Little Nudges in the Right Direction

Merry Christmas From The Bishop Family


I'm sitting here at the computer, reading blogs while the little ones sleep, a little late might I add, when the little being in my tummy started nudging me. A lot. And so I've decided maybe it's the nudge of "why don't you update the blog already?" And here I am. You can all thank the baby in a few months. :)

Christmas is coming. I am mostly ready. I've been thinking a lot lately, seeing as how my belly is growing, about things I love and hate about pregnancy. But mostly, I've been reading a lot about belly bands and I think I've decided I need to try these things out. So if you see my husband, could you let him know that for Christmas I would like one? You can find them at Target! :) I would like white. ;)

Aftyn is growing up a lot lately! Maybe it's because we're requiring of her to act a little more grown up, but she is saying more words, speaking and not just repeating us in more and more things and just acting so very grown up! She is going to be 19 months tomorrow, but it seems so quick for her to be acting so mature. I like it and it makes me a little sad. All at the same time.

Reed is working as hard as ever, still fixing and putting in scales. He and I both got new callings this past month. He will no longer be the ward mission leader, he is now the 2nd counselor in the Sunday School Presidency. This means no more evenings during the week gone, no more early morning Sunday meetings. We sure get to see a whole lot more of him, and we're not used to it but we like it!
My new calling is to be a CTR 8 teacher - is that right? Anyway, all I know is I teach 8 year old boys and girls and a lot of the boys I know from my old calling in scouts! That's kinda nice since I felt a little sad about leaving scouts. I am really excited to have a Sunday calling as this will fit better with my life right now.
I promise to have some fun postings coming up, I've just been feeling kind of blah lately. My mindset has been, "Christmas is coming too fast, Christmas is coming too slow, it doesn't feel like Christmas," and round and round. I blame it on hormones.

Either way, I am feeling more prepared now and so I am excited for Christmas. Excited to get to spend lots of time with family and making memories with them and excited to watch Aftyn this year enjoy Christmas a little bit more than last year. I'm most of all excited to spend Christmas morning with my own little family, feeling loved and loving them and finding out what our future holds (pink or blue? ? ?).

May you all have a Merry Christmas!

Pearls of Wisdom From A Cub Scout

As we were walking outside in a group of 5 eight year old scouts with me pushing Aftyn in a stroller,

one of the boys shouted out, "somebody tooted"

which of course was followed by a volley of "not me!".

One of the boys walking by me turned and shared this little pearl with me.

"When you toot outside, then nobody can smell it."

The things I learn from 8 year old boys.

Moments From Last Week

Sweet rosy cheeks

My craft project for last week - made these 4 stockings out of 1 sweater from the DI.

I'm Reaching . . . But I Can't Quite Get It!

Dear World,

Christmas is coming. Faster than I want and slower than I want.

We get to see the baby on the 23rd for our "big" ultrasound.

But we are REALLY waiting until Christmas to find out
if we're right with our gender predictions this time around.

I'm going to laugh my head off if we're wrong AGAIN !

(We'll just have our hopefully helpful ultrasound tech write down what we're having and slip it into a VERY thick envelope that will be opened on Christmas morning.)

That's kind of on my mind a lot.

That and my growing belly.

Oh yeah, and the big/little girl who is a little oblivious to what's going on with Mommy.

She is growing and changing and is so much fun.

All these things and a WHOLE lot more seem to be taking up too much of my time.

And I feel like my life is too boring to be interesting to people who want to read something newsy

on our blog.

Here's my big news: I've got nothing.

We're doing well,

we're having fun,

we're really excited for Christmas,

we're living life

and trying to enjoy ourselves where it seems appropriate.

And we're thanking our Heavenly Father for each minute of our

somewhat boring,

sometimes exciting,

always full of blessings

life.

A Creative Idea Comes To Fruition

I've been thinking about this project for a few weeks.

Ever since the creation of Aftyn sized sweaters, I wanted something for them to go with.

I imagined up this cute and flouncy grey skirt.

I looked in lots of stores, but never found what I wanted.

Today I just decided to go for it.

I looked online for patterns, but found NOTHING.

So I made up my own pattern and created this:

Gotta say, it turned out just how I wanted

but going into it I didn't have 100% faith that I could pull it off.

Glad to know I CAN create something purely out of the imaginings of my mind.

Post Edit:

I was going to write up a tutorial on how to do this.

I didn't get very far and it was getting very complicated.

If you want to sew something cute LIKE the skirt I just made,

click on a super cute tutorial here .

Aftyn Wants To Be A Helper

Aftyn has picked up a new skill and word lately, all taught with the help of her Daddy.

She is a "helper".

Several times a day, should you drop something or need something picked up,

Miss Aftyn drops everything she's doing,

toddles over saying "helper" or "help you",

and picks up your needed item with a big smile on her face.

It is so cute, and even cuter because of the big smile she has afterward.

Last night after helping unload the bottom part of the dishwasher,

Reed decided to utilize Aftyn in loading the silverware back into the dishwasher.

Here are some pictures of it all:

Daddy? Daddy, I'm ready!

Okay Aftyn, go put these over there

*pointing finger*

Yay!


I'm a helper!


It went on until it was almost completely loaded,
and Aftyn was starting to lick the silverware before she loaded it.
Yuck. :) But funny!

Weird Things At The Grocery Store

Anybody else ever notice the birds that fly around inside WinCo Foods?

They freak me out and fly so quickly that I think maybe it's just my imagination,

until I see another one out of the corner of my eye.

Can it be a good idea having birds fly around fresh produce?

In case you have never seen them, they are generally ONLY in the produce section.

This has been deep thoughts on Monday Morning.

Tune in next time to that popular question:

why DOES my husband leave almost empty

jars of jam in the back of the fridge?