Family Update Email

Here is a copy of the family update email I sent out today. Only three days left of this January business. Woot!


Hello family,

We are doing our best around here to survive January. I told Benson I was going to write the family a letter and asked him what I should write and he said, "Tell them that when the snow goes away that we get to ride our bikes to the park and it's going to be awesome." Apparently I am not the only one going crazy with the cold weather. It has been a pretty mild winter thus far, but I am remembering that it snowed last year on Memorial Day, so I think it is far from over. We sure had a blast with everyone who came here for Christmas and we are loving having the finished bathroom downstairs! It is so nice.

Leo is almost three months old if you can believe it. He weighs 12 lbs and is still a very sweet and calm little guy. He makes lots of really cute sounds and grins constantly. I am definitely his favorite person. He has some pretty awesome cradle cap and dry skin. I just started using Selsun Blue on his head and we bought a humidifier to help with his little stuffy nose and dryness. He is seriously such a good baby, sometimes we forget about him. Three kids feels like a lot, but we love it! I can already see marks in his gums where his little will pop out. Not sure I am ready for that yet. Hopefully it will be a while before we have to deal with teeth. Right now he sleeps from 9 until about 6:30. I am hoping to get him to go to sleep by 8 in the next few weeks.

Griffin turned three in January. Three still proves to be my favorite age. He is so much fun! The big news for Griff is that he is now potty trained. Once I finally decided I could emotionally and physically handle the challenge, he potty trained pretty quickly and without much trouble. He stays dry all night and doesn't have accidents. I think potty training is such a miracle. He seems so big now. If you ask him his name he says, "Gribbey Johnson." It is so cute. He can also tell you that he is three and a boy. He still loves french fries and asks for them constantly. We had fun celebrating his birthday at my mom's house. I wanted to throw him a birthday party, but when I asked him who he wanted to invite he said "Benson, Baby Leo, Mom, Dad, Cole, Seth, and Grandpa." He didn't seem too sad to celebrate with Ella, Sophie and Matt.

Benson is such a good helper. He is good at getting whatever I need for Leo and he loves to hold him. He buckles Griffin into his booster in the car and cleans the toilets too. He is obsessed with the Xbox Kinect and pretty much asks to play it all day. He is better than I am at most games, although I don't think that is saying very much. He is fun to take anywhere because he is such a good boy and says such cute things. I always ask him how he got so big and he always says, "I have had lots of birthdays and I eat lots of lunch and I take lots of naps." I think that is a pretty good answer. I need to buy him all new pants because all of his now have holes in the knees. I have a feeling that this will be the story of my life.

Keith and I still can't believe we have three kids. We love our minivan and are itching to take it on a real vacation! We love to go on dates (Leo comes too) and the kids love to get a babysitter. Keith pretty much gets me whatever I want, it's pretty ridiculous. We are loving the new American Idol and I think Keith is in love with Steven Tyler. We are both trying to get less fat and have found it isn't too difficult if we don't try to eat ourselves into a coma every second of the day. Keith has already lost 10 pounds.

We love you all and hope all is well.

Love,
Keith, Lisa, Benson, Griffin and Baby Leo

A case of the Januaries

This baby quiz should be easier! I figured only my sister could pass my previous post quiz, and as it turns out she got a 100%.

We are trying our best to survive the worst month of the year around here. Seriously, why oh why does there have to be a January? This month just drags on and on and on and on . . . . I even escaped to my mother's for a week and I still feel like January will never end. Will I be forced to go to a disgusting PlayPlace every day this month? Yesterday my kids played duck duck goose with pretend friends and they have awesome pretend phone conversations with all their friends. I am grateful that they have fun little imaginative minds that keep them entertained most of the time.

Each year when it gets cold around here I ask Keith, why don't we live in San Diego? But alas, I like the change of seasons and living in a bubble aka Utah. Thank goodness I have a devoted workout partner who helps keep me sane and a husband who doesn't mind leaving the house as soon as he gets home every single night, even if he has been at work for 15 hours.

I guess if we get bored around here, we can always take turns sitting in the bouncy chair. Don't be shocked if there is a picture of me sitting in it in my next post. Only five more days until February . . .tick tock.

Baby, Baby, Baby OHHHHHHHHHHHHH

This post would be way cooler if I was singing Justin Bieber in the background, but you will just have to imagine it. Baby, Baby, Baby ohhhhhhhhhhhh. . . hopefully that song isn't stuck in your head all day. Anyway, here are some pictures of all my little guys at Leo's age. Can you tell me who is who? How about whoever gets the most correct gets a nickel? A quarter? How about after you make your guesses, you can let me know what present you would like?! Good luck!

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Yes, we have gone through a lot of hand-me-downs over the past few years. Aren't my babies scrumptious?

Here are a few stats on my little Leo who is 2 3/4 months now! He weighed exactly 12 lbs at the Dr. (my smallest at this age by far-weird considering he was my biggest baby). He is also 23 3/4 inches long, which is like 70% for height-what do those percentiles mean anyway? He sleeps from 9 to 6:45ish in the morning. He is a total mama's boy. He loves the bouncy chair and has started reaching for the toys. He uses Head and Shoulders because he has awesome dandruff (okay maybe it is cradle cap, but whatevs). He is a very sweet baby boy and grins constantly. I am really hoping I can convince myself to stop having babies one day. . . I just love these little ones so much!

Hi, my name is Griffin and I wear underwear now

Griffin Bishop is no longer a baby. Griff wears big boy undies now (his current favs are Yo Gabba Gabba ones). Griffin was essentially potty trained in a week. His mamma tried the "pantless" potty training method aka, the poor kid wore nothing but a big t-shirt and nothing underneath for two weeks. Mamma is now a huge believer in this method, well it worked for Griffey at least. There was only one very tragic accident in which the boy decided to destroy a matchbox car. Other than that very very disgusting incident, he did pretty good.

In my opinion there are a few keys to potty training . . .

1. Patience.
2. Patience.
3. Did I mention patience?

Griffin decided to become potty trained all before his third birthday. Can you believe this little guy is three? I can't. Griffin is such a good brother. He is very quick to forgive and say he is sorry. He worships Benson and is kind to Baby Leo. He loves food and is a very good eater. He will try anything, especially if it looks like candy. He is very coordinated and loves to be crazy. He loves to play with TRAINS and CARS. He is very polite and friendly, he will hug anyone (which is both good and bad). He has one volume level, LOUD. He has a very good imagination and is very easily entertained. He loves every one. He still takes a nap if I ask him to. He is a good helper and is very good at cleaning up after himself.

Griffin Bishop is loads of fun. I am so lucky to be his mom. Happy Birthday buddy!

Lessons Learned on Christmas Day

Lesson #1. It is very difficult to get your children to sit still for a picture on Christmas Day. It is even more difficult to get them to do anything but play with toys ALL DAY long. I finally convinced my children to eat breakfast at noon. Luckily Santa puts apples in our stockings (apples, not oranges, what?) and I found lots of half eaten apples all over the basement. This blurry pic was taken before bed on Christmas day. Yes, we are all still in our jammies. For the record, I showered and put my jammies back on. The children went to sleep in the same thing they had worn to bed the night before.

Lesson #2. Boys love cars. Yes I already knew this. But seriously, Benson sat by this awesome slot car racetrack essentially all day long. It was the first gift he opened, woops. He didn't even care about opening other presents. In fact, we went to bed with wrapped presents to both boys still underneath the tree. Have I mentioned how much I love the simplicity of my sweet boys? Give them a car, they are happy.

Lesson #3. I don't think Re-gifting is all that tacky. Two years ago we got the boys a train table and a train set, but didn't attach the set to the table. This proved to be a mistake. This year, we purchased a new set and Keith nailed and glued it to the table with a sweet image from google earth attached underneath. Griffin LOVED it. He played trains all day long. And yes, I had to force him to open anything else.

Lesson #4. I really should shower before taking pictures. And did I mention it is impossible to take a good picture on Christmas with kids?

Lesson #5. There is nothing better than cute kids in their Christmas jams. Seriously, I wish I could buy my kids new pajamas every day.

Lesson #6. Waking up early is not all it is cracked up to be. Because we had lots of guests this year, including cousins who actually understand Christmas, the children were awake at 5:00 am. This is against the rules at our house on all accounts. We have a very strict not before 7 policy around here. Griffin is very obedient to this rule. We made the older kids wait for the younger ones to wake up. We made an exception to this rule and woke Griffey at 6:30. He wasn't that excited about it.

Lesson #7. There is nothing better than a baby's first Christmas. Especially when said baby is sleeping through the night.

Lesson #8. Helping Santa is way better than waiting for him. We had a ball prepping our house for Christmas morning. Lots and lots of laughter. We all still believe in Santa around here. Each year when I feel the magic of Christmas, my belief in the red suit is strengthened.

Lesson #9. I may need a bigger couch! (Is that even possible?)