June - 1st Half

After getting to play at the park the other day, Bryant requested that we go to park at a different school.

Garrett has so much fun swinging.  Back in June, he was swinging with someone and now he knows how to swing by himself.  Bryant taught him how to pump by himself in about 2 minutes.  Crazy how quick kids can pick up new things!

Garrett is such a monkey man and loves to hang.

Bryant is really into American Ninja Warrior, so he loves to do the monkey bars and does them over and over until he gives himself huge blisters and has to quit.

The kids were sooo thirsty after the park and couldn't wait to get home for a drink, so we stopped and got smoothies at McDonalds, which probably had a longer wait than the drive home.  But the smiles made it worth it!

Garrett wanted to keep playing all afternoon, but just couldn't quite keep up and fell asleep sitting up on the couch.  As you can see in the next round of pictures, he tried hard to stay awake...

I had to get it on video too.  The tired head bob always makes me laugh.

A super hero never knows when he's called into duty, so sleeping with his cape and shield on is a necessity:)

We were going to head into town for dinner, so kept trying to wake Garrett up, but he was just so tired that he kept falling back asleep.

But of course by night time when everyone else is ready to go to bed, he is ready to party.  Check out those super hero muscles!  He also usually has a least one super hero temporary tattoo on his stomach at all times.

We decided to take the boys and Bella on a hike into Refrigerator Canyon.  Garrett still likes to be carried quite a bit, so we had to see if he still fit in the backpack.

Travis has such good eyes...can you spot the animal watching us on our hike?

Here's a close up of the mountain goat keeping an eye on us.

And on the way back down

Garrett thought it was so funny!

On the way back to town, we stopped by York Bar for a burger and the playground.

Which once again leads to a super tired super hero.

Garrett was having a hard time with getting dropped off at daycare, so we looked into getting him into preschool at Little Fox, where Bryant does his summer camps.  We figured it would be easier for him to switch schools if his brother would be there with him.  We took Garrett for a tour a couple months ago and he absolutely loved it and had the biggest meltdown when I had to take him back to his old daycare.  So, in June, he officially started at Little Fox.  Bryant still had a week of school left, so Garrett went to Little Fox by himself.  The boys were so excited that morning.

Garrett did great and has such a fun time there.  He also gets super excited because he gets to pack a lunch now.  After the first day, I went and bought some groceries and he wanted to pack his lunch that night.  I told him we would do it in the morning.  So the next morning comes and we hear Garrett wake up, but we were confused because normally his first reaction after he wakes up is to call for us and come snuggle for a little bit.  We heard commotion, but couldn't figure out what he was doing.  When we went to check on him, he was packing his lunch for the day.  Glad to see he got the essentials...banana, applesauce, yogurt, and a popsicle.

The popsicles definitely weren't for lunch, but they sure did make a yummy bed time snack!

Garrett keeping me company while I worked out the next morning.

So crazy...Bryant is just about to start 2nd grade and I'm just getting around to posting the last day of school.  

Last day of 1st Grade!  He absolutely loved having Mrs. O'Brien as his teacher.  He actually was sad on his last day (the smile on his face was deceiving) because he was going to miss having her as his teacher.

Travis came up with a fun idea one night to grab pizzas to go and head to the bike park, dog park, and playground.

Little monkey man climbing away

Most of the elementary schools in Helena participate in the Governor's cup so for the last 6 or so weeks of school, the kids can participate in Running Club and if the run during the last recess, they earn little feet that go on a key chain and if they get enough of those, they get a t-shirt and can participate in the 1 mile fun run.  Bryant was too nervous about doing Running Club last year, but decided he wanted to do it this year.  He was really excited for his fun run and then got really nervous when he showed up to the race and saw how many people there were.  I finally convinced him to participate and Grandpa Jack, Grandma Susie and Garrett joined us for the walk.

Bryant mostly walked, but he and Grandma raced to the finish and he earned his medal.

He was so excited that he wanted to do it again!

The boys love driving the race cart at Lowes.

Especially when Dad is pushing the cart.

We went to the library to pick out some little chapter books for Bryant.

Such big smiles...because there is a baby butt crack in the picture...

Another first for Bryant - he decided he wanted to do Bengal basketball camp this year.  We weren't sure how he would do since he was nervous about the fun run the previous week, but he went to camp and immediately started shooting around.  So we didn't even stick around to watch (although I would have loved to!).  It was a super busy and tiring week for him because he did Little Fox all day then camp at night.  He had a lot of fun and tried really hard.  He came home super upset the second night because they were put on teams and the team that scored the most points won a coupon for a free taco.  He got on a team that had 2 kids probably around Garrett's age that had to be lifted up to shoot the ball close to the basket.  He was so upset that he didn't win the taco and that his team was bad.  Sometimes those lessons are hard to learn, but he was still excited about camp the next day.  I snuck a quick picture during camp.

Garrett loved that they played music so he would just dance and play while we waited for camp to be over.  

He even came home and had to shoot more baskets.

He was so excited that he got a basketball, a camp shirt, a water bottle, and a popsicle on the last day.

Happy birthday dinner with Grandpa Jack!

Reading his books in the car.

Next up San Diego vacation!

May Update

Wowzers...here it is the middle of August and I am finally posting about May.  We definitely take advantage of bike riding weather when we can!

Soccer for Garrett was really hit and miss on whether he would play or not.  This game, his girlfriend Addie from school, was on the other team.  They were doing somersaults and showing off for each other...it was too cute.  Garrett was all excited and thought he was going to score a goal, but you can tell he's young for this league.  That older girl sure stopped him in his tracks!

First time running through the sprinklers for the year

"I'm soaked..." and not happy about it.

Bryant was soaked and happy though

For Mother's Day weekend, we had brunch with my parents and then headed to Whitehall to celebrate with Trav's parents.  The boys had quite the adventures in the buggy.  Garrett may have used his imagination just a little bit in thinking that he saw elephants and crocodiles on the ride.

We stopped at The River in Boulder on the way back for dinner and they had a little game room that they boys thought was really fun.  And a rescue parrot that talked to them.

My Mother's Day cards from the boys.

These always crack me up.  I didn't realize it until I saw Garrett's, but I do say "Put your shoes on" and I say it a lot!

A grocery store called WinCo recently came to town, so Bryant now thinks that is my favorite place to shop.  I'm not sure where the glass bird came from, but a couple years ago, he did paint me a bird figurine that I put in my office.

Kickoff goal for Bryant!  His friends were more excited than he was.  His coach asked if he had a good breakfast after he kicked his goal and he said that he just slept good.

Do you think he had enough balls?

I asked Bryant to husk the corn and he made it into a flower.

I can't remember why I was taking the boys to school that morning, but I do remember they were super stylin' and super helpful!

Garrett has a knock knock story book, so here he is telling his favorite.  Translation:

Knock, Knock

Who's There

Ima

Ima Who

Ima gonna huff and puff and blow your house down if you don't open the door

Garrett pretty much didn't play the rest of the games for soccer.  He was frustrated because he thought he should score every time and not have to share the ball with others.  But he always made sure to join his team after the game for treats!

Picture day was pure craziness, so I was excited I at least got him to sit in the picture with his team.

We also recently got his school pictures too.  What a little stud:)

Bryant progressed so well through the season.  He had a boy on his team that had played a lot more and you could see Bryant watching and learning from him.  He had a great season, definitely improved, and had a lot of fun.  I think we'll definitely do soccer again next spring, but in the fall he decided he wanted to try flag football.

I promised the boys if they ran errands with me that I would take them to the park afterwards.  

We had booked our flights for our annual trip to San Diego.  We got the boys some new swimsuits, so in preparation for the trip down south, we had to try them out.  Don't you just love how Garrett wears his goggles?!?

Garrett wants so badly to hang with the big kids and play all day, but he usually tuckers out by 3:00 and falls asleep.

Enjoying some golf in the backyard.

This kid...he may not want shoes to ride his bike, but make sure to be safe and wear your helmet and shield.  Garrett is very particular about wearing a helmet.  He gets so excited when he sees motorcycles driving down the street and then comments on whether they are wearing a helmet or not and if it is safe or dangerous.

Grandma Betty stayed with us one weekend, so she got to hear the Knock Knock story

And listen to Bryant read.  His reading has really taken off and at the end of the year, his teacher considered him an independent reader.  I can pick out chapter books from the library and he'll come home and read them all that day and then not want to read them again after that.  I remember my passion for reading as a little kid and love that Bryant has that too.

Up next in June - Garrett starts a new preschool, San Diego vacation, Bryant's baseball and more!