Built our house...Now our family: Catch-Up Post - September thru 1st Part of December

Bryant and Trav had a day off of school and were checking out the Monopoly game.

Helena School District does a cool thing called Fabulous Firsts where every first grader gets a new book. Here's Bryant at the assembly

The fifth graders come in and read to them

I can't remember exactly when this happened, but my parents had the boys for some baking and both wanted to help!

Bryant definitely loves school and reading! This note from his teacher was only a couple weeks into school and we just had parent teacher conferences a couple weeks ago and he is still doing great!

He drew a picture of him and his teacher by a rainbow. It actually makes me a little sad to see these pictures because it seems he's grown up so much since I took the picture because his handwriting is so much better. They have had a big focus on handwriting so his "a" doesn't have a big tail anymore and the other day he erased his "i" because it had a lollipop dot.

Soccer studs!

I like Garrett's defensive stance and the intensity in his face!

Being a goofball in the car

You can just see the laughter in this picture. I love it when the boys play so well together!

Showing off their Aaron Judge jerseys that Grandma and Grandpa brought back after watching the Yankees play in Seattle. Garrett loves jerseys so you'll probably see it in several pictures throughout the rest of this post.

This was a separate day in the same jersey. This time we headed to Bozeman to watch a Bobcat football game.

Garrett slept through the whole first half!

The boys love it when they open up the field after the game.

We went to Costco afterwards to pick up Grandpa's glasses, so the boys wanted to try on their own glasses.

Garrett's version of Little Bunny Fu-Fu

Trav took this video before dropping Garrett off at school

Picture day!

And being so delayed in posting, we already have his pictures back! Just for fun, here's a picture of Travis, Bryant, and I - all in first grade! Who do you think Bryant looks more like? I say from the eyes up, he looks like Travis and the nose down, he looks like me.

Here's his first grade class.

Garrett found his Green Bay Packer hat and wanted his picture taken.

Garrett is growing up so fast too. It used to be so hard for him to do thumbs up. First we would say thumbs up and he would do #1 with his pointer finger. Then, like in this picture, he would use his other hand to help him get his thumb up. Now he can do it no problem. He was so proud of himself for doing this puzzle.

Bryant is becoming quite the puzzle master.

I finally got Bryant in for his 6 year check-up.

Go figure his height is off the chart!

Bryant loves dogs and was super excited to take BeeDee and Bella for a walk when we babysat BeeDee.

We had the camper parked in the driveway for a bit and the boys just love playing in it. They created a restaurant one night and were serving us up some food. It's a little hard to see in the picture, but Bryant made a sign that it was called

Benez Restrot

Bryant and Garit

They have a Star of the Week at school where you bring in pictures and get to talk about yourself, so here's the pictures Bryant chose to bring in.

This is me is him playing basketball.

His favorite color is blue.

We're holding Bryant up in our family picture.

When he grows up, he wants to be a veterinarian

His favorite book is Basketball Break (he just got the book at school)

Favorite Food is hamburgers

What I like to do - play basketball

His teacher had a birthday, so he drew her a card. I don't help him sound out words anymore and he gets better and better

Hape Brth to you

Bella was playing with a stuffed animal and the boys could not contain their laughter...

With each little kid in the house, the conversations about poop increase exponentially, so it's only appropriate that Garrett took a picture with this. No, this was not his Halloween costume...but it would have been funny!

Silly googly eye glasses for Halloween.

Sometimes when it is quiet, the boys are up to something bad and sometimes, they are just hanging out in the bean bag together:)

We found old Halloween costumes in the house, so the boys got all dressed up.

And no, this was not what they wore on Halloween either.

Garrett came down with a cold and had to stay home from school. This was his pitiful face, but he really didn't feel that bad nor did he need the band-aid on his chin.

This is still "sick" Garrett and go figure, he's wearing his jersey.

We had a volcano building kit that Bryant really wanted to build and paint.

And Garrett needed something to paint too.

Captain America!

Ninja Turtle goofball

Garrett doesn't like to show 2 fingers the easy way. He prefers to hold up his middle and ring fingers.

Watching bobcat volleyball on tv.

We played a lot of football one night and Bryant complained about a sore arm, so we iced him up like the pros do.

Despite what Garrett's face shows, he was excited to give a monkey a piggy back ride.

Another Halloween costume, but not on Halloween. Garrett liked being Curious George and that he had a banana.

In downloading all these pictures at once, I started to see a trend in Bryant photobombing Garrett.

Detective Bryant

Bryant wanted me to set out clues so that they could find the treasure.

Our neighborhood does a thing around Halloween where you drop a present off at someone's house and "Boo" them and then they Boo someone else. We let Bryant drive on our covert mission around the neighborhood to secretly Boo someone.

Again dressed up in Halloween costumes, but not for Halloween.

We went to a Carroll basketball game...can you tell that Garrett likes popcorn?

It was still nice enough weather to hike Mount Helena. We didn't make it all the way up, but we did make it to the cave.

With only a few trips and spills along the way.

Getting lots of use out of the basketball hoop!

Garrett hadn't ever seen the hot wheels track in action, but he sure thought it was funny. Bella didn't know what to think either. Garrett's saying "Is that cool, Bella?"

We had a crazy end of October/beginning of November with 4 road trips in 3 weeks. The first was to the cabin and Pocatello to watch the Bobcats play Idaho State. Garrett is pretending he is Iron Man at the cabin and thinks he has the power to stop you by holding out his hand like Iron Man.

Not the best picture of Trav, but if you ever sign up to give Garrett a shoulder ride, just know this is what you'll get...

Garrett didn't sleep at all on the way to Pocatello from the cabin and then fell asleep during most of the football game.

He did wake up at the end when we were making our comeback and was a bit nervous.

Both boys were exhausted that night at the cabin.

Bryant loves to explore nature, so we did a bit of exploring around the cabin before heading home.

Showing off their skipping rocks. We also found some sticks with the bark chewed off by a beaver. The boys had to bring them home for show and tell at school.

Saw a huge herd of elk outside Ennis on our way home.

Garrett's hair is always crazy after a nap. We ask him where's the cow that licked your head?

The following Monday (for our 2nd road trip), we headed to Bozeman for my brother's wedding

The boys were a bit tired at this point so this was the best we could get with as many of us looking at the camera at once.

Then it was time for Halloween. Yes, these are finally their Halloween costumes! Travis joined Garrett at his school for his party

Bryant was so excited for 3 Halloween parties - they had one at school, then he trick or treated at my work and then around our neighborhood. They always get a huge loot.

Then, the next weekend for our 3rd road trip, we headed to Bozeman to catch up with my good friend Meggie and her family and to watch Bobcat football and volleyball games. Our kids are similar in age and got along so well, which is good because we went down to their house the next weekend to spend more time with them!

Yep, Garrett fell asleep for most of this football game too.

Bryant said he made this face because the Bobcats were winning the football game.

The kids were such good sports and made it through a volleyball game too.

Bryant's school had a Turkey Shoot-Out where the kids partnered up with an adult and shot free throws. The winner for K-2 and 3-5 grades took home a turkey, 2nd place was a chicken, and 3rd place was a Cornish game hen. Last year Bryant wouldn't even consider doing it and this year he said he wanted to, so we signed him up. Trav and I were in Missoula for my eye doctor appointment, so my parents picked Bryant up from school and he made sure Grandpa parked the cars out of the way so he could practice. When we showed up at the gym there were so many kids and parents there that Bryant got nervous and wouldn't warm-up. I thought it was going to be like when we had done YMCA soccer and baseball in the past and he wasn't going to participate. I was trying to talk him into it, when he got super serious and told me confidently that "I don't need to practice". So when they called the kids to line up in the picture, he did.

And when he shot his free throws, he did so well! The first round, he made four out of five and Travis made one out of five (I will say it was a short hoop so I think Travis felt a bit like Shaq shooting free throws). It was enough to advance them to the second round. Then Bryant made 3 and Trav made 2.

That was enough for him to take 3rd place and win the Cornish game hen! He was so proud...we obviously were too!

Here's the K-2 champions (all the other winners were in 2nd grade)

Garrett had to chase Bryant afterwards and you would have never guessed Bryant was so shy when we first walked in.

Then the next weekend we headed to Casper, WY to stay with Meggie and fam again so us girls could play in a volleyball tourney. Brought back old memories, but also reminded me how old I'm getting! Billings was about half way, so we stopped and let the boys run around Scheels for a bit. Lots of photo opportunities too!

Garrett loved the fish tanks when you first walk in

Bryant's face in this picture is exactly how I would feel if Garrett was driving!

Bryant punching the bear.

Bryant was not happy about Billings only being half way so we were all happy to arrive in Casper.

Garrett had a late nap one night and I'm pretty sure about 20 cows found his hair and licked it.

We headed back and stayed in Billings on the way home so the boys could swim and I could soothe my sore muscles in the hot tub. We were all exhausted from our 4 trips in 3 weeks and Bryant just conked in the hotel room.

The next week, which was the week before Thanksgiving, Trav and I got to join Garrett at school for a Thanksgiving lunch. He recently moved up to the Bears room, which is more of a preschool setting. They started transitioning one of his friends up to the Bears room and had to call me at work to see if it was okay to move Garrett too. They said he was livid that they were trying to take his friend away from him. So both boys made the move together:)

That weekend was the Brawl of the Wild football game and the Bobcats were victorious for the 3rd straight year! We were a bit nervous at the end and Trav and I almost flipped my parent's couch in excitement. This was one happy Bobcat clan!

We always have to remind Garrett that there is no tackling. In this situation the boys were smiling, but it usually ends up with someone getting hurt or bitten.

Garrett was my little helper at the grocery store, but wanted the sun out of his eyes, so he borrowed my extra pair of sunglasses. What a stylin' dude!

He's usually a good helper, but we did have to make a stop so he could say "hi" to the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse at Costco. Most times he will sit in the cart, but unlike Bryant when he was this age, if I let Garrett out of the cart, he will run around the entire store laughing and wanting to be chased.

We decided since we weren't hosting Thanksgiving dinner, we could at least make name plates. The kids always get so excited for crafts and then about half way in get bored and the parents end up finishing.

Our little turkeys (both above and below this comment...ha!)

My birthday fell the day before Thanksgiving this year. There was no school for Bryant so my parents took the boys and they helped make me a birthday cake. Bryant did the purple frosting all by himself and made a cute face.

I'm thinking there were too many candles on the cake and I'm not really that old...

Then it was time for Thanksgiving. Bryant looks pretty proud of his crafts:)

Garrett partied hard and then fell asleep on the couch right before dinner was served.

But was all smiles when he woke up!

The photobomber is back! I make fun of it, but I love having both boys in one picture and smiling too!

The next day was daddy day care while I worked. Trav set up a movie in the movie theater and everyone was out when I came home, including Bella!

Since the Bobcats won the Brawl of the Wild, they ended up getting a playoff game. My parents had promised they would watch the kids for a football game, so we took advantage of it. A little pre-game tailgating in the car because it was a cold weekend.

Cats win!

One of Travis' renters left a car at one of his apartments, so he brought it home thinking Garrett would like to play with it. He was so excited when he saw it in the garage!

That weekend it snowed, so we took advantage and burnt some energy outside before the next Bobcat playoff game that didn't turn out so well.

Bella thought she was a snow dog, but she got chilly real quick.

We tried Garrett in Bryant's first pair of skis.

That wasn't working too well, so we got out the tube for some sledding.

This video is priceless. Poor Garrett...he was fine and didn't cry...

Test driving his car

Since it is December, the boys wanted to get out their advent calendar. They looked so grown up putting the candy in the calendar. Bryant was super proud of this shirt and calls it his football shirt. I have a feeling this kid is going to be wearing a lot of Under Armor in the future. Bryant is super good about eating the candy for only the day we are on. Garrett, not so much. I don't know how many times Bryant has had to replace candy that Garrett took.

Then it was Trav's birthday. We celebrated at Nagoya. Garrett was super scared of the hot grill and the fire (to the point of crying), but as soon as they made him a puppy balloon, he was all smiles!

Happy Birthday Trav!

Garrett is such a chatty little fellow and loves to sing. First he's singing one of Bryant's school songs for his Christmas program (n-i-c-e- Nice). Then, he was talking about the Elf on the Shelf, which Bryant named Red a couple years ago, that recently made an appearance.

And then he sings the song about the color Red

The boys were busy making their list for Santa. I didn't help Bryant with any spelling on his list and you can actually tell what he means for most things. I do love how his commas look like apostrophes though. He asked for nerf guns, legos, transformers, bumblebee (a transformer) stuff, hot wheels, robots, games, and Pokémon.

And Garrett's letter to Santa. He doesn't know what he wants. When ask him what he's going to ask Santa for on Christmas and so far his responses are "blue" and "Christmas lights"

Garrett had been going all night without wetting his diaper and going in the potty in the morning for several months, but we just hadn't pulled the trigger on totally potty training and using big boy underwear. Partially because we were gone so much in October and November. But after our travels slowed down, we finally did it. He hardly has accidents anymore and if he does, it is usually at school. Yay for no more diapers! But now that he's in underwear it also in his mind means that he can just run around naked all the time. The kid cannot put a shirt on himself, but he can undress himself so fast. I'll have him dressed and ready to go and by the time I turn around he's naked and running around. The other morning I heard giggles coming from the garage and Garrett had stripped his clothes off and climbed in his car...

Santa's reindeer made an appearance, which are always cool to see.

Bryant grew horns!

Then it was time to go hunting for our tree!

Clearly we picked a huge tree since it is like twice as tall as Travis...

This was the first tree that Garrett picked out for his room. He hasn't had one in his room before, but Bryant has. And Bryant remembers that he gets a tree in his room and continues to want one each year, so it's only fair that Garrett gets one too.

So proud carrying his tree out.

Here's the tree that Bryant picked.

Super proud of his tree too.

Hot chocolate and snacks after bringing our trees back to the truck.

And while we were sitting by the truck, we found a better tree for Garrett

Garrett's tree all decorated with his Elmo ornament from Grandma and Grandpa.

Bryant has a special box with his ornaments from Grandma and Grandpa and then tries to take half the ornaments from our tree. He also remembers which ones he took last year and puts them on his tree.

We didn't get our tree decorated yet because a stomach bug cycled through everyone except Garrett. So the first night while Travis wasn't feeling well, the boys and I finally finished frosting his birthday cake and had a piece without him...happy birthday Trav...

The next day we had our annual neighborhood Christmas party. Garrett was all dressed up in his reindeer hat and ready to go.

And Santa showed up again this year and both boys smiled! I showed Garrett pictures of Christmas last year to remind him about Santa and presents to help him with ideas of what he could ask for. He saw his picture last year and noticed that he was sad and he made the comment to me that Santa is not scary. I asked why he was crying then and he said it was because Santa poked him in the eye (which he didn't). So when Santa showed up, both boys got nervous, but Garrett actually approached him first. He didn't know what to ask for so Santa asked if he would like another ball or a truck and Garrett said yes. Then Bryant approached and told Santa that he would like a Transformer.