Christmas

What better way to decorate a tree than in your underwear?  Garrett went through a couple phases (likely short phases) where he preferred to run around naked.  I would get him dressed and by the time I turned around, he had his clothes back off!

The 2018 Handl Tree is all decorated!

Can you spot Bryant?

This is what it is like to try and put Garrett to bed.  He doesn't like to go to sleep before 10:00, which makes for some tired parents

A little belated but Bryant brought home his Thanksgiving and Fall decorations from school.  He is thankful for My Grandpa and Grandpa, My Family, My Teacher, and his House.

Garrett reading at bed time:

He likes Santa Comes to Montana because it talks about different places in Helena and really liked when it talked about Carroll College

Goofballs...

We had our annual flower competition with Grandma and Grandpa Zanto.  Ours definitely flowered first, but both ended up doing great this year.

Looking cool on the way to go bake Christmas cookies at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

Showing off their big muscles.

Someone managed to sneak a couple chocolates before they made it on the cookies...can you guess who?

The kids had never seen popcorn popped out of a machine so they were super excited to help make caramel corn.

And of course they loved putting sprinkles on the sugar cookies!

Garrett is always entertaining and never sitting still...who wants to join us for dinner?

Bryant's Christmas Concert was so cute.  Each grade sings two songs and then the whole school sings "We Wish You a Merry Christmas".  The songs for 1st Grade were "I Wanna Be Nice, Not Naughty" and "Winter Fun".  Bryant worked hard on his songs and hand gestures up until the concert, so it was fun to see it sang by the whole group.  Here they are getting lined up and ready to sing

Here are the songs broken into 4 parts so I could get them downloaded on the blog.  First up, I'm Going to be Nice, Not Naughty (part 1)

Nice, Not Naughty (part 2)

Winter Fun (Part 1)

Winter Fun (Part 2)

He brought home his present for us that he made at school.  His picture is of him sitting on his dad's shoulders.

Our flower is getting bigger!

Then it was time for Garrett's Christmas Program.  His was not nearly as organized.  They decorated cookies first, which Garrett just ate his frosting.

We were waiting for quite a while and he grew quite attached to us and wouldn't sing his songs with his class.  We sat up front and watched his friends sing.  They sang "Jingle Bells" and "We Wish You a Merry Christmas".  Garrett too had been practicing, so I was excited to see him sing, but of course he didn't sing, and you couldn't really tell that any of his classmates were singing.  Just a reminder that these kiddos are still so young!

Garrett's school has Santa come visit too and he was brave enough to sit on his lap.

Garrett sang his songs for us afterwards, but did a little jig first.  His dance moves are too cute!

Jingle Bells was hard to hear, but here's We Wish You a Merry Christmas:

Shopping at Costco and Garrett wants to hold all the food:)

Making presents for Grandmas

Garrett's been pulling out all his baby hats and wearing them.

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The boys were helping me wrap presents for their cousins.  I let them pick out which paper wrapped which present and then they had to go put them under the tree.  Garrett kept asking "Is this mine?" and I assumed he was talking about the present for his cousin that he picked out the wrapping paper for.  I assumed wrong...instead of putting them under the big tree, he put them under the tree in his bedroom.  Too cute!

Bryant had been begging to go play at the playground at his school, so we made a quick trip.

Then it was Christmas Eve celebrations at Grandpa Jack and Grandma Susie's house with Uncle Ryan and family.  

Grandma had some cupcake decorating ideas for the kids and it turned into a fun little competition for the adults.

Grinch cupcakes

Trav definitely won for most creative

Dinner table for the big kids

And for the rest of us

Present time!

Aren't their pajamas and robes so cute?

Poor Garrett didn't get a nap and he fell asleep in my lap watching his cousins open presents.

By the time we got home, Garrett was raring to go and get set up for Santa.  It was so hard to get him to go to sleep so Santa could come!

Bryant had a really hard time knowing that Red, our elf on the shelf, was leaving for the year and wouldn't be back until next December.  He was so sad that he wouldn't see him for a long time, so he went to his desk (that we recently moved into his bedroom and he absolutely loves it) and drew a picture for him and hung it on his wall.

Christmas morning!!!

Bryant made a special heart for dad to hang in his office.

Bryant made us a calendar at school, so I got to hang it in my office

After we opened and played with the toys from Santa and then Mom and Dad, Grandma Betty and Grandpa Ed came with more presents!

Love this picture of the 4 of them:)

Bryant did his Reindeer Express at school again where you pay $2 per person and he gets to pick out presents.  Last year he did Grandmas and Grandpas and this year he also did us parents, his brother, and Bella.  Here's Bella's present

Then, Grandma Susie and Grandpa Jack joined us with more presents

Look at these little football studs.  Garrett wore that jersey for 4 days straight when we finally convinced him that it was dirty and needed to be washed.

Trav's fire starter Reindeer Express gift.  It is always so fun to see what he picks out.

Time for a yummy dinner with awesome company!

No nap means one tired kiddo.

Garrett also has an obsession with wearing jerseys, so the boys will often be decked out in a jersey.  They got basketball and football for Christmas to go with their baseball and of course Bobcat jerseys.

Over Christmas break, we also decided to take Garrett to his first movie at the movie theater to watch Ralph Breaks the Internet.  The boys loved it.  We got individual bags of popcorn for the boys to avoid fighting over the bucket and neither one wanted to touch the popcorn in their bag - they wanted to save it for later.

He sure looks like a stud in his jersey and loves to play basketball every day, but we can't quite convince him to play on a team yet.

Christmas was such an awesome whirlwind of fun.  We loved being able to spend it with family and it is so fun to experience through the eyes of our little ones.  Thank you to everyone who helped make us and our boys feel so special!