My Children

 My kids, I love them dearly!! They make me laugh, they make me want to cry, and sometimes I even question my sanity:) We have a lot of fun together. 
Henry is at an extremely busy stage in life right now.  I've never seen a busier kid then him.  He knows how to climb most things.  If he can't climb he'll push a chair over and then climb.  He bites! He'll go in for a hug and chomp down on your shoulder.  That one is getting a little bit better.  He things wrestling is playing.  When he sees or hears Brandon come home and yells, "Daddy, Daddy!!" Jumps into his arms and pats his back enthusiastically.  He loves Brandon!! He loves his Teddy (bear), and his care bear blanket.  And he's very protective of them and doesn't want anyone else to have them.  He will growl at you, and he will scream at the top of his lungs for no apparent reason.  I don't think we've made it to a full sacrament with him for a long long time.  He goes to nursery now and loves it.  I pray for the other kids in there every Sunday that he won't hit or bite anyone.  He loves hard.  He'll run and try to tackle you down to give a hug.  If he hits Olivia and I tell him to be soft he'll lean into her, put his arm around her and say, "ahh".  Then he usually will let go and whack her again.  I don't know if it's because he's the baby and we thing everything he does is hilarious that we let him get away with too much or what.  But this boy has mine and Brandon's and everyone else in our families hearts wrapped around his little grubby fingers.

 Olivia will be starting preschool in a couple of weeks still and she is so excited.  I can no longer call her my "baby girl" she just wants to be called a big girl:( She is doing gymnastics, dance and soccer this fall and is so excited for all of them.  Mostly gymnastics, but she loves to do anything social.  She is a collector of rocks, most of them come from my flower beds, but she loves them.  She'll sort them into piles and count (try) them every day.  She's obsessed with getting married.  She asked me tonight how old she has to be to get married.  I asked her, "how old do you think you should be." She responded, "hmm, 5!" So a little less then  5 years she'll be getting married:) She's already found the boy she wants to marry.  His name is Ezra Crockett and he's in her class at church.  Every week she tells me she's going to kiss him, she hasn't yet, but it's there on her mind. 
She loves to carry junk around with her wherever she goes she has a little collection of stuff.  She is still incredibly sweet and so much fun to have around. I'm really sad to send her to preschool. I'm terrified it's going to ruin her.

 Porter I wrote about for his birthday.  He is doing soccer and piano this fall.  He loves being involved in stuff but I've found that he also needs to be able to run outside every day or he will have a major melt down.  He's either overly confident or incredibly hard on himself.  That's been my struggle with him is finding that balance.  My neighbor told me that Porter needs to do football because of his personality.  He'll smack talk anyone and he'll tackle anyone.  He's a tough little kid.  He knows how to pull at my heart strings.

 Olivia fell asleep coming home from the airport in this position.  She is Crazy!!

Logan, this boy does not let me take his picture.  This is the most recent one of him besides his first day of school.  He loves to read still! He's found a love for the Percy Jackson series and the Lost Hero series.  He's doing tennis this fall and piano.  He loves to find out facts and then try to quiz those around him.  He's very good at talking to adults and finding out things about them.  Sometimes I think he's an old soul, but then he'll go and be crazy with his friends.  I guess that's how oldest children are?!? He's really good at trying to keep the peace in our house.  He'll try to get everyone to be nice to each other, or to listen to me and Brandon.  He's a great big brother to his siblings.  They all just adore him. 
I feel very blessed with these little monkeys of mine!! Though some days are challenging I wouldn't trade it for the world!

First Day of School

Once again summer has ended much too quickly and the first day of school came and pounced on us.  We made a big summer "to do" list and we didn't even come close to finishing it.  So maybe by September we will be closer:)

On the first day of school Porter was up and dressed by the time I made it into their room to wake him and Logan up.  He was very excited to start 3rd grade.  His teacher is Mrs. Sawyer and I think it's going to be an awesome year for him.

Henry had to be in the pictures too.  I keep telling the older kids that they need to be nicer to each other because Henry is watching everything they do and copying them.

My handsome boys, man I love them!!

Logan was a little slower to move on the first day but once he fully woke up he was excited to get going.  His best friend ended up being in his class again this year and he was so excited about that.  His teacher is Miss Thompson and according to Logan she talks about her boyfriend a lot:/

All of my kids then wanted to take a picture together.  Olivia who is forever my poser had to stand just right and Henry had to see how many things he could hold:) His Teddy, Monkey and Blanket!! I love these kids!!!

For our back to school dinner we decided that this year all of our FHE's and efforts will be on Strengthening our family.  We called it Team Bishop! We just haven't been getting along as much as we would like to and so we are going to all try to make a conscious effort to be more patient, helpful, less angry, and fun to be around, so that we will want to be together forever.  The kids seemed excited about it and we all seem to be trying.  It's not perfect, but that's why we get a year to work on it.

Happy Birthday Porter-Man!!

 My Porter turned 8!! I tried to stop him from getting older but somehow it just keeps happening, and I don't like it.  We were at the beach in North Carolina for his birthday so he got to have some of his cousins, aunts, uncles and grandma there to celebrate with him.  That's one of the perks of having a Summer birthday:)

 So for his birthday I interviewed him to see what 8 year old Porter really likes. Here is what he said,

1. What is your favorite color? Blue, neon blue

 2. What is your favorite toy?  My Gilgrunt toy

 

3. What is your favorite fruit? All of them

4. What is your favorite tv show? Full House

 5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Mayo, cheese and pepperoni sandwich

 

 6. What is your favorite outfit? None, My Rock On Shirt!!

 7. What is your favorite game? Video Game

8. What is your favorite snack? Chips

9. What is your favorite animal? Penguin and Moa Bird

10. What is your favorite song? Moves Like Jaggar

11. What is your favorite book?  Fly Guy

12. Who is your best friend? Derickson Meng

13. What is your favorite cereal? Cinnamon toast Crunch

14. What is your favorite thing to do outside?  Shoot Hoops

15. What is your favorite drink?  Fanta Orange Soda and Root Beer

16. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas

17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? My Hippo, my Rhino and my Gilgrunt

18. What do you want to be when you grow up? Video Game Designer, movie theatre person

 

He is such a fun boy and I'm so glad he's mine.  To explain the mustaches I found them at the dollar store and thought they would be funny/fun for something and they turned out they were:)

It's Great to be 8!!!

 Porter was Baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints on August 3rd, 2013.  Despite the way some of these pictures look it really was a great day. Porter was super excited to be able to have his turn getting baptized, after seeing Logan and some of his friends do it, he was glad to finally do it as well.

 We had Grandma and Papa Bishop, Grandma Peterson and Nate and Jami and their kids all here for it. We had a lot of friends from our current ward and old ward come and some friends from Brandon's work. 

 Jami gave the talk on baptism and then Porter asked our primary president if she would be willing to give the Holy Ghost talk and she did.  I had 3 of my Young Women sing "I'm trying to be like Jesus" and it was just a really great day.  I feel bad that I didn't take any pictures of the decorations or anything like that because it all turned out really cute!

 So at the beginning of the Summer Porter told me he didn't think he wanted to get baptized.  He said he wasn't sure if it was the right thing to do.  I then told Porter that Heavenly Father wanted him to get baptized, but it was something that he needed to pray about and find out for himself if it was true, and what he thought he should do.  So had prayed about it, I prayed for him about it and a few days latter he came up to me and told me that he knew that he should get baptized.  I hugged him and told him that I knew it was the right thing for him to do too.

 

I love my little Porter! He is still a ball full of energy and just always wants to have a good time.  He is smart, fun and kind to those around him. He's an amazing brother and he loves being a brother!! I'm so grateful for all he does for our family and for the joy that he brings into our home. 

Kids and Popcorn

The other day I took my kids to go see planes the movie. I knew to survive the movie we'd need popcorn and drinks. We ate and drank and made it through the movie just fine. When we got back to the car my kids wanted me to take them to get lunch. I told them they just ate 2 buckets full of popcorn and that they should feel lucky to even get that. I explained that when I was a kid I was lucky to just go to the movie. They asked me, "so you never got pop corn???" I said nope!! Porter then said, "mom the way you talk you make it sound like your childhood was horrible!!" Oh the lessons I need to teach my children!!

Sunset Beach, NC 2013

Our family went to Sunset Beach this summer. All of siblings and mom met out there and stayed a week. It was so much fun!! 

We went to myrtle beach one of the days there. We rode a giant Ferris wheel. Logan and I did the sling shot ride. It was so scary!! Logan loved it, the kid is fearless. 

We spent a lot of our time at the beach. We boogie boarded and played in the sand a lot. On our first day at the beach we told our kids to stay close. To make sure they could always see us. After playing for awhile we couldn't find Porter. We started searching as the panic slowly started ebbing in. For about 15 minutes we searched. I was dying! All of my worst fears coming to mind. Brandon ended up finding him about a quarter mile down the beach. The waves had carried him down the beach. He was walking back towards us when Brandon found him. He saw Brandon and said, "hi dad! Mom's going to kill me huh?!?" I grabbed him and squeezed him and told him to never do that again!! 

We did cousin pictures on the beach. Each family had a color and then the birth order of the kids. It was really cute. We took pictures at our condo as well and this older couple came out and started taking pictures too. It was funny and creepy all at the same time. 

The boys went deep sea fishing one of the days there. They were able to catch shark and other fish. They said it wa fun!!

The beach was so much fun!! I wish we could have stayed longer. I love my family and how much fun we have when we're together.