Halloween Party

In Which Grant Paints a Gourd

I helped out at preschool one day this week. When I asked Jackson what he thought of me helping he said, “You can come for a little while, but then you have to leave.” I stayed for about half the time, and he seemed to enjoy having me there. I think I will go again this week; they said they could use some extra help with Halloween crafts on Thursday. I really enjoyed watching him in this type of atmosphere, but it was weird being somewhere where he knew the teachers and kids and I really didn’t.

Friday night the boys got dressed up in their football player costumes and we went to a MOMS Club Halloween party. Jackson especially loved the fishing pond and we came home with way too many stickers that he “caught.” Grant had a good time painting a gourd and got a kick out of trying to eat a doughnut off a string.

Yesterday in a moment of desperation I called my friend to watch the boys because I needed to go out on a date. Brian and I went shopping and to dinner. We wandered around the toy section at Target brainstorming about what to get the boys for Christmas. I really loved Christmas shopping. But to Brian’s surprise I didn’t buy anything!

The past few nights/mornings Grant has had a “yucky cough” as he says and today it was pretty bad. So he and I stayed home from church, while Brian took Jackson. Grant was sad, but we read stories and played.

Blowing Leaves

In Which We Tire of Raking

We finished our week helping with the homeless shelter! Everything went pretty smoothly and was an overall success.

Tuesday through Friday Grant had the stomach flu. He seemed to be feeling okay, but his diapers told otherwise. He was a little whiny, but not too bad. I was the only other one who caught it, and I was only sick for a day though.

The leaves have begun to fall from our trees and cover our yard. I asked a friend of ours if he knew where we could rent a leaf blower. We are tired of the raking-for-2-weeks-straight routine. He said that he had one we could borrow. It looks like a lawn mower. Brian was able to get the back yard leaves cleaned up in a couple of hours. The boys had a good time playing in the leaves too. Luckily for them the trees are only about half empty so there will be plenty more leaves to play with.

Jackson gave a talk in primary today. He helped Brian write it last night, practiced it one time and then read it to the primary today with only one or two mistakes. He read a scripture last week after about the same amount of practice and wowed the primary with his reading skills. It’s really a wonderful feeling to see him succeed at something he loves to do.

Jackson and Grant love watching the baseball playoffs whenever they get the chance. They also end up acting out what’s on TV. Jackson (with Brian’s help of course) has started to recognize a few players by their batting stances. He even pretends to adjust his batting gloves. And Grant waves an imaginary bat, then runs full speed down the hall, turns around, and falls down on the rug shouting, “Safe!”

First Day of Preschool

In Which Jackson Goes to School

Jackson had his first week of preschool. When we were on our way for his first day he was very disappointed to find out that I had to walk him to his classroom—he just wanted me to drop him at the curb. Apparently, he’s ready to be away from me. He seems to be doing very well. I can’t get him to tell me very much about it, but he comes home exhausted and his teachers have had nothing but good things to say. Grant takes a nap at the same time Jackson’s gone, so I have loved my afternoons to myself.

Grant keeps asking to use the potty, so we decided that since we would be home most of the weekend due to conference (which was wonderful), we would try to potty train him. This afternoon Grant came running into the living room wearing only a shirt excitedly telling me that he peed on his bedroom floor. Unfortunately for me, he was telling the truth. I was glad that he recognized he shouldn’t go in his underwear but it wasn’t that much fun cleaning it up. Luckily the next time he went was on the potty. Baby steps.

Brian and Jackson have graduated from UNO, and now they play a baseball game with the cards. Any number card is an out, the Skips and Reverses are singles, the Wilds are homeruns, etc. Brian says he used to play games like this all time when he was younger, and it’s tough to say who’s had more fun with it—him or Jackson.

Trick-or-treating

Alpaca Farm Tour

Wednesday, the boys and I went to an alpaca farm with MOMS Club. I hadn’t seen an alpaca up close before, but they are incredibly friendly. When we walked up to the fence all the alpacas walked over by us to see the kids. They are easily spooked and don’t like to be petted, so when we went into the fenced area we had to walk with our hands behind our backs. I assumed that the kids wouldn’t really do this and we’d have to watch them very closely, but they were great. Even Grant remembered to keep his hands back.

Thursday night we attended Jackson’s preschool orientation. He got to meet his teachers and classmates. He starts tomorrow and he’s pretty excited. One teacher came over earlier in the week to meet him. I don’t think Monday can come soon enough.

Brian’s face gets really dry when he shaves, so every once in a while he grows a goatee for a few days to give his face a break. When Jackson saw Brian’s goatee this morning he said, “I used to have a beard, when I was three.” Brian asked him what happened to it, and Jackson said, “It went away when I was resurrected, when I was three.” Jackson repeated that story to a few different people today.

Saturday afternoon we drove to a nearby campground where some friends were staying for the weekend. The campground had trick-or-treating and a couple other Halloween things. We don’t have the boys’ costumes yet, so Jackson was a farmer again (he was last year), but he insisted on wearing a baseball hat under his farmer’s hat. Grant was a football player, but I didn’t bring makeup to put lines under his eyes, and we don’t have his helmet or football pants. So they weren’t super dressed up, but it worked. There were tons of people there. One person counted 260 trick-or-treaters. Once Grant realized what was being put in his bag, he was excited. He would open the bag 15 feet ahead of time, so he’d be ready. But he said, “Thanks” (which sounds like “Aches” when he says it) every time without needing to be prompted. We came home with tired, cold kids (I left the sweatshirts on the counter at home) and a ton of candy.

Tooth Story

Thursday afternoon the boys were sitting at the table playing with play dough. I was in the room but had my back turned when I heard Grant fall off the chair. I scooped him up thinking he had just hit his head really hard on the ground, but soon realized that his mouth was bleeding pretty badly. Apparently, he hit his two front teeth on the edge of the kitchen table on his way down, knocking one tooth completely out. After a frantic call to Brian, I called our dentist and they got us right in. By the time we got to the dentist, Grant was back to his normal self and didn’t seem bothered anymore. The dentist looked at his remaining teeth and noticed that one tooth was knocked back.

He sent us to a new pediatric dentist in the area. She was wonderful. Grant was very willing to let her see his teeth (he wouldn’t let the first dentist) and had a great time playing with all the toys. The X-rays show that one tooth is knocked back and the other front tooth appears to have shifted. We are waiting for two weeks to see if they change, and then they will probably pull them. There are different options for “party teeth” as our dentist calls them, since she doesn’t feel they are necessary. They are similar to dentures and attach to the back teeth like braces. We’ll see. The alternative is that he would be missing his two front teeth plus one more for the next four years or so when his adult teeth grow in.