Christmas card 2013

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Funny quotes/stories

1. So today I was talking to the boys about how Derek is eating so much and he's going to catch up to Joseph! Joseph had to let us all know that Derek might get bigger than him, but he will ALWAYS be older! Then we got into the discussion about how all my siblings are taller than me, even the ones that I am older than and they chastised me for not eating enough when I was young and I tried to explain to them that I ate a lot, but just didn't get tall. 2. Joseph claims he can speak "baby". He's always translating for Grant and telling me what to say in "baby" when I want him to say milk, or other words Grant refuses to say. The other night he told everyone that his name had a "d" in it. We asked him to explain and he explained that in "baby" his name is "Doodah" so that means his name has a D in it! 3. Derek is obsessed with learning everything about everything and his latest obsession is science, specifically the human body. I have been reading him this book and we had just learned about the digestive system, so now he's always telling everyone (including guests we had over for dinner) to chew their food really good so they don't get a tummy ache! 4. Derek also got ants in the mail this week for his ant farm and he has been SOOO proud of his hard working ants! It's hard to keep up with boy! 5. We found out some good news this week from Aunt Katie. She finally has a baby in her tummy! When I told be boys they were jumping and shouting for joy (even Grant) and that night Derek said the prayer and of course blessed Aunt Sheri on her mission and that mommy would get a baby in her tummy. After he finished, right away he said, "I didn't have to pray for Aunt Katie to get a baby in her tummy because she already has one!" 6. So Derek has always been against any nicknames we give him, but we finally found one that he likes and it's "Derek Dependable" It's a perfect name for him and he's proud of it. So tonight we decided to give the other boys nicknames and we came up with "Joseph Courageous" and "King Grant" and Joseph named me "Nurse Mom" or "The Mad Scientists' helper" We are still working on Wayne's name.

funny story update

~We were playing a new game that Derek got for his birthday called "Beat the Parents" Here are some of the questions the boys tried to answer. (They did beat us by the way...) 1. Question: Who was first person to walk the moon? Answer by Derek: "Jesus!" 2. Question: How old do you have to be to vote in most countries? Answer by Joseph: "100!" ~So I volunteered at Joseph's school to teach this class called Jr. Achievement. I called Joseph up to play this game. He acted out a job, the class guessed what it was (car mechanic), then we gave him play money to go buy something. He could have picked a Nintendo, dog, house, food, or toy, but NO, what did MY son choose??? A COLLEGE DIPLOMA! I was a proud mom! He's teacher's pet even when his mom is teaching! He got his first report card. 97% in each subject and the teacher says he is such a hard worker! We are so proud of him and so happy to have a first child who is such a great example! ~Joseph and Derek also wrote letters to their teacher Ms. Wolan this weekend (Joseph's idea) Joseph's letter says, Dear Ms. Wolan, I love you so much. Thank you for all the work you give me. Love, Joseph Derek's letter says, "To: Ms. Wolan From: Derek I miss you so much because Jr. Achievement is over." We are going to look into seeing if I can volunteer to read to the class once a week or something. Derek made some cute friends in Joseph's class. There is this cute boy named Max with long red hair who loves for Derek to sit by him and is so sweet to him! ~This little old lady in our ward named Margie died this week. She was born deaf, but was always so sweet and happy. The boys got to know her pretty well because we visited sometimes and were good friends with her caregiver Faith. Anyway, on the way to church Joseph asked, "Where's Margie mom?" I said, "She's in heaven." He said, "No, her spirit is in heaven, where is her body?" We then explained that it is being flown to Utah where she will be buried next to her husband. He then said he was sad because he wouldn't get to see her body again. He's such a little tender heart! ~This week was the primary program. The boys read their parts. Derek read his like a speed boat going 100mph! They were so cute! ~Grant is finally adjusting to nursery! HOORAY!

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Funny moment

So I was getting Grant dressed and realized he had a rash so I left his diaper off and ran downstairs to grab cream. Well, sure enough the boys start screaming. MOM, Grant went stinkies on the carpet!!! I started heading upstairs and I could hear Joseph dry heaving. I told him, "Get AWAY from the stinkies! Don't throw up!" His response was, "Mom, (cough cough), I think I'm allergic to stinkies" Sure enough, Grant had smeared stinkies all over the carpet. Wow, destruction can happen fast when you are dealing with little boys!

more funny quotes

1. Wayne gave a lesson for family night on faith and testimony. We decided to have the boys practice bearing their testimony. Wayne and I went first and then Joseph went. His went something like this, "I'd like to bear my testimony that I love church because of German pancakes and crepes." Well, it was hard not to laugh, but when we did he looked at us like, "I'm serious, why are you laughing?" He continued on to bear a normal testimony after with your typical, "the prophet is true, the scriptures are true..." Afterwards, we realized that he associated German pancakes and crepes with Sunday because that's the day we usually make them. It was so funny! Derek followed up by bearing his testimony. His also started out funny. "I'd like to bear my testimony that when we eat we need to keep the table clean and not make messes!"(We had just had a family council on this) He was also super serious and then went on to bear a normal testimony. I seriously couldn't help it! I was laughing so hard! 2. So Grant is really starting to enjoy books. He loves animal books and of COURSE cars, trucks, and train books. Yesterday he found a lightening McQueen book and was pointing to a page and and said "Oh Wow!" Then he turned the page and AGAIN, "Oh wow!" he just kept going and going. "Oh wow!" It was so cute! 3. Also yesterday, I was reading books to Derek and my eyes started getting heavy so after I finished I dozed off on the couch. Derek went off to play computer games and Grant was just in the family room playing with cars and trains. Well, I fell into a deeper sleep than expected and when I woke up, the house was silent. I went in and asked Derek where Grant was, he had no idea. I went upstairs and finally found him in the office with another car book. He didn't see me, but I saw him pointing to each car and saying, "Car, brrrrroooom, car, brrrooom, car, brroooom," over and over and over. I was thinking, how long has he been doing this? 4. So yesterday Derek told me he had a dream that I had a baby in my tummy. Well, not true, YET. Hopefully it's a vision of things to come;)

quotes of the week!

1. Grant is starting to say more words and has a new obsession with trains. He is really good at saying "Choo Choo!" Derek noticed his increase in speech and stated, "Mom, Grant speaks human now!" 2. Wayne brought home some freshly picked cotton and the boys have spent all evening picking out the seeds. They are planning on stuffing it in their pillow pets and dogs that are falling apart and losing their fluff. I commented on how hard they were working and Derek says, "Yes, we aren't even getting tired!" (It's been close to 2 hours) Joseph's reply, "Yeah, it's called stamina!"

summer update

Sorry it's been SOOO long since we've given you an update! We have had a busy, but FUN summer! The Grantser is still the funniest, cutest thing EVER! He is starting to say new words. He loves to point to pictures of Jesus and the Temple and he'll actually say JESUS and POPO for temple. We just discovered that he LOVES plums too. He is constantly going to the fridge and asking for an apple because he thinks every round fruit is an apple. He also loves to dance. Today the boys were banging on their "drums" (pots and pans) when I went to put Grant down for a nap. I laid him down in his crib and he was smiling and dancing to their music. This afternoon I figured since the boys were so excited about music I would give them a little lesson on rhythm. I taught them quarter, half, and whole note and then we played some music. Then they said they wanted to learn piano, so they each took turn having a lesson, and Joseph was so excited he wanted to do a second lesson. They both did GREAT! Their reading skills are also coming along great. They practice every night at scripture study. We read out of the Children's Scriptures that have pictures. They totally are understanding the stories. It's awesome! Joseph is excited to meet his teacher tomorrow for 1st grade! He starts school on Monday. Derek is going to do a "Smash Kids" program one day a week at the stake center. They do music, science, crafts, and cooking. That boy is SOOOO smart! When he starts kindergarten next year, well....we'll just see. We were playing golf the other day, you know the game with Rook cards. Anyway, he looks at my cards, then looks at his and say, mom we have the same amount of points! I had an 8 and a 3, he had a 7 and a 4. It took me a second to figure out that he was right and I was shocked that he had just done that in his head! The boys are still obsessed with Star Wars. They are still saving their money to buy parts to make a "REAL" R2D2. Joseph is learning really well the difference between good and evil. He pointed out something really good the other day. We were reading a book on dependability and Joseph says, " Mom just because that man is not dependable doesn't mean he is evil." I thought that was pretty good for him to recognize that!

May 11th Quotes/stories of the week: 1. The boys are continuing to love swim team, but Grant is really jealous. He walks along the edge of the pool and occasionally tries to push me in! 2. Grant’s hair IS getting lighter. I call it GOLD. Believe it or not Derek does NOT start kindergarten this year. He doesn’t turn 5 until September. He will just have to sit at home and read chapter books I’m actually glad I get to keep him home another year because he is very helpful around the house and helps Grant stay entertained as well. 3. This week there was a crazy thunderstorm and Joseph came home and said, “Mom it rained HARD today, we were in art class and everyone was FREAKING OUT!” It was kind of funny to hear him talk like that! 4. So Joseph has been obsessed with “non-fiction”. He is so proud that he always picks out non-fiction books at the library. The other day he came home from school and we had some family videos on. He says, “Mom, this REALLY happened. It’s non-fiction.” It was so cute. 5. For FHE on Monday we were talking about families being sealed for eternity. Somehow Wayne mentioned that his Grandma Nichols was still alive, but that Grandpa Nichols had gone to heaven a few years ago. A little while later we look at Joseph and he has tears in his eyes and is getting emotional. We asked him what was wrong and he says, “ I REALLY miss Grandpa Nichols.” (He died when Wayne was in high school.) We explained to him that is why we are so happy that we can be together forever in heaven. His response was, “ I REALLY hope Grandma Nichols has a friend.” We tried to explain that she actually did remarry someone, but for time only… Who knew FHE could get so deep with a 6 yr old? 6. So we’ve discovered that Grant LOVES avocados. When you put them on his tray his starts giggling! It’s so funny! 7. Yesterday I donated my hair. It is about shoulder length now. Today I showed Joseph my donated hair braids because I realized he hadn’t seen them yet. He says, “What’s that?” I said, “my hair! Didn’t you notice I got a haircut?” Joseph: “NO! I didn’t know they did that to you!” Seriously Jo! I chop 11 inches off my hair and you don’t even notice???

funny stories/quotes update

1. Amy: Derek, I have just a couple bites of sweet potatoes left do you want them? Derek (very sweet and sincere): No thanks, but they were REALLY good! Thank you so much for making them! Amy: I LOVE you Derek! (seriously, he’s so awesome!) 2. So the boys did a little 1 mile fun run that our stake put on. Afterward, this was the boys’ conversation in the car… Joseph: When I was running Satan tried to tell me to give up, but I didn’t want to give up so I kept going. Derek: Ooohhhh, you didn’t want to listen to Satan Jo??? Joseph: Nope, I wanted to finish the race! 3. So, the boys are obsessed with Star Wars! Joseph is saving his money to build a REAL R2D2. Derek wants an R4D17. The other day I put my hair up to go swimming and Joseph told me I looked like Padme Amidala (Anakin’s wife, not sure how much you know about star wars) This year we are planning a star wars theme for Halloween. I think Grant will be Yoda or R2D2… 4.Wayne’s been planting lots of stuff in the backyard and the berries are starting to produce well! Derek has his own blueberry bush and occasionally will sit outside and guard it from the birds! 5.The boys have both started swim team. Derek is excited about getting his pictures taken and earning ribbons and a trophy. He’s already planning on beating Joseph, but he has his work cut out for him! 6.Grant is walking all over the place. He loves to sing along with the primary songs in the car and he loves to do the “trumpet” on “Here’s a Ball for Baby.” Joseph and Derek are both really good with him. He makes things pretty fun around here! 7.Joseph and Derek both figured out how to do flips on the tramp. Grant also loves to walk around on the trampoline. 8.Both Joseph and Derek have become REALLY good readers! Grant likes to read too, but he thinks he has to touch every page because his favorite books have things like “soft duck” or “bumpy frog” 9. Amy: Goodnight my little Padowans! Derek: We are still Younglings mom!

Grant walking

Rhino Grant

GoGo Jo

Calipso

Elvis song