Merry Christmas

From our family to yours, have a very Merry Christmas. 

Love, the Bisel family

It's been awhile but...

Okay, we are still alive.  I am sure you have all wondered what our family has been up to.  Well here it is:

A steam engine came by our community.  We stopped to see it in all its glory.  HOT DOG, it scared the pants off me (the pants actually did stay on).  I was only about 10 feet away when this baby went by, it blew its horn right as I took the picture and my heart certainly skipped a beat.  The kids thought it was fun to see the train, and Noah was a little shocked by the horn as well.

We spent our Thanksgiving with family like we always do.  Oh, the fun of swimming in the pool, and being with cousins.  Noah joined the rest of my kiddos as official water babies.  The best part???? My kids are old enough now to take him swimming with them, and I can just watch from the side of the pool.  All my dreams are coming true.

Dont' be too confused.  This picture of bocci balls comes from my new photographer, Mitchell.  While he was bored one day, we sent him around the compound taking pictures of the world around him.  We got lots of interesting pictures.  

My Noah.  Ohhhh how I love his guts.  Seriously, he is one of the happiest babies I have ever known.  I want to squeeze and love him all the live long day.  What a fun kid.  Okay, not right now, he has a cold and he wants me to hold him throughout the day, that's okay, because I want to hold him  all day too.  XOXOXO

As I am writing this, Noah is standing at the keyboard screaming the names of his sisters he sees in the picture.  And, now he wants to go swimming.  This should make for a fun day.    Noah loves being with his siblings, they make his life complete.

Lest you think our lives revolve around Noah, the rest of us are all super busy and happy.  We spent the fall at soccer games, and gymnastics practices, practicing piano, and working away at our homework.  Dad has been working extra hard at his new calling (YM president, this calling is making me miss his calling as EQ pres.), and at work.  I have been trying to remember orthodontists appointments, school volunteering, practices, after school activities, and everything else that 5 other people's lives hold.  I have truly lost my mind a couple times, and I have dropped more "balls" than I would like to admit.  But, I like to tell myself that my kids are fed, clothed, and happy, so if I forgot they had scouts one day, it won't kill them.  Maybe it will even teach them to be in charge of their own calendaring?  


We feel very blessed during this Christmas Season, we love to remember those of have gone before to make our lives so blessed.  We are especially grateful to our Heavenly Father and our Savior Jesus Christ.  May you all have a very Merry Christmas.

Happy Halloween

This is how it starts.....no kid likes to be dressed up in a weird costume.  Noah shows his feelings quite clearly, he has no idea why we are all being so strange.  Even though Noah was feeling out of sorts, we continued having fun at the ward trunk r treat, and he started warming up.  

He began playing with donuts and stuffing them in his dads face.  That's always a BLAST.  I don't have pictures of it.  But, we took him trunk-r-treating that night.  The first pass through the cars, he was SOOOOO confused.  But, on the second time around, he was saying his own version of trick or treat, and he loved collecting the candy.

Now that Noah understands that the Pooh costume means CANDY...this is what he looked like on the real Halloween night.

JOY!

Mitchell went as the last airbender.  It was all his idea, and honestly, Bj put the whole thing together.  They died some white sweats, and an old white sunday shirt (and then they modified the shirt).  They bought some print your own tatoos for the arrow (by the way....they aren't awesome, the print your own tattos...it was a glorified sticker).   You can see, we did away with the "sticker", and just drew his arrow on for the real night.  And, luckily, I have shelves full of fabric to make the sash and the leg straps.  Go Mitch!!!!  

Maddie just looks creepy.  She is a stylin' vampire.  We worked hard to make her this ugly, it wasn't easy.  She went through my closet to find some clothes to ruin and rip to make her costume, and she used some ripped jeans for her pants.  Pretty easy, pretty cheap, and pretty awesome.

Lizzy went as a Chinese girl.  Ummm, she looked gorgeous.  Are little girls supposed to be so cute on Halloween.  I loved this costume, it's one of the old ones we pulled out of "the bag."  No work, just put it on over some black shirt and pants.  Do some hair, and call it good.  LOVE easy costumes.  

And, if you are still here, you must really love me.  Here's the cutest picture of the bunch.  This is Noah after eating way too much candy.  He would pick up one candy, take a bite, put it down, and try another.  He was hilarious, hyper, and so so so so so fun to watch.  

I am so grateful to be a mother.  What a blessing it is to experience life through the eyes of my children.  Even though Halloween is a totally crazy holiday, my children make it magical.  Plus, at the end of it all, we are all covered in melted chocolate!  That makes everyone smile.

Like mother like son.

When I was little, I ate butter by the stick.

I know, you can hardly tell now with my long lean body.

Noah came upstairs the other day, sucking down this stick of butter with nothing but joy showing on his little face.  Instead of grabbing it from his hands and downing some myself, I ran for the camera. 

My thighs are thanking me for abstaining.

Even though I know this is "gross," I think it is hilarious, and it brings  a small smile to my face to know that one of my children is almost exactly as weird as I was when I was little.

We Live

Life at our house has been a little busy as of late.  Just like everyone else in the world, we are running to and fro.  It's fun, and crazy, and full.  Life is very full.  I wouldn't have it any other way.

So here is the quick update.  We have been doing a lot of this...

and this....

Just imagine soccer 3 nights a week, gymnastics 2 nights a week, piano 2x a week, Saturday soccer games, and add in some after school programs and you can bathe in the joy I am living.  But at least I get Sundays to rest.  I love Sundays.

We celebrated Mitchell's Birthday.  He loved all the gifts, and attention, and love he received.

He especially loved the birthday party at Monkey Business.  I loved that Bj took care of it all.  Okay, I planned it, made the party favors, and cupcakes...but Bj was the man on duty.  I had to take Liz to her gymnastics, and get Maddie to her very first babysitting job, so Bj was on his own with 11 little boys.   I am sure they all had a blast without Mom there to intervene!

They are off....

The day has come, the kids are off to school.  Last night they spent time primping, getting their lunches ready, preparing their outfits, and getting excited.  Today, they are at school, hopefully learning lots.

This summer has been fun.  Fun and not productive at all.  I kept thinking of all these great plans, all these fun things to do, and what really happened is my kids were happy, well fed, and my house didn't fall apart.  I can call that success.

So today, I have done laundry, worked on stuff for church, and enjoyed not cleaning up piles upon piles of dishes.  And yet I miss their sweet gigglings and the piano playing in the background.  I sure love my kiddos!

This poor kid is left all alone.  He totally wanted to go with the others to school (he even learned how to say school, just for them).  He carried Maddie's lunch box around the house all morning and was pretty sad to let it go when they had to head off to school.  Now, it's just us.  He has made quite a few messes this morning, it's his own kind of "school."

Summer

Nothing says "SUMMER" like a cute baby, sans pants, playing at a park in the sunshine.  

I am just starting to go through my pictures from our trip.  This one comes from my phone, and it  makes me smile.  There are stories behind the details (like the missing pants) and it makes me remember the details I might otherwise forget.  

I have been doing the project 365 for the past two years.  You know, the one where you take a picture a day, and document your life.  Your real life!  The seemingly mundane little tasks we do all the time.  But these little details make up who we are, and it's fun to look back on the piles of laundry, or the kids cutting the lawn, or the yummy food that has become our favorite at the moment.

Want to learn more about project 365...go to 

http://www.beckyhiggins.com/blog/2009/06/project-365-inspiration/

Trevor Daley

My friend Trevor (he's my friend now that I took this class from him), is giving another class for photography this Saturday.  If you are interested in photography, you should TOTALLY do it.  The price is pretty great, and when I took the class I came away from it with so much knowledge.  My pictures were better, and I finally understood my awesome camera.  DO IT!


Here's the link:


 http://trevordayley.contactmystudio.com/workshops/a03e26a6fca238e1


Tell him Sarah Bisel sent ya!!!!

Already

Summer is almost here.  In 2 days school is out, and it is party all the time at our house.  I don't know if I am quite ready for all the fun we are going to have, but I will try.


The past month has been interesting.  I have been sick, and I was well, and then I was sick again.  Luckily, I am blessed with the worlds best hubby, and he picked up the slack for me.  I have almost been productive, but not quite productive.  However, I have finished reading 2 books,....yeah for me.


In a week I will be in the promised land, working with the women of my family on all things fabric, and I have hopes to finish something.  Or, at the very least, move forward on something.  Truthfully, I should have much more ready to go at this point, but c'est la vie.


Here's my little dude, he is throwing a fit, which is his newest form of communication.  I am sure I should be frustrated by these antics, but it really just makes me laugh.  What a good mother I am.

Showing Love...

Missy, my reader, this is for you.  You asked what I was doing to help the parents.... Here it goes.

I got this idea from my friend Summer.  I gathered money from all our ward members (our church), and we got them TONS of gift cards (the little grey thing in front has little pockets full of the gift cards).  The gift cards were for restaurants, movies, amazon, etc....  As you can see we also got flowers, a Scentsy was donated, candy, and I photoshoped a photo of their baby and a picture of the temple the parents were married in.  

My biggest goal from this was to show how loved they are.  It wasn't the "stuff" that was important, but it was a show of love that was relevant.

We also filled their freezer with meals to heat up when they are ready, and we cleaned their home before they returned.  Honestly, I just did whatever I could think of.   It may have been overkill, or maybe I could have done more.  

I wish I could have done more.

Farewell....

Adelaide's funeral was held in SLC, which meant I was unable to attend.  However, we had our own event here in Tucson.  Nurses, Doctors, and loved ones met at UMC to release balloons as our way of saying goodbye to Adelaide.  It was the same time as the funeral in SLC, so it felt like we were there supporting the Otte's.

Honestly, I have cried more than I would like to admit this past week, and today brought more tears.  Tears that I couldn't do more, tears that Adelaide returned to her Heavenly Father so early, tears that so many lives were touched by her sweet spirit, tears for her parents, and tears of loss. 

Tears.

I am so impressed at the outpouring of love I have seen.  The world truly is a beautiful place full of people wanting to help, cure, and love.  I feel so blessed. 

We LOVE you Addie. 

 God be with you till we meet again!

Adeladie Ann Otte

Heavenly Father welcomed home brave little 

Adelaide Ann Otte

2/27/2011- 4/24/2011

Visiting her in the hospital on Friday brought so much joy.  I could tell she was a strong, brave, amazing soul.  Her parents are beyond amazing, through each trial they have been a source of strength and Christlike example.  I am continually amazed at Jessica (her mother) who is wise, calm, a momma bear, loving, selfless, and beautiful.  Her dedication to her sweet Addie fills my heart.  And Preston (her dad), full of optimistic hope, belief, and knowledge that Addie is happy and well in the arms of her Savior.  

I am ever grateful for the knowledge of the gospel.

Those of us who knew and loved her have hearts that ache, yet we know she is happy, at peace, and out of pain.   I am grateful for the tender mercies I have seen throughout Addies life. We love you Addie.

Here is a sweet video of her at the hospital getting her first bath.

Spring Break 2011

So, Spring Break was a couple weeks ago...Big Deal.  I am a little behind.  

Monday morning of Spring Break we made a list of all the things we wanted to do that week.  

Here's the list:

Swimming

Hiking

Mani/Pedi

Dinner Out

Picnic

Movie

Bowling

Arcade

We did all the things except swimming, because well...it was cold that week.  Like in the 70's. That is way too cold to take a dip.

Our biggest adventure?  Hiking for sure.  

Who's idea was it?  

Mine!

The hike was 6 miles round trip...to Romero Pools.  That sounds fun, right, hiking to some water you can swim in!   The kids thought  it sounded like work.  They were right.

This was the terrain for most of the hike.  Moderately steep, a pretty great workout, and a great opportunity for some people to whine!

This is who I was carrying the whole time.  Yep, we went on the hike with just me and all the kiddos.  This kid is heavy...I can attest to that.  After 3 miles hiking, my shoulders hurt, and I was feeling like I was a little insane. 

 I can't tell you how many people stopped to ask us if we were alone, and how crazy we were, and that it got really steep up ahead....maybe we should turn around.

Hello, don't PSYCH me out.

Finally we made it to Romero Pools.   I didn't get to hike all the way in to this spot because it was way too steep for a mama with a kid on her back.  But, I got some good pictures of the kids playing in the pools.  They thought it was really cold.

While we were there, some crazy teenage boys were there cliff jumping.  I sure hope Mitchell didn't think they were cool, I just thought they were crazy.

Cute boy, look at that sweet baby enjoying a little water in the desert.  It was a great trip, really hard, a challenge for all of us, and something we will always remember.

Finding Love in the library

Noah found his one and only.

It was during story time at the local library.  

He saw her, went straight to her, held her hands, and wouldn't let go.

I hope her mother didn't mind.

She's 2 1/2, he's 18 months.  

I am realizing he really is a monster (I mean his size).

She wasn't there this week, he seemed forlorn.

Babyland

What happens when a mother takes a shower?

Congrats

I don't know how I got away with never having to do a science fair project myself, but this was my very first experience with the science fair fun.  

I am so proud of miss Maddie who amazingly took 2nd place for the 5th grade!  Go girl!

Yes, we worked on it together.  I tried to have her work with her dad for the final push (because I had some sewing to do), but she would have none of it.  So, we spent 3 hours the Saturday before, working hard together, trying to make everything the way she wanted it.  I typed, while she read to me what she wanted the things to say.  

After winning, Bj wondered if we did too much for her.  Honestly, I think not.   After seeing what all the kids did, it was easy to see which kids worked hard, and which ones didn't. I think she just did her assignment.  Yeah, I typed up her results, but many parents did that.  She is one amazing young woman, and I am glad to be her mother.

It was so fun to go to the science fair where so many members of our ward were there.  Their kids did well too, 1st place, honorable mention, and 2nd were awarded to members of our ward.  Go WARD!

Ahhhhh!

That's all I can say when I see this picture of my boy....ahhhh!  He is one super cutie pie.  And you know what?  He knows it.  He hams it up for anyone and everyone so they will smile at him and give him the attention he has come to know and love so much.


Noah is getting so big.  It is breaking my heart, but I am excited about his new growth and excitement for life.   This is what Noah is up to now:

• emptying any cupboard, shelf, or drawer he can get his hands on
• running outside at any possible moment
• learning wipe his nose
• helps me get dressed (loves to pull up my pants)
• still lovin' the bottle
• loves dogs and makes dog noises
• getting new teeth
• digs through the trash
• will play with a dirty diaper if he can get his hands on them
• climbs up the playhouse and goes down the slide
• loves to swing
• enjoys reading time at the library
• thinks his elephant book is a riot
• throws phones into garbages full of water, requiring his mother to purchase a new phone

He is an absolute joy.  Seriously.  I love him to pieces, even if my house is a total disaster whenever he is awake (luckily, he is asleep right now, and the house is spic and span).

In other news....

Madeline took 2nd in the science fair.  I am so proud of her, she worked hard, and she was recognized for it.    Go Madeline....(pictures to come later)!

Sicko

It's that season. 

We were sick with the stomach flu last week.

This week, the sickness is a little more like a cold.

My dream is to be moderately productive.

Keep Dreaming!

Blowing Results.....

Elizabeth

 Bj

Madeline 

 Yours Truly

Mitchell

I must say, {even though I probably should keep my thoughts to myself}, that Heavenly Father must really like Mitchell.  Why?  12 hours after we got these back from the glass shop, he was dinking (yes, it's a real word) around before school one day, bumping the ornaments together to make fun sounds.  If that isn't bad enough (can't you see the issue?....new glass banging against each other is a sure recipe for disaster if you ask me), while he was banging his ornament against mine, he lost them both and they dropped on the tile floor.

At this time, I had heard the ornaments banging together, and I ran downstairs to see him picking up the ornaments off the tile.  They were whole.  I could hardly believe it.  Mitchell is one lucky soul, because he only got a good scolding.  Mitchell is counting his blessings!

That Blows!

Saturday our family had a fairly busy day.  One of the fun activities we had the day was Glass Blowing.  You heard me right, we all made our own glass ornaments.  Where?  At the Sonoran Glass Art Academy.

We got to choose our own colors, texture, swirls, etc.... It was so fun.  I was a little nervous about the kids being around something so HOT, but we were well protected, and the instructors did a great job.

Here is Mitch starting the blowing process.   It takes a lot of breath to get  the "bubble" started, and he did a great job.  Interesting fact:  Mitchell's colors were green and blue....that glass was pretty hot!

This is Liz working in the furnace to warm up her glass and get it uniform.

Here she is doing a great job blowing her ornament.

My tough guy was fun.  Glass was periodically exploding (in a controlled environment), but it made Bj a little jumpy.  I loved it.

Madeline was a little tentative to do this, so she chose to go last.  She did a great job, and made a beautiful ornament.  After our afternoon of fun, the kids were all too excited, and they have dreams of taking tons of glass blowing classes.  That sounds like a blast to me...but maybe, just maybe a tad expensive.