Garrett: Eight Years!

 

Forgive the terrible picture quality, but the school used new photographers this year for the boys' school photos and we no longer get a digital copy. But I couldn't not include this photo of my handsome 2nd grader--although this was actually his retake; I really should have taken a picture of his first school photo because oof the "smile" on that one was rough

Age: 8

Height: 3 feet, 11.72 inches

Weight: 52 pounds even

What is your favorite color? Blue, purple, and yellow

What is your favorite animal? Cheetah

I mean, it's a cat--kind of the same species, right? To be fair, I don't think an animal exists that he doesn't love

What is your favorite book? Harry Potter

The boys got Harry Potter for Christmas and we've all been loving the time reading them aloud together, but he still does plenty of reading on his own

What is your favorite song? Joy to the World

Ironically, last year his favorite song was "Go Tell it on the Mountain", and despite not having any official piano lessons, this kid chose to play that song for the Sunday School Christmas program. And he rocked it!

What is your favorite sport? Soccer

What is your favorite thing to do with Mom? Crafts

We did a fused glass art class and it was so fun and the finished product is gorgeous!

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

What is your favorite thing to do outside? Play soccer

He may be on a big soccer kick right now--and he's fully ready to sign up for soccer in the fall--but last summer he played baseball and certainly seemed to enjoy that too

Where is your favorite place to go? Grandma and Grandpa's House

What is your favorite fruit? Watermelon

What is your favorite vegetable? Sweet Potatoes

What is your favorite cereal? Honey Graham Crunch

What is your favorite treat? Chocolate Covered Cherries

What is your favorite meal? Beer Cheese Soup

What makes you happy? Playing with Mom and Dad

What makes you sad? When my animals are missing

Who are your best friends? Easton and Ethan

What do you want to be when you grown up? A construction worker

What was your favorite part about last year? Going on my birthday outing

What is one thing you want to do this year? Play soccer on a real team

For as many years as I can remember, Garrett's post has included something about his being a nurturer, and--as of late--included his affinity for pets, or really, animals of any kind. Well, this next series of photos is proof (after proof, after proof) of said behavior.

Garrett with my sister's youngest at just a few days old--quite possibly the last cousin he'll have and I think part of him knows that because he soaks up as much Theo time as he can

I don't even know what creature he caught here, but he spent a week in NC last summer with Darrell's parents (and William, and two cousins--it was a bit rocky the first few days, but he settled in and did okay!) and managed to catch some little fish or tadpole or something while they were playing in a creek

He's been known to try to keep critters he finds in the house as "pets" (I can't tell you how many pet centipedes and roly-polys we have had), but fortunately he's good about catching and releasing things that fly (I don't do well with flying things). How he catches them, though, is beyond me

He loved when the butterflies at the butterfly house would land on his feeder, but of all the random things, if they landed on him he was very anxious about it

The aptly named "Fish Whisperer" and the fish he caught at my parents lake--I didn't even know there were fish like that in the lake and I've been fishing there since I was a kid!

He also caught a turtle at the lake, which was equal parts surprising and terrifying, because Darrell had a heck of a time getting the hook out of its mouth. We're pretty sure it survived though!

He caught--and ate--his own fish for our fish fry at the beach this past summer. His patience for fishing is incredible--and he looks terribly cute while do so, I might add

Aside from a few more photos, I don't really have much to say about Garrett as he starts his eighth year that I haven't already said. Probably the only thing that I want to say that won't come up in a photo caption is his money-spending tendencies. We've been giving the boys allowances for a few years now, and oh boy does money burn a hole in his pocket. He's started doing better at saving it--or at least some of it--since we started doing monthly trips to the bank and incentivizing them to make deposits, but if he has any amount of cash at the house he still wants to go with me to the store any chance he gets so he can buy gum or chips or some other junk food. And if he does have money to spend (either his own or ours when he is picking out a birthday gift for a friend), he absolutely goes for quantity over quality. If he has $12 to spend, he wants to spend as close to exactly $12 as he can--and get as many things as possible for that amount. So that means if he finds an $8 item that he wants, but can't find anything thing (or things) that add up to $4, he'll put the $8 thing back and get two $6 things, because to him, the two are better than the one and his change. I have a hard time putting too many restrictions on him spending his money though; I was a spender myself as a kid so I can totally relate to the feeling. Plus I really don't want him saving up his money for a Nintendo Switch anyway (or a pet rabbit or a drone or whatever his obsession at the moment is), so I'll usually make a "are you sure this is what you want to spend your money on" comment but not press the issue.

And now--photo dump time. I'm trying to be more intentional about taking solo shots of the boys, so forgive me if this gets a little long!

Slowly but surely he's getting more confident at the beach (and in water in general, especially without a life jacket). He still won't go out as deep as his older brothers and cousins, but he's less nervous about putting himself in situations where water could end up getting in his face. 

This kid would live in "soft pants" (sweatpants) if I would let him--and he usually changes out of jeans the minute he walks in the door from school, even if we are going somewhere else that evening and he'll need to change back into them--but when I manage to get him dressed up even more than usual he sure does clean up nice 

Garrett has started speaking up more and more about not wanting to go to train shows, which up to this point have been a family activity multiple times a year since William was about two. His brothers still love to go, though, and since it doesn't always work for someone to stay home with him, he ends up getting dragged along. Fortunately he does a good job passing the time without too much complaints--and it helps that they usually have interactive things like this

Something that is pretty uniquely Garrett, though? His love of flowers and planting and gardening. He's always wanting to grow things and plant more/new stuff in our garden beds (although his attention to them after planting is usually minimal, but oh well). I'm fairly certain that last summer was the first time since we bought this house eight years ago that we purchased flowers to go in our deck boxes, and it was 100% at his request

When he's in the right mood, this kid is all about being a helper--washing dishes, setting the table, making guacamole, cleaning the sinks and toilets, etc etc etc. But all bets are off if we try to get him to clean when he ISN'T in the mood

He may have some timidness around water, but that is not the case with heights. The snowpack got high enough this winter to make it easy for the boys to climb up the neighbor's tree (usually an insurmountable task as the first accessible branches are a solid foot above their heads), and he was all.over.it

Super proud of his Keva block creation--and for good reason!

We had an unfortunate incident with the pink bubblegum frosting from his Mario cake last year, and ever since he has been very wary of cake, especially the frosting. But we couldn't let his birthday pass without some sort of special treat, so dirt cake it was! (Which, if I'm not mistaken, marks the second year that I've used sour gummy worms for his birthday treat). Happy birthday sweet boy--we love you!