressfull and labor intensive but it's good to get out of the house and still be close to the kids.

Tim seems to be a perfect fit so far for his job. The community is thrilled with him although in small communities that could change over a minor issue. He really made the school secretary mad when she complained of a "skater" kid wearing a shirt with a skull and the American flag - in protest to the war- Tim felt that the kid was entitled to his beliefs as long as there wasn't any foul language or sexual references. We do have free speech in Condon. The secretary went away in a huff, but the kid was pleased.

We have been renting a 2 bedroom 1 bath house. Three kids, two dogs and three cats. Way too crowded - even with booting the cats outside. We've trained the dogs to stay off the sectional. Oh and Molly finally became a real dog with an official bath and trim. She's no longer a dust mop and we brush her each night to keep her all pretty. She's actually quite a small dog without all that hair. Anyway, back to the house: we got a call on a 3000sq. ft rental in town. It is really nice and the owner said she'll want to sell in a year or so. That's when our leasers negotiated to purchace our house.

Condon isn't very pretty, but it's safe and rooted with generations of really friendly farmers and ranchers. One of our neighbors brought us a delicious zuchinni bread and plate of cranberry cookies after the first week we arrived.

We'll be moving into our new house the last weekend of September. Half of our stuff is still boxed. I'll leave that up to you if you view that as a half empty or half full kind of thing.

Love,
Traci and family