Last Tender Life Post & Top 6 Posts of 2012

Snow Kitty

Whoo, whoo.

What?! Last post? Yes, you read that correctly. But don't fret, it only means that better things are to come. Starting tomorrow I will be blogging from my BRAND NEW BLOG! I'll have a redirecting link tomorrow and it'll be easier to remember, fo' sho'.

You see, I started Tender Life a few months before I had Porter with the hopes of keeping up with family and friends once the wee babe came along. And this blog has done that really well. What I didn't anticipate was how much I would enjoy blogging, which turns out to be a lot. I want to bring my blogging to the next level and open it up to a larger audience, because I have so much more to share.

Don't worry, it will still include all the wonderful updates and pictures of my sweet family and all my previously written posts. The new blog will have more content about my own personal interests, be easier to use, and hopefully easier to leave comments on. After all, blogging is a form of social media, and if Blogger is going to make it difficult for you to leave comments then it's not very social at all. New year, new blog. Rest assured, Porter will still be very much a part of it all. He is after all much of the inspiration.

For the final real post of Tender Life and of 2012 I want to share the top 6 posts of the last year, in case you missed out. I hope your 2012 was lovely and wonderful and everything you hoped!

Top 6 Posts of 2012!

#6
Africa: Rock the Casbah
#5
Real Food Just Got More Real
#4
Spain: Rhonda
#3
Spain: Marbella Sick Day
#2
Bucket List #13 Epiphony

AND FOR THE TOTALLY MOST RANDOM AND POPULAR POST FROM 2012:

#1
Bucket List #6

Photo & Quote #25 Snowman

What do you know? I'm even ticklish. In fact, I'm all livin'! 

I am alive! What a neat thing to happen to a nice guy like me.

~Frosty The Snowman

Porter's first snowman!! Aptly named, Frosty.

***

For the last month, Porter has had a minor obsession with snowmen. We finally got enough snow and energy to build a small one in our front yard. He's oddly shaped because the snow here is really dry and doesn't stick very well. We ended up making 3 small mounds and letting them "gel" for a little bit and then stacking them. It worked like a charm!

4pm Sky

Got snow spin?

Nobody can see you Olive.

We made our snowman double sided so we can see him from inside the house too.

Science kitty! Using a magnifying glass with lights.

Photo & Quote #24 Family

As the family goes, so goes the nation

and so goes the whole world in which we live.

~Pope John Paul II

If every person in the world had a family like Porter's,
it would be a very very happy place to live.

***

I believe the exact quote for this pictures is, "Go mama!"

Photo & Quote #23 Travelling Home

There's no place like home.

There's no place like home.

There's no place like home.

~Wizard of Oz

This is actually a photo from a couple weeks ago, but a bird eating cake is pretty cool.

***

Also from a few weeks ago.

Tonight, however, we traveled home from our holiday visit to California. What's been lacking from these posts is that Porter's been REALLY sick for the entire last week. It started with fever and culminated with a horrible head cold and cough. 

Normally it's no big deal, but being away from home and massive altitude changes in an airplane caused him serious head pain today. Compounded with a late flight...made for a very long day week. Thankfully we made it home and he's sleeping tight in his own bed tonight. 

It was a wild and wonderful adventure to visit all the grandparents. We love them all and can't get nearly enough of them. For those of you who have Grandparents who live nearby, give them hugs and tell them you love them. Life with children is always easier when OUR parents are around.  

Photo & Quote #22 Nature

Nature's first green is gold,

Her hardest hue to hold.

Her early leaf's a flower;

But only so an hour.

Then leaf subsides to leaf.

So Eden sank to grief,

So dawn goes down to day.

Nothing gold can stay.

~Robert Frost

Photo & Quote #21 Christmas Eve

And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, 

stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? 

It came without ribbons. It came without tags. 

It came without packages, boxes or bags. 

And he puzzled and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore. 

Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before.

What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store? 

What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more? 

~Dr.Seuss

***

Decorating the "Kimiss Chree"

Santa has left the building.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Photo & Quote #20 Rain

Some people walk in the rain,
others just get wet.
~Roger Miller

***

Continuing with the 12 trucks of Christmas, today Porter got a recycling truck.
Complete with side sorting bins and the trailer that dumps accordingly.

Photo & Quote #19 Time Wasted

The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.

~Bertrand Russell

Photo & Quote #18 Solstice

Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love.

~Hamilton Wright Mabi

 ***

My dad has the best ornaments on his Christmas tree.

This gorilla from the San Diego Zoo is maybe my favorite of all.

Porter woke up sick today, which meant sitting around and being chill. Here he's playing iSpy with the flashlight.

Porter and his uncles Steve and Kumar. So sweet!

Meet Boma, a Hindu security god, of sorts. My parents have Boma in various places through their home and Porter has taken a real interest in him and his ability to "scare monsters". Porter won't, however, touch this statue. Can you blame him?