Miriam - one to two

It took me a while to complete Miriam's slide-show (computer issues). Now that I have my new computer set up I decided it was time to finish and post this once and for all. If you remember we did this last year and I want to do it every year for all my children. The movie will only include pictures of them throughout the year. It is so fun (and sad at the same time) to see your children grow.

DC Temple Lights

Washington DC Temple

I was a little sad that we didn't get to do anything as a family before Christmas. Therefore, I was excited to take Miriam to see the temple last night. She has looked at pictures in the Ensign of temples, so she knew what I was talking about when I told her we were going. It was really beautiful. They even had a short concert that we were able to watch and listen to. Miriam enjoyed the upbeat Christmas music. We didn't get a chance to look around the Visitor's Center much, so hopefully we can go back soon (maybe when the weather is warmer).



(Click on slideshow to view it larger)

Three Years of Wedded Bliss

Michael and I celebrated our third wedding anniversary today. It was a wonderful day spent together as a family. We hung out at home setting up our new Kitchen Aid and new computer. After dinner we headed to the Washington DC temple to see the lights (more on this later). We have had so much fun being together these three years and look forward to the future.

January 2, 2008 - on our honeymoon

December 28, 2010 - three year anniversary

Merry Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas. Once again I ended up being way too spoiled. We feel so blessed this holiday season for all of our many blessings in life, especially Miriam and our baby boy. We are grateful we are able to spend time together as a family. Christmas is such a joy when you have children. I was so excited to have Christmas with Miriam this year. She understood more about what was going on. She gets so excited about every little thing. Michael was very busy leading up to Christmas, so it was fantastic to have him around. Miriam was really excited to have her Dad home. I think we all got what we wanted for Christmas (and more). Is it bad that I already can't wait until next year?

As soon as Miriam came upstairs she had to see if Santa ate her cookies.

Bishop family - Christmas 2010

Miriam in front of the Christmas tree (asking for her shoes)

Miriam spending some much needed time with her Dad

How old are you? TWO!

My little girl turned two today. It was so much fun talking to her about her birthday this year. We kept asking her how old she is. She responded exactly right by holding up two fingers and saying "TWO". I can't believe how much she has changed since we have moved to Virginia. It seems like when we left Utah she was still such a baby. Now she is a growing toddler and such a little girl.

She has taken a huge interest in her ABC's this past month. Some of the letters she can recognize are M, D, V, S, and B. Since she is so excited about letters I decided I would go ahead and teach her some of the signs for letters. She really likes E, B, Q, G, and Y. She has a magnet alphabet on the fridge that she loves to play with. Whenever I am in the kitchen, Miriam likes to be close by. She is very interested in cooking. Stirring is her favorite thing to do. She even likes to watch Food Network with me and comments on what they are cooking. Ever since we moved in and unpacked her toys she has started playing with her dolls again. She loves to feed them, kiss them, and put them to bed. She is going to be a great big sister. For a long time Miriam wasn't interested in any movies except Signing Time. However, after a visit from her cousin Nathan she loves watching 101 Dalmatians. It also seems like all of a sudden she is really interested in the Disney princesses. Her favorite is definitely Sleeping Beauty. She has only watched it a couple of times at Grandma's house. Miriam is hoping Santa brings her the Sleeping Beauty movie.

Miriam talks up a storm. She loves to chat away. She always wants to talk to people on the phone. It cracks me up to hear her talking to herself. Miriam definitely doesn't lack in the personality department. This morning I was trying to get her to sit still for a few pictures, but she had already made up her mind to be uncooperative. She was so excited to wear a cute dress for her birthday so I thought she wouldn't mind a few pictures. This is all I got.


Here are some pictures of Miriam opening her birthday presents and eating cupcakes and ice cream. She was so excited about getting to open all of the presents. After each one she asked about opening one more. It took a while because she had to stop and look at each one, but it was so fun to watch her excitement. She helped me make the cupcakes and dumped the sprinkles on top.

Happy 2nd Birthday my dear sweet Miriam!

NO! (SNOW!)

Miriam has a pink snowsuit, a pink coat, a pink hat, pink gloves, and pink snow boots. Every time she has seen her boots (since she got them weeks ago) she asks to put them on. I have told her that the pink snow boots are for wearing out when it snows. I wasn't sure she really understood what I meant. When I got out of the shower on Wednesday and peeked out the window I noticed it had started snowing pretty hard. I called to Miriam to come look outside and immediately she started yelling NO NO NO (SNOW SNOW SNOW). She was so excited she ran straight to her room and grabbed her pink boots and brought them right to me. I guess she understood after all. She wanted to call her dad right away to tell him about the snow. It has been hard to keep the boots off her the past couple of days. I have to remind her that when we come back inside they are wet and she needs to wait until they are dry to put them back on.

Tonight we had our ward Christmas party. Michael couldn't come with us and although we have only been here for two weeks and I don't know anyone, I decided to venture out with Miriam to the church building. They had a Polar Express theme and served breakfast foods for dinner. They asked all the kids to come in their pajamas. Miriam was so excited when I told her she could wear her pig pajamas out. Of course the pink snow boots came too.

smiling, but not looking (you take what you can get)

a night on the town

Michael and I don't get very many opportunities to go out alone. It is mostly my fault because I hate leaving Miriam. When he told me about his work Christmas party I was less than excited to go. I felt that if we were going to go out we should do something fun (like see Harry Potter). However, I knew it was important that we go. Michael's sister came over after we put Miriam to bed and basically sat on the couch (this was before we had TV and internet). Thanks again Rebecca! It was really nice to get out together, even though I always worry about Miriam most of the time. I got to meet some people that Michael has been working with and it is always nice to put faces to names. Much to my relief, Miriam was just fine when we got home. Hopefully we can get out a little bit more before the baby comes. Am I the only mother that still can't leave her two year old?

December 11, 2010
(Once again I look so blah once I see the picture.
I don't feel like I look that bad when I look in the mirror.)

Up and Running

We finally have internet in our new place. We are alive and I have some pictures to post. Just wanted you to have something to look forward to!

20 Week Pregnancy Update

I am half-way through this pregnancy and feeling great. Since my sisters live so far away they asked for some pregnancy pictures. Since I am not a glamorous pregnant lady I am only posting one, and it isn't great. I took a couple of others by myself (those that get my blog emails had the unfortunate opportunity to see them), but I can't bring myself to post them. I can't believe how fast my belly has grown this time around. The baby and I are measuring a week ahead of schedule. It looks like we have a big baby boy on our hands.

20 weeks

Thanksgiving Weekend 2010

Michael came home early on Wednesday so we could start the weekend off early. After an easy dinner of delivery pizza, we helped make the Thanksgiving pies. Miriam had such a blast rolling out the crust with Grandpa. All she could talk about that night was pie. She even said she was grateful for pie in her prayer.

Thanksgiving day was nice and relaxing. We enjoyed the time spent with family and all the food we were able to eat! We watched a little bit of football and took a few pictures outside. (Although I didn't ever get a family one taken.) Here are a few pictures of the day.

Playing a game on the IPad

Miriam was so excited to help set the table (as usual).

Centerpiece (courtesy of Elizabeth and Rebecca)

Ready for the feast

Friday morning was a bit of a shock for me. Michael got up and braved the Black Friday crowd, alone. He hates shopping, but was up by about 3:15 am and ready to be at Best Buy before 4:00 am. We were able to get a new desktop computer at a great price thanks to Michael's sacrifice. He didn't get home until after nine o'clock... hmmm, I wonder what else he was doing while he was out and about? We spent the rest of Friday and Saturday shopping and hanging out. We got a few things for the baby. I am done Christmas shopping and from the sound of it Michael is too.

Sunday afternoon we got the keys to our new apartment. We are now free to move in when we please. Although we will wait until Saturday to move everything in, I plan on going over a couple of times this week to clean and get things ready. It was a wonderful relaxing weekend spent together. Miriam was so excited every morning to find out that her Dad was home (instead of at work or on the airplane... she asks every day). We are definitely looking forward to more family time over Christmas break. I hope you are too.

A Big Surprise (for you)

Miriam got new pajamas for this spring. What do you think?

We are so excited to be adding to our family in April. I am already 20 weeks (half-way there) along. We wanted to hold off telling our family and friends until we knew the gender of the baby. Now that we know, do you want to know too?

Miriam's Latest

Miriam is about a month away from turning two. It is so hard to believe. She is such an adorable little girl. She is almost 36 inches (3 feet) tall. She weighs 26 pounds. She is definitely all girl. Whenever she sees bugs the first thing she says is gross. Miriam cannot stand getting dirty and has to have a napkin at every meal. It has been fun to see the contrast between her and Nathan (who is all boy). Here is a video of her making biscuits with Grandma Bishop. She liked to stir, but when it came to touching the dough...

Miriam is going through a weird phase with food. Her taste changes from day to day. I try not to be too worried about it as long as she is eating things like hummus. Here she is chowing down straight from the container.


We have really enjoyed some wonderful fall weather. We have been able to go to the park quite a bit. We also can walk to the library. Miriam really loves to watch movies and being close to a library is great. As you know we used to get Signing Time videos, however lately she has changed over to liking different shows. Her two favorite are Dora the Explorer and Go Diego, Go! I am sad to see signing time lose out to Go Diego, Go! but she is still very interested in learning new signs. We continue to find books about sign language. Here are a few pictures of Miriam enjoying the nice weather.



These last few pictures are just because Miriam looked so cute today and I couldn't help taking a bunch of pictures. She is getting the hang of smiling at the camera. It might have had something to do with the candy I bribed her with though.

November is here and going fast

Has it really been 2 weeks since I last posted? I find it hard to believe that November is already halfway gone. I guess we have been keeping busy. It has been a month since I have really updated about what is going on with us. Here is what we have been up to.

We found a place to live! We get to move in on December 1st. It is a 3 bedroom 2 bathroom condo. It is a little further away than we hoped to be at first, but we decided that space was more important for us. We are excited to get settled into our own place and I am sure Michael's parents are ready for a break from us. We will post pictures when we are settled.

Michael is still enjoying work. He has been traveling a couple of weeks each month to different clients. He leaves on a Sunday night and luckily they let them come home on Fridays (even if it is a two week job). I am grateful we don't have to spend weekends without him. I try to look at the positive side of things and focus on the fact that I get to have the car the weeks he is gone.

Miriam is an absolute joy. She has grown up so much in the past couple of months. I will post more about her later. She has enjoyed having her cousin Nathan here to visit these past few weeks. However, she has been so sick for a lot of the time (see this post). She has had two colds and an ear infection this past month. She is just getting over that last of her sickness. She was so sad the week she had to miss nursery because she was sick. I sure hope we have seen the last of it for a while.

We are excited for the upcoming holiday season. We look forward to focusing on all we are grateful for and celebrating our Savior.

Trick-or-Treating

Okay, I promise this is my last post about Halloween. I just wanted to end with a couple of pictures of us getting ready to go trick-or-treating. We only hit about twenty houses, but I think it was plenty for two little kids. We have enough candy to last a while. I really enjoyed celebrating Halloween this year with Michael and Miriam.

Halloween Party

Saturday night we went to the Ward Fall Party. They had a chili cook-off with cornbread. They had some games for the kids. Miriam went fishing. They even had a costume parade and Miriam and Nathan held hands the whole time. At the end there was a trunk-or-treat in the parking lot.


Miriam loves rainbows. She has known all her colors for a while. Therefore I had to come up with some way she could be a rainbow for Halloween. Remind anyone of Rainbow Brite?

We had such a fun time at the party. It was so fun to see Miriam understand trunk-or-treat this year. She figured out very quickly how to get people to put candy in her pumpkin.

Pumpkin Carving

Our story of one tiny pumpkin:

We (and by we I mean Michael) carved Miriam's pumpkin today.

Miriam ate crackers and I took pictures.

Miriam inspected the work.

She loves her little pumpkin.

Halloween outfit

I really like Halloween. I think it can be such a cute holiday. So, I decided that Miriam needed a special outfit (besides her costume). She actually also wore this shirt last year and the tights were only 25 cents, so it didn't cost much. I think she looks darling.

Pumpkin Pickin

When we went to the pumpkin patch last year I said that I wanted to make it a tradition. I am so glad because we had fun doing it again this year (does two years make it a tradition?). This year we went to Wegmeyer Farms. We wanted to find somewhere that would let you go out in the field and cut the pumpkin off the vine. Fall seems like such a great time for family fun. I got a lot of cute shots while we were there, so here are a bunch of pictures.

pumpkins already picked by the barn

Michael and Miriam heading to the patch with a wagon

Miriam found the best pumpkin

(the first time she has ever posed for a picture)

Michael and Miriam cutting the pumpkin off the vine

Miriam with a really big pumpkin by the barn

Miriam waiting for Michael to buy our pumpkins

(her first fake smile for the camera)

Miriam with a really funny pumpkin

Bishop family at the pumpkin patch