Shouldn't the Box be Bigger?

The other day I realized that my little Ethan had no pants for school. I pass down the clothes from boy to boy but apparently the size he was in was worn out between Tom and Logan and he only had play worthy pants. So, off to the Children's Place website to order a small fortune in clothes. I picked up an outfit for each of the boys for Christmas as well as some pants for the two little ones now that it's getting colder. I was pleased with how many items I ordered for each of my boys for only $250. I know there are better bargain shoppers than me out there who could have done much better but.....

Well, after days of anticipation, the delivery arrived. Shouldn't the box be MUCH bigger? It kills me how small of a box can fit over 20 items of clothing. At least send it in a bigger box and add packing material! OK, now I've gone of the deep end. Here I am, the "green" part of our household wishing for larger boxes and more Styrofoam peanuts!

In the end, the boys will each have some cool boy stuff for the holidays and Ethan won't look as much like an orphan at preschool anymore.

What's for Dinner?

A few months ago, I stumbled upon this GREAT recipe on the Notes From the Trenches blog. It has become one of my favorites. Not only is it cheap and easy, it tastes good too. We are having it tonight again and I can't wait for it to cook. I'll call it Chicken and Black Bean Tacos.

Boneless, Skinless Chicken - the amount you need to feed your family
Black Beans - I use one can for every 4 chicken breasts
Salsa - I use one pint for every 4 chicken breasts
Grated Cheese - we put this on individually due to our lactose intolerant little ones.

Put the first three ingredients in your crock pot and cook all day on low or about 4 hours on high. The chicken should just fall apart when you shred it. Put it in tortillas and top with cheese. YUM! You can also add some rice to it before serving to stretch it out even further. The juice from the chicken and salsa mix in nicely with the rice and give it a Spanish flair. Hope you enjoy it! Let me know if you try it and what your family thinks.

Logan's First Soccer Game

I don't know when it happened, but I'm relatively sure that Logan was abducted by aliens. I can narrow down the timing to the space between the end of spring soccer and the beginning of fall soccer but that's as close as I can get. I have proof too.

First, his best friend on his team is Morgan, a girl. They played in spring and he wouldn't talk to her at all.

Second, Logan hasn't been known as the kid who LOVES soccer - especially the running. He was always the first one asking his coach for a break. Not today. He wanted to stay in AND he ran the whole time!

Third, last season I told myself that he was just hanging back because he was a natural defender. This year he is actually a great defender - blocking goals and stopping the other team. He also goes after the ball this year instead of practically looking allergic to it.

Yep, I'm pretty sure he was abducted by the David Beckham Aliens!

Is It REALLY Time Again?

After what seems like way too short of a break, it's once again time to start the sports seasons back up.

Yesterday Logan had his first soccer practice. I had threatened him with his life that if he didn't play his hardest instead of the way he played most of the season last year, so help me...........

Wa-La! Totally different kid out there this season. At least for the first practice. He had promised that he wanted to play again and that he would actually play this time and I guess I didn't give him enough credit. He was actually playing and looking like he enjoyed it. He has another practice on Friday and then their first game on Saturday. Two practices a week, an hour a piece and a game. Are we ready for this again?

Tom also had his first practice yesterday but this time it was for flag football. We missed the team meeting because of the fair so I found out about practice about 45 minutes before it was suppose to start. Apparently football is WAY more intense. They will have practice Monday through Thursday for 1 1/2 hours! If there happens to be a game on practice night, then they will skip practice though. Really? Like I was going to make my eight year old practice for over an hour and play a game for an hour on top of it?!?!?! When is the poor boy suppose to do homework or scouts or piano that I thought I'd start teaching them next week?

Oh, I forgot to mention that soccer and football practices overlap and are nowhere near each other. It's a good thing football is within walking distance of the house so Tom can just take care of himself because until they have started cloning moms, it's just me here and I can only be in one place at a time! How do you mom's of more than two athletes do it? I have two more on their way to practices and games and running around and..... YIKES!

Eastern Idaho State Fair

Last night the whole family took our annual trip to the fair. It was a blast! We did the traditional look at the booths and animals all on the way to the carnival rides. The boys had so much fun. Ethan could only ride a few of the rides because he is only 36 inches tall but he didn't complain at all. Tom and Logan were taller but still couldn't get on all the rides which didn't really bother them either. At first, Logan didn't want to ride anything too scary or fast or spinning but by the end he was loving it. I don't know how they rode some of them. I was almost sick just waiting for them on the ground!

Gary and I split up and took two boys each. He had Ethan and Dylan first and then Tom and Dylan. When we met up right before going to get some yummy fair food for dinner, he told me Dylan was MAD that he couldn't ride the rides with his brothers. That sealed the deal. We bought some extra tickets for Gary, Dylan and myself and all hopped on the big carousel. Dylan was in heaven. It was worth the $6 for the three of us to ride.

On the way to the food court area, we passed a mechanical bull. It didn't take much pleading from the boys and Gary was paying up for them to each have a turn. I wish we had our camera. It rocked. The man running the bull kept it going just fast enough for each of them that they were "really riding" but slow enough not to buck them off. He told them to wave their hats in the air at one point and each of them did on their own turn. Gary and I just at on the sidelines and alternated between laughing and cheering for our little cowboys.

It was a great night with all of us together. I'm actually looking forward to next year already!

Ethan's Big Day

Today was Ethan's first day of preschool. I think I had a harder time with it than he did. Actually, I KNOW I had a harder time with it than he did. He was stoked. Walked right in with his Batman backpack like he owned the place. When I went to pick him up, three or four of the teachers came up to me telling me how great he did. I love the kid and his fearless attitude. He loves school and being big and helping his new friends.

When I asked him how school went, he told me it was great. Later, as we were sitting on the couch holding hands and watching Caillou, he told me about a girl in his class.

He said, "This girl was having a hard time with the monkey puzzle at school so I did it for her and then told her I would get her a sucker to make her feel better." The whole story in a nutshell. He is a sweetheart and I can't believe he is big enough to start preschool already!

Top Ten Lessons of the 2008 Bishop Family Camping Trip

10. It only took Dylan two minutes to be COMPLETELY covered in dirt including a hand print to the face.

9. Logan only tried to get lost once as he ran ahead on the trail back to camp very nearly giving Gary a heart attack.

8. Ethan can eat more for breakfast than his three brothers combined when he gets to eat in the good ole outdoors. (We're talking three fried eggs, some bacon, and a bit of hash browns.)

7. Tom can almost cut down a tree that is about 3" in diameter with his pocketknife he bought at cub scout day camp.

6. A new box of baby wipes (80 total) will last a family of 6 about 26 hours of their 48 hour camping trip.

5. Dylan can indeed fall out of his booster seat and land face first when you put it on the camp chair while remaining seat belted in.

4. Tom can defend himself when deep in the woods from mountain lions with the before mentioned pocket knife while yelling at the top of his lungs, "DAAAAAADDDDD!!!!!!!" when he hears footprints.

3. A queen sized air mattress is big enough for five of the six family members to share throughout the first night but Mom's mummy bag is only big enough for Mom and Ethan for about ten minutes before claustrophobia sets in.

2. There aren't any mosquitoes this time of year - the yellow jackets must have scared them away!

1. The Bishop family can indeed survive two nights in the wilderness without running water, bathroom facilities, picnic tables, gas grills, toys, etc. with only 5 gallons of water!