The Wheels on the Bus

Rylan has made a little progress with books. He has one book that he absolutely loves.


He'll pull this book out of the basket in the family room and started grunting/screaming at me because he wants me to read it to him. He even has some of the hand movements down (round and round and beep, beep, beep). He usually wants to turn pages quicker than I can sing, but this is progress!



Rylan and I are really enjoying spending some time together on our own while Carter is at school. Rylan's not nearly as fussy when it's just me and him. I think he really likes all the attention. I'm trying to work a lot with him on walking and talking since he seems a little behind on both.

I had been doing work during Rylan's morning nap today and was finishing something up real quick when he got up. I wasn't watching him too well and this is what he got in to today (Brian's K-cups) ...


I found him right before he got into the Goldfish.

Carter did awesome at school again today. The message on his daily report was "Another great day!" Here's his art project from today ...

Natchez Trace

We have been getting constant rain since Saturday night due to what's left of Tropical Storm Lee. It kept us from doing too much yesterday but we decided to brave the rain and cold (it was only around 60F today - about 40 degrees cooler than Saturday) and drive on the Natchez Trace Parkway. It's a 444 mile long parkway from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, TN.

First we stopped in historic Leiper's Fork to have lunch. Leiper's Fork is just south of Frankin and very close to the Natchez Trace. There are a handful of antique stores here and some restaurants. We chose to go to Puckett's Grocery and Restaurant.




We had a good lunch of hamburgers, hot ham & cheese sandwiches, fries, and onion rings.

Then we continued on to the parkway.


Our first stop was at Jackson Falls. The path to the falls is paved so we put Rylan in the stroller and covered him up with a beach towel to try to keep him dry. Even though Carter's coat isn't waterproof, it did well keeping him pretty dry.


The trail was only about a quarter mile.


The waterfall wasn't much to see but Carter had fun exploring around the area.




Our second stop was Fall Hallow. It was raining pretty hard when we got there so Brian stayed in the car with Rylan and let me take Carter out to see the falls.

The upper overlook was paved and only about 100 feet from the parking lot.


But Carter wanted to keep going so we hiked down the trail (which wasn't paved) to get to the bottom of the falls. It was probably another quarter mile.




As soon as we got down there Carter turned around and was ready to go back to the car. When we got back, Brian went to the top overlook to see the falls and then we were on our way back home.

Vanderbilt Football

Tonight we took the kids to Vanderbilt's first game of the season against Elon. The Commodores were 2-10 last year so even though they are in the SEC, they don't have a great football team. However, they have a new coach this year so maybe they'll do better.

We bought tickets on Stubhub again. We bought first row in the end zone and thought that we'd gotten good seats. We were wrong. There is a walkway in front of the first row that is the same height as the first row. People are constantly walking in front of you and blocking your view. And then the railing that is several feet away obscures the field when people aren't blocking your view.

We could feel the heat though coming off these flares when the players ran onto the field ...


It was a hot evening and we were all a bit uncomfortable, but we still had fun.



We stayed in our seats for about a quarter and then we moved to open seats higher up. The view was much better.


Carter had fun dancing to the band at halftime ...

We left a few minutes into the third quarter because Rylan was getting tired and fighting me. We parked about 15 minutes away and it was a long walk in the heat carrying the boys but luckily we beat a storm that developed a little after we got home.

The Factory

After doing the workshop at Home Depot, I took the kids over to The Factory. We've never been there before and I wanted to check it out. The Factory once housed the Dortch Stove Works. It's been renovated and now has shops, restaurants, and event space. The Franklin Farmers' Market is also there on Saturday mornings.

We walked through the farmers' market but it was ridiculously hot outside again (99F, I think) so we headed inside pretty quickly. We walked past a bunch of shops housing local artists and then decided to stop in Third Coast Clay and paint some pottery. I've never done this with the kids before and they did a good job. Carter did most of the painting, but Rylan got a few strokes in too.



Afterwards we walked around for a bit more and played in the toy shop.



We called Brian when we were getting hungry and he met us at The Factory for lunch. We ate at Music City Dog House and had some good hot dogs and corn dogs. I got a Tennessee Tornado Potato which is a spiral cut potato that is fried on a skewer. It seemed like something you'd get at a state fair. Very yummy.


The Factory was a neat place to explore and a good place to shop for home decor or gifts. I'm sure we'll head back to the farmers' market when I have a better idea of the vegetables I'll need for the week.

Home Depot Kids' Workshop

Brian had some work to do this morning (and his weekend allergies had returned - he's been suffering all day) so I took the boys out for the morning. Our first stop was the Kids' Workshop at Home Depot.

Today's project was an ESPN College Game Day Board. Carter wasn't too interested in helping with the 4 nails but there were 2 screws and he did them all by himself.


He was also very much into the paint. They had several colors to choose from and he chose blue and green.


Carter drew up several interesting plays this afternoon ...

One Day of Preschool ...

And Carter is already more social.

I took the boys to the playground at Crockett Park first thing this morning before it was too hot (though it was still plenty warm - I'm so ready for fall instead of the upper 90s).

When another boy entered the playground, Carter went up to him and said hello. The boy asked his name and Carter told him it. Then they proceeded to play together until we left. This is the first time ever that Carter has played with another kid on the playground. Even when we'd go to the park with Amy's kids, Carter and Caitlyn would mostly do their own things.

Charlotte

Our boys love their dog.

Charlotte has to put up with a lot from them but there are times when they are super sweet to her. When they aren't being so nice by trying to sit on her or hit her with something, she'll walk away. On occasion she'll give them a warning mouth, but that's very rare.

The other day Charlotte was being very patient with their affection ...



We've still been trying to take Charlotte for long walks every night (she had lost a couple of pounds at her last checkup) but Brian has been getting home a little later and it's starting to get dark earlier. So we took her to the dog park at Tower Park twice this week. There is a unique diamond-shaped radio tower adjacent to the park.


Charlotte doesn't play a ton, but she has gotten some good sprints in with the other dogs. Carter and Rylan really love watching her and the other dogs run. Carter tries to run with them sometimes (so far he hasn't been taken out). Carter hasn't been scared of any of the dogs there but he's been good about waiting for us to be with him and approaching them cautiously.

So far we've liked this dog park better than the two we'd been to in Knoxville. The owners seem a lot more responsible and all the dogs have been friendly enough. The dog park is huge and there is a separate park for small dogs.

We've had so much fun that we've left at dusk both times we were there ...

Carpet

You can't hide behind that cup, little man!


The other day Rylan was using his cup to smash crackers. I hate that we have carpet under our kitchen table. There are crumbs constantly being ground in to it. So far we don't have any major stains but I doubt we'll make it to the end of our lease with this little rascal and his messes!

He Did Great!

When I picked up Carter this afternoon I was so happy to find out that he did great. The teachers both said he was super sweet, was a big helper, played really nice with the other kids, and had really good manners. I hope he continues to be this way because once he gets more comfortable in a situation, he can get a little crazy. I asked if there was anything I needed to do or to talk to him about and the teacher's response was don't change anything because he is perfect. Wow! I'm so relieved!

Everyday the kids get a little report to let you know a few details about their day. Carter took a 45 minute nap! The kids sleep on mats on the floor that are about the size of a crib mattress (but not as thick, obviously). Carter was a little crabby for awhile because he's been taking crazy 3 hour naps lately, but he's doing better now. The note on the bottoms says, "What a big helper! Sweet, sweet, sweet boy!"


Instead of writing about lunch, they just leave what the kids didn't eat in their bag so you can see. Carter ate all his cheese and raisins and half of his peanut butter sandwich.

The kids did a couple of art activities ...



And they read "The Kissing Hand" which is about a raccoon's first day of school and the kiss his mom gives his hand so he can hold her kiss all day long (we got the book through the free book program in Tennessee). The kids got to take kissing hands home with them so we remember to give them kisses each day.


While Carter was at school, Rylan and I came home so he could take a nap and I could do a little work (I'm crazy and have decided to work part-time again). Then we met Brian for lunch, did a little shopping at TJ Maxx, and then it was time to pick up Carter. It was nice being able to give Rylan more attention and it was so easy with just one kid!

First Day of School

I dropped Carter off this morning for his first day of preschool (actually, Parents' Day Out).

He did awesome! On the way to school he was cheering, "Carter go to school! Yeah! Carter go to school! Yeah!"

We got there a little early so we had to wait outside of his room for a few minutes. Some of the other moms and I introduced the kids to one another but none of them seemed too interested in one another. Then we went in the room and Carter went right to the trucks. I had to get him to come back over to hang his bag up by his name.

Carter continued to play with trucks while I waited to introduce him to his teachers. After a brief introduction, I gave him a quick kiss and told him I'd be back in a little while and he just kept playing.

I peeked through the door for just a minute before leaving and Carter left the trucks and joined the other few kids that were there already at a table to play with some puzzles.

I can't wait to pick him up and find out how he did!