It's the Most Elf-a-ful Time of the Year!

Yup, can't resist these dance things. So, get it while it lasts - they go down in January. Check out the whole family getting in on the action with these two Elf Yourself videos:

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/nkxIuUV4iQsKTT8LOiGB

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/ftAkgR8hfbkcRd30EZmp

H A P P Y H O L I D A Y S ! ! !

The Dukes Are in Vegas

Well we are the good ole boys. Definitely meaning harm. Not getting in trouble with the law, unless I could get the kids to say that Mom IS the LAW, but I think that will never happen. This year we dressed as the Dukes. Aiden was Luke. Grey was Bo. Gage was Crazy Cooter. Jace was Sheriff Roscoe. Cooper was Boss Hogg. And Brooke was Daisy. Mitch even joined in on the fun as Uncle Jesse. I dressed as Miss Emma Tizdale, but for the Trunk or Treat, I could not handle the itchy wig so I dressed as the General Lee. Mitch piped the theme song through the CD player and I walked the Dukes around. Everyone LOVED their costumes if they were 30 or above. The kids and teenagers did not get it. Apparently Mitch was mistaken a time or two as Santa. Las Vegas needs a little Hazzard County flavor. YEEEEEEE HAW!

PRESCHOOL PALS PLAYING PUNKY!

We had a fabulous two weeks in preschool. The culmination of our fun was our Halloween party. Of course, I almost forgot to take pictures, but I remembered in the final moments. Here they are with silly faces to capture the moment. I love teaching preschool!

Brooke is a Beauty!

Sleeping Beauty!

I know I have shared what a well behaved baby that we have, but she even puts herself to sleep. Over the last few weeks, I have found her asleep in a corner of the family room, on the couch, in my closet under the clothes and behind the shoes (She loves shoes.), and our favorite- in the tunnel of the play structure. Notice the boys are in the background watching her sleep.

Funny girl!

Primary Program

Here we are about to embark for church and this year's Primary program.

It was fantastic! Kim did so well teaching the kids the songs and even getting them to learn sign language signs for one of the songs. The whole audience was still, watching the children sign "I know He lives." Of course there was the kid who talks too loudly in the microphone, the kid who never sings - just waves to his family, the kid who is more interested in what his neighbor is doing than actually participating, but it was what we come to see each year. I remember that Kim and my first Sunday in our new ward after being married it was Primary program Sunday. I remember attending church that week for the first time as husband and wife and looking forward to seeing our own children someday participate in a program. As Kim and I celebrated our 12th anniversary this weekend, it was a special feeling to sit with my two little ones and watch my wife and four older children perform. I love them all so much and Primary program Sunday is a great showcase of it all.

Since it was a special day, we got all jazzy and snapped some photos to boot. Here you go:

Phonemic Awareness at 18 mos.-Amazing!

Brooke making the "O" sound with hand motions

Um, ya. I have been teaching phonemic awareness for about 15 years, and although I knew it was extremely important, I never witnessed first hand with my kids soooo young, that they are able to actually do what we are asking them to do. I have been using Robert Barrata-Lorton's dekodiphucan (not sure how to spell it anymore)for nearly all 15 of these years. I have thrown in a little Jim Stone and various other programs as well, but the principles of sound blending, isolating, etc. came from Barrata-Lorton's research. OK so enough teacher mumbo jumbo...

I taught preschool about a month ago and Brooke sat in during our circle time. I thought she was simply watching the kids but not processing anything that was taking place. The class then reviewed the sounds a few times over the course of the next few sessions, but literally no drill and kill at all. I have not touched the cards in four weeks!

We were reading scriptures a few nights ago and the kids wanted me to have Brooke repeat the words too like Cooper does. I humored them and had her repeat word by word. As she was saying the words, she literally began to do the motions that I superimposed on the sounds. There was NO visual cue at all nor any prodding from me. When I had her repeat the word no, she literally started turning her index finger in effort to mimic the sound "n" (like the propeller of a plane)and then proceeded to raise her hands next to her face and say "o." I about fell off the couch.

I then just did the motions with again NO visual and NO auditory. She then replicated 8 sounds with no help from us. I taught the kids 14. The boys and I were flabbergasted! I have never witnessed an 18 month old with virtually only casual exposure attach meaning and purpose to the sounds! I can't wait for next week when we learn sound blending. I am making her take a turn as well! Simply AMAZING!


Brooke making the "E" sound with hand motions

Bookends

The beginning and the end. These two have so much fun with each other, and Aiden is so good at caring for his little sister. She's lucky to have him, and we're all lucky to have the both of them. The other day, I looked out the kitchen window to see this. Just the two of them enjoying some time on the swings. While I look forward to the fun times ahead, I will definitely miss these moments.

Baseball

Kim and I split up this Saturday. Split up the baseball game duties that is. Last week, we just plain overheated Aiden before his game even started, so this time I stayed home with him while Kim took Gager to his game. It also meant that we got no pictures of Gage. We know who really handles the camera department, don't we?


Aiden at third, ready to head for home!


On deck. The pitcher walked him, so he has yet to get that elusive first hit in this, his first season of baseball.



Aiden's the catcher. Sometimes he plays a little far back; he says he's afraid to get hit by the bat. Thankfully he didn't have to catch the entire game this time. He got to play first base too, which he enjoyed.

Hijole! Que Salsa!

When I found out that I could get 20 lbs. of tomatoes for $10, I thought to my self, "I should get like 40 lbs. of tomatoes and make like a ton of salsa! Ya, and I'll use child labor, er, I'll get my kids to help and it'll be one of those bonding experiences!"

Here's part of the 30 pints we did. While not a ton, it was tough enough.

Here's the family part. I had the kids separate the cilantro from the stems. See how much fun Jace is having!

OK, so I guess it wasn't that bad.

Woo wee mama! I was roasting, blending, canning for what seemed like forever, but now we have a pretty good supply of salsa. Maybe it will get Kim through the next two months - she does like the spicy stuff.

Little Trip to RC Willey

Photos courtesy of Aiden


The new table, which is in fact two identical tables.


Grey enjoying the latest costume catalog upon the new sectional.



Brooke enjoying the same catalog once Grey was finished.




One not so massive plant that looks like it is overtaking the family room, but in fact shows you how ginormous this sectional actually is.

We made a little trip to the RC Willey clearance center on Friday (dangerous, always) and we left with two tables and an enormous sectional, just in time for conference! The boys seem to think that they could fit themselves and all the cousins on this thing (I beg to differ) but the thing is quite large. Thanks to the ever helpful brother-in-law, Derek, two pick up trucks and ratchet ties, we got all that stuff home. Now, we just have to figure out what to do with the old couch. Maybe Buddy wants another one (we've had the same couch for about 10 years now.)

Autumn Rain

Not quite November Rain, sorry Axl, but we'll take it. I'm sure you can't tell from these pictures, but we loved having a little bit of the wet stuff come our way. On Sunday, it was crazy that it dumped on us for five minutes and then it was dry and the sun was out. We'll take it for as long as it lasts.


Cooper and his broken Disney umbrella. You can see he didn't really use it much.


Jace just a wee bit wet.


Aiden drenched.


Brooke before it started coming down.

BOYS WILL BE BOYS

Just a few boyish details to share....

1. Jace and Cooper went to the firestation for preschool on Thursday. They loved it and talked about it for days. Cooper then asked me, "what do firefighters do?" I laughed and laughed. Apparantly when you are three and go to the fire station and see guys pretty much living in a big house with a kitchen, TVs, a family room, and a work out room, they are not sure what their job is.

2. Nascar Truck Races! What do you get when you take seven children (Aiden brought an extra)to the truck races? Six little boys who STARE as they search the track for their beloved truck #18 with m & m's plastered on the hood and side. They loved it. Where else can you take 7 children, and they literally sit for two hours straight? Even Brooke practically sat for the entire time too. My sister gave us free tickets. They loved them Aunt Cory- thank you!

3. Mitch's co-worker's husband died earlier last week, and we had the viewing this afternoon for him. This was quite the ordeal. It involved packing lunches for the kids in the car and eating them while we journeyed across town to Palm after church. Cooper slept while the other boys ate string cheese, apples (from Gilcrease that Mitch picked early Saturday morning), and pb&j. We get to the cemetary and despite eating lunch in the car, with just a little tie adjusting, they look pretty sharp. I wake Cooper up and while holding him on my hip and retucking Jace's shirt, Cooper proceeds to go to the bathroom while he is sitting on me. This, of course, happens literally when we are moments into going into a funeral home. Luckily I had bottles of water for the boys to drink so I proceed to undress myself and wring out my clothing with the bottles of water in the parking lot (in between two suburbans- I am TALENTED!). Michelle Pjeifer in One Fine Day I was not, but pretty close. Cooper had a change of clothing in the car (khaki shorts mind you-yes!), and I was wearing black, so it worked out just fine. Until I got in to the funeral home to give a girl friend of mine from elementary school (a mututal friend of the deceased) and her mom a hug so I had to explain why I was all wet. What more can they expect from a mom of six children? It makes for a funny memory- thanks, Scoops!

Colorful Bishop Baseball

Baseball- America's Pastime. Now it appears to be the Bishop's pastime as well. We have had practices three nights a week and on Saturdays too. And since our kids are too young to take themselves, it is a family affair.

Aiden is playing catcher for his team. I know NOTHING about baseball. The boys ask me to pitch for them, and they nearly walk everytime. I am not exaggerating. Aiden is so excited when he can actually hit one that I pitch to him, that he cheers me on. That's LOVE. I watch the other parents who throw balls to their sons and think, huh? How is it that I have ZERO athletic ability? I am green with envy.

Gage appears to be a natural. His coach has asked me a couple of times if this is his first time playing. I say, "Yes. He has never picked up a mitt before two weeks ago." I try to play catch with him and he totally can catch my balls- now that's good. He is really enjoying it, and he has blisters to prove it. (These actually came from the monkey bars at school more than the baseball playing; however, the baseball playing does contribute to them as well.) Gage's blood runs red, white, and blue.

Even Grey is getting in on the fun. He tries to pitch to Aiden as well, but his aim is like dead on hitting the batter. This can be problematic, so Aiden has opted to take me over Grey. Grey just needs to get a new target to look at, and I think he may have a better go of it. Also I need him to lift some weights because his arm strength is so weak that he has a hard time handling the bat. But again, I know nothing about the game so maybe the bat that we have for him is actually too heavy. In any event, we will continue to practice, and hopefully no one will get purple from balls or bats hitting them.

Jace loves to wear the glove and his baseball cap. He stands around in the outfield and spins around thinking about actually catching the ball. If it comes out there (if mom actually pitches an OK ball), he is Johnny on the ball. Too cute. He can only throw a few feet, so most of the time, while in my flip flops, I am running after the baseballs. Jace loves it, though, and he is soooooo yellow!

Cooper wears a pink glove. I am not kidding. Grandma bought a pink glove for Brooke at a garage sale, and Cooper says it is his. We do not argue. Brooke could care less. Cooper's Uncle Derek teases him. He secretly wishes he could have a pink glove too.

Brooke chases balls. I do not want to say that she is a dog, but truly her behavior is dog like. If I miss a ball when we are playing catch, or if the boys actually hit a ball, she literally runs it down. She is quite the ball retriever. Golden and all!

Well our baseball fun is full of color! I am no longer blue about signing the boys up for baseball. I am delighted that I finally did it. Not sure if I can keep up with this practice schedule, but I have plenty of help from other players on the team. For this I say THANK YOU! Hopefully I will post actual pictures from Saturday's games- covered in brown and green from the field and the diamond. It is likely since Mitch will be there. He is definitely the photographer in the group. Until then we can all dream in color about the succcesses of the BISHOP BASEBALL!

Bearded Green Man

I just have to share (and again with no Photo! Argh!). Today I had my seven little darlings for preschool. We were in the hallway decorating our lifesize cutouts of ourselves. I was working with the four older kids and letting Brooke, Cooper, and another 3 year old just decorate their cutouts independently however they chose to do so. They were just having a great time decorating Cooper's all together. I was working 1:1 with the others with their "frog jumpers" (B, R, E, M). While I was working with the older kiddos, the other 3 year old comes over and asks, "Can I color on Cooper?" I think to myself how funny that he is asking me this since he has not made one stroke on his as of yet. I say, "Yes as long as Cooper is OK with it." I then continue to work with the others. When we are done, I go over to the little ones and look at Cooper's face. He literally has a green crayola-ed beard and two huge circles around his eyes. I bust up laughing and ask him what happened. He quickly tells me, "Jared did it." I laugh and laugh. I guess quietly working beside me makes them green with beards!

Twenty One Years Ago...

I went to a baptism on Saturday afternoon and as I was sitting there and loving every minute of it, I thought to myself, "Hey, I was baptized in September." I continued to thoroughly enjoy the messages and the spirit that filled the room and could not help but smile the entire time. I then thought I should go home and see what day in September I was baptized.

I was baptized on 9 September 1989. I cherish a few memories about that day...
1. Now I go to baptisms and realize how rare it is for a room to be FILLED to capacity with standing room only in the back. I also know how rare it is for teenage friends along with their paretns and siblings to come. I was so blessed to have so many friends there to love me and show their support.

2. I remember a handful of my friends' little brothers and sisters singing We Will Bring the World His Truth. At the moment during my baptism, I remember being filled with such excitement and knowing deep in my heart that it was my friends who were truly sharing the gospel with me. I did not know then, but I realize now how incredibly blessed I am to have those phenomenal friends! (Incidentally, I picked We Will Bring the World His Truth as the song we were to sing this year in primary and I still get emotional each time we practice it.)

3. Heidi Parry's dad said in his remarks that he could not believe that I was finally getting baptized. (Sarah's dad may have said similar comments.) I thought that was a funny thing to say at the time, but now I realize it is highly unusual for someone to come to church sponsered activities off and on for six years. I am just grateful I had friends who kept inviting me.

4. I ruined Katy's silk blouse (or was it a dress?). After I got baptized, I hugged Katy in the dressing room dripping wet. She said nothing, but simply laughed. I bet she wishes she had brought a change of clothes that day too.

5. And for Katy's benefit...I do not remember what I wore. Do you? I wonder if anyone out there took a picture. Perhaps this post will yield an answer to my question.

Well Spencer, thanks for inviting me to your baptism. I hope that all of my Septembers are filled with more just like yours. I thank all those treasured friends who were instrumental in my conversion. And 21 years later, I can't imagine my life without my Savior!

The Giggling Gardeners

A few pics from preschool this week...


These are Jace's and Cooper's kissing hands we made this week. The kids loved making them. Cooper hated the heart and tried three times to rip it off. Apparantly he wanted a ball, not a heart. Hearts are for Brooke he says.

These are the cute scrapbook pages that we made:

And the last of the pics are the photos from the first day of school. FUN! I truly have a phenomenal group this year!

Tender Mercies

Funny. I never thought about tender mercies so much until Elder Bednar spoke of them a few years back when he was called as a member of the 12. Now I think of them daily and wonder to whom did I attribute those times when God’s hand was clearly guiding my path. I just want to make mention of the top 5 from the last few weeks…

5. I was really worried- I mean really worried- about my kids’ teachers this year. We had such dynamite teachers last year, and I thought that I could never recreate that year again. Funny. It seems like we may have a repeat of fantastic! It seems like Greyson’s anxieties, although not all together eliminated, may truly be smoothed over this year with his sweet, extremely kind, FUN second grade teacher. A tender mercy!

4. Gage truly wants to become less angry. He truly wants to get along with that brother of his (Jace- in all his yellowness) that gets under his skin. I have been praying and truly, his heart is changing. I do not think he even wanted it to change, but in all its mercy, it is happening.

3. We seem to be able to have all our needs met and still have some left over to despite having my tutoring students cancelling left and right for the last two weeks.

2. Baseball teams may not seem very important to some, but I truly wanted some good experiences for my boys. I really prayed that we would have some coaches who were kind and truly loved my boys. Not only can I make the practices with our busy schedule, but both the kids have friends on the teams. Mitch is helping out with Aiden’s and even though he is soooooo busy, he is making it work and Aiden loves it. Gage begins tomorrow, but our neighbor is the assistant coach and the practice is at Heckethorn park. Gage could walk to the park. (Incidentally he thinks that is a great idea, but I think, um, nope.) My boys may not be terrific ball players when it is all said and done, but I truly think much good will come out of it. Another tender mercy.

1. Cooper is a wanderer. Yes, his parents have known this for years. It truly is a miracle that we have not lost him as of yet. While we were vacationing in Newport last week, we nearly lost him. Amazingly, my pleads for him to be found safe said 300 times in the 3.5 minutes that he was away from us, were heard. A jogger running the boardwalk of Balboa saw him and clearly knew that he was lost and also knew that he was surely too young to be wandering the island of Balboa alone. It seems that in the split second that I told young Cooper that he could not have the golf ball size gum ball for his own (and why do they make gum balls that are even too large to put in one’s mouth?) and his family turned down Agate, it was enough for him to walk behind another family and be separated from us for those dreadfully long 3.5 minutes. I thank that jogger a million times over for listening to the prompting to stay with him until he was delivered into Backyard Grandma’s arms. Oh and in the midst of me crying, another man who witnessed the events while he was waiting for the ferry also wept a tear for us too when he learned that Cooper had been found. Tender mercies for us all!

I am thankful for tender mercies. They truly fill my hours. For these, I am grateful!

A New Leaf

I am turning over a new leaf this week. I am going to attempt to post once a week because I know this is the ONLY journaling that seems to get done. Mitch is so good to sit down at the computer and post pictures, but alas, I avoid the computer because I call it the time warp! What I think will take 15 minutes of quick email checks and drop a line or two to a friend, turns into TWO HOURS, and what did I accomplish? Regardless, I know how fun it is to read the past posts and remember the funny things in our lives so since it is September FIRST, I will try to post a little more…

Batters Up!

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL

It began with a tap, tap, tap at four twenty-three a.m.

Mom: Huh?

Greyson: Mom, may I watch TV?

Mom: Um, buddy it is four a.m. You can at five.

At 4:50 the alarm clock buzzes, I slip on my sneakers and brush my teeth (Yes, I slept in my knit capris and T-shirt I slipped into after church-they are good enough to walk in.) I walk by the TV room to find Grey sitting on the loveseat with the remote in hand.

Mom: I take it you couldn’t sleep.

Grey: I am too nervous, Mom.

Mom: You may turn the TV on.

After my walk I come home to all the boys awake and their beds made. Funny that. They tell me they want cereal. I look in the fridge-NO MILK!

Mom: Sorry, guys. You get pancakes.

Boys: OK.

Jace: Are you sure you will not ruin them, Mom. (Hello? I have made pancake 100 times, and once and only once, I put eggs in the waffle batter and ate a little science experiment like breakfast. No harm done, but I will never live it down.)

Morning goes pretty well. Lunches, check. Outfits, check. Backpacks, check. Epi-pen, check. We are off!

Oops. Sorry guys, I forgot the camera. Argh! Alas- no photos for the blog. Sorry. I will improve for next week’s post.

Found our dots. Found our friends. Life is good. Jitters gone.

Return home to the three. ( Thank you to Backyard Grandma who helps me by watching them while I walk to school. Who’s idea was it again for Backyard Grandma to live in our backyard? - GENIOUS!)

Trip to Target and Costco- ouch. Refer back to comment about NO MILK. Costco was a bank breaker this go-around. Return home with hot dogs and soda.

Jace: I am glad we go to Costco. I have missed hot dogs and soda.

Cooper: I like soda. I don’t like food. (This is true. He prefers drinks to food. He is so his father’s son.)

Brooke crashed on the way home. The house was soooooo quiet. Gage really fills up the space with noise. Bubs (Jace) played Legos with Cooper for an hour. Cooper reluctantly takes a nap. Jace and I read books, play cards, and do laundry.

3:15 go back and get the boys. Yikes! There is a reason I do not pick them up in the afternoon—that school is a zoo! We found all 7! Yes, my three, and four neighbors.

Oh, the paperwork. In between the paperwork, I made cookies for family night (Ya, I should have done that during the Lego playtime/reading/nap time), and then we went to Café Rio with Grandma.

That night we played baseball in the park. Fulfilling and Grey was soooooo tired! He fell asleep before his head hit the pillow. Aiden has decided that despite being a lefty, he will throw with his right hand!

First Day of School- A HIT! We are still running towards first base, but it appears like we will survive and maybe even score a few runs.

California is the place you ought to be

Having just returned from a glorious week in California, I share with you these photos of our splendid time at SeaWorld, the Beach, the most delicious strawberries in the world (thanks again for the tip, Mr. Stoddard) and Old Town. I already miss the cool breezes, the waves and spending time with our family. Until next time (which I hope is just about a month away!)