I forgot part of the update :)

POTTY HUMOR WARNING: Grant has been learning when he’s pooping, and when he’s merely passing gas. We’ve been trying to not let it all turn into a big joke, and it’s been working. He’ll make a noise at the dinner table, and simply say, “No poop, just gas,” and then go on eating. Today, though, Brian gave Grant a bath. Standing naked in the hallway, Grant made a puddle of pee on the floor. When Brian noticed it, he asked Grant about it. Grant said, “No pee, just gas,” and ran into his room.

Santa!!

In Which Grant Does Not Pee in the Hallway

A couple of weeks ago, Grant colored on the wall. When I asked him if he did it, he said he did. I then said that he needed to go in time out because we don’t color on the wall, and he immediately said, “Brookie did it!” Brooke is a little girl we were watching at the time. Jackson pipes in from the other room, “Grant did it.” Grant never went back on his story even after time out.

Tuesday night Brian and I went on a date for my birthday. We went to dinner and then finished our Christmas shopping. Wednesday was my birthday, but we had a busy day and Brian had to go to mutual. So I made my own cake and the boys and I put a candle in each of our slices of cake, and we each blew one out.

Thursday afternoon we rang bells for the Salvation Army. We stood outside of Shopko in the frigid weather for 30 minutes. The boys had a pretty good time. They kept running in and out of the store, which got to be pretty annoying, but since they were so cute with their little bells, there were a lot of people that gave money.

Saturday night we had our Ward Christmas Party. Jackson was supposed to be a sheep in the nativity but he refused. So he just sat and watched them all. He did sit on Santa’s lap, which was an improvement over last year. Grant was hesitant, but he was brave so he could get the present.

ROAR!!

I'm really behind on editing my own photos. Here's one from Thanksgiving. Grant is playing tigers with my mom. Hopefully I'll get some more posted over Christmas or early in the new year.


In Which We Watch Christmas Conference

Thursday night I attended a mini enrichment volleyball game for the sisters at the church. There were 10 of us but only one or two of those present could actually play volleyball. Unfortunately, I was not one of them. We had a good time and I think we actually volleyed once or twice. It was nice to get a little exercise and we did have a lot of laughs.

Friday morning our MOMS Club decorated a Christmas tree at the library. The kids had made ornaments and they all helped decorate it. It was a little crazy because I had my friend’s two kids as well as my own, but I managed to not lose any of them and only one ornament was broken. Unfortunately it was from someone else’s tree.

Friday night I went to my scrapbook Crop Club. I recently purchased a new cartridge for my Cricut cutting machine and spent the whole time making birthday cards. Hopefully I will get them in the mail soon, so those of you who have December birthdays they will most likely be late, but homemade.

Jackson can read pretty well, but it’s a rare occasion when he will actually do it. So tonight we resorted to bribery. If he reads five books, then we will let him play the Wii. He thought that was a pretty good deal and read, One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss to us tonight and only needed help with 2 or 3 words.

We watched the First Presidency Christmas Devotional tonight, and the boys watched part of it before we sent them to bed. In Jackson’s prayer, he prayed that we could watch the rest of “Christmas Conference” tomorrow.

Hut, Hut, Hike!

Grandma Merritt Sent Halloween Lollipops

The boys

Ward Halloween Party

Unfortunatly, the helmets didn't last long enough
for the pictures.

In Which Brian is a Murderer

Brian spent a lot of time early this week with the Young Men making a haunted house for our Ward Halloween party, which was Wednesday night. The boys had a great time at the party, but we didn’t brave the haunted house. They had fun playing the games and getting treats. Jackson frosted a sugar cookie with really nasty green frosting. I think he had about an inch of frosting on the cookie and everyone was commenting on it. I do believe he ate the entire thing though.

Our Halloween celebration did not end there though. On Friday we went to NMU where the student center has trick-or-treating and the dorms have it too. Jackson was a hit in his Green Bay Packer costume and everyone thought Grant was a Chicago Bears player, but he really was from the Denver Broncos. Grant had a little case of the gimmies. After getting candy from the people giving it out, he kept going up to other trick-or-treaters and trying to get their candy, too.

My Grandma Lael (my dad’s mom) was in the hospital this week. It shook me up pretty good. I haven’t had someone close to me in the ICU in a long time. She seems to be doing much better today and appears to be recovering. The power of the priesthood, prayer and fasting really does work.

Last night Brian and I went to a Murder Mystery party for our friend’s 50th birthday. I was a wealthy daughter of the murder victim and Brian was my boyfriend and the chauffeur for the deceased. In the end we learned that Brian was actually my half-brother and the murderer. It was a really fun evening although at church today everyone was commenting on how he needed to repent and be in shackles.

The other day Jackson came in with his shirt tucked into his pants. He said, “It helps me walk better.”