Oh, how I wish I would keep up with these newsletters better. So much time passes each time. I imagine things will never slow down so I need to accept that I am only mediocre in my journaling.
I thought perhaps I would do our news in alphabetical order…
A is for artichoke! My boys love artichokes. I have bought them three times in the last month, and they literally devour them. On all three occasions Mitch has been late coming home when we have eaten them. One day he did not get any. The other two times, he ate only a few leaves. And yes, Jace knows how to scrape them too! When I go to the grocery store, Gage begs me to buy them. Some kids ask for ice cream and others ask for artichokes- OK, Gage begs for ice cream too!
B is for Beige Man Group! Jace found some of my liquid make-up (which I never use) in the bathroom and covered himself in it. He was literally unrecognizable. His head, arms, and legs were covered in it, and he had splotches of it on his clothing. Gratefully he was in the bathroom so I stripped him and threw him in the tub. I did have to scrub the tub afterwards, which was the most clean up of all.
C is for Cinnamon Rolls and Cartoons! Jace took a spatula and chopped Mitch’s homemade cinnamon rolls that he baked at 6:00 a.m. for their new season of cartoons Saturday Morning Extravaganza! The boys had been looking forward to the new season of Saturday morning cartoons for weeks and Mitch made a yummy breakfast to accompany their morning of TV. Jace decided that he could “help” Dad by cutting them up. Gotta love him!
D is for Dropped a table! Mitch and I got a stellar deal at the RC Wiley Clearance Center on a new kitchen table. As we were trying to get it into the house, I dropped the table out of the back of the truck. Yes, the table top cracked a little, but we are hoping that with a little TLC we may be able to make it less noticeable. Argh!
E is for Editing! I have been editing my friend’s English papers every week. It has reminded me of the good ole’ days of college papers. Were those good? Oh, yes they were because in the midst of the papers, I remember the drives in the canyon where boys peed on the fire to put out the flame, Y days where I organized massive service projects, and dollar movies at Movies 8!
F is for fundraising. What is with a different fundraiser every week for the schools? I taught for years and I never knew where the funds went that we raised. I just send it all back and Aiden languishes over the fact that he never earns those Oriental Trading like prizes that I could buy thirty times over for the amount that he has to sell to be awarded one! What a marketing scam! It is kind of sad that I am an educator, and I do not do fund raisers. I will if they ever sell anything stellar, but thus far- nothing.
G is for Gallbladder. I finally got my appointment, and I am getting a test on my gallbladder, liver, thyroid, and cholesterol check. Apparently my doctor thinks my body is all out of whack. I have done the blood work, and now I wait for the ultra sound. I have had no other attacks- yeah!
H is for Hot Air Balloons! We went to Balloonapalooza with our five boys and Deven- our nephew. The boys loved the bee balloons and the panda balloons the best.
I is for Italian Seasoning! Jace poured a Costco sized Italian Seasoning on a plate of Texas Sheet Cake brownies. Oh, was I sad. I love Texas Sheet Cake brownies.
J is for Jace and the laundry soap! Jace spilled an entire box (warehouse sized) of laundry soap on the floor as we were trying to get Aiden off to school. I was not willing to trash it. I swept it up and put it back into the box. I decided if laundry soap washed dirt out of clothing and linens, then a little dirt and dust from the floor would not hurt it.
K is for knitting hats. We're back knitting hats. Our stake is making hats for people in Serbia, so I've started knitting and have enlisted Mitch again. He asked me yesterday how much I spent on the yarn and if it wouldn't be cheaper to just buy some. I told him that then they wouldn't receive something homemade. It was very funny as we discussed the different goals of the effort. He argued it was to keep them warm. I argued that it was to keep them warm and give them something I had made. I won, of course, so we're still knitting.
L is for Lukas David! Krista and Derek had their baby on Monday, September 17, 2007.
M is for Mount Charleston. We drove up to look at the fall colors. The aspens were changing and it was breathtaking.
N is for Naked Jace! The other morning, I lost Jaceroo. I was looking everywhere and calling for him throughout the house. I was starting to look in each room more carefully hoping that he would be hiding somewhere. When I came into my room and called him like three times, he opened the sliding closet door and in just a diaper (He was clothed prior to me losing him.) exclaimed in an even seductive like voice, “Hewwo Mommy!” I am totally dying with fits of laughter. If I didn’t know any better, I would think he has been watching some adult TV. No wonder we call him the "Naughty Gnome!"
O is for Open House. We went to Aiden’s Open House and my, we were the sight to behold. I think we barely all fit in Aiden’s classroom. Aiden’s teacher even asked for a favor from Mitch regarding a field trip to the Springs Preserve. I imagine she loves having Aiden in her class. Not only is he a terrific kid, but he has connections!
P is for Pie Painting! While entertaining friends, we enjoyed pie for dessert. We then turned our back to the counter where Jace climbed up and helped himself to the remaining pieces in the pie tins. He then climbed down, all unnoticed by the six of us who were playing Apples to Apples and thinking that all the boys were in our bedroom watching Tarzan. He went into the bathroom and created a masterpiece on the bathroom mirror, using chocolate silk pie and dutch apple cheese cake as his paint. Oh, we wanted to eat those remaining 5 pieces, but I draw the line at licking the mirror even if I had just wiped it down hours before.
Q is for quick. Our days just fly by and before we know it, another week is done.
R is for Ringing Chimes! Aiden goes to a little music class at the library and learns how to ring those pipes to Christmas tunes. He has said now that he wants to play the piano. I do hope I can get my kids into piano lessons some day.
S is for sewer run! Mitch spent three hours using a huge trencher that is self propelled on Friday for the sewer run for the casita. He was so sore. He did an awesome job and we saved like 5500 dollars doing it ourselves. CRAZY! Thanks to Grandpa and Bryan that came to help him steer the beast!
T is for tutoring. I am tutoring five kids now and I got three more calls this week alone. I told them no! I am so proud of myself. I do like tutoring and I enjoy keeping up with my skills, but I need to say HOLD IT because I want to enjoy tutoring not dread it.
U is for uninvited guests. Each morning, because the evenings are cooler, Mitch and I have an extra child or two or even three in our bed. They typically join us about 3:00. Grey rarely ever joins us so in the night time hours, Grey is our favorite.
V is for Victory! We went to Uncle Derek’s alumni football game and Derek’s team won. We have to say that Derek is a good player. He can tear it up even at 26 or 27. These guys played full contact, tackle football in pads and everything. Derek’s team won 21 to nothing!
W is for Wrestling! The boys live to wrestle. When Mitch and I were trying to push the table back together, Jace climbed on top of Mitch’s chest and began to hug and wrestle. Mitch was lying on the floor with his arms above his head and squeezing with all his might, and Jace thought he would join in the fun.
X is for XII Night! For a Girl’s night out, Tara, Kim, Cooper, Dax, and I braved wind advisory 50 mile per hour winds at Lake Las Vegas to watch Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. It was too cold for Dax to sleep so we had to go home early, but it makes for a funny memory. We also lost the car in the parking garage. As soon as we packed up to go home, Dax just smiled and chilled in his stroller- gotta love babies. They learn to rule our worlds so soon, don’t they?
Y is for Yawning! Do I need to explain?
Z is for Zucchini! Mitch took Grey and Gage to the Gilcrease Orchard and got a zucchini as big as Cooper. We made six loaves of zucchini bread and froze enough to make 5 more- incredible. It was delicious!
Hope you have enjoyed my alphabetical journey.
Until next time…The Bishops
