Titans Game

We took the boys to a preseason Titans game on Thursday.  This is the fourth year in a row we've done this.  Every year it seems like there is a chance of rain and the storms have always gone around us.  Not this year!

We parked downtown and took a shuttle bus over to the stadium.  The line is always short for the shuttle and it seems to work out really well for us.  We got to our seats about 30 minutes before the game and watched both teams warm up.

When they went back into the locker rooms, a submarine driven by T-Rac (the Titans' mascot) destroyed a Viking ship.

The boys, especially Carter, thought this was hilarious.  Especially when the submarine drove through the middle of the ship and broke it into two.

The rain held off for the teams returning to the field ...

But the sky opened up during the national anthem.  We spent the entire first half (except for the last 1:30) under the upper deck in the concessions area.  We found a spot against a wall where we could sit (on the nasty floor) and occasionally see a TV that was showing the game.  A bottomless bucket of popcorn kept the boys entertained.  I ventured out in the blowing rain to grab a quick picture of how hard the rain was coming down.  However, this is nothing compared to the other Titans preseason home game.  I think they got 3" during the game.  There were waterfalls coming down from the upper decks.

When the rain finally stopped we returned to our seats (Section 321, Row L).  I was so glad that I bought cheap tickets again this year since we missed so much of the game and then the Titans also did horrible (they lost 19-3).  We paid only $36 for all 4 tickets on Stubhub and $20 for the shuttle.  Someday when the boys are older we will sit closer :)

The boys were troopers though and never complained.  They said they had fun too.  We stayed through mid-way in the fourth quarter (Carter had school the next day).  Both boys passed out on the way home - I love when bedtime is so easy!

One kind of funny story ... Right before we were going to leave, Rylan learned a new phrase.  There were some Vikings fans sitting a few rows above us.  One of them yelled out "You suck" to the Titans.  Two seconds later, Rylan echoed him.  Everyone around us started to chuckle.  Rylan had no idea what was going on.  Brian got to explain that one to him.  It could have been a lot worse!

Game Ball

Carter had baseball games both Monday and Tuesday nights this week.  He did great in both.  I only saw about half of the game on Monday because I had to go to Rylan's preschool orientation.  But I saw all of last night's game (Brian missed it because he had to coach Rylan's soccer practice).

Carter played first base the first inning.  He got three outs at first!  In this league they don't play outs to end an inning - each team bats through their lineup.  The first out Carter got was when Jack Henry fielded the ball at pitcher and threw it to Carter.  For the second two outs, Carter fielded the ball and tagged the bag.  One of those outs was one of Carter's new classmates.  Carter and Max had already talked about baseball at lunch supposedly and were excited to be playing against one another.

In the second inning Carter played right-center field.  Coach Jeff switches the players around a lot and tries to give each kid an opportunity to play in the infield each game.  Playing outfield didn't stop Carter from getting more outs on his own!  He backed up the second baseman and fielded two balls that were missed.  He ran both balls to second and tagged the bag to get two more outs!

Carter also got base hits his two times up at bat.  The first one was a grounder to the second baseman and the second was a hit over the pitcher's head.  Since Carter was the last batter each inning, he got to run the bases for a "homerun" each time.

After each game, Coach Jeff gives one player a game ball.  Last night Carter got the game ball because of his five outs, good hits, general hustle, and good attitude.

Excuse the lack of shirt ... I collected shirts after the game to get the kids' names put on them today :)

Carter is super proud of his game ball.  He added it to the set of three he got last season!

Carter's 1st Full Week of Kindergarten

Last week was Carter's first full week of kindergarten.  And he did great!  Everyone keeps asking if he's exhausted but he doesn't seem to be at all.  He also had baseball or soccer practice every night last week except Friday (Tuesday was Rylan's soccer practice but Carter helped out).

Every morning before school Carter gets a little nervous.  He complains that his tummy hurts a little before we leave and on our way there.  But he never says, "I don't want to go".  He has told me he's scared but can never tell me what he's scared about.  I don't think Carter has made a good friend in his class yet, but once he does, I think that'll help.

When I ask Carter how his day was when picking him up, he excitedly answers "Good!".  When I ask for details, he usually can't really think of them.  He tells me to ask him questions about his day instead.  Which I then do.

Carter likes to tell me all the rules they have to follow at school (there are a lot too!).  He is such a rule follower and gets excited about it!!!

Since I don't know how to pull specifics about what he's doing in the classroom, I usually ask Carter lots of questions about his specials (such as PE and music), recess, and lunch.  Carter seems to really like PE and always has some sort of new dance to show me.  I really need to video a couple because they are hilarious!  I think when Carter has been at recess, he's been playing with one of our neighbors (Emory) who is in a different class.  He always gravitates to the girls!  Carter's class has recess in the afternoon, and it was too hot Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday to go outside (I think it has to be above 95 F to keep them inside).  But Carter loved classroom recess because on two of those days, he got to play with Legos!  Lunch seems to be going okay.  Carter complained about it at the beginning of the week saying it was too long but I think he's over that now.  He seems to sit with different kids in his class everyday but he tells me he talks to the other kids so that's good.

Carter learns new songs and dances everyday in class.  Each song has to do with numbers or letters and their sounds.

Carter only had homework one night last week.  It was a worksheet where the kids had to fill in the blanks describing their first day.  Carter told me that Mrs. Colasso said it was okay if the parents filled in the worksheet.  We started off though with Carter doing 2 answers and me doing one.  I ended up writing the last few for him though because they were long and Carter was over it.

On Friday, Carter went straight to the gym when he got to school (instead of his classroom) for an assembly.  I believe the kids do this most Fridays, but I could be wrong.  Anyway, the principle told the kids that they had just received awards again from the governor (Clovercroft is one of the very best public schools in Tennessee).  And then there was a performer that did lots of yo-yo tricks (as well as some magic and other stuff, according to Carter).  He loved it though and is still talking about it.  I'm still not sure what it was though :)

Last week we walked to school some and other days I drove Carter to where our neighborhood adjoins the school property, parked, and walked him to the building.  It depends what Rylan and I have going on after.  And we've been doing the same for pick-up.  The school resource officer and a teacher walk all the kids in our neighborhood to the edge of the school property where they meet up with us.  It's super convenient not to have to sit in the car pickup line!  Every day Carter runs in front of the group and is the first one to the parents.  He's just so excited!

Overall, I'd say Carter loves kindergarten.  I think the nervousness will get better as he makes new friends.  The majority of Carter's class is from one neighborhood and a lot of the kids know one another already which means it's just going to take a little more time to make friends.  I feel like Carter is fully prepared academically and that is helping make the transition easier too.  We are super proud of her big kindergartner!!!

Walking to school.

Last Cheer at Greer

We took the boys to a Nashville Sounds game tonight.  The team only has a few more games left this week before the season ends, and since we had extra tickets, we took Missy and her boys with us.

Next year the Sounds will be playing at a new stadium in the Sulpher Dell area where Nashville had their first ballpark.  So this season is the "Last Cheer at Greer".

 The sun was shining in the boys' eyes :)

It was hot again today but luckily it wasn't horrible this evening and there was a breeze every once in awhile.  He had great seats with no one around us which was perfect for all these boys.  They could easily see and play musical chairs when they wanted to.

A couple of pictures of all the boys ...

They were all super happy to have unlimited popcorn!

We stayed through 5 innings since Carter has school tomorrow and Missy didn't want her boys to melt down.  But before we left, Missy had a celebrity siting! (I'm never the one to notice anyone!!!)

Sitting in the section next to us and 2 rows back was Luke Wheeler from the show "Nashville" (Will Chase is his real name).  We were complete dorks and got a picture of him.  I don't think we embarrassed Brian too much :)

North Carolina Trip - Day 3

I'm finally getting back to posting about our NC trip last month!  I only took a few pictures on our third day so this one will be short.

Our third day was Wednesday, July 9th.  We spent most of the day with my mom and went to the beach again for several hours.  We built tons of sand castles and played in the shallow water.  The big finds of the days were some large shells.  We think these were brought in by Hurricane Arthur that passed through a few days earlier.

Rylan's shells ...

He LOVES the one with all the holes because it has a "handle".

Carter's shells ...

He's still very proud that he found the largest of these shells.

After cleaning up and playing for a little while at my moms house, we headed off to my dad and Jan's house for dinner.  Again, I only took a couple of pictures!

There are some blueberry bushes in the front yard and Carter was obsessed!  If the mosquitos weren't so bad, Carter might have been out here all night eating directly from the bushes!

Rylan doesn't really like blueberries but he collected some more for his brother!

Wahoos!

Carter had his first baseball game of the season today.  He is playing with the Brentwood Baseball Club this season and is on the Wahoos.  It was HOT today - mid 90s and humid.  And the game was at 12:45 pm.  Luckily the games in this league are pretty short (they only played two innings) and each team bats through their lineup completely each inning.

The boys were provided with a shirt and hat this season and they got them right before the game today.

I had to get Carter new pants because the ones from last season were too small.  However since baseball's main season is in the spring, a lot of the stores around here don't restock in the fall.  We found some at Dick's though that work but are still a bit big and baggy.  I also found him some used shoes that were only used one season for $6.  Carter's really excited to not be wearing soccer cleats anymore :)

Carter had great hits his two times at bat (both off pitches, not the tee).  Both were solid fly balls and no one got out on either of them.

Carter's first hit ...

Carter running home with Drew cheering him on the whole way!

Coach Jeff rotates the players every game.  Carter played right-center field the first inning and first base the second inning.  No balls were hit to him though and I think he only had one ball thrown to him but it was after the runner was already at first.

The boys all survived the heat but some seemed to just barely make it.  I helped Kristin (my friend and the coach's wife) with dugout duty and mainly focused on making them all drink as much water as possible.  The boys all had purple faces after one inning.

We don't keep score but the game was pretty even.  Carter said he had fun too - yay!

Carter and his buddy Drew that came over from the Grassland League with us ...

Notice the new glove Carter picked out for this season (his old one was starting to fall apart).

Harvest Day

This week's gardening class was called "Harvest Day".  The garden was not extremely successful this year so the kids didn't actually harvest anything.  Ms. Lisa seemed to have trouble with getting volunteers this year and the weeds just took over completely.

At the beginning of class, the kids all colored gardening pictures and took a picture with the class logo to put on the Farmers Market website.

All the kids were excited to be using brand new Crayola crayons :)

Next the kids got to collect seed packets to plant at their own houses in the spring.

We ended up with lots of interesting things that may or may not get planted (we still have seed packets in the fridge from last year!).

At the end of class, Ms. Lisa passed out a treat for all 5 kids that attended class - a watermelon from the Farmers Market.

Besides looking like I have a watermelon under my shirt, I'm going to turn into one because I'm the only one in our house that eats watermelon and I had also just bought one at the grocery store!

Next week is the last class of the year!

Boo Hoo Breakfast

On Carter's second day of kindergarten (last Friday), the PTO had a Boo Hoo Breakfast for the kindergarten parents after dropoff.  Each table was reserved for one class so that we'd get to know the other parents in our kids' class.  I've gotten to know two of the moms so far - one I know a little from our preschool and the other is one of Ashley's old friends we met at the playground.

At the tables were these cute little books with a picture of our kids with their teacher (Mrs. Colasso).

There were also these placemats that the kids made on their first day of school ...

And "Parent Survival Kits" put together by the PTO.

After the Boo Hoo Breakfast there was a short PTO meeting which basically introduced the kindergarten parents to all the ways we can volunteer at our school.  The parents seem extremely involved at our school.  I'm signed up for cafeteria duty as soon as Rylan starts preschool.  For cafeteria duty you spend 50 minutes helping kids open up their food containers.  But my shift ends right as Carter's lunch period begins so I can then eat lunch with him.  I signed up to be a room mom too but haven't heard back about that yet.  I've also applied to be a tier 3 volunteer which included getting fingerprinted for a background check.  To volunteer and work with the kids when there is not necessarily a teacher present (such as helping with a field trip), you have to be a tier 3 level.  I did my fingerprints in mid-July but am still waiting for everything to get completed.

Carter loved his second day of school as much as his first.  He came home on Friday with a drawing about the Pete the Cat scavenger hunt they went on.  All the kindergarteners got to explore the school to find him (which I believe was just the teachers' way of showing the kids where different parts of the school were).

Carter also got a little goody bag that he was so excited to open once he got home!

At the Boo Hoo Breakfast, I also had to buy some school "gear".  The kids all need field trip shirts that Carter had to wear right away (along with his Pete the Cat hat he made at school).

And since I have a minivan now, I figured I should just go all out and get the magnet school decal for the back as well!

The Rain Game

The boys' gardening class ends for the year at the end of August.  Now that school is back in session, the class has gotten very small.  But that works for us!  Less behavior issues and a lot more food to take home!!!

Last week's class was called "The Rain Game".  The classroom portion of the class had to do with how rain helps plants grow.  The kids also did an experiment where the created rain using a mason jar, plate, very hot water, and ice.  The class was so small that the kids stood at Ms. Lisa's table the who time as she talked to them.

After talking about rain, it was time to harvest the few remaining items in the garden.  The groundhog that lives under one of the old houses near the garden ate the majority of the remaining food (including the watermelons and pumpkins).

But there were still potatoes and some tomatoes.

The kids split the harvest between the six kids or so that came to class that day.  We ended up with a ton!

Baby Raleigh

And look who was born today!

Laura's little girl (Raleigh Louise) arrived today ten days early!  Congratulations, Laura!!!

Baby Jessie

On Monday a bunch of us met at Granny White Park for a playdate.  Suzy was scheduled to be induced the next day so I took one last picture of the three pregnant mamas.  Laura (due Aug 30 w/ #3), Suzy (due Aug 20 w/ #4), and me (due Nov 7 w/ #3).

However, Suzy didn't quite make it that long.  Jessie Joy was born Monday night.  She is perfect and looks so much like her brothers and sister already!

I got to meet sweet Jessie last night.  She slept for 2 hours in my arms.

Suzy and Jessie are doing great!  They should be coming home today!

Carter's First Homework

Carter's first homework assignment was to make an "About Me" book.  His teacher provided the kids with a folder and some plastic sleeves, and they were asked to make 5 to 10 pages telling about themselves.  They could include their favorite things to do, their family and friends, and anything else about themselves. The kids are going to share these with the class in an effort to get to know one another better.  Later in the year, the kids will also use their books to assist them with their writing workshop.

Carter and I worked together on his book.  Yesterday we went through our photos on the computer and he picked out ones he liked.  Together we came up with a sort of outline for his book based on the pictures he selected.  We picked up the photos last night and then made the book this morning.

Carter helped design every single page.  He sat with me at the kitchen table for 2 1/2 hours making his 10 pages.  I did the typing and cutting but Carter gave me very specific directions for everything.  He wanted things in particular orders and pictures arranged in a certain way.  Sometimes he wanted the pictures trimmed down and sometimes he wanted them to overlap.  I see a lot of management potential in Carter :)  He's great at designing and planning things out but then wants someone else to do the manual work :)

Anyway, here is Carter's "About Me" book.

Outside Cover:

Example of the Inside:

All the individual pages: