Christmas 2009...

Uno anyone? We played for a LONG time on Christmas Eve.
This year's Christmas Eve Pajama's rock. If I don't say so myself... They're my favorite ones ever...

Some people sing around the piano. We choose to sing on the piano.

First annual re-enactment of the Savior's birth. Might be the last annual. Mary was a single mother of a pink leopard print baby Jesus. No one wanted to be a boy, so there was no Joseph... World War 3 broke out when only Mary got to ride on the donkey (that would have been me...), the shepherds weren't in love with their head gear, the wisemen wore birthday crowns and Sam tried to steal Jesus. Could have been worse. Possibly.

Christmas morning. Santa really does exist. I truly believe, every single year, for that first split second. It is so great.

Nice construction ladies!

family picture 2009

Dear Sue...

Dear Sue,

I know that you are my very own person muffin top, but really, must you be so large? I would appreciate it if you would take a less obvious role in my day to day life. I'm not asking you to leave (well, really I am...) If you would just hide a little better... I am also tired of your best friend, Betty, who resides in my rear... I think I would be happy if I could just be me. Alone. No Sue. No Betty. But alas. My muffin top is so large, she's taken on her own name. Perhaps it's all the Christmas baking...

Tip...

For all you bloggers out there that like to print out your blog at year end (I always do and stuff it in a three-ring binder) I have found an easier way... It is www.blog2print.sharedbook.com . It prints your blog in hard or soft cover, with all your pictures and entire posts. You can set what dates you want to print from or just print the whole thing... My blog works out to be 110 pages and would be $45 for a soft cover or $55 for a hard back. In my world, that's as much as I pay for all the printer cartridges I go through printing it off every year... There you go. Tip of the week. Or year. Or just a one time offering...

911

911 Operator: "Is this an emergency?"
me: "Uh, yes! (Isn't that why you'd call 911?)
911: "Ma'am, what is the problem?"
me: "My swimming pool is spewing 5000 gallons of water all over the backyard!"
911: "Are you hurt?"
me: "Only my feet."
911: "Your feet, ma'am?"
me: "Yes. I'm currently standing in shin-deep ice cold water."
911: "Hmmm... Is there any flooding?"
me: "Other than a river flowing through my backyard, we're fine." (Luckily enough, our house and the neighbor's are a little higher than the yard... and the yard slopes to the street a little...)
911: "What can I help you with?"
me: "Other than letting me vent... probably nothing."
911: "All right ma'am. Go inside, put on some warm socks and have a Merry Christmas."
me: "Hmmmm...."

Stupid pool. Apparently the winterizer kit that we bought doesn't actually prevent ice from tearing a large hole in the side of your pool.

Quote of the Day

Alix: "Throw-up in Spanish is puke!"

What are they teaching on Dora these days?

Baby Brother

Did any of you think I was posting that we are having a baby brother? We are NOT. I'm talking about Ben, my baby brother (who towers above me, by the way...). He and his (super cute) family came and spent Thanksgiving with us. We loved it. Come any time guys!

Freezing cold pic-nic lunch at Owen's Beach

Some homeless man with A LOT of kids

Skyler, Heather, Ben and Lily

Checking out the old fire boat
The one picture you HAVE to take if you visit Seattle

It's weird how in my head, Ben's still 7. Where did he get this cute little boy?

And to top it all off, dinner at Favorite Aunt Karen's (that really is her name. Ask my friends. That's what they call her when she rides in on her white horse and saves me...) Lots of family were there and it was a great night as always!

Better Than A Backpack

The sister missionaries stopped by today and while they were visiting, the twins came down laughing hysterically. So we looked over to see what they were doing. They were using one of my bras as some sort of transportation devise for their barbies. Beautiful.

The man in our lives

Happy birthday Tom.

Go Kiss Your Dad Instead...

Tom and I heard Sam choking upstairs, so we ran up to save her life. Only to find her dipping the little plastic tea pot in the toilet and drinking the water... You'd think it couldn't get worse. Until I tell you that the toilet wasn't flushed.
This child will have a great immune system one day....

True or False

True or False? Concealer will cover marks on your face.
Answer: False. Not if they are made from blue food coloring...

With that in mind, my blue face and I are off to Stake Auxiliary Training...
(At least it's only a spot...)

(yet another) Quote of the Day

Today as the sacrament got passed into our row... In a not-so quiet voice...

Alix - "Hey mom, I have a good idea for the sacrament."

me - "Shhhhhhhh..."

Alix - "You get a piece of bread on the way in, and another on the way out!"

Note to self - Pack more snacks...

Quote of the Day

The twins and I were having "one of those" conversations. It eventually led to this...
Alix - "So you're going to die, mom?"
me - "Oh sweetie, not until I'm old"
Alix - "But mom, you're almost to old now!"
me - "Not really. I promise, I'm young and fun!"
Erin - "Well daddy really is almost to old."
me - "Oh yeah?"
Erin - "Yeah. The man has no hair!"

Well. Point taken. We'll miss you Tom.
This is Tom - Halloween 2007. Back when he still had an abundance of hair... (hey, it's all relative...)

Adults Only...

Costumes mandatory! Here is documentation of the fourth (possibly fifth) annual Bishop's Adults Only Halloween Party... (After three years, you get to capitalize your party's name...) It was a blast as always. My stomach hurt the next day from laughing so hard.

Aren't we all stunning?

The lovely ladies
and excluding Corwin, the handsome gentlemen...

The finals in the "mummy game" (The Hills took home the gold!)

Tom and I rockin' a new look. I forgot how handsome he is with hair...

Keep on reading (mostly looking at pictures) as I had to post a bunch of stuff today. It's stressful having the swine flu for two weeks before vacation, a week gone, then Halloween six days later. I was woefully unprepared, but it looks like we fit it all in. I won't admit to finishing sewing Alix's costume Halloween morning, or baking the cupcakes for the cake walk around six that morning, or never actually finishing Brooke's wizard wand. That would just be foolish.

Happy Haunting...

Because I know you all are waiting in suspense... Here are some pictures of my people...

Alix at a very spooky house. She's a"pink princess"

Erin, the "green witch"

Brooke was a magical "wizard"

After eating a powdered doughnut off a string

Alix and Sam - not a skunk, a cat... people were confused all day...

Somehow this year, I didn't take pictures of the girls in their costumes very well. So I had to crop most of these out of a group pictures. What can I say? I'm the best mom in the world...

Pumpkin Carving

Few things are better than carving pumpkins as a family. Here are the finished masterpieces...

Mine is the one full of holes. My mother asked, "What is it?" Pure fun. That's what. Everyone should go after a pumpkin with a power drill. It was the most fun I've ever had carving a pumpkin... Tom's is next, then Erin, Alix and Brooke's on the bottom.

Annual pilgrimage to the Pumpkin Palace. (Sam is helping me take the picture...)
Erin - had help drawing the face, but carved it all herself.

Alix did her own face and carving with absolutely no help from anyone. Period. No discussion. No input. On her own. Don't even think of helping her. End of story.

Brooke was less adamant about it, but did hers all by herself as well.

Ta-Da!

Bliss is...

Bliss is...

Watching the sunset from the deck of a catamaran

Seeing two huge pods of dolphins swimming beside you.A little zip-lining adventure.
Relaxing in the sun.

Sharing it all with a great friend!

We had the greatest time! We got to do a ton of stuff. A helicopter tour all around Maui, the zip-line, the dolphin excursion, SURFING LESSONS (awesome, by the way. I'll post pictures of that when I get them from my friend's camera...), a sunset cruise, a luau and all the relaxing in the sun you could wish for. It was amazing! Thanks to such a great hubby and mom and dad that made it all possible! Maybe one of these days, Tom and I will make it on a vacation together...

See you in a week...

I'm off to Hawaii for a week... I can already feel the sand between my toes! The picture is really Samoa, but it's still tropical, right? See you in a week...

Hospital Visit

Sam and I spent 8 hours yesterday at Seattle Children's ER. She's had a mid-grade fever since Wed. and starting Thursday night, she couldn't stand up. She couldn't even sit up by herself. It was very scary to see her trying to do stuff and just not be strong enough. I called her mitochondrial specialist early Friday to see if it was normal for mito kids to get this way with a fever. They said to get her to the ER. She doesn't have the swine flu (which is lucky since my best friend has a kid in the hospital with the swine flu...) just a cold. She just doesn't have the energy to fight off a fever and run the rest of her body at the same time. She was quite dehydrated and so they gave her an IV (horrible ordeal. Bad circulation + dehydration = 3 tries and a year off of my life) and gave her a bunch of fluid. She started perking up a little after the fluid and they also gave her a super-vitamin IV bolus that is supposed to help her get her energy and strength back more quickly. I'm exhausted. She's exhausted. But we didn't have to be admitted. Great thing to sleep at home. Now we just force fluids on her and try to keep her fever down as much as possible. She is able to walk (clumsily) today and it is good to see her back on her feet. What a trooper.

Sam update...

Sam had her muscle biopsy and a skin biopsy yesterday at Seattle Children's Hospital. (Great place, by the way.) It went better than I expected it to and she held up really well. It's weird that I fell all apart at my craft night, but apparently I had some pent-up emotions to deal with... We give her pain meds every four hours (we even wake her up to give them) and she seems to be holding up just fine. It's hard to hold her as she has an incision in her left armpit and a bigger one on her left thigh. But she's been up walking a little, and sleeps okay as well. Now we just have to wait the 8 weeks to get results...

Sam at her pre-op appointment.

The girls love this bench at the hospital
Having a great time with her sisters

Man, I love these kids. This last picture makes my heart ache, I just love them so much. I am one lucky mom to have four girls. I'm glad Heavenly Father didn't give the five boys I thought I wanted. This is much better.

(I posted a couple of other posts today, so keep on scrolling down...)

Quote of the day

As told to me by Elizabeth...
8 year old girl in primary (I'm the primary chorister) to her mother (excitedly): "Mom! I saw Sister Bishop at the bus stop this morning! She looks really different. Her hair was all wet and she wears glasses!"

It's now her favorite thing to sit on the side of the bus facing our house so she can wave and point every morning... I try not to disappoint her and look too human...

Holy Cow!

For the last four years I've played on and coached a co-ed softball team. First of all - our name rocks. Date Night. We are all just a bunch of married couples from church playing together. It's fantastic. We share a babysitter (who makes some serious cash for watching 10! kids...) and go play. The first season - we lost every game. The second season - we lost every game. The third season - we actually won two games! This season? WE ARE CHAMPIONS!!! We won our league! We rock! We won 6 games, lost 1 game and tied 1 game. We get T-shirts! And a plaque that we are all going to share custody of... Pardon me, while I wipe away a sentimental tear...

(I learned how to do collages, so know you get to stare at even more pictures... I'm in blue in the one picture because I don't have any of me playing co-ed, so that's from my women's team...)

Here we all are. Don't our shirts look great? Jodi and Don (aka Eagle Ink) made them for us! We all had funny nicknames on the back. They show in a couple of the pictures in the collage... It's worth reading some of them... Tom, for example is "Battle Cat"...

Just for fun... Here is what we looked like in 2007...