Garrett: Ten Years!

 Unlike Matthew's post, this one has been sitting in my draft folder with very little content in it. So I'll do my best to piece a few things into it between pictures and his birthday interview, but I'm also just reminding myself that done is better than perfect. Definitely not how I want to close the book on his birthday updates, but life happens and here we are. And I'd rather close the book with an imperfect tenth birthday update than no update at all. 

What is your favorite color? Blue

What is your favorite animal? Cheetah

What is your favorite book? I Survived

What is your favorite song? Firework

What is your favorite sport? Soccer

I know I said it last year, but man Garrett has really taken to soccer. It's so fun to watch him play 

What is your favorite thing to do with Mom? Go yarn shopping

Garrett now crochets, and while his pile of started projects is significantly larger than his pile of completed projects, every once in a while he actually manages to finish something

What is your favorite thing to do with Dad? Play football

What is your favorite thing to do outside? Play on the snow hills

Where is your favorite place to go? The beach

I'm not sure if he has more fun fishing or swimming at the beach, but it's always a week with no shortage of smiles

What is your favorite fruit? Grapes

What is your favorite vegetable? Cauliflower

What is your favorite cereal? Cookie Crisp

What is your favorite treat? Milk Duds

What is your favorite meal? Balsamic Zucchini Ravioli

What makes you happy? Crocheting

What makes you sad? When people are mean to me

Who are your best friends? Pravash, Adric, Jamesia, JC, Merry

He and Adric goofing around during an indoor recess

What do you want to be when you grow up? Carpenter

What was your favorite part about last year? Fishing at the beach

What is one thing you want to do this year? Go to Pierre (spoiler since I'm posting this so late--Pierre didn't happen, but he still got to go walleye fishing for his 10th birthday trip with my parents, which was going to be the whole reason for going to Pierre, and since he still ended up catching lots of walleye he was perfectly happy with the change of plans)

A photo from the trip this past August, which I know technically shouldn't be on this post because if I had actually made this post in a timely manner I wouldn't have had this picture yet, but I can't not include it. Not just because of the fish, but also, look at that hair. He started growing it out shortly after his 10th birthday and it's just glorious. We've had to trim it a few times to keep it tidy (and not mullet-like) but otherwise he's all in on the flowing locks (and he's got the head flick to get the hair out of his eyes pretty well mastered)

I know I'll forget lots of details and miss lots of important things about Garrett at this age, but I will say that I've enjoyed the stroll down memory lane to pull the photos for this post. And let's be honest, no matter when I typed this or how much time I poured into making it perfect, I could still never capture all the details and nuances that make Garrett Garrett in a blog post. These posts are just the tip of the iceberg, and I'm so blessed that I get to experience Garrett in all his depths of character and personality!

Always an adventure out hiking with this crew, and Garrett has started getting big on wanting solo pictures with Mom and Dad, as well as carrying a plastic bag so he can pick up litter (which, sadly, we always find way more of than I expect)

Garrett loves growing stuff, and he has taken over planting stuff in our deck boxes (which honestly I never even bothered with) and he even grew a cantaloupe this year (which was delicious and he saved the seeds so he could grow more next year!)

Still going strong with piano lessons, and we've added another violinist to the house

Garrett the reporter at the Sunday School Christmas Program. He was super nervous about "acting" in front of an audience but did a great job!

Tried waterskiing again this summer (with new water skis) and it went so much better!

Garrett and a classmate wrote Christmas letter books to help kindergarteners work on their letter sounds and they even got to use them to do a little lesson with some kindergarteners 

I swear this isn't child labor--he genuinely LOVES mowing

Garrett tried lacrosse at a summer camp, and like most things he picked it up pretty easily and said he wanted to play it more, but unfortunately there just aren't a lot of lacrosse opportunities around here

The first few times we went to the skating rink Garrett opted for roller skates and while he did fine with them, it was a game changer for him to get roller blades. He was zipping around the rink

He was a little nervous about the heights at first, but once he fell a few times and learned his harness would catch him, he LOVED playing around on these aerial activities.

I can't think of a better cake for this sweet boy than a fish cake. He's followed William's footsteps in a lot of things, but it has been so fun to watch him really start exploring some interests that are just his (like fishing, crocheting, and gardening). He's a maker and a builder and always full of great ideas, and while Mom and Dad sometimes wish he would close the loop on his ideas a little more often, it's always fun to see where his ideas are taking him next