Good night, sleep tight... and PLEASE just go to sleep, for REAL!!

So, remember my whiny post about daylight savings? Well, this isn't exactly a whine, but I feel I just have to share... From the day the sun started staying up later, it seems like we've not been able to get back on track and get our little people in bed at a decent hour. Are we the only ones who just can't seem to stick to a bed time?? It's almost comical.... but then, most of the time, it's not really.

8:00 is generally a lost cause these days -- the sun's still bright as noonday and they KNOW it!

8:30 comes and goes, is that a sunset? nope. not yet.

Then 9:00 comes and goes. Finally starting to get dark and look like bedtime.

Then sometimes it's closer to 10. Yes, bedtime. There it is, see? the sky is dark now. You can finally close your eyes, little people. Sleep. Dream... Really, sometimes even AFTER 10. If we've been hanging out with family, it's sometimes even 11ish. Yikes!

Not so much fun, when I'm the mom and I just DESPERATELY want them to GO. TO. SLEEP!!! 

Why? I sometimes ask myself. Why does it really matter whether they go to sleep at a decent hour? And then I remember the 5 p.m. ranting that happens when they've had a late night the night before. Or the late afternoon can't-be-stopped nap that perpetuates the whole cycle over and over. sigh. Yes, my people like their sleep. And *I* like my night-owl, on-my-own time, or my talk-with-Brian time, ya know?

Anyway, that's probably enough complaining from me on that score. I really do love them so much and really, once school's out (which is the end of this week, for us, since we're leaving on a trip this Friday), I think I won't stress so much about it so much... as long as I can enforce a mandatory 8 a.m. sleep-in time in the mornings, right? ;)

Well, I thought I'd put up some pictures of our bedtime routine at its end, as well as some videos of scripture time, if I can get them to load...

First up, look who lost a front tooth, right after we did final hugs and last drinks!! This was last week, and the other front tooth is out now as well. So exciting. I'll have to get pics of BOTH teeth gone, but she looks so cute with that one snaggle tooth, I think...

 And, of course, the camera's out so Nat climbs out of bed and says, "take my picture, too!!"

 And Spencer, too, of course...

Tonight during prayers, here's Spencer, being a banana boat. He ended up having to sit by dad because he was struggling to stay still for more than two seconds, as is often the case...

Um, is that the scriptures, Samantha?? No? Well, can you put it away, please, while we're reading scriptures, because it's probably pretty hard to concentrate on what we're studying in the scriptures while you're reading "Whatever After," eh?...

No, Natalie, you can't wear your sandals to bed. And no, Momma's not helping you put them on, because they don't belong in your bed. And no, you can't cry about it. Please??...

Dumb blogger! I tried to upload some cute vids from our scripture study tonight, but blogger still has a problem with me posting videos. Sorry! Just picture Brian helping Natalie read a verse from the Book of Mormon, two words at a time... slow going, but so cute. And then picture Spencer, trying to "trick" us by reading the first words of a verse that is NOT the one Dad is helping him with... and me finally getting frustrated and threatening to read his verse myself and not let him participate, if he won't read the right verse and stop laughing. Oh yeah. We're keeping it real around here, and documenting it with videos, even IF blogger doesn't cooperate!

Anyway, just out of curiousity, what's YOUR biggest struggle at bedtime? Anyone else out there a night owl? Anyone have some happy sleep solutions worth sharing?? Well, for now, I'm headed to bed... and tomorrow we'll do it all again, of course! 

A Mothering Moment

"Mom!! Come look, come look!!! We just built the most AMAZING 3-D PYRAMID... all out of cans!! It's AWESOME! You HAVE to come see this!"

Samantha came to my room, where I was getting ready for church last Sunday morning, just specially to tell me to go see their cool tower in our pantry. All three of them had worked together, and were sooo excited about it.

Unfortunately, this tower was built less than twelve hours after I had spent my ENTIRE Saturday evening organizing our pantry, rotating in our food storage items, putting every last can of tomatoes in the same column, every last bag of pasta in order, every last snack item on a special shelf, in a special order. 

Did the kids notice the pantry was clean and organized? 

     Well, it turns out that yes... yes they did.

Did they appreciate my handiwork?

     Well yes... yes they did.

Did they feel obliged to improve upon my efforts.

     Yes... yes they did. 

Ah, kids... (Sigh.)

ps. I did not yell OR cry. But I felt like doing both.

Finally, some pictures!

Yes, we DID get another camera... FINALLY! It's another Canon, another Elph, in fact. And it's red. Maybe we'll keep this one. :)

Anyway, so finally I can put up some new pictures for y'all. Only, we haven't done anything super noteworthy since getting the camera. So, instead you just get my random smattering of happenings from the last week or so, kay? Get ready...

First pic on the new camera, me fixing dinner while Samantha tells me about school. Typical.

Next pic, Samantha's new GLASSES! She's so cute!

Spencer on the hearth, during FHE, singing a song, I think?

Happy Birthday to Brian's Dad! 74 years old. He wanted a pie and ice cream party, his favorite...

Poor Spence. Sick day, with lots of toileting. He finally crashed out on the bathroom floor, poor sweet boy.

At the bird refuge by Lake Lowell...

"Bed fort" in the living room floor. Not my favorite game, honestly. But she looks cute and comfy...

Outfit number three this morning (of about eight different changes throughout the day, no joke!), Samantha's size 8 swimsuit...

The aftermath of the cute little snugly blanket fort Spence and Nat made. It actually resulted in a not-so-happy mom who had to remake all three beds!...

After the beds got made, my cute little "bugs" in a rug...

Those last ones were from today. So, now you're pretty caught up to all the uneventful happenings that are happening around here, I guess. And maybe we'll be using that camera to capture some more interesting stuff, sometime soon, eh?! Bye for now!

Things I sometimes want

I want a garden, in the back yard, in those fun containers like everyone is doing these days... with tomatoes and spinach and cabbage and zucchini (and I don't really care about corn, but don't tell Samantha or Brian. sshhh.)

I want longish, well manicured fingernails that don't flake off when they get a quarter of a millimeter long. And I want to never be enticed to bite off those flaky, weak edges again.

I want to have patience, for real. The kind of patience where I don't nervously look at the clock when we're running two seconds later than I wanted to; the kind where I stop yelling at my children to make them go faster when the yelling won't really help; the kind where I can wait to watch that scale come down without over-induldging ridiculously, just because I am not seeing immediate results!

I want to get my house really clean and really organized, and then KEEP it that way... especially that endless pile of papers on the phone counter. hmm.

I want to be more neighborly. What do I even know about my neighbors' lives? I went to our neighbor's daughter's wedding reception this weekend, and felt... well, I just felt like I know next to nothing about them. And they're nice, good people, -- the kind of people I should know and care about, ya know? I want to get to know them, and all my other neighbors, too.

I want be able to play the piano better. I accompanied a women's choir for our Stake Conference meeting this weekend. It was really a great experience, and I even got to play with several violinists and a flutist, sounded super fancy. But did you know, I probably played those two new pieces 100 times + EACH! I mean, I probably put in more than 30 hours of practice to be able to do an okay job. I'm just not a very accomplished accompanist. But I want to be.

I want to write more. On the blog, in my journal, on my various story ideas, etc. I used to think writing was one of my talents. And then it was more of an outlet/hobby. And now it's almost an inconvenience. But I miss it. And I want to reverse the trend and make it more of an outlet again.

I want to be able to wear pierced earrings. That's one I won't ever get, I'm afraid. But it's something I want, especially since Dalana just gave me the cutest red necklace and earrings set. Oh well, dumb pudgy lobes of mine.

I want to be a morning person. I can't believe I'm saying that, because the part of me that is NOT a morning person really does NOT believe I should ever even THINK such a thing. But that part of me that enjoys getting stuff done thinks it would be sooo nice to have long, leisurely mornings for getting things done, organizing my day, etc. (And yes, I've tried to be a morning person before. But 30-something years of night-owl habits don't leave easily.)

I want a window over my kitchen sink. That's a silly one, because my sink is in the breakfast bar island... window wouldn't work so well there. But someday...

I want to do menu planning, and then, once I've selected all my meals, I want them all to sound delectable to me on the days I've designated to make them. (Why does Papa Murphy's always sound better than tortellini soup?)

I want to clothes shop without my children. I take them with me all the time, and then I get frazzled and stressed and make unwise shopping decisions. But it's sooo nice to shop without them, even when I'm shopping FOR them. Make sense??

I want Natalie to stop playing in the water, stop spilling a cup every two hours, stop filling up with water from the fridge and leaving full cups all over our house in odd places, stop changing her outfit every two hours because she's soaked herself while "washing hands."

I want to remember how my kids' voices sound at this age and stage. When they're not busy being too crazy, they each have the sweetest, most innocent voice. I'm afraid I'll forget, as I've already forgotten how they USED to sound.

I want flowers in our front yard... hyacinths, tulips, daffodils, hydrangeas, geraniums, etc. I'm the person with 10 boxes of bulbs I MEANT to plant last fall, envying every neighbor who has bright cheery blooms popping up right now!

I want to read a good book, just for fun. The kind of book that makes me feel better, happier, lighter. Still looking, and still not finding.



I think that's the list, for right now. I think I can HAVE some of those things I want, with a little elbow grease and effort, don't you? :) What about you, what's on YOUR list of Things you sometimes want??

Something New

Yes, this is new, but nothing oh so new to report. I was just tired of that same dumb post at the top of my blog. So, here I am again.

I have sooo much catching up to do here.
I wonder, is it even worth it??

Our camera broke more than a month ago. So, I've been taking pics with my handy dandy smart phone. But of course, I'm inept enough with it that half of them are blurry, and I don't know how to blog from my phone yet. (I don't even know how to keep my phone charged, with me, and full of minutes -- as most of you already know! ha) Anyway, it's a learning curve, right? So... no pictures yet, sadly.

It's been a wonderful, memorable, busy month -- the whole month of March, that is. I really hoped to blog about these things, in full. But my enthusiasm is waning, so this may be all they get. If I figure out how to add the pics from the ipad or the phone, I'll put some under each of these little recaps. But for now, at least you have another monthly update from me. Here's March:

-- Oregon Coast trip: a wonderful week with my mom and her sisters at their annual "Sisters Trip". No kids. For five whole days! Amazing food, perfect views from our ocean-view hot tub on the back deck, and so much fun just visiting and catching up with some of my favorite ladies in the world. Oh how I miss hearing those waves. Our place was just 29 steps down to the sand. I was the only one crazy enough to actually venture into the water for five seconds, in my suit. Brrr! As we all know, Oregon Ocean is better just for looking, especially in March!

Here's our gang, minus Aunt DeeAnn, who was taking our pic...


Our view from the back deck of our place, 29 steps to the sand. It was kinda rainy the first couple of days, but it cleared off later and was gorgeous the last two days...


Aunt Kathy, holding a hermit crab from one of the tide pools we were exploring. She was the only one brave enough. But even SHE screamed and dropped him when he started crawling out onto her fingers.


-- Grandma Eva's 90th Birthday Party. As in NINETIETH BIRTHDAY!! Can you believe!?!? So much fun to see her sweet face light up as she visited with 130+ friends and family who came to celebrate her special day. Oh how I love my wonderful, adorable Grandma Eva. I loved being part of her celebration, and learned so much about her, just from listening to other family members and friends share special memories about her. I played a piano medley of hymns for her, the great grandkids sang "Yes, Jesus Loves Me," and all the sons and grandsons shared memories.

\

-- Lava Hot Springs Boston Reunion. Talk about an amazing weekend of being reunited with some of the most wonderful people of my life. (And talk about gaining five pounds at every scrumptious meal!!) My oh my, what a great trip! You'll have to look at Alicia's blog for the full recap (and don't look too closely at that pic of me in my jammies, please!). She and Jeni got all the pics, of course. There were eight of us who all lived in Boston at the same time together, almost a decade ago. We reunited from Washington, Utah, Arizona, and Idaho... bringing along 12 kids, and Rex. It really was a perfect break.




-- Spring Break and Easter. After our on-the-go month, we decided to stay home for Spring Break this year. (We were tempted to stuff the kids in the car and drive to Disneyland, do you blame us? didn't happen. darn.) Highlights included some spring shopping at our favorite thrift stores, some spring cleaning (including window washing!), a trip to a fun place called "Jump Time" -- the kids are begging to go again almost every day, and a camping trip to the sand dunes. Yes, it was actually warm enough to camp (if 70 high/42low sounds warm enough). We had a great time jumping and playing on the dunes, and once it was dark, it was probably the best star-gazing night I've seen in YEARS. Fun! For Easter, we had all our Bishop family over for a big dinner in the afternoon. The Easter Bunny found us, and the kids got in on a fun egg hunt at Grandpa and Grandma Bishop's, as well as a hunt with people from our ward. We are still eating candy and vacuuming Easter grass.

-- Grumpy Kamber. Less noteworthy than these other festive occasions is the fact that I had several very unhappy days in a row near the end of March. I cried and felt irrational. I yelled at kids and glared at husband for no reason. I nit-picked most ridiculously about most everything that I don't appreciate about my life. It was yucky. I even thought I might be pregnant. (Nope.) But luckily, I came through and am back on top again. Not sure what that was all about, really. Maybe lack of sleep? Maybe coming down from the high of all those fun times with friends and family?? Well, anyway, on one of those days, I was on the phone with my friend Ruth, in London. She has some really hard days, tough family situations, lots of drama and trauma in her life. Well, I felt dumb even whining to her about my emotional state, because, really, my life is good, right? But because we're friends, I whined away and told her all about how I had a sobbing, crying, yelling fit right before church because Samantha couldn't find her shoes. (True story!) Before long, both of us were laughing hysterically about it, and about all the other less-admirable moments from my (and her) recent grumpy state. She told me, "it helps sometimes, just to hear that other people who seem to have it all together actually DO have bad days. It makes us all feel a little more human, I guess." Well then, I share my grumpiness openly. Right along side all those fantastic memory makers up top. Life has its ups and downs. I'm grateful for both. But more especially for the "ups" and for the people in my life who keep me "up!"

ps. I just have to brag... I got up at 5AM today (first time in a couple of years or so) to go do a water aerobics class at the gym with a friend. Can you believe?! Then I came home and burned another 360 calories on the cross trainer. And yes, I napped later. But still. This is worth celebrating, for a non-morning-person who doesn't love exercise. :) Thumbs up for me!

Daylight Savings, and a comparison

Samantha told me on Sunday night that she'd really like to ride the bus to school. She asked if I could please, please wake her up that extra half hour early so she could ride, instead of having me take her 45 minutes later. I smiled and agreed, but inside I was groaning. Why? Well, I have two words: daylight savings.

Bleah. I don't mind the longer evenings -- in fact, I really appreciate them, once I get used to the whole change over. But the earlier mornings just about do me in for the first few days of daylight savings. Seriously, I feel like I've really been ROBBED of that extra hour, CHEATED! Like my precious time has just been RIPPED from me -- and more especially, from my little ones. Ug. (The reverse is true when we we switch back to standard time in the fall... I feel as though I've been handed a GIFT of one extra hour. But really, I'm just reclaiming what is taken away from me each spring, you see.)

So, there's my daylight savings rant. But that's not really what I was going to write about, believe it or not. Actually, I was going to say, I woke up a little groggy yesterday morning, but I went through the motions of putting the day together. I got Samantha off to school, got Spencer off to preschool, did some laundry and dishes, read some scriptures, exercised, had the kids do their piano lessons, and we went to an open house for a charter school we're considering sending the kids to next fall. In the evening I got a quick dinner, prepared and executed a great family home evening lesson where we made a new star chart for the kids, all together, and even fixed a fun little dessert treat for the kids. Bedtime came and I stayed calm and patient even though the kids didn't settle until nearly 10 (dumb daylight savings, you know?). By the time I crawled into bed, after more scripture study and facebook time, I was feeling pretty good about my day. It wasn't my best-ever day, but I had a good attitude and things got done like I wanted them. Not bad, Kam. I even wrote in my journal before bed. (It's been awhile, believe me!)

And then...
Three-o'clock in the morning, I came fully awake to the sound of Samantha standing outside our door saying, "Mom! I'm throwing up!" And yes, she did. It was awful. Poor thing. And poor me, for all the yucky clean-up. It took awhile, but we got her settled on the floor in our room with a towel and a bowl close by. Ug. Back to sleep, eventually. Within just a few minutes, there was Spencer at our door. Just scared, had a bad dream, needed a quick cuddle and tuck-in so he could get back to sleep. Then I tried to get back to sleep too, again. Eventually. Less than an hour later, poor Samantha threw up again. Then Spencer came in again. Then well, it was technically morning, because dumb daylight savings said it was 7 something, but it still felt like 6 something, and there was Natalie, up for the day and ready to stomp all over Samantha on our floor before climbing on our bed. And the day officially started.

Can I just tell you...yesterday was definitely better. I slogged through the morning, griping at the kids and taking my time forgiving sweet Nat for waking me up so early after not so much sleep. And Samantha was home and a little stir-crazy all day, which threw off my plans for going shopping. And, I never really got myself ready for the day very good. And I gave up on dinner and got Papa Murphy's. And I only got up enough energy to vacuum and get the house in order after the kids were in bed tonight (and Natalie was screaming, for at least 20 minutes while I vacuumed at 9:30 p.m. dumb daylight savings.) Well, people! Here's what I have to say about all this: sleep makes a big difference in my life. When I get it, life is better. When I don't, I have a harder time with just about everything.

I've known this before. And many of you have known this about me, I know. But really, I was thinking about a bigger picture today, as I compared my efforts of today to my efforts of yesterday... Wow! There are LOTS of little things that contribute to how a day turns out -- sleep being just ONE small factor that makes a BIG difference. And most of the time, those ducks are in a row for me, and I have lots of good days where I don't even realize how good I have it. One little night of sleep deprivation, and I'm reminded that I'm very blessed to take A LOT of things for granted in my life. And I'm trying to stay grateful for those things I don't even KNOW I'm taking for granted, if that makes sense? -- like a good night's sleep. It's really such a blessing!

Anyway, that's as deep as I'm going with this tonight. I've got a bed to get into, and who knows if tonight will be another less-predictable one. Either way, I know daylight savings means morning comes early, yet again. I will not complain about it anymore, kay? ;)

Back-Blogging: She Turned Seven

Happy Birthday, Dear Samantha!
Yes, yes it was clear back in December. I know, I'm so very late getting things posted. But I want to at least get my kids' landmarks on here, so they know how much fun we have, celebrating their birthdays.

 Here's our brand new seven-year-old, parked in front of her stack of birthday presents, first thing in the morning. She was super excited and loved all the attention.

 We brought cupcakes to school for her class, and had a little party with some girls in our neighborhood after school. She called it a "fairies and butterflies" party, so we strung fairy candy necklaces, decorated wooden fairy and butterfly cut-out pieces, and also decorated individual cupcakes (which were GOBBED with candy, as you can imagine!)...

 We had a pinata...

And no one even got hurt, thank goodness! Candy, candy everywhere!

 The whole gang, eating cake and ice cream...

 Playing a fairy dance game, or something...

That night, Samantha told me, "That was the BEST day of my WHOLE LIFE!" Wow. And it only got BETTER... she got TWO parties this year!

On Sunday, we celebrated with Grandma and Grandpa Bishop, and with Ella, who was turning 11 the following week. Samantha had requested a "doll/dress" cake, so together she and I made one for her family party...

 It turned out pretty cute, if you ask me. It was just a bundt cake, with a doll stuck in a baby bagel, and gobbed up with tons of frosting and sprinkles. And it tasted delicious!!

Opening presents at Grandma and Grandpa's... Natalie loved the super big gift bag ...

The two birthday girls...

We sure love Samantha!

She is a very bright, lively, enthusiastic, sweet girl. She loves to make projects, cards, and crafts of any kind. She almost always has paper, scissors and crayons out, and also gets into markers, tape and glue (which she's supposed to ask for, because of that little Nat who gets into those things and makes messes.) She also loves reading and has torn through several books this winter -- "The Littles Chrismas," "The Amazing Clementine," "Junie B. Jones" (until we got tired of sassy Junie), "Little House on the Prairie," "The Indian in the Cupboard," "High School Musical"... to name a few.

Samantha has a lovely singing voice and had the opportunity to sing for audiences lately, which has been a great way to build her confidence and help her develop this talent. Most recently, she sang a solo at her cousin, Seth's, baptism, "If the Savior Stood Beside Me." It was beautiful.

Samantha really loves to do what is right, and recognizes when she is making right choices. She tells me, "I just get such a good feeling inside when I know I'm doing something right." I love watching her learn and grow. She is great at setting goals, and is such a good helper at home. She likes to make forts and clubhouses for Spencer and Natalie, and loves playing hide-and-seek and riding her bike with friends and with Spencer.

So far, we have love, love, loved having this sweet seven-year-old at our house! Happy Birthday, Samantha! (Even if your blog post is a couple of months late!)

Back-Blogging: Road Trip Finale-- St. George to Idaho

 Hello. I know you thought the day would never come. But here it is. The day I blog about the last our our road trip from last October. Just to remind you, on my last update, we left off watching the sun set over the majestic mountains of Zion National Park...

From there, we started what we like to call our "family time." We stayed the night in St. George, with my Aunt DeeAnn at the Phelps group's vacation house. It was lovely. I'd heard rumors of how nice and relaxing their place is, and all those rumors are true. Sadly, I didn't go around photographing the house, or the pool and hot tub, or the bed linens. But trust me, they were all top notch!

We got to play with my cousin Reni's kids, who were staying with their Grandma Dee... Here's Taylor, who was quite the conversationalist at dinner (just ask Brian, who got an earful!)...

Halle, who really thought there was a competition with Natalie to see who could be the cutest two-year-old redhead...

And Brecken. We've known and loved Brecken since their family lived in Boise back in 2008-09. She and Samantha reconnected as BFFs. :)

And off we rushed the next morning, on our way to Lehi for some Bishop family time. Oh yes we DID see these fun little road signs for a couple hundred miles!

(and guess who decided to STILL go 75? ;)

We had a great little family reunion at Brent and Jenalyn's house that night, with all the siblings and family that lives in Utah. (Brian has four sibs down there now!) A hayride! So much fun!! 

 Ashton and Samantha -- another reconnection as BFFs! They're just four months apart, and, in my opinion they kinda look (and act) like they could be sisters. Cuties...

 Janice bought pumpkins for each of the kids, and provided fun googly eyes and wires to decorate their pumpkins like spiders. It was a hit!

 Here's one of the gals of the house, after dinner...

The hard part about all our time with family was that it just went toooo fast! We were eager to get home, of course, but we wish we could have spent a few more days visiting around with everyone in Utah, instead of having to rush off and stick to our schedule. Oh well... fun memories, for sure!

Next stop, Blackfoot -- home of Idaho's World Famous Potato Expo. I promise, sometime I will post a photo of that special exhibit. But for now, here's my photo of our Blackfoot trip. It's the Hones.... all 26 of us!

It was a fun reunion, let me tell you! Good food, great company, and an awesome new addition to the Honestead -- my parents just finished remodeling, adding a nice master suite and closet, and extending their guestroom by several feet. Very snazzy! This picture was taken in their new bedroom, in front of the fireplace. The little kids were sitting up on the mantle of the fireplace.

And then, the moment we had been waiting for... home again, home again, finally home. We made it! And I can't find the fun pics we took of our "Welcome Home" banner on the garage doors. Hmm... must be on the iPad. Mark and Dalana's family put up signs and came right over to help us unpack. 

And now, here were are, five months later. Phew! I'm glad I finally got this one covered. Now maybe I should resume blogging some more recent stuff, eh?