Dec 25, 2010

Happy Birthday!

Not the blog post you expected today, was it! We have of course been taking a ton of video and pictures over the past week. As you can imagine, I can not immediately locate the camera in the mess that is our home! We had an amazing trip to Virginia and saw EVERYONE there! We've been resting at home, and opening more Christmas presents than you can imagine for three people! Off to Kalamazoo tomorrow for one more round, then back to work on Monday (boooo).

I will locate the camera and put pics and videos up as soon as I can! But, back to business, on this December 25, 2010.....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY! To: my Grandmother, Brian's Grandma Betty, and our dear niece Meghan ALL of which have birthdays today! We love you all!

Dec 18, 2010

Line to get into the parking lot...sigh

Dec 16, 2010

Ben is 2!!!



On Tuesday, December 14th, Benjamin Bishop (aka: Major League Bishop) turned 2 years old! Unbelievable! He had an amazing birthday! He did have to go to the babysitter for a little bit while Mom went to work. While he was there, he got cupcakes and all his friends sang to him! When we got home, we made dinner and waited for Daddy to get home. As soon as Daddy got home, Grandma and Grandpa Bishop called to sing to Ben! He loved it! Of course I was a little late with the video camera but was able to catch the very end. He still only talks to phones that don't talk back.
Today we had Ben's 2 year check up. He is healthy as can be! Weight: 32lbs 5oz. Length: 37.5inches. "Well above the 95%" according to his doctor. He was a good boy until they had to take some blood. That took Mommy and 2 nurses to hold him down during that.

On the way to the doctor, we decided to stop by the Jiffy Lube to get a couple things taken care of for the car prior to our big drive south. While we there, an old man walked in with a cane. As he got closer, even my heart skipped a beat. It was Santa! I swear it! He wasn't wearing his red suit, but it was him! Ben even called him Santa! This man was so nice! He talked to Ben, got his list, told him he'd been nice and was going to get all he wanted! Then Santa looked at me and said "Benjamin's getting a little sister, too, huh?!" I am only 14 weeks pregnant and was wearing a coat! It was magic! I told him, I was expecting but there was no way of knowing if it were a boy or a girl yet. He smiled and said "it's a girl!" We shall see! He was so nice and Ben was just drawn to him. I wish I had gotten a picture!

We're off tomorrow for Virginia! Can't wait to see the family in the south! We plan on getting them all in there in the next week. Should be crazy fun. Time to go pack more!

Dec 12, 2010

Blizzard 2010

We had a fun weekend in Madison, WI. We thought it would be nice to go see some old friends up there. We knew it was going to snow. "They" were predicting 6-8 inches Saturday night into Sunday morning. We weren't worried. We thought it would clear by the time we wanted to leave. Once we arrived in Madison, our dear friends, Andy and Corrie Dufresne informed us that a blizzard was coming! What could we do? We were already there! So, we settled in. Ben had a ball with their two boys. Zach will be 3 in a couple weeks, and Adam is 14months. SO CUTE!

Saturday they played inside. As we awoke on Sunday, the winds were howling, the snow was blowing! It was pretty crazy outside! I've heard differing reports as to how much snow we got. Some say 13inches. It's hard to tell with all the drifting! The guys across the street had a drift that was chest high on the man who lived there!

So, you wake up in Madison, WI to a blizzard, what do you do next? You make sleds out of cardboard boxes, and as Andy's snow-blowing the driveway you sled down it! Ben, of course, LOVED it! Adam was all about it! Zach was with me in the garage. He loved the sledding, but continued to say "it's cold!" Smart kid! It was so much fun! I did manage to go down once and that was enough for me as I only had my sneakers on!

After warming up a bit we headed home. They actually had the highways pretty clear. It was windy, it took us a little longer, but overall not terrible.

Now we're resting and getting ready for our week which includes Ben's 2nd birthday!!!! And driving to Richmond, VA!!!

Dec 5, 2010

First Big Snowfall!



Ben and Daddy built a snowman!














He LOVED the snow!






















You can see the snowball Daddy was throwing at Ben in midair. It was funny until Dad hit him smack in the face with one. Ben handled Daddy's lack of precision (or so he says) very well!




Yes, we got our first significant snow fall yesterday! About 5 inches by the time it was all done. Very pretty to watch and fun to play in! Good packing snow! Ben got his new snow suit on and dug right in, of course! We expected no different from him!

Dec 2, 2010

Thanksgiving in Michigan












We had a busy Thanksgiving weekend in Michigan. To summarize:


Thursday: see previous post.





Friday: got up, drove to the cottage, approximately 3.5hours. Started cooking. Sisters arrived with nieces and nephews! Ben gets to have a little birthday party (a little early) with his cousins present. He got lots of presents! Blew out the candles on his Cars birthday cake! A dug in!











Saturday: more family come for the Huling Thanksgiving! Lots of craziness! Lots of food! A good time!







Sunday: the wind calmed down enough (until then, too windy to leave to the house, let alone go to the beach) for us to go for a little walk on the beach. Ben was a trooper and had to walk the whole time!



We left early afternoon and found a Christmas tree farm in Montague, Michigan where Brian sawed our Christmas tree from the ground himself!! Ben loved it! He was tired by then but got right in there and tried to help. We strapped it to the top of the SUV and headed back to IL. Ben has been enthralled by the tree in the living room and continually tries to decorate it with various things he finds from around the house!







Hailey Slideshow

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