Christmas crazies, medical mayhem, wisdom teeth worries, family fun functions

I thought I would do a 12 days... well actually 21 days of Christmas crazies re-cap.

December 4th: Amanda spent a total of 3 1/2 hours in the dental chair. Amanda ran Eliza and Thomas first to Granny Skidmore for an hour and then to Aunt Janette for 2 1/2 hours after lunch. Amanda had 3 fillings that required adjusting the next week. We had 1 1/2 hours of piano lessons that night.

December 6th: Amanda grocery shopped (spent $300 and only dropped one jar of molasses in the parking lot). Amanda had a baby shower luncheon at 11 a.m. and then had a luncheon for her sister-in-laws at 1 p.m. Scott was in McCall Id. on business for two days. Amanda prepares a dinner, picks up the babysitter and takes dessert to a Christmas party.

Scott just getting back from

McCall. He had to snuggle

with Gideon and nephew

David.

December 7th: Amanda took Thomas into Dr. Miller at 11 a.m. Dr. Miller assessed Thomas and found that he had a low grade fever and a heart rate of 220 beats per minute. He sends Thomas to the emergency room 25 minutes away. We spent the next 5 hours in E.R. with Eliza, Thomas, Gideon, and Isaac. After blood draws, I.V.'s, E.K.G's, X-Rays, Cardial tests, and a $3068.oo bill the staff had an inconclusive but positive answer. We managed to miss Scott's work party in the meantime and stand up the babysitter.

December 10th: Micah and Amanda drive to an outpatient surgical center at 6 a.m. Micah has surgery and comes home several hours later. Grandma Stevens dressed, fed and got the other kids to school. Micah was a trooper and didn't complain once. The entire staff said he was the most mature, polite child patient they had ever had.

December 11th: Amanda participated in a Relief Society Christmas dinner and program.

We have a tiny baby Jesus to hold and love.

I remember this day exactly 6 years ago when

I went into early labor with Isaac. I felt like maybe

I could relate to some of the emotions Mary had

experienced. Isaac was my little Christmas baby

because he was due on Dec. 25th.

December 12th: Happy Birthday Isaac!!!! Isaac got to have two fillings done at the dentist at 8 a.m. for his 6th birthday present. Kyle had a dental app. following Isaac. Isaac's face was so numb we decided to play Hooke for the rest of the day and go for a smoothie. He was so brave and didn't move an inch the whole time he was being worked on. Amanda wasn't loving getting all 7 kids out the door by 7:30 a.m. We did have a play date all afternoon with his best friend and cousin Nathan and then a big family party afterwards.

December 13th: We roosted all of the children again and got Danielle to her 8 a.m. dentist appointment. She asked Isaac prior if he had cried from the shot in the mouth. She promptly decided she could be just as tough as Isaac and shed no tears either. At least we went for another Jack in the Box sunshine smoothie again afterwards. She was pleased with her puffy faced war wounds and trotted off to class. Amanda ran home and whipped out coconut macaroons, butterscotch cream cheese bars, and round snowball cookies. At 1 p.m. I met with my sister -in-law's and we put together over 40 goodies plates to pass out to our neighbors. We had quite the variety. That night Amanda, Janette, and Lori Stevens went to a recipe exchange party with 5o recipe copies of our homemade dessert.

December 14th: This day Amanda spent babysitting sweet nieces. We then met Dad at the church Christmas party bearing cheesecakes. Dad so far has worked every night until at least 8:30 p.m. trying to tie up end of the year client needs and paying for a few too many medical bills.

December 15th: Scott worked until 10 P.M. That makes for a bummer Saturday!

December 16th: All children need a good shiner once in a while just to make their school teachers a little nervous. Isaac managed to have a run in with a Dr. Seuss book thanks to his little sister. That wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't his second black eye in a week in a half. His little sister Eliza unfortunately takes the credit for both.

December 17th: The dentist office was getting a little lonely for us so we made yet another appearance at 9 a.m. It would have been an 8 a.m. except we just couldn't get out the door again. Sometimes you cannot time a hungry newborn. We had a FHE and dinner plan at our house that night but had to cancel because Scott worked until midnight.

December 18th: Another exciting day at the dentist office. After dropping Eliza, Thomas, and for the first time ever Gideon at Tami Cahoon's house; Amanda went into the dentist. This time it was more exciting: extracting Wisdom Teeth. The skilled dentist was great. He had the top teeth out in no time but refused to remove the bottom. The roots had grown a hook around the main nerve line in the jaw. That would have made for an interesting smile. I cannot say I was disappointed to have to wait for anesthesia and an oral surgeon.

December 19th: Who says you can get too much of a good thing. Today Isaac and Danielle had their last fillings done at the dentist office. Hooray!!! Micah had a play date with a friend from church. We made cookies and sewed Christmas Eye Spy pillows together. Scott got off work early that night 8:30. Amanda decided to sneak away with her dad Cornell Skidmore to Circuit City. Cornell had been researching for a month to find the best deal on a big flat screen T.V. When we talked with the children about what to get their dad for Christmas, they came up with the ultimate idea. They helped mom clean cords and take pictures of their prized Wii Nintendo. Amanda listed the Wii on Ebay and ended up selling it for over $500 dollars. Standing in line for almost two hours to get it shipped to Canada in time for Christmas was a bit of a labor of love, but worth it. We got a killer deal on a very large 65 inch Mitsubishi flat screen HGTV. We were able to purchase it online for an extra 10% off and then they threw in a Playstation 3 and $120 dollars in in store credit to purchase remotes, and 5 blue ray movies. Three years ago when we designed our home Scott spent countless nights wiring the home and then designing the perfect entertainment center to fit that exact size T.V. He got his wish.

December 20th: Micah went to the doctor today and got a perfect post-operative bill of health. He was very glad. It was humorous; the power was out due to snow, so the doctor met us in a dark patient room. Amanda went to her 6 week doctor's visit directly after that. Micah was awesome he held Gideon in the waiting room for over an hour waiting. Our three oldest children had their first piano recital. They seemed to enjoy showing the music they had practised and performed well.



December 21st: Today all four kids had a half day at school. Amanda stayed up until 2 A.M. the night before making treats for all the teachers and bus drivers. The kids all had gift exchanges and parties in class. I helped with all of their needs and took a deep breath when they were on the bus and off to school. Amanda made a big dinner that night. We were excited to have Scott's brother Greg home from school and so planned a big game night. We had 20 people over for a fun night. Our nephew's spent the night. It was a blast for all our children. We did find Kyle and Sam watching Nacho Libre at 2 A.M. (naughty boys).



December 22nd: Scott was officially done with the end of the year push with work. After a large pancake breakfast and saying goodbye to cousins the boys were off. They went to a golf course for a couple of hours and enjoyed being with their dad. We got a babysitter and headed to the Melting Pot for dinner. We went with 4 other couples. It was so much fun to be out together. The dinner took 3 hours. It started to snow that night. Who says you can't have magical moments! Scott and I then went grocery shopping and to Target. We were finally completely armed for Christmas. While we were out our entire family came with friends and watched the BYU bowl game on our new T.V.



December 24th: Christmas Eve was a really special evening at our home. We spent the entire day in preparations for the evening events. Amanda was head chef with Kyle as assistant. He peeled 29 potatoes to be exact. We made banana crush, turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, rolls, winter salad w/poppy seed dressing, jello, gravy, and ice-cream pie with brownies. The rest of the family helped with chores. We even used fine china for the first time. All of our children prepared music for our program. Kyle played two pieces on the piano. Danielle sang twice and played the piano. Micah played the piano and sung with Danielle. Isaac and Eliza both sang solo's. Scott and Amanda sang a duet (pretty brave-we hid the rotten tomatoes). We had 4 other musical numbers by extended family. We read the Nativity story and reflected on our Savior and blessings.

Candlelight dinner at it's finest!The children even got a special table!Singing gives such a beautiful feeling to the heart.Gregory Stevens and Camera sing Mary's Lullaby.Jim and Lori Stevens serenade us with Silver Bells.Danielle played her best Away in a Manger!Scott helped baby Gideon open a present.Grandma Stevens made soft blankets for all the children!

December 25th: Merry Christmas!!! Somehow Scott managed to hold off the kids from the presents till 8:30 a.m.. I was grateful based on the lack of sleep. We were impressed with Santa's kindness. He brought each child one special present. Mom and Dad provided the boring stuff: socks, shoes, book, and a couple clothing essentials. We had cinnamon rolls at Levi and Amber Skidmores early. We opened presents with them. Then we went to the Stevens and had omelets and exchanged gifts with them. Then we enjoyed a turkey dinner with all the fixings at our house with Granny and Grandad! What a busy fun day!!!

You must be busy.....

I cannot go anywhere without someone saying "Wow you must be busy"! I think people are trying to help me out by telling me something I don't already know. I have other favorite comments "You know where children come from?" or "You have got your hands full" or "How old are you? You look too young for all those children". I suppose most of my gracious do gooders are just trying to uphold their civic duty and inform me of the obvious. Thankfully I do have sweet people continually commenting positive and kind words of encouragement and admiration.
Just recently I was traveling to the local magnet school to drop off my 4 oldest children. We live in what started as a farming community but now has become Beverly Hills, Idaho. It is a wonderful place to raise children but admittedly my cool 12 passenger bus stands out as a sore thumb amongst the many luxury cars traveling to school. I came to what is now a 4 way stop but at the time was a dangerous 2 way stop. I looked both ways and proceeded forward. As I was turning I saw a flash of metal in my rear view mirror. I knew I was too far out in the intersection to stop so I hit the gas and waved to the car behind me. I felt bad but knew I had not brought on any danger just had possibly irritated the driver. All of the sudden this little sporty car zooms past me in a no pass zone and the woman stared me down with an evil eye. My kids all were confused by the woman's aggression and asked me what was wrong. I explained how Mommy made a little mistake but also the proper way to handle a frustrating situation. Needless to say I had growing concern when I realized that the sporty car was now pulling into the No Parking drop off zone for school children. I kept saying to myself "I hope she doesn't get out of her car". Sure enough this irate women boxed me in and put her car in park, and marched over to the drivers side of my van. My sweet kids were so aware and concerned for me so I told them to jump on out and head to class. After rolling down the window and beginning to apologize for cutting off this woman, she abruptly stopped me talking and said "What Daycare do you work for and what is their phone number?". Apparently she thought she would have my job on the line for whatever daycare I currently was driver for! I must of took her by surprise when I explained those cute, well dressed and loved kids were mine and that I did not work for any daycare. She proceeded to lecture me on responsible parenting and did not stop until she was asked to leave by school officials. All and all Scott and I had a good laugh at how ironic the situation really was. I don't think this flustered mom thought through parenting skills when she passed me on a double line going over 50 mph just around the corner from her own child's school or parking in a no parking zone holding up a whole line of other anxious parents. We both have learned to laugh at the positive and sometimes negative that goes along with a large family. We definitely never have a dull moment!!!

Every Thursday I get together with my sister-in-laws. We all have small children that love each other. We usually have dessert and a book or article (good food for thought) we discuss. The purpose is to scrapbook or work on a desired project. We caught a cute photo of the three youngest cousins together and one of Gideon and Aunt Gina. I love how innocent children are sleeping.

Scott had quite the exciting week. Scott abides by the rules of work hard and play hard. He finally purchased a coveted set of golf clubs at Costco. He has spent 8 yrs. watching co-workers play golf but could never justify the time or money. It was so much fun for him to get out twice this week with my brother Levi Skidmore. They refer to themselves as happy hackers! He also joined his Dad, brother-in-law C.J. and his boss Brian on some bird hunting. We own 72 acres of farm and marsh land about 1 hour from Boise. It is near the Snake River on the Oregon border and has a lot of wildlife. We rented it to a corn farmer this summer but now it is a great pheasant hunting ground. When Scott and I met I made a deal that despite that I was a vegetarian I would prepare and cook anything he hunted... thus we had a pheasant barley soup for Sunday dinner. Micah make fabulous homemade blueberry muffins and I did funeral potatoes to accompany. The kids thought it was the best meal ever!?!?

......

Thanksgiving in Reno!

Grandma Launa (Stevens) Bishop and Dave Bishop
Friday November 23 was a special day. We were able to witness the sealing of Grandma and Grandpa Bishop in the Reno temple. Jim, Lori, Joyce, Tami, and Scott and I were able to be there as a family. It was a beautiful union. Aunt Kippy was a trooper and stayed in the parking lot with 8 children in the 12 passenger van. Gratefully for her the 4 youngest slept the whole time.
Grandma Stevens has the magic touch!

The Tuesday before Thanksgiving Scott called home and asked how fast I could pack. We decided we would drive to Reno and spend the holiday with Grandma Forman, Kippy and Joel. We are a bit crazy and arrived in Reno at 3:30 am. That was when my kids decided it was time to party. Tommy was awake until 4:30, Gideon wanted nursed at 4, and Micah and the big boys were jumping on the trampoline by 5 am.

It is amazing how many people you can fit comfortably in 11oo sq. feet. Grandma Joyce Forman is such a fabulous hostess we always feel welcome. The small children even got there own table in the entry way.
So like most people we could have fed an army. Kippy and I spent the day Thursday cooking and preparing food. Joel and Scott took all the children to a near by park for a little football, motorcycling, and go-cart action. While the crew was gone we made 2 batches of rolls, 2 dutch apple pies, artichoke heart dip in a bread bowl, shrimp and cream cheese appetizers, a vegetable tray, and 2 yam souffles.
We spent every night playing rook, crowns, and our favorite sliders. Grandma Forman and Grandma Stevens were the ultimate champions!!
Grandpa was quite the entertainment committee while the women were in the kitchen.
It is such a blessing that our children have developed a strong relationship with their Great Grandma. She took the time to rock Gideon any chance she got and sang continually with Eliza. They would make up their own words and tunes and sing to each other. Grandma always has a little present stored away for one of the grandchildren. The greatest part though is that she has a way of bringing out the best in everyone around her.