Merry Christmas!

Here is The Brittonian, Christmas Edition 2008:

So, what’s the deal with this “time” stuff anyway? It’s like it NEVER stops!

And so here we are again at this point in our solar orbit when the snow is falling in our northern hemispheric part of the world and we are preparing to celebrate the birth of Christ at its traditional wintertime observance.

Also by tradition, the Britton family offers this newsletter, The Brittonian, as a convenient way to summarize our family’s ups and downs of the past annum and to send you our fairest greetings.

Let’s break it down into easily-digestible parts for your Christmas dinner-laden tummies:

Whole Family: We’ve had joys, challenges, triumphs and sorrows in 2008. Notably, we are sad to report the loss of Jean’s brother James, who was 28. It was a shock to us all when a motorcycle accident took his life in August. We miss him.

Seth: Our little guy is nothing short of spectacular. He is the kindest, sweetest, most polite little person around. He is sharp as a Christmas ornament hanger-thingy and says the funniest stuff. He loves to sing and read and is still obsessed with trains (especially Thomas). He loves to laugh, he’s affectionate, and he’s a wonderful example to his parents. He can be a rascal, though: one of his favorite words is “no” and he will drive a hard bargain to try to get what he wants (which usually consists of staying up later). He is very independent and wants to try to do things himself before asking for help. This year’s big triumph: he has pretty much mastered using the remote control, and going in the potty. Yay for Seth!

Jean: The mommy of the Britton family stays plenty busy, keeping up with Seth and putting up with Michael. She has been involved in a neighborhood preschool with Seth that rotates from home to home of the participants, takes Seth to karate lessons, and still finds time to keep her Scentsy wickless candles business rolling along. This year, Jean was called into a leadership position in church (2^nd counselor in the Relief Society presidency), which has also kept her calendar full. This year’s big triumph: potty training Seth. Yay for Mommy!

Michael: Michael changed jobs in March of 2008, but is still working with words for a living. Speaking of which, Michael spent two weeks in October on the Oregon coast at an intense workshop for commercial fiction writers. It was absolutely fantastic, and has opened some important doors for Michael’s career aspirations. He’s currently working on a thriller novel that he’ll be sending off to New York early in the coming year. Dedicated to his goals, he writes fiction nearly every day. Michael is still working with the young men at church (Teachers Quorum assistant) and still has big plans to start working out one day. This year’s big triumph: Honorable Mention in four out of the last five Writers of the Future contests. Yay for Michael!

We’ve had a year full of days, weeks, and sometimes even months. It’s hard to say where we’ll be a year from now, other than at this exact same place in the solar orbit. But one thing we do know: we’re glad we know you; and we’re grateful for the birth, life, death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Okay, that’s two things. Ah well – Michael wrote this – blame him.

With warm wishes for a very merry Christmas!

Love, The Brittons

Those Pesky Undies (yes, they're Thomas undies)

Seth has been doing really well with his potty training...in fact, I wouldn't call it training at all anymore. He can sure hold it a looooong time though! If he is really into his playing, he has a really hard time leaving it to go potty. He'll start to dance and wiggle, anything to keep from having to stop playing to go potty.

So, I say "Do you need to go potty?"

And he replies "No. I just don't want to go potty."

A minute later "Seth, I can tell tell you need to go potty."

"No. I don't have to go potty." is his very firm reply

"Are you sure?"

"No, I'm not sure!" (which means, 'yes, I'm sure I don't have to go potty.')

"Come on, Seth, let's go potty."

"NO!"

And so, he continues to dance and wiggle until he just can't stand it anymore and he'll say "Mommy, I need to go potty!" then we rush to the potty.

So, the other morning we went through this potty ritual then I told him to go into his bedroom and put his undies on. As I was waiting for him to reappear, I heard him say "Not quite right, please try again." (Which is a direct quote from a Thomas game on one of his DVD's) Then he came around the corner, taking very small steps, with both legs in the same hole of the undies, saying "Help! Help!"

Seth's First Hand made Ornament (and the Balloon Story)

Seth goes to a neighborhood preschool and they had a Christmas party on Thursday where he made an ornament and got a balloon. When mommy picked Seth up that day, he insisted on holding his balloon. Mommy told him to hold on tight or the balloon would go up in the sky and not come back. Of course, as soon as we walked out the door, Seth let go of the balloon! When Seth realized that mommy had kept hold of the end of the balloon, he was very upset and said he wanted the balloon to go up in the sky! So mommy acquiesced and Seth let the balloon go up in the sky. As he was admiring his flying balloon and saying "bye balloon", mommy asked Seth to get into the van. Seth then said "Come down balloon! Come down!" but, of course, the balloon did not obey. When Mommy finally convinced Seth that the balloon could not come down, Seth got into the van. As he climbed into his car seat, he said "Go fly van to get it?"

My Boys

I just wanted to share one of my favorite pics of Michael and Seth. I love these two boys so much, my heart almost bursts with joy.

(Per Dottie's request, I have made the pics bigger)







Seth wore his costume wonderfully for our church Halloween party and he looked so handsome and I kept telling Michael "we can get pics of the two of you on Halloween, don't worry about it tonight." Well, Seth would NOT put on his Lone Ranger outfit for preschool the day before Halloween. Halloween day, Michael had trick or treating at work so I had to force Seth - with much yelling and many tears - to put the outfit on. Again, no pics. Seth was so tired when we got home that he would not take a nap until I took his Lone Ranger outfit off and, of course, we did not get it back on. These are 2 pics one of Michael's co-workers took.

Playing Catch Up

Yum, yum, yummy bananas!

So, I finally uploaded pics for August, September and October! And I see lots of cute stuff so I'm going to do some back-tracking...

The picture below is from Dottie's visit in August. I cannot believe that my sweet, innocent, darling, little boy is a BULLY! Poor Olivia, who is only 1 yr. old and weighs about 15 lbs. soaking wet, was so picked on. Seth did not want her to touch his toys, his tv, his piano, his mommy, nothing that was his. And when she did, he would push her! One time, the kids were playing outside and Dottie and I hear crying - Dottie runs outside to see Seth has pushed Olivia to the ground and every time she tries to get up, he pushes her back down. What am I going to do with my little bully?


More to come!

Happy Halloween! (more Toddler Talk)

Seth and Michael are dressing as The Lone Ranger and Tonto this year. Last night we had our ward Halloween Carnival and Seth got to have his first taste of trick-or-treating around the church. He had so much fun gathering all that candy! Tonto took The Lone Ranger around and reported to mommie later that The Lone Ranger was very polite and always said "thank you". As we were talking about it, Seth got into the conversation and said "trick-or-treat" and mommie said "that's right, and then what do you say?" Seth promptly replied "more candy please!"

More Toddler Talk

As part of Seth's bedtime routine, Michael always reads a couple of verses from the Book of Mormon. The other night, as Michael sat down on his bed and opened the scriptures, Seth climbed up beside him and said, "And it came to pass..." So, even though he reads other books, plays with his trains, and climbs on his crib during scripture time- we know he's been listening!

Blessing James' Kids

James had planned to bless his children before he passed. I'm so glad Dalina (his wife) went forward with the blessings. When Dan (my older brother) started to bless J.J., I suddenly had this feeling *James is here*. It brought instant tears. I know others felt Jimmy's presence too. Dan gave a wonderful blessing to J.J. (which brought many more tears). The blessing especially reminded me of how kind Jimmy always was. Dalina's dad blessed Mariah. It was nice to see everyone again.
(I borrowed these pics from my sis-in-law's blog, thanks, Mel)

Toddler Talk

This morning I was trying to remove a huge sticker from a stock pot I had purchased. I expected the sticker to come right off but, alas, it just kept ripping (I hate it when stores do that) so I said "you have got to be kidding me!" Immediately following my exclamation, Seth responded (in a very serious tone) "No, I'm not kidding."

James Luke Scarbrough 1980 - 2008

It's been a few weeks since James' passing. Even though life seems to be somewhat back to normal, I think of him often. In the car the other night, I was listening to Josh Groban's "To Where You Are" (to hear it, click on the song title) - some of the words really struck me and I started tearing up. But I really started crying when I thought of Dalina (James' wife) and her children - they must miss him so much. I can't imagine the hole they must feel in their lives.

I wasn't a very good sister to James sometimes and I really regret that. I really hope that I can do better in the future - not only to be a better sister but to be a better mother, wife, and daughter. I love you James, and I am missing your calls saying "I don't want anything, I just want to see how you're doing." I will miss lecturing you about how much your Heavenly Father loves you - I hope you know now.

August 5, 2008 - Seth's Super Fun Birthday

Seth's birthday party was so much fun! Seth invited the few friends he plays with most and we decorated party hats and treat bags, played "freeze train", and ate yummy Thomas the Tank Engine birthday cake. But, no matter how many fun things we did, Seth kept going to the shelf where the gifts were wanting to open his "pre-ssents". He received some wonderful gifts, including a Thomas outfit, the jacket of which he would not take off until he received his Thomas jammies later that night (in 90 degree weather)! He also received an awesome track set, a mini Thomas Take-and-Play set and a bouncy ball you sit on. Oh, he also received the Thomas slippers he's been asking about for months! At the end of the day I just kept telling everyone how much fun we had...It was a really great day.

Following the Crowd...

So, now that I've yelled at everyone for not telling me about their blogs, I have been coerced into "Baaa-ing" with the rest of you sheep! That being said, I'm actually looking forward to sharing all my exciting and wonderful news with the rest of the caring world. I know you cannot wait to hear my fantastic tales of stains on my shirts, Thomas the Tank Engine escapades, and adventures in potty-training: in which, I'm finding Seth is not very adventurous.
But, you'll have to wait until I feel like typing all that poop.
(pun intended)