We Five Kings…

Welcome to my blog!  I thought that it would be best to start this off my introducing myself and my family.

I am Tiffany or Tippy as I am affectionately known by many.  I am a southern girl at heart and was born in raised in a suburb of New Orleans.  All my life I have had a love of fashion and a love of pushing the limits of the “norm”.  Just ask my mom about the time I wanted to go to Sunday church service dressed like Punky Brewster.

I went to college at Southeastern Louisiana University where I would meet my husband Justin or Big Daddy as you will hear him referred to.  We were married when I was barely 24 and moved to the Northshore of New Orleans which is the place we still call home.

We had a fabulous 10 years of marriage packed with travel, career changes, house changes and unfortunately battling infertility.  After a long journey and a lot of soul searching we decided to adopt through the Louisiana Foster Care System where we fostered and eventually adopted our oldest son Peyton.  A short 11 months later we were matched with our second son Paxton through a private adoption.  Then just because our life was not crazy enough we found ourselves pregnant with the “Caboose” Porter in 2015.  So currently we have a 4.5 year old, a 3.5 year old and a 17 month.  That fact alone gives me enough content for a blog…

We also have two dogs that are one medical drama after another but we will save that for another time.

So I have been thinking of the best ways to tell you all the funny and interesting things about myself and I decided to bring back an old Facebook challenge and do 25 things….  so here we go…

 

1. I knew on our second date that I was in love with Big Daddy and that we were going to get married.  Marrying him was the best decision I ever made.
2. I once dressed as Jezebel for the Hallelujah Night at my church…  I was 7.
3. I love a Sunday Brunch, a manicure, a day at the park with my kids and a date night all equally.
4. I have three kids.  Two are adopted and we had one pregnancy.
5. When we decided to have kids we said that we would include them in as many aspects of our life as we could.  Our kids have attended every French Quarter Festival since they were born, are regulars at Wednesdays at the Square and are well versed in how to ride the street car and eat grilled oysters.
6. New York City is the only other place in the world I could see myself living.  When I arrive I feel like I am at home
7. I am a certified fork lift driver.
8. We were certified foster parents for the Department of Children and Family Services and fostered my oldest son for 826 days before adopting him.  We also have had three other foster babies in our home during our time as foster parents.
9. In my previous life, before being a stay at home mom, I had a career as a Fund Development Director for Special Olympic Louisiana and I worked as a Corporate Recruiter for an Software Development Company.  I loved working and although I love staying home with my kids there are some days I really miss having a full time career.
10. Between December of 2015 to this current day I have lost almost 100 pounds on an incredible health journey.
11. I once sat next to John Besh on a plane and still feel like we are secretly best friends.
12. I have instant and immediate connections with people.  I know almost right away that I want to be friends with someone.
13. My assumed name in a tricky situation is Atilda and I know that if I ever receive a call from Olga, Hilda, or Muffaletta that things just got real.
14. I am dyslexic.
15. My first job out of college was working for an industrial supply company and I grossed the highest sales of custom stud work my first year.  I can tell you all about tensile strength of bolts too.
16. I am a proud member of the Junior League of Greater Covington where I have served in many different positions.  However this year I am chairing a new event that is right up my ally so expect to hear a lot about it.
17. My life goals in Kindergarten were to be a professional cheerleader.
18. I collect vintage milk glass.
    1. My kids take turns breaking my vintage milk glass.
19. I am scared of lizards but only when they are inside of the house.  If they are outside we are fine.
20. My favorite color is pink but if I have a choice I will buy green every single time.
21. My kids are literally the funniest and craziest people I know.  Daily they make me belly laugh and make the vein in my neck stick out.  We lovingly refer to it as “Embracing the Chaos”
22. I am a recovering from a lifelong addiction to over-committing and saying yes to everything.
23. I have always wanted to be a part of something that is bigger than myself.
24. My biggest fear in life is that my adopted kids will feel that they don’t belong in our family.
25. I love the idea of having six kids…  I like the IDEA…

Take a look around. We Five Kings is a dream come true for me and I am happily just chugging along doing this thing. I hope you like what I am doing here!

 

XO,

Tippy

 

Art work credit: Tyla Foster

Photo Credit: Erin Cefalu Troxclair Photography