Family

Christmas Goodies...

Project #1: Bake Gingerbread Cookies - try to stuff as many "RedHots" on one cookie as possible, followed by oodles of icing. Oh, and be sure to eat three RedHots for every one you smoosh into a cookie. That's the best way!








Project #2: Make a Christmas Tree out of green handprint-cutouts. Enthusiasm for the project only lasts about 3 minutes so glue on as many as you can; then just leave the rest for Mom. If you encounter trouble mastering your fine-motor skills, it's quite helpful to stick out your tongue. Try it, it really works!





Project #3: Survive a sitting on Santa's lap at the Ward Christmas party. While he might seem a little intimidating, he really is a jolly good fellow - we got a bag of treats from him to prove it. That alone made the uncomfortable visit totally worth it...



Project #4: Welcome Uncle Kirk home from his mission to Calgary Alberta Canada. Our parents say Kirk didn't grow or change a bit over the last two years, but we sure look a lot different to him - we can talk, walk, and wrestle him now! We get along pretty great and had no problems warming right up to him. Uncles sure are great!







Project #5: Enjoy Christmas at Grandma and Grandpa Stapley's house. Indulge in watching LOTS of Christmas movies, playing outside, eating DELICIOUS food, munching on peppernuts, etc. Christmas Eve we followed some traditions that Mom is accustomed to - (1) having "Cheeseball Fights" (this was totally new to us, but so awesome. They said that you can't find the same exact cheeseball puffs that they used growing up. Aunt Holly found a comparable item but they are ginormous; one barely fits inside a grown-ups mouth so it's kind of hard to aim good enough to throw it into someones else's mouth. Makes for a good game and some great laughs). (2) Act out the nativity - all you need is a bunch of pillowcases, towels, and ties, and baby doll, and the Bible. (3) Open one present Christmas Eve. (4) Set out cookies and milk for Santa and carrots for his reindeer.












My parents made all the little boys their own wooden horse to go along with the wooden rifles they got for birthdays this year. They are a BIG hit!

Brexton turns 2...

It's crazy to me that Brexton is only turning 2 years old. Perhaps it's because I can hardly remember only have one child. Perhaps it's because he can do most everything that Garrett can do. He's been speaking in sentences for at least 4 months now. Regardless of his age though, WE LOVE HIM! :)



A few things about Brexton...

Brexton is our little "hat" boy. He wears a hat constantly... occasionally wearing it while sleeping too. I find it hilarious that he is so particular with how he wears it. He insists that it be pulled down nearly over his eyes. To see anything he has to crank his head back and look down his nose. Seriously makes me laugh. Don't even try to adjust the hat upwards because he'll yank it right down.

He is obsessed with "ouchies" and blemishes. He is sure to point out every spot and ask, "What's that, Mom? Ouchy? Get it off."

He is doomed for some major orthodontic work. I've never seen baby teeth so crammed in one little mouth, but even so his smile is enough to melt even the toughest of hearts. Something about his eyes, sweet peronality, tender heart, and contagious smile allows him to nestle into your soul creating and reserving a soft spot just for him.

His nursery leader MaryAnn Millsaps shared a sweet story about him. On this particular Sunday one of the girls in his class had a meltdown over a toy grocery cart that was swiped by another child. As Brexton recognized her dismay he picked out a doll and gently handed it to her with a smile. When he saw that the other child had finished playing with the grocery cart he promptly wheeled it over to the little girl saying it was her turn now. What a sweet little boy. He is destined for great things!

Brexton is so great at sharing. If Garrett gets nasty and tries to swipe the toy Brexton is playing with, Brexton definitely stands up for himself. But as soon as Garrett remembers to ask nicely for a turn when Brexton is done, Brexton sweetly hands it over and says "your turn, Garrett." This pattern also applies to food/snacks - and Garrett is all over that. I'm sure that Garrett already does and will probably continue to take advantage of Brexton's spirit of giving. There are times when I want to (and sometimes do) pipe in and tell Garrett to leave Brexton alone and let him eat his food/play with his toy in peace. But I don't want to ruin his generous tendencies for the sake of a small selfish indulgence. If someone else wants what he has and he's willing to give it, I'm sure he will be blessed with all that he needs in this life. That is profound... it's amazing what these little people teach me everyday. They have surely changed my life.

I LOVE YOU BREXTON!

The camera loves him, too...




Getting a HAPPY BIRTHDAY call from Grandma...

Happy Halloween....

So my kids really aren't excited about Halloween... and I couldn't be happier. With Garrett's nut allergy I'm a little scared about trick-or-treating and all that stuff especially since he doesn't know a nutty candy from one that's not. We stepped inside a PartyCity looking for something totally un-Halloween related but there were monsters and goblins everywhere. I think they were scarred for life. A house on our street gets all decked out with zombies, graves, spiders, beetlejuice characters, spooky trees, etc. They even mow "BOO" in their grass. After all that scary stuff Garrett and Brexton got to where they even hated pumpkins! I tried to get them to wear an orange pumpkin shirt from Old Navy (not even a Jack-o-lantern... just a pumpkin) and Garrett literally went BaZerk! Good thing I didn't plan any costumes because there's no way that would have happened.

I convinced them to let me carve our pumpkin. Once I showed Garrett how it could be like a puzzle he played with it endlessly. Putting the pieces in and popping them out... over and over and over.




At our Ward Halloween party Garrett won a Goldfish with black spots and we named him Elvis. We inherited four other fish from unwanting parents. Within the first week we witnessed the ending of the circle of life for four fish... being left with only the Elvis.

Garrett turns 3

October 29th was Garrett's Big 3rd Birthday. We kept it small but still tried to make it special. After he went to bed the night before I set his spot at the table with the "I am Special Today" (and every day) red plate, with three balloons, three curly ribbons, a HotWheels car, and a baseball glove and ball. I wish I'd captured his reaction with the video camera.



Garrett is my little ball of energy. I love his bubbly personality and his friendly disposition. I know that I've probably forgotten a ton of the funny/cute/sweet things he says and does, but I'm going to record those that I do remember... or else I'll forget them too :)

* There is hardly ever a morning that goes by that we don't have a warm breakfast together as a family. I love that start to our day. We were having pancakes for breakfast one morning as we often do and Garrett looks at me, grins, and says in a very animated voice "This is SO YUMMY-LICIOUS!" I laughed so hard. His newly invented word is now a common phrase at our house. I'll have to record him saying it because it really is priceless.

* I've been trying to keep it a secret from all the surrounding families in our ward for fear they might steal her, but we really do have the world's best babysitter. Rachel Jensen is ALWAYS our first pick and Garrett and Brexton LOVE having her come over. We regularly buy a large pepperoni pizza from Little Ceasars when she comes. Now whenever we order pizza Garrett assumes that Rachel gets to come play. If I come home with pizza and no Rachel he says, "Hey, Where's Rachel?"

* We were playing legos one morning and totally out of the blue Garrett says "I like dates." I smiled and agreed wholeheartedly that I love dates because I get to go out with Daddy. He smiled and said "I get to play with Rachel."

* My little sister Becca got married in June of this year. We found out in October that their first baby miscarried - and that she was alone when the doctor broke the news to her... still breaks my heart. I was explaining my tears to Garrett and how Becca wanted to have a healthy baby. When we knelt down for prayers that afternoon before nap time it was Garrett's turn. He repeats phrases as we say them but often fills in the blanks with his own thoughts and desires and expressions of gratitude. I had lead him to say, "Please bless Becca..." with the intent to finish it with "that she can feel loved and happy" but he beat me to the punch. He finished it even better, with sincere childlike honesty. "Please bless Becca have a baby." I had to pause a moment to cry. Now 2 months later he still prays for Becca, that she can have a baby.

* Now that we pray for Becca to have a baby, he assumes that lots of people want to have babies now too... like Mommy (yes, please)... and President Monson :) Ha!

* When Brexton has a toy that Garrett wants or if he is/isn't doing something that Garrett wants... Garrett says "Brexton, look at me. Look at me. Look at my eyes...." until Brexton responds and then Garrett explains to him what needs to happen. Can you guess what I say a million times a day?

* Garrett and Brexton have really come to LOVE Family Home Evening - for which I'm truly grateful because it makes following through on that important committment so much easier. We had a particularly creative and interactive lesson on Noah and the Ark where we talked about prophets and how Noah built an ark to hold two of each animal. Long before I ever had kids I saw a set of 10 animal finger puppets from Ikea - I bought two sets so I'd have two of each animal. We had the boys go out of the room and I hid one set throughout the family room and left the other set in the middle of the floor. Before Noah could leave we had to help each animal find their match. As they found the matching animals they would place the two of them in "Noah's Ark" (really a Fisher Price Pirate Ship :). It was the day after this FHE that Garrett came to me asking if we could have FHE again. I said we would surely have it next Monday evening again. Twenty minutes later I went into the family room to see two kitchen chairs pulled over in front of the couch (we do that to encourage reverence) and Garrett and Brexton were sitting there singing songs and looking at the Friend magazine. That sure was a proud mommy moment for me. So cute!

* When I offer two options to Garrett (both of which he likes) he says pointing to one "I want that one instead"... but what he means when he says that is that he really wants BOTH of them. For example: apples or cheese. "I want apples and cheese and apples instead. Okay?"

* Oh and I can't forget this one... GARRETT IS POTTY-TRAINED! Hallelujah!

Boutiques are OVER!

And boy am I glad about that. The boutiques engulfed 3 weekends of my time (and countless hours at the sewing machine since January) with little promise of return... until the last boutique when one lady came and bought 18 stockings for all her kids and grandkids. Thank you! Lesson learned though - no more boutiques :)

On to everything else that I've neglected to post about since forever ago...