Well how long has it been since I have updated all of you? I have the very best intentions, but man these boys keep me busy. We have moved into our new home and it is fabulous! Before I go any further, our new contact information is
5761 Indian Rain Ct.
Las Vegas, NV 89131
(702) 655-8014
Our phone number is actually the same. Our city and zip are as well since we only live three miles from our old house. I just wanted to write it all down in case anyone needed that information.
The home we bought is on a huge lot. It is on a quarter acre, which for Vegas is quite significant. It has a huge side yard and a nice size backyard as well. We have successfully talked my mom into selling her home, and we are building a casita in the side of our yard. We are hoping that one day we can afford to build a pool, but for now, the casita will cost us a pretty penny. I am just thrilled that my mom has agreed to this. My sister has moved to Florida and there is no one keeping her on the East side of town. I think she is excited as well, but I am making her de-clutter which is a huge undertaking! She is just so attached to her belongings. She is moving out of her 1200 square foot home and into a 600 square foot home. It will be easier for her to heat and cool and much less for her to clean and maintain. These are all good pluses, but the stuff… Let’s just say mom has a hard time parting with all of her treasures. It will take about 6 months to complete the casita so she will not be here by the time the baby comes. Oh well. Things just take so long with building and the like. For a town that builds so much, they do nothing speedy!
The new house is literally double the size of our old house. It is still only three bedrooms, but it has a den that eventually we will convert to a bedroom. For now, we will put all four boys in one room. They are thrilled with the prospect. We have a toy room so essentially their room serves as the dorm. Bubby (Jace) will join them when we get the second bunk bed. We simply have not gone to RC Willey to pick it up because I am actually not all that hip on taking him out of the crib, but I know that I need to soon. It is just so handy to cage them up for naps. They want to have Bubby in with them and ask me nearly every day! Oh, they love each other so much.
We turned what is supposed to be the living room and dining room into our family room. We knew that right now we did not need a formal room. This makes our kitchen have a large sitting area to the side of it. I also have all my tutoring and preschool things in a large armoire, which is so great! No more going into the garage for supplies. We have turned two storage closets into food storage closets, which is another huge plus! The boys say that our closets look like the grocery store. Aiden even asked me when far grandma (my mom) came over and organized the food closets. I told him I did and he seriously said- "wow! Good Job, mom! You did it so nice and just like Grandma." I laughed for 20 minutes. Our children certainly know our weaknesses. Our room is so huge and the boys love to use our closet as their hide out. They also love the toy room. They are learning to stay in there some, but they still want to be near me. At least we house all the toys in one primary place. We do have a little carry over into the hallway cabinets, but at least we have a place for everything. To have space is so awesome. I cannot believe we managed in the other house before.
The home that we bought was a vacation home for the previous owners so it was barely lived in. It has beautiful carpet, and tile throughout all the traffic areas. I love how easy it is to clean, but we have had many broken dishes and the like. All the walls were white so we have painted a ton. We still have more, but we have done most of it. I still need to do the bathrooms. We also need to do the second coat on the hallways and den. We are getting there. It just takes so long. The tan (almond toast – haha) that we got we love, but it needs two and three coats- argh! We have spent three hundred and fifty dollars on paint alone. I guess it would have cost us two thousand to have someone paint it. I guess we are ahead then still.
We still live in the same stake so we do know a few people in our new ward. Mitch’s brother (Chad) lives just around the corner, which is handy as well. He has helped us at least two times already with moving big stuff- I am sure he is thinking, now what are the benefits to having Kim and Mitch live so close?! It is fun to see family at church each week too. The new ward is very friendly and they noticed us immediately as being new. I guess that is not hard though since I have a six year old, four year old, three year old, and one year old and I am nearly 7 months pregnant. I am noticed a little too much lately.
Gage is having a hard time with going to nursery, but the other boys love their classes. Aiden is with Lexi (his cousin) so that made his transition seamless. Grey’s teacher is really nice and since he is such a mild kid, I think she genuinely likes his influence in his sea of three and four year old little girls. There are 6 girls and Grey. Actually I have seen one boy, but he does not come every week. We have resorted to a bribe this morning for Gage. We are letting him bring cookies to nursery today so that he will go. Jace will begin the first Sunday in May so I am really hoping that these next two weeks are happy ones for him! I need Jace to not fear the room! I would like two months of no babies on my lap at church. We can hope for good things today!
Mitch just got a new calling in our ward. He will teach the adults every few weeks. He is still over the scouting program for the stake so he will be real busy. What else is new? He is wrapping up his last few weeks in his two classes as well. He has been going to class every Monday and Thursday nights since January. He only has one class next semester and he will be done! YES! It will be so nice for all of us I know. I will stop stressing about all of his procrastinating tendencies, and he will have discretionary time! I know the boys will not know what to do with Dad home in the evenings. They have never had that. Between school and church responsibilities, he rarely stays at home in the evenings. I also have a stake calling. I am over SMART night. It is a tutoring program for the high school students in our stake. I have no business tutoring math and science, but I am teaching study skills and I like to joke around with the kids. A good group of kids go to church and get help from highly skilled mathematicians and scientist like people. I just make sure there is food and tutors. It runs itself for the most part, but I am anxious to try to reach out to the kids that are really struggling. That is my challenge for the new year! So far, the new ward has not given me a ward job, and I doubt they will since I will be having a new baby in just a little while. I really do miss singing time in Primary. I cannot believe how much I loved that job!
I am having Aiden finish out the school year in his old school. I decided that since it was so close to us still that I could drive him three miles. I am glad that I did. He just loves his class. He won second place on Friday for his Cat in the Hat costume. The kids enjoyed a week of reading and as a culminating activity, they dressed up like a favorite book character. Aiden had a hard time deciding, but he thought that the Cat in the Hat would be fun with the hat and all. He was so proud of his ribbon- too cute!
Well we are all doing well. The boys are growing so fast. Jace is hardly a baby anymore. He is climbing and into everything. I hate this age. I know God makes them sooooooo cute to save their lives. He is into everything and he can’t remember no from one minute to the next. The time outs are less effective, but I am trying to train him. Hopefully he will have a little bigger of an attention span by the time the baby comes. We can always hope.
I hope this all finds you well. I hope to have another newsletter in two weeks… So many hopes…
Love, the Bishop Family
P.S. Gage did not go to Nursery. He tantrummed and I mean tantrummed for an entire hour in the door well of the church after I gave the cookies and Batman napkins to his nursery friends. After the hour, he climbed up on my lap and fell asleep. I got to go to the last hour. Oh, I was a saint yesterday. I think everyone within a mile radius heard him. A few people asked if they could help me- that’s nice, huh? I said that I was OK- calm and collected and thought to myself, does any other child act like this because he hates his new church? He said over and over again, "I hate this church and I hate my new class. I want to go back to my old class with Enos." I just said, "Yes, I know. That is not an option." I wanted to tell him that I wanted to do the same, but I do not think it is socially acceptable for a 33 year old woman to scream and punch the wall in a church. I can hope for next week. Mitch has to teach next week and Jace does not go to nursery until May 6th so I hope that next week he decides he is ready for the change. Any suggestions…
Monday, May 21, 2007
Bishop Family Update - 3/5/2007
Well in honor of March madness I am attempting a quick email to you all to let you know how crazy our life has been!
Jace is walking, talking, signing, and definitely into everything so needless to say, the updates are not as easy. I also was without internet, but that will change once I get into my new house...yes, there is a new house...let me do the Reader's Digest version of our life since early November!
Mitch got released from the Bishopric in early November. I found out later that afternoon that I was pregnant again. Needless to say the relief from getting released from a big church job was squelched since we were soon to be parents of five and our oldest would merely be the ripe age of 6! If you want to know shock, you could have seen it with either of us. Deer in headlights for sure. Then we began talking about moving. We had already needed more space, but now we were really nervous about 7 of us in a 1500 square foot house. We talked to a good friend of ours and he suggested we get it on the market. Although it was not a great time to sell, it was a great time to buy. He thought we could get a great deal so the process began.
Wow, was it a process. We had to minimize in order to make our house appear larger. We still left the family pictures up so the potential home owners could still see that although our house was small, it still could house a large family. We worked our tails off painintg, fixing, packing, etc. By the Saturday after Thanksgiving, my house was looking pretty minimized and we were well on our way to having all the little projects on the honey-do list crossed off. On December 4th our house went on the market. We had only a few people look at it before the holidays. Lots of good feedback. Then the holidays hit and we had no one house hunting. At the beginning of January, a neighbor with the same floor plan and more bells and whistles dropped his price $10,000 making his house $5,000 less than ours. We decided to match his price. That week when we did that, a flood of people came in. We were leaving every two hours so the house could be shown. One day we had to pack up and leave 6 times. Just 34 days after we put our house on the market, we had an offer. We accepted it and were a little sad because we had to come down another $5,000, but we knew in this market, we were blessed. They were requesting a 20 day close. We already had tickets and hotel reservations for a family trip to Legoland so even with a quick pack up and move out ahead, we stole away to Southern California for the weekend. We had a FABULOUS time. I think that park was made for little preschool and primary aged boys. They were in heaven.
When we got home, I tried to pack, but I also needed to teach preschool that week. Needless to say, I only packed up about 10 boxes. THat weekend though, I kicked some bootie and got a ton done. Then I only had a little over a weeke to finish the rest. I was dreaming about packing tape and smelling permanent markers in my dreams. Meanwhile, we were trying to also house hunt. If we put a possibility on the list, it seemed like it would sell before we made a decision. Either that or it was a little too pricey. We also found a house that we loved, but another person put an offer just before ours. Argh! The search continued.
Then the weekend we moved out we found another house in Aliante that was 4200 square feet and the absolute limit of our price range, but when we sat down with the financing people, we knew it was not in our reach. We were in my in-laws house, homeless, and with $130,000 in the bank account ready to put down on a house. We searched for another weekend and mulled over the choices. Neither of us were thrilled, but we could settle for a few. Then on a Monday John (our realator) found two more possibilities. THey were both fantastic, but one was not able to build a casita on the back of it as we were hoping to do so that my mom could move into a casita behind us. (That story is for another day.) We were loving the other choice, but Mitch did not love the neighborhood. Well, we put in an offer, but the people who owned the house were serving a medical mission for their church in the jungles of the Philipines- hello? THey tried to get to a fax machine, but were unable to do so so again, we had to wait! I was not sleeping at all. We knew other people had looked at this house and had called the city on the set backs so we were worried that we would have been underbid, but....I guess it was meant to be because they finally got word and accepted our offer.
Now we are merely waiting for them to come in from SOuth Dakota and move out their personal affects. (This is their vacation home and they live in South Dakota.)The winter storms in SD precluded them coming this last weekend so I guess they are coming on the 15th--yikes. We are hoping to get our keys on the 16th. So if nothing else goes wrong....we will be with a home again and my more in-laws can have some quiet time again. I know that they love us, but a house with two more extremely busy adults and four little boys just creates NOISE!
Gage will be 3 on Friday and he is potty trained! He decided to potty train on Christmas Day because Grandma Bishop gave hiim Batman underwear. You do not mess with the Gage the Rage. When he puts his mind to something, there is no bending him! This is an attribute that will surely come to serve him as an advantage, but for a mother who requires some level of flexibility, it is not my favorite! I am seriously getting pay back for all the tired temper tantrums I threw as a preschooler- no doubt! My mom just smiles and says sweet justice!
Aiden is doing awesome in school and the highlight of his day is to go to the reading group in the First Grade class. The First Graders are so big and he loves Mrs. Chan too! I hope this love for learning continues.
Grey is still a sweet boy who can melt your heart like no other. He is itchy because of the dryness right now, but he loves Mom to scratch his back. Whenever he can get me to sit down for a minute or two, he climbs onto my lap and requests a back scratch.
Well perhaps you now understand why the updates are so few. I will write agin when we are in our house and will let you know how it is all going.
Oh, as far as the pregnancy is going, all is well. I feel no sickness, I am not tired, and the itchyness I felt with Jace is at a minimum. My levels are still in the normal range, but the high normal so...we will wait to see if my liver stays OK.
Love, Kim in her March Madness!
Jace is walking, talking, signing, and definitely into everything so needless to say, the updates are not as easy. I also was without internet, but that will change once I get into my new house...yes, there is a new house...let me do the Reader's Digest version of our life since early November!
Mitch got released from the Bishopric in early November. I found out later that afternoon that I was pregnant again. Needless to say the relief from getting released from a big church job was squelched since we were soon to be parents of five and our oldest would merely be the ripe age of 6! If you want to know shock, you could have seen it with either of us. Deer in headlights for sure. Then we began talking about moving. We had already needed more space, but now we were really nervous about 7 of us in a 1500 square foot house. We talked to a good friend of ours and he suggested we get it on the market. Although it was not a great time to sell, it was a great time to buy. He thought we could get a great deal so the process began.
Wow, was it a process. We had to minimize in order to make our house appear larger. We still left the family pictures up so the potential home owners could still see that although our house was small, it still could house a large family. We worked our tails off painintg, fixing, packing, etc. By the Saturday after Thanksgiving, my house was looking pretty minimized and we were well on our way to having all the little projects on the honey-do list crossed off. On December 4th our house went on the market. We had only a few people look at it before the holidays. Lots of good feedback. Then the holidays hit and we had no one house hunting. At the beginning of January, a neighbor with the same floor plan and more bells and whistles dropped his price $10,000 making his house $5,000 less than ours. We decided to match his price. That week when we did that, a flood of people came in. We were leaving every two hours so the house could be shown. One day we had to pack up and leave 6 times. Just 34 days after we put our house on the market, we had an offer. We accepted it and were a little sad because we had to come down another $5,000, but we knew in this market, we were blessed. They were requesting a 20 day close. We already had tickets and hotel reservations for a family trip to Legoland so even with a quick pack up and move out ahead, we stole away to Southern California for the weekend. We had a FABULOUS time. I think that park was made for little preschool and primary aged boys. They were in heaven.
When we got home, I tried to pack, but I also needed to teach preschool that week. Needless to say, I only packed up about 10 boxes. THat weekend though, I kicked some bootie and got a ton done. Then I only had a little over a weeke to finish the rest. I was dreaming about packing tape and smelling permanent markers in my dreams. Meanwhile, we were trying to also house hunt. If we put a possibility on the list, it seemed like it would sell before we made a decision. Either that or it was a little too pricey. We also found a house that we loved, but another person put an offer just before ours. Argh! The search continued.
Then the weekend we moved out we found another house in Aliante that was 4200 square feet and the absolute limit of our price range, but when we sat down with the financing people, we knew it was not in our reach. We were in my in-laws house, homeless, and with $130,000 in the bank account ready to put down on a house. We searched for another weekend and mulled over the choices. Neither of us were thrilled, but we could settle for a few. Then on a Monday John (our realator) found two more possibilities. THey were both fantastic, but one was not able to build a casita on the back of it as we were hoping to do so that my mom could move into a casita behind us. (That story is for another day.) We were loving the other choice, but Mitch did not love the neighborhood. Well, we put in an offer, but the people who owned the house were serving a medical mission for their church in the jungles of the Philipines- hello? THey tried to get to a fax machine, but were unable to do so so again, we had to wait! I was not sleeping at all. We knew other people had looked at this house and had called the city on the set backs so we were worried that we would have been underbid, but....I guess it was meant to be because they finally got word and accepted our offer.
Now we are merely waiting for them to come in from SOuth Dakota and move out their personal affects. (This is their vacation home and they live in South Dakota.)The winter storms in SD precluded them coming this last weekend so I guess they are coming on the 15th--yikes. We are hoping to get our keys on the 16th. So if nothing else goes wrong....we will be with a home again and my more in-laws can have some quiet time again. I know that they love us, but a house with two more extremely busy adults and four little boys just creates NOISE!
Gage will be 3 on Friday and he is potty trained! He decided to potty train on Christmas Day because Grandma Bishop gave hiim Batman underwear. You do not mess with the Gage the Rage. When he puts his mind to something, there is no bending him! This is an attribute that will surely come to serve him as an advantage, but for a mother who requires some level of flexibility, it is not my favorite! I am seriously getting pay back for all the tired temper tantrums I threw as a preschooler- no doubt! My mom just smiles and says sweet justice!
Aiden is doing awesome in school and the highlight of his day is to go to the reading group in the First Grade class. The First Graders are so big and he loves Mrs. Chan too! I hope this love for learning continues.
Grey is still a sweet boy who can melt your heart like no other. He is itchy because of the dryness right now, but he loves Mom to scratch his back. Whenever he can get me to sit down for a minute or two, he climbs onto my lap and requests a back scratch.
Well perhaps you now understand why the updates are so few. I will write agin when we are in our house and will let you know how it is all going.
Oh, as far as the pregnancy is going, all is well. I feel no sickness, I am not tired, and the itchyness I felt with Jace is at a minimum. My levels are still in the normal range, but the high normal so...we will wait to see if my liver stays OK.
Love, Kim in her March Madness!
Bishop Family Update - 9/24/2006
Yikes- another month has come and gone! I will again list occurrences in effort to be short and sweet.
1. I taught for the first two weeks of the preschool co-op. We had a great time. This time, they are all young- all of them have two years before they start school. It has been fun and interestingly enough, they finish everything in warp speed. I have actually finished everything on my lesson plans. I am either getting better at estimating the time or they are just speedy. We talked about friendship and ourselves. Grey and Gage loved it. Jace went to a friend’s house that I swap with when we teach. Jace had fun at the Hendrick’s. He did get a war wound though! He got his neck caught in the buckle of the car seat. Jen dropped him off and she was in tears, but Jace and the great boy that he is was not even crying. Jen felt so bad and is still feeling bad about it. I told her nothing is as bad as me dropping babies off the bed and the couch when they are two weeks old.
2. We went and weeded a few neighbor’s houses for service. The irony was that we hardly did any weeding. Everyone’s yards were weed free! The boys had a great time picking up leaves and clearing the few weeds that we did find. We did it more for the thought I guess anyways. It is not like any of these families would recommend our work force for future jobs- lol!
3. Grey has been having a weekly play day with a friend his age- yes! It seems like Aiden is always getting invitations, but Grey gets so few. Finally he is making friends at school, and he loves being big. He knows most of his letters now so we are working on the sounds. He wants to read like Aiden- too funny. We will probably go to the library tomorrow.
4. Aiden got to go to the races with a friend from preschool last year- what a social agenda! He has been to three parties and two evenings out with friends in the last 6 weeks. He thought the ride to the racetrack was better than the actual truck races- go figure! What are you 5??!!
5. Aiden has begun soccer again. He is just not aggressive. I guess this is a good trait as well, but it does nothing for his showmanship on the field. We are an entire team of five year olds so I do not need to tell you that we are not winning in the league. Some teams just tower over us. Aiden is literally the tallest on our team, but since he has no killer instinct, it does not do much for us. We have a little spitfire named Emily who can race down the field like a champ! She will be even better once we get her to score more consistently. I guess last week Aiden came so close to scoring. I had to leave the game to catch a shower of a friend of mine who is getting married so I left him in the hands of his aunt. She said that he was so close to scoring. I am sad that he did not make a goal, but I am also glad that I did not miss it.
6. Roadshows have begun again. We did them four years ago—it is crazy to think that we worked on them that long ago. I am collaborating on the script again, but Mitch came up with the idea. We are bringing flowers and trees to life and of course corny one-liners are all over the place. I am excited to do the costumes. I do not know how much time I will have, but I for sure want to help. Perhaps Mitch will even star in it. He is always a sucker for corny and chippy.
7. We have had a consistent park day after school on Wednesdays and the boys love it. We bring sack lunches and the boys get DIRTY! When I give them a bath on Wednesday morning I always say, man, I forgot again- Bathe after the park on Wednesday!
8. Mitch got himself a brand new 2007 Silverado Chevy truck. It is beautiful- granite blue. He wants new rims, but I told him he has to wait a while because the stock ones are just fine. His brother is looking into getting him a deal on it…boys will be boys even when they are 31!
9. Gager is a walking disaster area. He has 7 bumps/bruises/scratches on his face alone! I cannot even tell you were they have come from. He sliced off the skin on his big toe so he is literally hobbling around. He still runs like a Telly Tubby even with a sore toe. He wears his batman mask and cape everyday and I tie his cape on him at least 15 times. He wants to wear his Batman T-shirt or train T-shirt everyday as well. He is one of a kind, but he is talking like he is 7 not 2. He even signs I love you to me with his right hand. Sometimes he cannot put down his ring finger when he does it so he physically has to push it down and growls at his finger and says for it to stop coming up!
10. Jaceroo is as good and sweet as ever. He says Da Da now and even says Aiden when I am hollering at Aiden to come help me or finish some task that I have asked him to do. Well he does not articulate "Aiden," but he says "A-en." It is so absolutely adorable. Still no mama that I can make out. The boys tell me that he has said it, but when I try to illicit the same response, Jace simply flashes me his most adorable smile! We went to the DMV the other morning (It took only 22 minutes.) and the clerk said Jace was so cute and he flashed her a smile when she said it. Oh, she got such a kick out of that. It was priceless. She told me to put him in the movies if he is such a ham. Too funny!
Well I cannot think of the usual funny stories. I have a list of 7 things to share form over the last 5 weeks, but I do not know what the references mean. Nice, eh? I have words just jotted down and I remember a little about it, but not enough to share a story. Man, I need to do this more often. Just for the record, we have no Internet at home. We have been going to neighbor’s and family’s houses to use it. So needless to say, I have not read any email in a month. I think we will be getting something. We just do not know what to get. We will probably get dial up again even though it is so dang SLOW! I just have no time to really get online anyways. I hate wasting money on it.
Take care and I hope to have another newsletter sooner than later. I teach preschool again this next week so I know it will be at least another two weeks.
Love, The Bishops
1. I taught for the first two weeks of the preschool co-op. We had a great time. This time, they are all young- all of them have two years before they start school. It has been fun and interestingly enough, they finish everything in warp speed. I have actually finished everything on my lesson plans. I am either getting better at estimating the time or they are just speedy. We talked about friendship and ourselves. Grey and Gage loved it. Jace went to a friend’s house that I swap with when we teach. Jace had fun at the Hendrick’s. He did get a war wound though! He got his neck caught in the buckle of the car seat. Jen dropped him off and she was in tears, but Jace and the great boy that he is was not even crying. Jen felt so bad and is still feeling bad about it. I told her nothing is as bad as me dropping babies off the bed and the couch when they are two weeks old.
2. We went and weeded a few neighbor’s houses for service. The irony was that we hardly did any weeding. Everyone’s yards were weed free! The boys had a great time picking up leaves and clearing the few weeds that we did find. We did it more for the thought I guess anyways. It is not like any of these families would recommend our work force for future jobs- lol!
3. Grey has been having a weekly play day with a friend his age- yes! It seems like Aiden is always getting invitations, but Grey gets so few. Finally he is making friends at school, and he loves being big. He knows most of his letters now so we are working on the sounds. He wants to read like Aiden- too funny. We will probably go to the library tomorrow.
4. Aiden got to go to the races with a friend from preschool last year- what a social agenda! He has been to three parties and two evenings out with friends in the last 6 weeks. He thought the ride to the racetrack was better than the actual truck races- go figure! What are you 5??!!
5. Aiden has begun soccer again. He is just not aggressive. I guess this is a good trait as well, but it does nothing for his showmanship on the field. We are an entire team of five year olds so I do not need to tell you that we are not winning in the league. Some teams just tower over us. Aiden is literally the tallest on our team, but since he has no killer instinct, it does not do much for us. We have a little spitfire named Emily who can race down the field like a champ! She will be even better once we get her to score more consistently. I guess last week Aiden came so close to scoring. I had to leave the game to catch a shower of a friend of mine who is getting married so I left him in the hands of his aunt. She said that he was so close to scoring. I am sad that he did not make a goal, but I am also glad that I did not miss it.
6. Roadshows have begun again. We did them four years ago—it is crazy to think that we worked on them that long ago. I am collaborating on the script again, but Mitch came up with the idea. We are bringing flowers and trees to life and of course corny one-liners are all over the place. I am excited to do the costumes. I do not know how much time I will have, but I for sure want to help. Perhaps Mitch will even star in it. He is always a sucker for corny and chippy.
7. We have had a consistent park day after school on Wednesdays and the boys love it. We bring sack lunches and the boys get DIRTY! When I give them a bath on Wednesday morning I always say, man, I forgot again- Bathe after the park on Wednesday!
8. Mitch got himself a brand new 2007 Silverado Chevy truck. It is beautiful- granite blue. He wants new rims, but I told him he has to wait a while because the stock ones are just fine. His brother is looking into getting him a deal on it…boys will be boys even when they are 31!
9. Gager is a walking disaster area. He has 7 bumps/bruises/scratches on his face alone! I cannot even tell you were they have come from. He sliced off the skin on his big toe so he is literally hobbling around. He still runs like a Telly Tubby even with a sore toe. He wears his batman mask and cape everyday and I tie his cape on him at least 15 times. He wants to wear his Batman T-shirt or train T-shirt everyday as well. He is one of a kind, but he is talking like he is 7 not 2. He even signs I love you to me with his right hand. Sometimes he cannot put down his ring finger when he does it so he physically has to push it down and growls at his finger and says for it to stop coming up!
10. Jaceroo is as good and sweet as ever. He says Da Da now and even says Aiden when I am hollering at Aiden to come help me or finish some task that I have asked him to do. Well he does not articulate "Aiden," but he says "A-en." It is so absolutely adorable. Still no mama that I can make out. The boys tell me that he has said it, but when I try to illicit the same response, Jace simply flashes me his most adorable smile! We went to the DMV the other morning (It took only 22 minutes.) and the clerk said Jace was so cute and he flashed her a smile when she said it. Oh, she got such a kick out of that. It was priceless. She told me to put him in the movies if he is such a ham. Too funny!
Well I cannot think of the usual funny stories. I have a list of 7 things to share form over the last 5 weeks, but I do not know what the references mean. Nice, eh? I have words just jotted down and I remember a little about it, but not enough to share a story. Man, I need to do this more often. Just for the record, we have no Internet at home. We have been going to neighbor’s and family’s houses to use it. So needless to say, I have not read any email in a month. I think we will be getting something. We just do not know what to get. We will probably get dial up again even though it is so dang SLOW! I just have no time to really get online anyways. I hate wasting money on it.
Take care and I hope to have another newsletter sooner than later. I teach preschool again this next week so I know it will be at least another two weeks.
Love, The Bishops
Bishop Family Update - 8/27/2006
We have been camping in Santa Barbara for a week and we just returned home. In an effort to explain our week’s adventures, I will do it in a form of a list…
Top Ten Items For Which I am Grateful While Camping with a 5 year old, 3 year old, 2 year old, and 9 month old…
10 Portable DVD Player- We had to get to the ocean and I am grateful for the entertainment it provides. On the trip over, Gager was not able to see the screen (of which he reminded us several times), and I was never so appreciative of it during the drive home (we moved his seat so he could see). I am glad that I live in the 21st century!
9 Hoodies- Coastal California gets cold at night and in the morning. The boys lived in their hoodies even in the overnight hours. We were seriously missing one too on the second to last day. Aiden had an accident over the night hours and let’s just say that we would not be able to wash it and dry it out on the clothesline because it is a superdedooper thick one from GAP. Aiden had to wear Lexi’s during our last night there. Aiden said that he would wear it in the tent because he was cold and he knew that it would provide him warmth, but he was terrified that his older cousins would see him in the girl sweatshirt. (Now mind you it is off white and does not look girly.) He made sure that Mitch zipped the tent shut while he ran from one corner of the tent where he was changing to his sleeping bag where he jumped in and zipped it all the way to his neck- too funny. What five year olds fear! Can we say that he idolizes his older cousins- crazy!
8 "Shut up" milk- Jaceroo slept the first two hours in his portacrib, but spent the rest of the evening with mom. It was too cold for him despite the onesie, sweats, feety jammies, and hoody. He and I rested only so so, but I frequently gave him what I coined "shut up" milk. The last thing that you want to do is wake the entire camp with your overly tired 9-month old who can’t get comfortable.
7 Watering Can- Mitch built an incredible sand castle with the boys on the beach. Many walkers stopped to look at his masterpiece. The boys loved helping daddy. Gage and Grey took turns watering the mound of sand with their 99-cent watering can. Gager asked for it even in the tent when we got back to camp.
6 Extra Family- who’s idea was it to go camping with four little boys on the beach? Oh ya, ours! No, we actually had a great time, but I was grateful for my bed and my shower. We could not have done it without our fabulous family and all of their help! Everytime I turned around, another family member was taking Jace out of my arms, or cuddling a Grey who had fallen asleep in the camp chair, or running a child to the sink to wash their hands for the umpteenth thousandth time. Gage and Jace love Uncle Derek soooooo much now!
5 Multiple pairs of shoes- Each boy had two pairs of flip flops/sandals and a pair of sneakers. It was a little crazy, but we ended up needing them all. It was so nice to have them so that we could find at least one pair at all times. I am glad that they only cost a dollar at the end of the summer—I should stock up for next year now.
4 Air mattresses- During our first night- well let’s say I hope to never repeat it. Trains rode in through our camp and were maybe 60 yards away. It was cool during the daytime hours, but during the night, it sounded like those huge Amtrak trains were derailing and landing outside of our tent. The boys loved the trains, but with each one that rode through camp in the middle of the night, they would awake all the sleeping boys. During our first night, because their air mattress sprung a leak, Gage and Aiden joined us. Jace was already in with Mitch and I. Five on a queen-sized mattress is not my favorite. At about 3:00 a.m. Grey cups my face in his hands and begs me to let him into our bed. I had to deny him—There was simply no room. He slumps back into his bag and saddles up next to me. I counted the minutes until morning and I sent Mitch into Santa Barbara while the boys and I went to the beach with Shari the following morning. He came back to camp victorious- another air mattress in hand. The following nights were great and the boys stayed on their mattress- yahoo!
3 Krista’s stroller- Needless to say, five nights and 6 days on vacation facilitates the need for a tremendous amount of stuff! Mitch was able to get so much into our van that it was amazing. The stroller did not make the cut, but I was not all that worried. Well we get to camp and I realize, oh I have a 9 month old who crawls to move around. Where am I going to put him for the next week? The tent?- let’s say not his favorite place! Then I get the idea that it would be great to strap him into a stroller. Krista then says, "We have a stroller and it is all terrain style!" Is it OK to kiss your sister in law all over? I didn’t but man was I ever grateful for that. Jace lived in that stroller and it ended up being the joy of the cousins to push Jace around camp in it. Deven and Gage fought over it sometimes, but by the week’s end, they were sharing it pretty well.
2 WET WIPES- Oh the uses of wet wipes…let me count to 100. We used them to wipe hands and feet before meals and definitely before bed. We used them to wipe sand from Jace who tried to eat the sand by the fistful. We used them to wipe off the tablecloths before and after meals. We used them for their intended purpose a great deal with Gager because he loves grapes and they make him extremely regular. We wiped off dirt from the tent floor and off of sleeping bags because all the cousins would have cousin parties in our tent. We loved dirt from 8 little boys. And our final use of the beloved wet wipes was to wash the bird poo that landed all over our tent and rain fly. It took me 20 minutes to wipe it all off. The wipes worked wonderfully well and I did very little scrubbing. I bet if I tell the wipes company that I used them for that, they would sign me up for their next commercial advertising that very unique ability- look out Proctor and Gamble!
1 Baby Powder- It is the last great secret that no one knows about. While in dirty places that encourages sand and dirt to adhere to small and big people alike, the baby powder acts like magic. Just sprinkle it on and sand and dirt come off easily and without the rough grit-- so no tears. I took powder to the beach and everyone thought I was so funny. By the week’s end, everyone was asking for the powder. It also works well getting the dirt that just adhered to your feet and ankles on the way back from the showers. The boys loved the magic that it created. I keep waiting for one of the boys to say, "Mom, we do not need a shower. We will use the powder to get off the dirt."
Well that is our trip in a list- we had a great time, but I think I will want my baby either walking well or if I have another one the next time we camp, I would like her (I can hope) not moving at all.
Love the Bishops
P.S. Aiden starts Kindergarten tomorrow. We met his teacher last week. He is so excited. Grey will start preschool next week too. I will teach the first two weeks. He is excited too.
P.S.S. Aiden cut a little chunk of hair this morning from the front—can I inflict bodily harm on the boy. He knows better—you’d think that he would at least wait until next week after school was in session for a week or so- ARGH! Let’s hope Dad can fix it somehow.
Top Ten Items For Which I am Grateful While Camping with a 5 year old, 3 year old, 2 year old, and 9 month old…
10 Portable DVD Player- We had to get to the ocean and I am grateful for the entertainment it provides. On the trip over, Gager was not able to see the screen (of which he reminded us several times), and I was never so appreciative of it during the drive home (we moved his seat so he could see). I am glad that I live in the 21st century!
9 Hoodies- Coastal California gets cold at night and in the morning. The boys lived in their hoodies even in the overnight hours. We were seriously missing one too on the second to last day. Aiden had an accident over the night hours and let’s just say that we would not be able to wash it and dry it out on the clothesline because it is a superdedooper thick one from GAP. Aiden had to wear Lexi’s during our last night there. Aiden said that he would wear it in the tent because he was cold and he knew that it would provide him warmth, but he was terrified that his older cousins would see him in the girl sweatshirt. (Now mind you it is off white and does not look girly.) He made sure that Mitch zipped the tent shut while he ran from one corner of the tent where he was changing to his sleeping bag where he jumped in and zipped it all the way to his neck- too funny. What five year olds fear! Can we say that he idolizes his older cousins- crazy!
8 "Shut up" milk- Jaceroo slept the first two hours in his portacrib, but spent the rest of the evening with mom. It was too cold for him despite the onesie, sweats, feety jammies, and hoody. He and I rested only so so, but I frequently gave him what I coined "shut up" milk. The last thing that you want to do is wake the entire camp with your overly tired 9-month old who can’t get comfortable.
7 Watering Can- Mitch built an incredible sand castle with the boys on the beach. Many walkers stopped to look at his masterpiece. The boys loved helping daddy. Gage and Grey took turns watering the mound of sand with their 99-cent watering can. Gager asked for it even in the tent when we got back to camp.
6 Extra Family- who’s idea was it to go camping with four little boys on the beach? Oh ya, ours! No, we actually had a great time, but I was grateful for my bed and my shower. We could not have done it without our fabulous family and all of their help! Everytime I turned around, another family member was taking Jace out of my arms, or cuddling a Grey who had fallen asleep in the camp chair, or running a child to the sink to wash their hands for the umpteenth thousandth time. Gage and Jace love Uncle Derek soooooo much now!
5 Multiple pairs of shoes- Each boy had two pairs of flip flops/sandals and a pair of sneakers. It was a little crazy, but we ended up needing them all. It was so nice to have them so that we could find at least one pair at all times. I am glad that they only cost a dollar at the end of the summer—I should stock up for next year now.
4 Air mattresses- During our first night- well let’s say I hope to never repeat it. Trains rode in through our camp and were maybe 60 yards away. It was cool during the daytime hours, but during the night, it sounded like those huge Amtrak trains were derailing and landing outside of our tent. The boys loved the trains, but with each one that rode through camp in the middle of the night, they would awake all the sleeping boys. During our first night, because their air mattress sprung a leak, Gage and Aiden joined us. Jace was already in with Mitch and I. Five on a queen-sized mattress is not my favorite. At about 3:00 a.m. Grey cups my face in his hands and begs me to let him into our bed. I had to deny him—There was simply no room. He slumps back into his bag and saddles up next to me. I counted the minutes until morning and I sent Mitch into Santa Barbara while the boys and I went to the beach with Shari the following morning. He came back to camp victorious- another air mattress in hand. The following nights were great and the boys stayed on their mattress- yahoo!
3 Krista’s stroller- Needless to say, five nights and 6 days on vacation facilitates the need for a tremendous amount of stuff! Mitch was able to get so much into our van that it was amazing. The stroller did not make the cut, but I was not all that worried. Well we get to camp and I realize, oh I have a 9 month old who crawls to move around. Where am I going to put him for the next week? The tent?- let’s say not his favorite place! Then I get the idea that it would be great to strap him into a stroller. Krista then says, "We have a stroller and it is all terrain style!" Is it OK to kiss your sister in law all over? I didn’t but man was I ever grateful for that. Jace lived in that stroller and it ended up being the joy of the cousins to push Jace around camp in it. Deven and Gage fought over it sometimes, but by the week’s end, they were sharing it pretty well.
2 WET WIPES- Oh the uses of wet wipes…let me count to 100. We used them to wipe hands and feet before meals and definitely before bed. We used them to wipe sand from Jace who tried to eat the sand by the fistful. We used them to wipe off the tablecloths before and after meals. We used them for their intended purpose a great deal with Gager because he loves grapes and they make him extremely regular. We wiped off dirt from the tent floor and off of sleeping bags because all the cousins would have cousin parties in our tent. We loved dirt from 8 little boys. And our final use of the beloved wet wipes was to wash the bird poo that landed all over our tent and rain fly. It took me 20 minutes to wipe it all off. The wipes worked wonderfully well and I did very little scrubbing. I bet if I tell the wipes company that I used them for that, they would sign me up for their next commercial advertising that very unique ability- look out Proctor and Gamble!
1 Baby Powder- It is the last great secret that no one knows about. While in dirty places that encourages sand and dirt to adhere to small and big people alike, the baby powder acts like magic. Just sprinkle it on and sand and dirt come off easily and without the rough grit-- so no tears. I took powder to the beach and everyone thought I was so funny. By the week’s end, everyone was asking for the powder. It also works well getting the dirt that just adhered to your feet and ankles on the way back from the showers. The boys loved the magic that it created. I keep waiting for one of the boys to say, "Mom, we do not need a shower. We will use the powder to get off the dirt."
Well that is our trip in a list- we had a great time, but I think I will want my baby either walking well or if I have another one the next time we camp, I would like her (I can hope) not moving at all.
Love the Bishops
P.S. Aiden starts Kindergarten tomorrow. We met his teacher last week. He is so excited. Grey will start preschool next week too. I will teach the first two weeks. He is excited too.
P.S.S. Aiden cut a little chunk of hair this morning from the front—can I inflict bodily harm on the boy. He knows better—you’d think that he would at least wait until next week after school was in session for a week or so- ARGH! Let’s hope Dad can fix it somehow.
Bishop Family Update, 7/25/2006
Greetings! We have been feeling a little under the weather and now at what we hope to be the tail end of this all, I have nearly lost my voice. Do you know how difficult it is to be a mom when you have no voice? I try to get their attention and nothing comes out so I need to resort to standing up, walking over to them, and tapping them on the shoulder- too funny. It gives me a greater appreciation for deaf moms. On a side note--- Aiden told me to use my sign language too. When I signed the boys just laugheed and said they did not know what I was saying. I guess the few signs I have taught them are not the building blocks of language as I once hoped. Well Jace understands me. Seriously, though, he is signing milk and eat. It is so absolutely adorable that you can’t help but kiss him all over when he does it. I often kiss him all over because he just giggles and giggles. He is the most smiley person ever. I hope he never loses this. It is so endearing.
Back to the illnesses…Aiden had strep, Grey had a bacterial infection that went into his eyes, Gage had nothing, Jace got the goopy eyes from Grey I am sure and then followed by the croupy cough. I decided to give Jace a breathing treatment a few times last week. That worked remarkably well and he sat the entire time on my lap breathing the vapors into his lungs. Oh, the differences between Gage and Jace are so mind-boggling. Gage has to do everything himself and for two, I have to say is quite proficient at many tasks around the house. For Pete’s sake, he is wiping down the TV and computer screens- is that not terrific. Also, though, he tends to want to dress himself, put his own toothpaste on a particular toothbrush and it has to be just so….Let’s just say that we do not always have time for just so….Oh let the wild rumpus begin- he is a wild thing! The funny thing was that after I finished the breathing treatment on the baby, Gage crawled into my lap and put the mask on- Oh, the fits of giggles that came from Aiden. He then proceeded to tell Gager that he hates breathing treatments. We can hope that Gage will endure them the next time he needs one with excitement and anticipation.
I have picked up another tutoring student and she is a delight. She needs work on writing. I just love teaching writing. It is so fun to pull out more and more ideas from them. She is a doll too. I also get to do a little math with her which I absolutely love to teach. This is my outlet since I think I may never go back to the traditional classroom.
I, however, did get a letter from the state asking me to return to teaching. They are so desperate. They included a pay scale schedule in the letter and hot dog- in the four and a half years that I have been out of the classroom, I have made a $10,000 raise. I just get to dream about the money is all. Besides, does more money make you wealthier? I think not. It simply gives me more money to spend and accumulate more stuff that I already have no room for.
I get to take Grey to the dentist tomorrow- joy joy! This will be the highlight of the next installment of the Bishop newsletter! We have been swimming a bunch too. We are really getting Aiden’s swimming lessons practiced! We will hopefully swim again this week. We went last week three times alone. Aiden is swimming and popping up to take a breath too. It is so fun to watch him.
Last weekend we had a 24th of July celebration at the park. For those of you who do not know what that means…On the 24th of July about 150 years ago, the pioneers who had left Nauvoo, Illinois, walked into the Salt Lake Valley. We commemorate their lives and tremendous sacrifices by having a huge celebration in the park. Our "camp" color was purple. Since I own no purple for my little boys, I decided to make them purple Superman capes instead of buying purple shirts. If they were not the cutest boys… I put Mitch in purple too. He told me it was lavendar- not purple. I told him to deal- it was on clearance! Besides, he has a few ties that will go with it so he can wear it to work too. We made candles, played the stick pull game, walked on stilts, enjoyed snow cones and watermelon, and marched in a parade. I made purple streamers for the kids in the parade and we looked fantastic! It was a terrific night.
We have been busy having friends over for dinners as well. It has been fun, and the boys are catching on to this tradition. They are saying, who is coming over for dinner tonight?
Well I cannot think of anything more so this is a short one!
The Bishops
Back to the illnesses…Aiden had strep, Grey had a bacterial infection that went into his eyes, Gage had nothing, Jace got the goopy eyes from Grey I am sure and then followed by the croupy cough. I decided to give Jace a breathing treatment a few times last week. That worked remarkably well and he sat the entire time on my lap breathing the vapors into his lungs. Oh, the differences between Gage and Jace are so mind-boggling. Gage has to do everything himself and for two, I have to say is quite proficient at many tasks around the house. For Pete’s sake, he is wiping down the TV and computer screens- is that not terrific. Also, though, he tends to want to dress himself, put his own toothpaste on a particular toothbrush and it has to be just so….Let’s just say that we do not always have time for just so….Oh let the wild rumpus begin- he is a wild thing! The funny thing was that after I finished the breathing treatment on the baby, Gage crawled into my lap and put the mask on- Oh, the fits of giggles that came from Aiden. He then proceeded to tell Gager that he hates breathing treatments. We can hope that Gage will endure them the next time he needs one with excitement and anticipation.
I have picked up another tutoring student and she is a delight. She needs work on writing. I just love teaching writing. It is so fun to pull out more and more ideas from them. She is a doll too. I also get to do a little math with her which I absolutely love to teach. This is my outlet since I think I may never go back to the traditional classroom.
I, however, did get a letter from the state asking me to return to teaching. They are so desperate. They included a pay scale schedule in the letter and hot dog- in the four and a half years that I have been out of the classroom, I have made a $10,000 raise. I just get to dream about the money is all. Besides, does more money make you wealthier? I think not. It simply gives me more money to spend and accumulate more stuff that I already have no room for.
I get to take Grey to the dentist tomorrow- joy joy! This will be the highlight of the next installment of the Bishop newsletter! We have been swimming a bunch too. We are really getting Aiden’s swimming lessons practiced! We will hopefully swim again this week. We went last week three times alone. Aiden is swimming and popping up to take a breath too. It is so fun to watch him.
Last weekend we had a 24th of July celebration at the park. For those of you who do not know what that means…On the 24th of July about 150 years ago, the pioneers who had left Nauvoo, Illinois, walked into the Salt Lake Valley. We commemorate their lives and tremendous sacrifices by having a huge celebration in the park. Our "camp" color was purple. Since I own no purple for my little boys, I decided to make them purple Superman capes instead of buying purple shirts. If they were not the cutest boys… I put Mitch in purple too. He told me it was lavendar- not purple. I told him to deal- it was on clearance! Besides, he has a few ties that will go with it so he can wear it to work too. We made candles, played the stick pull game, walked on stilts, enjoyed snow cones and watermelon, and marched in a parade. I made purple streamers for the kids in the parade and we looked fantastic! It was a terrific night.
We have been busy having friends over for dinners as well. It has been fun, and the boys are catching on to this tradition. They are saying, who is coming over for dinner tonight?
Well I cannot think of anything more so this is a short one!
The Bishops
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
Bishop Family Update - 7/10/2006
July 10, 2006
Dear Family and Friends,
Well we have begun getting emails from people asking if we are OK. I guess it means that I need to get back on my schedule and type my updates so people do not worry about us. I am making a list since it will be a little shorter this way.
1. Aiden had his last soccer game last month. He worked sooooooo hard since it was one where his Daddy came. (Mitch had a class on Saturdays so he missed 7 of the 9 games.) The first half he tried to score like three times and he was hustling. Then at the half, we switched goals, but Aiden forgot that small but very significant detail. He got the ball away from an opponent and took the ball all the way down the field and took a shot. The entire time, his coaches, his parents, and nearly every other Dragon parent was screaming, "Other way, other way!" We were yelling his name, but he thought that we were cheering him on! Oh well, we say that he made a goal during his last game - nevermind for which team. Besides it made for a great object lesson for Mitch the following day when he had to talk in church.
2. Speaking of talking in sacrament…I had to do it two weeks after Mitch. It went fine and nightmares about how I used up all the time like I did when I was 17 years old did not happen again even though still to this day, I feel horrible about it. Funny how embarrassing moments never leave you.
3. We have had a few neighbors over for dinner etc. We have become quite the international chefs! We even have a reputation for being great cooks. Oh, I am glad no one ever came over when we were first married and I was such a horrific cook.
4. We had a game night over here with a few friends and we want to try and do that once a month. The last one we had was June 9th. We are already behind schedule!
5. For Father’s Day, the boys and I sent Mitch on a SUPER HUNT. He was in search for the tools for a super dad. He received Italian ices, superhero cereal, super villains for his shelf, a picture with handprints and a poem that the boys help me make (that has nothing to do with superheroes, but I try to have the boys make him something.), a superman T-shirt, and a messenger bag to take to UNLV. The boys had more fun going on the hunt than Mitch, but Father’s day is a little about the kids as well.
6. Aiden just completed two weeks of swimming lessons and does great now. I decided I had to bite the bullet and get one swimming. He can do pop up breathing and can go across the short end of the pool solo! We are begging our way to people’s homes with pools—so far I have invited myself over to three people’s houses- I sure know how to work it! Actually since I have invited myself over, they have also asked me to return so I am all about that! I am planning on giving salads as a thank you, but at one house, the teenage daughter literally plays with Jace the entire time and also entertains the other boys. I am thinking I am taking her mom, her, and a friend of her choice to Olive Garden for a lunch date. I owe her more than that, but she will not take anything. She is one of the babysitters I use regularly so I guess she truly does love coming over to this house and loves the boys! I would think my house would be hard, but the girls say that they love to baby-sit for me.
7. Mitch went to scout camp a few weeks back and I let Aiden have a friend over to spend the night. The boys did great, but man was I tired the next day! On Friday night, I took the boys to McDonald’s and the friend asked where his happy meal toy was. Aiden then said to the friend, you know my mom NEVER buys us the happy meals and we never get toys. Does your mom get happy meals? He tells him that yes, he gets a happy meal every time. Aiden then looks at me and with a sheepish look asks me, "What’s with that mom?" Gotta love it!
8. We have been doing the summer reading program and Aiden is reading the books himself! He struggles still a little with attention to the book from start to finish because decoding is still somewhat of a chore, but he is reading Dr. Seuss independently. He even reads a few to his brothers- I am so pleased. He types his words on the computer, too, so that he can memorize the sight words. He calls them the words that don’t sound right.
9. I am tutoring two young ladies this summer. It is a joy to do it during the daytime hours. I would tutor more students during the school year if it was not always around dinner time.
10. Jace is still not crawling even though he is able to get anywhere he wants by rolling or scooting backwards. It is a little perplexing. We show him how to do it, but he just laughs at us and sucks on his fingers or puts his feet in his mouth. He is signing eat and milk though. Whenever he sees food, he signs eat. He also mimicks "Hi!" and "Dada." OK, so he will take after his mother—a talker with no motor skills to speak of!
11. We went over to the Lied Discovery Museum for an ice cream social and enjoyed the evening with the boys.
12. This last week, my sister in law and I took the kids to see an African drum group. It was fun for the kids, but Gage was done about 40 minutes into it so the last 20 minutes were a little nutty. We made it though with no tantrum.
13. We went and saw Cars last weekend and the boys loved it. They are quoting the cars and doing quite impressive sound impressions.
14. We went down to Boulder again for the Fourth. We stayed in a horrific hotel where the hallways smelled literally like B.O. I gagged every time I walked into the hallway. The room was clean enough. They charged us $5.00 each night for the crib, they had cardboard ice buckets, and they provided no hair dryer. It was crazy. Despite the accommodations, we had a great time. We marched in the parade for a friend who is running for judge. For those of you who know Jerry Wiese, he is looking for a career change so think happy thoughts for him. Aiden rode his bike. Grey rode his trike. And Gager was the stylish one in his little roadster with a push handle that I used to push him along. It was the talk of the parade. The boys did awesome. It was a fabulous morning as well. It rained quite a bit right before the parade and cooled things off and it was cloudy and breezy. We could not have asked for a better morning. That night we enjoyed fireworks on the golf course with a co-worker of Mitch’s. They were so kind to us, and Aiden had a ball playing with their 7 year old. Gager did have a casualty—he burned himself with a sparkler. His burn looks much better now. On Wednesday morning, we enjoyed funnel cakes, pigs in a blanket, and stuffed French Toast at IHOP.
15. Gage calls every American flag, "Grandma’s Flag." My mom has a flag hanging from her house all year long so he associates the American Flag with Grandma! Too cute. I guess the American flag is a good thing to associate with Grandma.
16. Actually item 15 leads right into Greyson’s funny story…When we were waiting for Mitch to get a bottle of water and non-chocolate candy for Cars (the movie), Grey sees the Budlight neon light in the window and says, "Look, Mom, there’s Grandma’s ‘bear.’" I just laughed and laughed. Gotta love Grandma’s "bear." Then Aiden corrects him and says, "It is not ‘bear’ Grey Grey, it is called Grandma’s soda."
17. I kid you not, Jace just crawled about 7 feet. I guess he was waiting for me to write a newsletter so I could report the news- I am so jazzed- Go Jaceroo!
18. At Target while were shopping for beach toys, I was playing with a gel filled toy. Apparantly there was a hole in the gel pack so when I squeezed the hippo, blue gel squirted all over me. I was wearing a white T-shirt. Nice! I guess I should remember my mom telling me as a little girl- Look but DO NOT TOUCH.
19. I have a brand new nephew- Jack Donovan- born on Father’s Day to my sister, Audri. I also have a brand new niece- Holland Kate- born on July 1st to my sister-in-law, Terressa. The family just gets bigger and bigger!
Well that is all for this update. I hope it is not too boring. Love to you all and I am sorry that I have not emailed in a month. I will hopefully talk to you again in 2-
The Bishop gang
Dear Family and Friends,
Well we have begun getting emails from people asking if we are OK. I guess it means that I need to get back on my schedule and type my updates so people do not worry about us. I am making a list since it will be a little shorter this way.
1. Aiden had his last soccer game last month. He worked sooooooo hard since it was one where his Daddy came. (Mitch had a class on Saturdays so he missed 7 of the 9 games.) The first half he tried to score like three times and he was hustling. Then at the half, we switched goals, but Aiden forgot that small but very significant detail. He got the ball away from an opponent and took the ball all the way down the field and took a shot. The entire time, his coaches, his parents, and nearly every other Dragon parent was screaming, "Other way, other way!" We were yelling his name, but he thought that we were cheering him on! Oh well, we say that he made a goal during his last game - nevermind for which team. Besides it made for a great object lesson for Mitch the following day when he had to talk in church.
2. Speaking of talking in sacrament…I had to do it two weeks after Mitch. It went fine and nightmares about how I used up all the time like I did when I was 17 years old did not happen again even though still to this day, I feel horrible about it. Funny how embarrassing moments never leave you.
3. We have had a few neighbors over for dinner etc. We have become quite the international chefs! We even have a reputation for being great cooks. Oh, I am glad no one ever came over when we were first married and I was such a horrific cook.
4. We had a game night over here with a few friends and we want to try and do that once a month. The last one we had was June 9th. We are already behind schedule!
5. For Father’s Day, the boys and I sent Mitch on a SUPER HUNT. He was in search for the tools for a super dad. He received Italian ices, superhero cereal, super villains for his shelf, a picture with handprints and a poem that the boys help me make (that has nothing to do with superheroes, but I try to have the boys make him something.), a superman T-shirt, and a messenger bag to take to UNLV. The boys had more fun going on the hunt than Mitch, but Father’s day is a little about the kids as well.
6. Aiden just completed two weeks of swimming lessons and does great now. I decided I had to bite the bullet and get one swimming. He can do pop up breathing and can go across the short end of the pool solo! We are begging our way to people’s homes with pools—so far I have invited myself over to three people’s houses- I sure know how to work it! Actually since I have invited myself over, they have also asked me to return so I am all about that! I am planning on giving salads as a thank you, but at one house, the teenage daughter literally plays with Jace the entire time and also entertains the other boys. I am thinking I am taking her mom, her, and a friend of her choice to Olive Garden for a lunch date. I owe her more than that, but she will not take anything. She is one of the babysitters I use regularly so I guess she truly does love coming over to this house and loves the boys! I would think my house would be hard, but the girls say that they love to baby-sit for me.
7. Mitch went to scout camp a few weeks back and I let Aiden have a friend over to spend the night. The boys did great, but man was I tired the next day! On Friday night, I took the boys to McDonald’s and the friend asked where his happy meal toy was. Aiden then said to the friend, you know my mom NEVER buys us the happy meals and we never get toys. Does your mom get happy meals? He tells him that yes, he gets a happy meal every time. Aiden then looks at me and with a sheepish look asks me, "What’s with that mom?" Gotta love it!
8. We have been doing the summer reading program and Aiden is reading the books himself! He struggles still a little with attention to the book from start to finish because decoding is still somewhat of a chore, but he is reading Dr. Seuss independently. He even reads a few to his brothers- I am so pleased. He types his words on the computer, too, so that he can memorize the sight words. He calls them the words that don’t sound right.
9. I am tutoring two young ladies this summer. It is a joy to do it during the daytime hours. I would tutor more students during the school year if it was not always around dinner time.
10. Jace is still not crawling even though he is able to get anywhere he wants by rolling or scooting backwards. It is a little perplexing. We show him how to do it, but he just laughs at us and sucks on his fingers or puts his feet in his mouth. He is signing eat and milk though. Whenever he sees food, he signs eat. He also mimicks "Hi!" and "Dada." OK, so he will take after his mother—a talker with no motor skills to speak of!
11. We went over to the Lied Discovery Museum for an ice cream social and enjoyed the evening with the boys.
12. This last week, my sister in law and I took the kids to see an African drum group. It was fun for the kids, but Gage was done about 40 minutes into it so the last 20 minutes were a little nutty. We made it though with no tantrum.
13. We went and saw Cars last weekend and the boys loved it. They are quoting the cars and doing quite impressive sound impressions.
14. We went down to Boulder again for the Fourth. We stayed in a horrific hotel where the hallways smelled literally like B.O. I gagged every time I walked into the hallway. The room was clean enough. They charged us $5.00 each night for the crib, they had cardboard ice buckets, and they provided no hair dryer. It was crazy. Despite the accommodations, we had a great time. We marched in the parade for a friend who is running for judge. For those of you who know Jerry Wiese, he is looking for a career change so think happy thoughts for him. Aiden rode his bike. Grey rode his trike. And Gager was the stylish one in his little roadster with a push handle that I used to push him along. It was the talk of the parade. The boys did awesome. It was a fabulous morning as well. It rained quite a bit right before the parade and cooled things off and it was cloudy and breezy. We could not have asked for a better morning. That night we enjoyed fireworks on the golf course with a co-worker of Mitch’s. They were so kind to us, and Aiden had a ball playing with their 7 year old. Gager did have a casualty—he burned himself with a sparkler. His burn looks much better now. On Wednesday morning, we enjoyed funnel cakes, pigs in a blanket, and stuffed French Toast at IHOP.
15. Gage calls every American flag, "Grandma’s Flag." My mom has a flag hanging from her house all year long so he associates the American Flag with Grandma! Too cute. I guess the American flag is a good thing to associate with Grandma.
16. Actually item 15 leads right into Greyson’s funny story…When we were waiting for Mitch to get a bottle of water and non-chocolate candy for Cars (the movie), Grey sees the Budlight neon light in the window and says, "Look, Mom, there’s Grandma’s ‘bear.’" I just laughed and laughed. Gotta love Grandma’s "bear." Then Aiden corrects him and says, "It is not ‘bear’ Grey Grey, it is called Grandma’s soda."
17. I kid you not, Jace just crawled about 7 feet. I guess he was waiting for me to write a newsletter so I could report the news- I am so jazzed- Go Jaceroo!
18. At Target while were shopping for beach toys, I was playing with a gel filled toy. Apparantly there was a hole in the gel pack so when I squeezed the hippo, blue gel squirted all over me. I was wearing a white T-shirt. Nice! I guess I should remember my mom telling me as a little girl- Look but DO NOT TOUCH.
19. I have a brand new nephew- Jack Donovan- born on Father’s Day to my sister, Audri. I also have a brand new niece- Holland Kate- born on July 1st to my sister-in-law, Terressa. The family just gets bigger and bigger!
Well that is all for this update. I hope it is not too boring. Love to you all and I am sorry that I have not emailed in a month. I will hopefully talk to you again in 2-
The Bishop gang
Friday, June 09, 2006
Bishop Family Update - 06/06/2006
June 6, 2006
Dear Family and Friends,
Since Mitch wrote the last update, I am not sure what stories have been shared. I apologize if I repeat Bishop shenanigans.
Two weeks ago the sisters in law threw Terressa a shower in honor of the newest baby Bishop. We still do not know if the stork will bring the Bishop clan yet another boy, but I am hoping for a girl. I want to buy cute girly clothing for someone. Terressa and Hudgeon do not have a preference, as it is their first baby. They are just hoping for healthy. The shower was fun and she received some wonderful gifts.
I also had an appreciation dinner from the stake presidency to thank me for sharing my husband. It was a wonderful dinner and it was nice to visit with friends that I do not see very often. Mitch held the fort down well at home as well.
I also have tried to get researching family history again. It is getting more difficult as I do not know how to find marriage records on line to get maiden female names. If anyone has a clue as to where to have me begin, I would love a tip or two.
Mitch and I also had some surprising sad news last week as well. A friend of ours, who we knew from when we were in the singles ward where we met, died. He had been battling lung cancer for two years, and the lung cancer finally won. Gratefully, his wife was by his side, and he went quite peacefully. This man was in the Bishopric, and he and his wife were a wonderful example to us all about what a marriage should be. We will miss Bro. Scott MacPhearson, but we know he is in good hands. We feel the most remorse for his son that he has left behind. Seth is only 15. Jan will also be a widow for quite some time if she does not remarry. She is 40 something and I imagine she did not think cancer would strike her. It has given me some time to reflect on how incredibly precious our life is and that we truly have no control over when we will leave this sojourn on earth. He is a terrific man, and I know he will be fighting a good fight on the other side for all of us. For those of you who I email from the singles ward, I apologize if this is the first you are hearing this. I wanted to email the other day when we found out, but I did not find the time to do it.
Last week we tried to go to my former assistant’s retirement party, but the room was too full for a family of 6. It was a little weird too because it seemed as if no one was even happy to see me. In a strange way it actually makes my decision to stay home a little easier. I miss the interactions I had with my teacher friends, but in a strange way, it reaffirmed to me that the relationships with my family and specifically my children are so much more important. Not that I look down on anyone who decides to teach—it is a very noble and sacrificing profession. I am just glad that I stay home and I am able to stay home. Thank you LVVWD!
Last weekend for Memorial Day we had a birthday party on Saturday and then our good friends, the Landers, came over for some Indian cuisine- Delicious! We just love getting together with the Landers. It is always an evening filled with hysterical stories and pleasant children since our kids play so well together.
We also had well checks for Gage and Jace. They both were due for shots. And Gage did not cry- HELLO! Gage the boy who is terrified of the doctor’s office did not scream when they put a needle into his arm. As soon as we got to the examining room, he kept getting his clothing from me and attempted to dress himself. At one point, his shoes were on the wrong feet, his short were twisted and inside out and his T-shirt was inside out. Dr. Perez just laughed at him. She just laughed and said that she can certainly check the box that says, "child displays independent living skills in some areas." Gage was determined to do it all and do it now to get out of the office. Then when we get to the point to which he is terrified, he does not even cry. Now he walks around and boldly declares, "I got a shot and I not cry."
Jace weighs nearly 20 pounds and is sitting up, but cannot get himself to that position quite yet. We will be doing abs of steel this week to improve his ab muscles. He wants to crawl still, but cannot get that tummy off the floor to do so, so he just rolls everywhere. The other day, he rolled into my closet and I literally could not find him. I finally heard him laughing. He is such a good baby. He also loves dogs. On Sunday he literally was cracking up at my neice and C’mere (Yes, Shari and Michael actually named their dog C’mere.) who were playing chase etc. It does not matter how many children we have that beg us for a dog; we are not getting one! I am so glad to get that in writing!
We went to the new Library last week and got Summer reading packets. Aiden has now really shown a desire to read. He is on his 7th book now. He is sounding out words and is even remembering the sight words. If I had more time, I know he would be doing it without help, but for now it will have to do. I love that he is excited about it and does not fight me to read. This is how it should be! I just wish all those kids I taught years ago had it this easy.
We also had preschool graduation last Thursday. It turned out so fantastic! Mitch did an awesome slideshow and the performance was adorable. They all got awards and were pleased as punch with themselves. We did it as a potluck and had a fabulous time.
Well soccer will soon be over. Aiden had his seventh game last week and has his last game this Saturday. I am sad to say goodbye to the thought of soccer, but I am delighted to not roast in this horrific hot weather. I do not recall a June like this—I am aching for September already! Aiden is starting to catch on, but I am hoping that Uncle Bryan will begin tutoring soccer sessions. Two games ago he played his best game and tried to make a goal three times. This is huge for us since he is just starting to catch on to the game. Since he is not the most aggressive child, he just stays back in the wings and watches. It is like he is a spectator while he is in the game- too funny.
I went to a Sign Design concert last Weekend too at the Library with the boys. It sure was fun! I am writing this to tell all the girls from high school that were in Sign Design with me that it is still going strong. I even gave them a donation. And speaking of sign language, I had the chance to interpret in sign at church the last two Sundays. Amazingly enough, I have not signed for three years, but it did come back. I really need to practice more. This woman has a daughter in our ward and she will be visiting periodically. I am happy to help, but she wanted me to voice for her while she bore her testimony. I told her I just couldn’t. Mitch told me I should have, but I was so sure I would be all thumbs—excuse the pun.
Well we have had another busy two weeks. We are looking forward to swimming lessons, learning how to tie our shoes, and staying cool. We are planning a field trip each week also—trying to keep busy so they do not drive me nutty. The chores begin this week also. I got the idea from a friend and I am looking forward to the structure!
No funny stories to recall. I know we have had many, but this old woman can not recall any right now. I can report that Gage the Rage is raging less.
Adios, amigos
The Bishops
Dear Family and Friends,
Since Mitch wrote the last update, I am not sure what stories have been shared. I apologize if I repeat Bishop shenanigans.
Two weeks ago the sisters in law threw Terressa a shower in honor of the newest baby Bishop. We still do not know if the stork will bring the Bishop clan yet another boy, but I am hoping for a girl. I want to buy cute girly clothing for someone. Terressa and Hudgeon do not have a preference, as it is their first baby. They are just hoping for healthy. The shower was fun and she received some wonderful gifts.
I also had an appreciation dinner from the stake presidency to thank me for sharing my husband. It was a wonderful dinner and it was nice to visit with friends that I do not see very often. Mitch held the fort down well at home as well.
I also have tried to get researching family history again. It is getting more difficult as I do not know how to find marriage records on line to get maiden female names. If anyone has a clue as to where to have me begin, I would love a tip or two.
Mitch and I also had some surprising sad news last week as well. A friend of ours, who we knew from when we were in the singles ward where we met, died. He had been battling lung cancer for two years, and the lung cancer finally won. Gratefully, his wife was by his side, and he went quite peacefully. This man was in the Bishopric, and he and his wife were a wonderful example to us all about what a marriage should be. We will miss Bro. Scott MacPhearson, but we know he is in good hands. We feel the most remorse for his son that he has left behind. Seth is only 15. Jan will also be a widow for quite some time if she does not remarry. She is 40 something and I imagine she did not think cancer would strike her. It has given me some time to reflect on how incredibly precious our life is and that we truly have no control over when we will leave this sojourn on earth. He is a terrific man, and I know he will be fighting a good fight on the other side for all of us. For those of you who I email from the singles ward, I apologize if this is the first you are hearing this. I wanted to email the other day when we found out, but I did not find the time to do it.
Last week we tried to go to my former assistant’s retirement party, but the room was too full for a family of 6. It was a little weird too because it seemed as if no one was even happy to see me. In a strange way it actually makes my decision to stay home a little easier. I miss the interactions I had with my teacher friends, but in a strange way, it reaffirmed to me that the relationships with my family and specifically my children are so much more important. Not that I look down on anyone who decides to teach—it is a very noble and sacrificing profession. I am just glad that I stay home and I am able to stay home. Thank you LVVWD!
Last weekend for Memorial Day we had a birthday party on Saturday and then our good friends, the Landers, came over for some Indian cuisine- Delicious! We just love getting together with the Landers. It is always an evening filled with hysterical stories and pleasant children since our kids play so well together.
We also had well checks for Gage and Jace. They both were due for shots. And Gage did not cry- HELLO! Gage the boy who is terrified of the doctor’s office did not scream when they put a needle into his arm. As soon as we got to the examining room, he kept getting his clothing from me and attempted to dress himself. At one point, his shoes were on the wrong feet, his short were twisted and inside out and his T-shirt was inside out. Dr. Perez just laughed at him. She just laughed and said that she can certainly check the box that says, "child displays independent living skills in some areas." Gage was determined to do it all and do it now to get out of the office. Then when we get to the point to which he is terrified, he does not even cry. Now he walks around and boldly declares, "I got a shot and I not cry."
Jace weighs nearly 20 pounds and is sitting up, but cannot get himself to that position quite yet. We will be doing abs of steel this week to improve his ab muscles. He wants to crawl still, but cannot get that tummy off the floor to do so, so he just rolls everywhere. The other day, he rolled into my closet and I literally could not find him. I finally heard him laughing. He is such a good baby. He also loves dogs. On Sunday he literally was cracking up at my neice and C’mere (Yes, Shari and Michael actually named their dog C’mere.) who were playing chase etc. It does not matter how many children we have that beg us for a dog; we are not getting one! I am so glad to get that in writing!
We went to the new Library last week and got Summer reading packets. Aiden has now really shown a desire to read. He is on his 7th book now. He is sounding out words and is even remembering the sight words. If I had more time, I know he would be doing it without help, but for now it will have to do. I love that he is excited about it and does not fight me to read. This is how it should be! I just wish all those kids I taught years ago had it this easy.
We also had preschool graduation last Thursday. It turned out so fantastic! Mitch did an awesome slideshow and the performance was adorable. They all got awards and were pleased as punch with themselves. We did it as a potluck and had a fabulous time.
Well soccer will soon be over. Aiden had his seventh game last week and has his last game this Saturday. I am sad to say goodbye to the thought of soccer, but I am delighted to not roast in this horrific hot weather. I do not recall a June like this—I am aching for September already! Aiden is starting to catch on, but I am hoping that Uncle Bryan will begin tutoring soccer sessions. Two games ago he played his best game and tried to make a goal three times. This is huge for us since he is just starting to catch on to the game. Since he is not the most aggressive child, he just stays back in the wings and watches. It is like he is a spectator while he is in the game- too funny.
I went to a Sign Design concert last Weekend too at the Library with the boys. It sure was fun! I am writing this to tell all the girls from high school that were in Sign Design with me that it is still going strong. I even gave them a donation. And speaking of sign language, I had the chance to interpret in sign at church the last two Sundays. Amazingly enough, I have not signed for three years, but it did come back. I really need to practice more. This woman has a daughter in our ward and she will be visiting periodically. I am happy to help, but she wanted me to voice for her while she bore her testimony. I told her I just couldn’t. Mitch told me I should have, but I was so sure I would be all thumbs—excuse the pun.
Well we have had another busy two weeks. We are looking forward to swimming lessons, learning how to tie our shoes, and staying cool. We are planning a field trip each week also—trying to keep busy so they do not drive me nutty. The chores begin this week also. I got the idea from a friend and I am looking forward to the structure!
No funny stories to recall. I know we have had many, but this old woman can not recall any right now. I can report that Gage the Rage is raging less.
Adios, amigos
The Bishops
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