Bishop and the Boa Constrictor

Every summer, Kindercare has special events everyday. Some of the events include Costume Kim (a woman who comes in costume to tell stories, etc), The Baker Man (a man in a bakers outfit who talks about baking, gives the kids cookies, etc), farms, aquariums, water day (every Wednesday--they play in water outside) and other smaller events (wear your favorite color, the icecream truck comes, etc). On Friday the RAD Zoo came. It's a reptile Zoo and it's actually from Owatonna (my home town). Bishop sat front and center and had the best time ever. Luke was picking him up to head to Cold Spring, so he got to see some of the "show" and he said Bishop was paying very close attention and he got so excited he jumped up at one point!

The "zoo keeper" asked for volunteers to hold the Boa Constrictor and of course Bishop's hand shot up right away! Luke was able to watch Bishop hold the snake and he said he wouldn't let go! He squeezed it and kept holding on.....his teachers said he kept petting the snake and he put his hands up by his face and head. The zoo keeper had to tell him that wasn't such a good idea and to just pet him on his body! Luke said the zoo keeper didn't know the other kids' names, but he knew BISHOP! Ha! This kid seriously has no fear!

I got these pictures from Kindercare and one of his teachers took a couple on her phone. She said she'd send them to me, so I'll add them when I get them.

Holding on tight!

We are so fortunate that we like the kids' daycare so much! I love all the events they have and all they get to experience. It's the absolute PERFECT fit for Bishop! It was about a year ago that there was a lot of turnover and a lot of the teachers left.....I wasn't that happy and so I started looking around at other centers. Thankfully, there wasn't a perfect fit at that time, because the new teachers that have come in have been absolutely wonderful!! I love all the teachers, especially Nora's teachers and Bishop's. It feels so good knowing they are in good hands all day and they enjoy their days!

Sunday

Sunday morning we got up and got things ready to take off. Nora and I headed home first and Luke and Bishop were just a couple of hours behind us.

Before we left Nora had to show off how well she can sit up! She was also playing a little keyboard Rich and Eileen had, which she loved!

Sitting so pretty in her PJs

Happy to sit up and watch TV! :)

We had a very productive day yesterday. Our garage is being torn down on Tuesday, so we had to move everything out of the garage. Bishop was a very good helper, he moved boards from the garage to the shed and got his tools out to help daddy (we convinced him this time to use his own tools, instead of real ones)!

He then helped Daddy mow the lawn, all by himself!! The cutest part was when he kept restarting his mower--he'd be mowing the lawn and he'd bend down to re-start it....he probably did that 20 times!

Starting up their mowers!

Mowing with Daddy!

Luke's 20 year HS Reunion

As I stated in my previous post, this weekend was Luke's 20 year HS class reunion. There were activities on Friday and Saturday. Luke golfed with his friends Friday, so Bishop went up to spend the night with Grandpa and Grandma. It sounds like they all had a great time. Luke had a great time with his friends--friends he's had since birth (literally)...they had so much fun they didn't stop until 4am!! 

Bishop loved his time with Grandpa and Grandma. He got to ride the riding lawnmower, visit Dave (Rich and Eileen's neighbor/Luke's lifelong friend, Ben's dad) and see his ducks, pick tomatoes with Grandma, and play in the fort!

Saturday morning Nora and I joined them at the park, along with Luke's friend, Nate and his family, at the park. The kids had a great time together!

Bishop is obsessed with ladders lately, so this was perfect!

Bishop, Zac and Emma playing in the sand

Sarah holding Nora

Saturday afternoon a classmate of Luke's held a picnic at his farm, near Cold Spring. Bishop was in love with all there was to do and Chuck was so nice! He took Bishop (and Nora too) to see the cows, chickens, rabbits, calves and baby chicks. He let Bishop feed the cows and he let him sit in all his tractors. Bishop was in heaven! Chuck kept commenting on how Bishop would just "get right in there" and he wasn't afraid of anything!

Nora got lots of love from Luke's classmates, as everyone wanted to hold her! She had a pretty good time too! :)

Fun on the Farm!

Feeding the cows!

Checking out the cows with Chuck

The calf kept chewing on Bishop's shoe!

Chuck held the chicken for Bishop to pet and Bishop kept trying to hold it!

Driving the tractor

It's pretty serious business driving the tractor!

Bishop LOVES playing with tools lately, especially real ones. He found a couple tools in the tractors, and he kept telling me he was fixing things in the tractor! Such a good helper! :)

After the farm, we stopped by to watch the Springers baseball team play. Luke's good friend, Ben, plays for the Springers, so it was fun to see a little of the game and catch up with his family.

We were all so exhausted after the day, that we had a relaxing night at Rich and Eileen's Saturday night. There was a get together for Luke's class at the bar that night, but I think the night before took a little too much out of Luke to do it again!

Friday night with the Bormann's

On Friday night Luke and Bishop went to Cold Spring for Luke's 20 year HS reunion. Luke went golfing and went out with his buddies and Bishop got to spend some time with Grandpa and Grandma. I'll post more about that later.

Nora and I went to see Ryan, Shelly and Madelyn and we had so much fun! Madelyn is so fun--she's talking more and she LOVES to be outside! She was so sweet to Nora! Thanks for having us over for dinner (Ryan always makes delicious meals) and for letting us hang out with you for the night!

My Madelyn!

Nora tried sweet potatoes for the first time and she absolutely loved them!! She ate rice cereal and then sweet potatoes....and she almost finished an entire container! I'm so glad that went well!

Nora eating sweet potatoes for the first time

Happy Madelyn!

Helping Nora eat her sweet potatoes

Auntie, Madelyn and Nora reading books!

Nora playing with Auntie

Uncle Ryan and Nora!

Madelyn playing on the deck! So happy!

The Life of Bishop

Here's a little update on The Life of Bishop.

Bishop moved up to Preschool about a month ago and he's doing really well in the class! He is a better listener and we've seen a huge improvement in his behavior, especially in public. He can still be a regular 2 year old boy at home (who doesn't like to listen), but overall we've seen some positive changes!

He is doing great with the potty training. He rarely has potty accidents, but he's still not wanting to poop on the toilet, which means he's still pooping in his pants!! We've decided to put a pull up on him when he's home for most of the time, as it's less stressful and easier to clean up and he's still good about going potty on the toilet with the pull up on. At school he's in underwear all the time, except for naptime. He has started trying to go potty standing up, as he's seen some of the older boys do that, so that's fun for him! :)

His imagination has taken off--he builds things, talks about monsters all the time and "pretend plays", which is very fun! This morning he was playing in his kitchen, making food for Nora and I and he kept telling us what it was and feeding us.....some items on the menu this morning were coffee, gum, and candy!

He likes to tell me that I have to wait on the bottom step of the stairs and I can't come up until he tells me it's ok (I'm not really sure where he got this one from, because we haven't done this, but he must have heard it from someone)! So, I play along and I'll wait on the bottom step. He always tells me he has to do something....but once he gets to the top of the stairs it is ok for me to come up! :)

Every morning when we go to daycare he comes with to drop Nora off. He loves to bring her toys and/or hold her. Then we make a stop to say hi to Miss Courtney and give her a hug...and then it's finally on to his classroom, where he jumps right in to play with some of the older boys. This morning Courtney told me she was changing a diaper in the preschool bathroom yesterday when Bishop came up to ask him for a hug. She bent down gave me a hug and he said "thank you". I love how much he loves her (and how much she loves him back)!

He has gotten quite good at helping himself in the pantry. He'll pull his chair over to the pantry and get whatever he wants off the shelf and he'll start helping himself. I've started putting most things on the highest shelf and working on telling him he has to ask before he helps himself!

We've recently learned (the hard way) about how difficult it is when Bishop is over-tired. He consistently needs 11 hours of sleep and when he gets to bed late, we all pay for it, usually in the middle of the night into the next day. For example, Monday night a friend was over until 9pm, so Bishop was up until 9pm. He went to bed fine, but woke up at 12:30 and was screaming and throwing a tantrum.  We finally got him to fall asleep in bed with us (I'll do whatever it takes to sleep these nights), but he was up at 5:30am!! He threw a fit downstairs, so was put in his room. He kept yelling "Mommy, I NEED you". I was feeding Nora and I told him I would be in after I was done feeding her...thankfully he fell asleep in the meantime and slept til 8. It would have been a disaster of a day if he wouldn't have gone back to sleep.

So, that is a little update on The Life of Bishop! He kisses me (on the lips) every time I ask for one and that's something I know won't last forever, so I'll keep asking for them as long as I can! :) He has such a tender heart, but he is ALL boy! Which reminds me of one last story.....the other night we were eating dinner outside and he was literally eating dirt off his shovel! BOY BOY BOY!!!! He's the best and I chuckle at him everyday, but he also pushes my buttons! :)

Nora

Last week was Nora's last week of going to daycare just 3 days a week. It has been so wonderful to have her home with Nana and Grandma the past 3 months. Thank you SO much mom and Eileen!! We appreciated it so much and I know that Nora loved it just as much!

Before I continue with the Nora post, I wanted to post this picture of Bishop building his many creations. He has really gotten into the bristle blocks lately and he loves to make choo choo's, airplanes and lots of other fun things! He's started to play by himself more, which has been fun.

Nora and Nana loved naptime!!

On Saturday night Nora had rice cereal for the first time. She did awesome and loved it!! I mixed a little cereal with cold breastmilk and she ate it! She liked it!! I remember having to warm up the milk for Bishop, so I figured I'd try it cold...she liked it and I figured it was easier than warming it up!

She doesn't look happy in these pictures..but I think it's because she wanted more! :)

The other new and exciting thing is, Nora is sitting up on her own now!! She's LOVING being able to sit and play with her toys and see the world from a different view! She does really well and rarely topples over! :)

Unfortunately, sleep has been hard to come by for Miss Nora. She still has her runny nose and cough, so nighttimes have been really rough. Thankfully last night (Sunday night) was a good night! She slept from 8-2 and then again until 5:45! Other than that, she's been as happy as can be!

Jack's 1st birthday and the Zoo

Saturday morning Luke and I slept in and went out for breakfast. It took longer than expected and I was pretty anxious to get to Owatonna to see the kids. Luke stayed home to get some work done, so I went down by myself. My dad had to work a funeral, so my mom had the kids by herself. Bishop was busy entertaining Nora. He would stand on the stool and she would laugh and laugh and laugh!!

They certainly weren't short of toys to play with! :)

My HAPPY girl!

Thanks again mom and dad for watching the kids! They had a blast and we were able to too!!

I didn't have a lot of time to spend in Owatonna, as we had to get back for Jack Temploneuvo's 1st birthday party! It was held at Raul's restaurant (St Louis Park Tavern). Bishop had fun running around and flirting with the wait staff and of course, eating CAKE!

Bishop and Jack

Sunday we went to the Minnesota Zoo to check out the Dinosaurs! It was a pretty neat exhibit. They had life size dinosaurs that made noise and then gave descriptions of them. Bishop's really been into Dinosaurs lately, so it was perfect timing!

Luke told Bishop T-rex was going to bite him....it was a little too much, as Bishop got scared!

Enjoying the zoo!

I always feel bad when we go "do things" and I take pictures of Bishop "doing" things and Nora in her carseat. I also realize before we know it she'll be running around too and I'll have plenty of opportunities to get pictures of her "doing" things!

As we were walking around we ran into one of Luke's friends from HS, Keith! They have a son who's 18 months (Carter) and a 5 week old daughter (Avery). Bishop liked playing with Carter--here they are hiding in the weeds!

The weather was absolutely perfect this weekend! Sunny, but not too hot! It was a very fun weekend!