And Swim Begins!

Along with our group of friends, we are doing swim team this summer. Today was the opening picnic. As a member of the teams social committee, I helped set up the picnic and of course, the boys wanted to come with me.

Our team is the Brushy Creek Marlins and we can't wait for the season to begin!

 Beckett stepped up and helped decorate all the tables.

 Grant helped the merchandise volunteer carry all the suits and shirts.

 After all that hard work, they deserved a snowcone! Beckett said this was the "best day ever!"

 Here's our little Brushy Creek crew! Front row (l to r) - Kamryn, Molly, Beckett, and Jud. Back row - Luke, Joe and Grant.

 Grant and Jud cooling off in the pool

 GO MARLINS!

 Is that Michael Phelps? Nah - Beckett suited up for his first practice!

Grant looking stylish and ready! We are so excited!

 Beckett and Ashlyn. I LOVE this picture! He was proving that he was strong enough to lift her up and she has the greatest smile!

Soccer Comes To An End...For Now

Soccer Saturday has come to an end for the Simmons Clan. Grant LOVED playing and we have already decided to sign him up for the next level of play...called Academy.

Unlike the recreation league, in Academy there is a goalie and the players all play a specific position on the field. It's a bigger commitment for both Grant and us. He is SUPER excited and can't wait for it to start in the fall.

 Beckett and Helaina sharing an umbrella. Oh - it's starting early for this one!

 Beckett chilling in the shade tent.

 The final cheer for the season.

Grant, Joe and their coach Sean.

Bluebonnets

It's spring time in Texas which means there are fields and roadsides covered in these beautiful little flowers.
The weather has been rainy and stormy, so we took advantage of the sunshine...on the way home from Costco. :-)

Caves with 7 year olds

This past Friday I was a chaperone for Grant's field trip to Inner Space Caverns.

 Grant and his buddy Darbi. 

 The whole class in front of the mammoth

 In the cave

 Here is a bat. These little things were swooping ALL OVER THE PLACE. It was unnerving. The guide assured us they were harmless, but really, what else is he going to say?

 Now we are panning for rocks. 

 Of course every field trip needs a treat at the end - welcome to Bahama Bucks! AMAZING snow cones.

Beckett and his buddy Dexter.

Happy Easter!

Here are a few pictures from our Easter celebrations today. Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

The bunny cake lives! Eyebrows and all this year! :-)

Then both the boys desperately needed a haircut. I was going to try cutting it but they both just wanted it short. :-(  I miss Beckett's curls.

Soccer Again

Soccer has started once again for the Simmons family. Unfortunately we had to withdraw Beckett. During his first practice, he rolled his ankle on the ball. We just want him to fully heal so decided to wait on sports for now. We are signing both the boys up for swim team this summer.

Grant LOVES soccer. He plays every day at recess and any chance he gets while at home. We found out this weekend that in the fall he is eligible to play on the Georgetown Force Academy. This is a much more in depth, structured team that will play teams all over Austin. He's super excited about it. Guess we will see if that excitement is still around in the fall!

For now, here are some clips from his game this weekend.

Green Anaconda

Grant is in a class called Quest. It is the gifted program for our school district. As a part of this class, Grant had to complete a research project on a "Super Sized" animal...Grant chose the green anaconda. A few facts about this amazing snake:
1 - can be up to 25-30 feet and weight up to 500 pounds
2 - the babies are born alive. In one birth a mother can have 20-40 babies, each measuring 2 feet!!
3 - they eat their prey whole, sometimes digesting up to 6 months. Caymens, cabyburas and fish are favorites.

Yes, that was all off the top of my head...we practiced a lot. :-)

Here is a video of his presentation. It's shortened a lot...the total length was 12 minutes, so I couldn't include it all. This is the main part though.