Fall Soccer

The boys had their first soccer games of the season yesterday.

Since the baby is due at the end of the season and I didn't want to leave my team hanging without a coach, Brian is coaching both boys this season.  But I'm assisting and helping him out.  We were able to get in three practices for each team before the first games yesterday.

Rylan's team is all green this year (shirt, shorts, and socks) and sponsored by Dick's Sporting Goods.

Carter's team is all blue (shirt, shorts, and socks) and sponsored by CCA (Corrections Corporation of America - they "specialize in the design, construction, expansion and management of prisons, jails and detention facilities").  What an interesting sponsor for a youth soccer team! :)

We really like both of our teams this year.  Rylan's team is all new (except for his buddy Radnor who played on our team last fall only).  Luckily they aren't all the super young kids that barely made (or didn't even actually make) the cutoff like he had the last two seasons.  There are even a couple of ringers on the team that are really good already.  Carter's team is about half returning players that requested Brian as a coach again.  The rest of the kids are all well behaved and listen well.  And aren't bad soccer players either!  It's looking like it's going to be a good season for both teams!

Rylan's game was first at 10 am.  It was hot and humid yesterday.  It only got to 90F, but it was so sunny and miserable.

We are SO PROUD of Rylan!  He started off the first two practices with his normal crying when he falls down and whining about everything.  But after some bribing - promises of a "chicken burger" after practice (which is what Rylan calls a chicken sandwich from Wendy's) and Chuck E. Cheese after two good practices - Rylan is pulling it together!  He did great at this week's practice and AMAZING at the game.  He fell down tons during the game and was pushed around a bit but never once got upset.  And he scored 2 goals!!!

Rylan's first goal ...

So happy!!! And getting congratulations from Sam on the other team - Sam did speech with Carter last year.

I have a picture like this of Carter from last year but can't find it.  I love how Rylan is trying to get everyone to stop because one of the players is on the ground and doesn't want him to get kicked!

This may be Rylan's second goal - can't remember for sure.

Rylan's team scored a couple dozen goals.  Brian even held his team back and eventually was playing only 2 players to their 5 (and Rylan's team was still scoring).  They were eventually were able to let the other team score.  It was weird being on the other side of the dominance with Rylan's team!  The boys on the other field also did better than the other team but I think Brian put both ringers on Rylan's field (it's hard to know until the first game how to split up the boys).

Rylan was also super proud of himself for playing so hard and we are okay for now if we have to bribe him.  He enjoys it when he's playing and afterwards.

Carter's game was immediately after Rylan's at 11 am.  We have 3 overlapping games with baseball this season so for this one, we had Carter play a quarter of his soccer game before I rushed him over to his baseball game at the fields about 1/2 mile down the road.

Carter played really hard for the 8 minutes (as always).  When the quarter was over he was purple in the face and soaking wet from playing so hard!

And he even managed to get the first goal for his team!

He was so proud of himself!  And we were super proud of him too!  He tries so hard and we couldn't ask for anything more from him!

Brian said the boys on his field all scored one or two goals and they held the other team to about two goals.  I believe the other field was dominated by our team as well.  Everyone seemed to have fun and I can't wait to see a whole game next weekend!

Carter quickly changed uniforms in the car and I tried to get a little fluid and food in him.  I dropped him off as close to his baseball field as I could (the coach's older son was walking in then too so he walked with Carter to the field) and parked the car.  I got to the field just as the first inning was about to start.

Carter played shortstop the first inning.  He was super close to getting an out when a slow grounder was hit his way and he tried to get the runner out coming to second.  He was half a second behind the runner.

I believe this was the first time that Carter played shortstop.  He is so aggressive and wants to back up all hits no matter where they are hit on the field.  There were even hits that weren't getting to the pitcher that he was running for.  However, he never tries to take the ball from the other kids or get in front of them.  He truly does just back them up (and often does get the ball - there was a hit that went to second that went through three other kids before Carter fielded it!).

Carter had a solid hit his first time at bat and easily made it to first base.  He's hitting the bottom of the ball lately and usually putting it over the pitcher's head (but it doesn't reach the outfield).

Carter played first base during the second inning.  Mr. Serious!!!  I think the hot day and lack of food was starting to catch up with him but you'd never know it by how he played!

Carter got two outs that inning.  The first was a hard grounder right to him that he fielded cleanly and took to first.

The second was a hit to Jack Henry at pitcher that he threw to Carter.

Notice that stare he's giving the runner!

 Carter had another similar hit the second inning.  Since he was the last batter in the line-up, he got a "homerun" both times at bat.

Brian and Rylan made it over to the baseball fields just in time to see Carter's last hit.

I'm amazed by Carter's energy and enthusiasm.  He's such a dedicated baseball player!  Yesterday morning Carter was thanking us for having a busy day and letting him play both soccer and baseball.  He loves this stuff and I'm so glad.  It's challenging to get him to everything but it's worth it.  We are so proud of how both boys did yesterday!!!

Rylan's First Day of School

Rylan started preschool on Tuesday.  This year he will be going to school on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 9 am to 2:30 pm.

I'm not 100% thrilled with Rylan's teacher this year (Ms. Sue) as she is not very academic and I don't believe she will do enough to prepare Rylan for kindergarten.  We are not sure if we are sending Rylan to kindergarten next year or not since the majority of people around here hold back summer birthdays.  However, I'd still like to assume at this point that Rylan is going.  I spoke with the preschool directors last spring and was assured Rylan would be with a different teacher than he got - one that I felt would prepare him.  Rylan has a completely different set of teachers than Carter.  I have loved all of Carter's teachers and not really liked any of Rylan's.  I have a feeling that #3 will be going to a different preschool!

Anyway, Rylan's best buddy from his first year at the school (Radnor) is in his class.  There is one other boy and four girls from that class in there with him.  Somehow, none of the kids from Rylan's class last year are with him this year.  His best buddy from last year (Luke) was supposed to be in that class but his mom switched to another preschool because of the lack of academics :)

On Tuesday morning when I reminded Rylan that he got to go to school, he immediately started crying and saying that he didn't want to go.  Rylan has never actually cried at school or not wanted to go in once we are there, but he would tell me often enough that he didn't want to go.  But this was the first time with tears at any time.  I think Rylan had gotten used to hanging out with me while Carter was at school and was really enjoying his alone time.

Luckily as we got ready that morning, Rylan started acting more excited.  He was super happy to take some "First Day of School" photos!

We take Carter to school first (he has to be there between 8:20 and 8:35) and then drive over to Rylan's school for the 9 am start time.  It's been too hot for this pregnant lady to walk Carter to school lately (there is a descent hill and I end up pushing Rylan in the stroller because he won't walk that far) - I'm so over being hot and sweaty all the time!  So we've been driving to where the walkers meet us in the afternoon (on the edge of the school property), parking, and walking to the building.  Anyway, this leaves Rylan and I with some extra time to kill when we get to school.

On Tuesday Rylan was happy to pose for another picture outside of school :)

We went into the school and had to wait about 15 minutes before the doors to the preschool wing were opened.  But we got to catch up with lots of friends we hadn't seen all summer!  Radnor and Rylan found one another right away and started comparing their "All About Me" posters we had to do before school started.

Rylan did a great job writing his name and age all by himself.  He didn't copy anything.  And even though the N and 4 are backwards, this is great for him.

Here are the answers to Rylan's questions:

"Someday, I want to be ..." a policeman.
"I am really good at ..." building Legos.
"I would like to visit ..." Grandma.
"My favorite things are ..." Ninja Turtles and baseball.

Radnor also answered Ninja Turtles for one of his favorite things :)

When the preschool doors opened, Rylan walked right in and walked right into his classroom.  He started exploring the toys and was content.  Rylan and Radnor fell into old habits and dressed up right away (see the second picture in this post).

These boys barely notice Cher and I leave.

When I picked Rylan up Tuesday afternoon, he was really happy.  He told me had fun and liked his teacher.  The thing he was the most impressed with is that he now gets to go outside two times each day!

BE NICE

This year Williamson County Schools have a new campaign called "Be Nice".  I believe it's to push students to treat others how they want to be treated (in an effort to cut down on bullying).

Anyway, the students at Carter's school were asked to wear their green school shirts today so they could make this photo ...

We zoomed in and we could just make out Carter in the top of the "I".

Franklin Classic

The boys ran the 1K Franklin Classic Kids Run on Monday.  This is probably the biggest race in Franklin with both a 10K and 5K before the kids run.  This year neither Brian nor I ran but I still signed up the boys.  Carter also did the race last year and Rylan decided he wanted to do it this year as well.

We got downtown about 40 minutes before the race started and went to the kids zone where there were lots of fun games for the kids to play.  There was also free face painting and the boys actually wanted to do it for once (usually they have no interest).  By the way, doing this before racing when it is hot and humid is not a good idea!!!  I knew it wasn't going to be pretty but that's part of the fun, right?

Rylan chose a Ninja Turtle, of course ...

And Carter chose this snake ...

Before the race we decided that Rylan would run with Brian (because if he ended up being carried, it would be easier for Brian to do it).

And I would run with Carter (even though he's fast and I'm so slow with this big belly and not exercising lately!).

The race only started 5 minutes late as we waited for the last of the 5K walkers to finish up.  We didn't want to line up too early so we started close to the end of the pack.  Unfortunately as we waited that few minutes, Rylan decided he didn't want to run anymore.  As soon as the race started though, I had no idea what was going on with Brian and Rylan because Carter was off!  He was weaving between all the people in front of us going as fast as he could.  Luckily he didn't trip anyone!

I didn't think I had to pee until we started running and the baby started bouncing.  And Carter was fast!  I could hardly keep up!  He only walked once for about 25 yards.

Carter finished the 1K in 6:05!  That's 9:47/mile pace!  No wonder I was suffering :)  Last year Carter ran the race in 7:52.

After Carter and I finished we went back up the road just a little bit to see Rylan finish.  We were somewhat surprised to see him just a few minutes later and running!

He sprinted by us so fast I only got a picture of his foot!!!

There he is headed to the finish!

Rylan finished in 9:39, which is awesome!

Apparently the run didn't go all that smoothly for Rylan though.  The race was around 2 blocks of downtown.  Rylan did not want to run the first side of the "rectangle".

When Rylan got passed by a kid that had just learned to walk, Brian had a heart-to-heart with him.  I'm not sure what exactly was said but Brian said he wasn't very nice.  Rylan can be so stubborn sometimes!  As you can see, Rylan's pace improved dramatically after that.  And he was so proud of himself at the finish!  I would never have known there was an issue if Brian hadn't told me!

After the race we got lots of water and Gatorade (mainly for me because I did not feel great - silly baby belly!).  The face painting didn't look too bad at first.  But as the boys continued to sweat and wipe their faces, it was everywhere (including all over their shirts)!

The boys also got finisher medals that they can add to their collection!

So proud of these guys for trying so hard!

Pumpkinhead

The boys had their last gardening class of the year last week.  It was a bit rushed for us because we came straight from picking Carter up from school and then had to get to Rylan's soccer practice and Carter's baseball game.  But we managed to fit it in!

Before class the boys gave Ms. Lisa a present (a hummingbird feeder) for putting up with all these kids all summer and teaching us so much about gardening.  They were so proud to be giving her something.

The last class was called "Pumpkinheads".  Unfortunately the groundhog ate all the kids' pumpkins in the garden.  Luckily Ms. Lisa brought some along that were donated by a farmer at the Franklin Farmer's Market.

Ms. Lisa taught the small class of six several facts about pumpkins and then opened one up to talk about the inside.

Then she let the kids try to break it.  After many throws and kicking it around like a soccer ball, it finally cracked.

Then the kids got to decorate some pumpkins with markers and stickers.

Carter added a face to his - pretty scary!

Rylan had me draw a face on his - not as scary :)

The kids also got to take home a second undecorated pumpkin since Ms. Lisa had so many extras.

Ms. Lisa plans to continue the Growing Kids Educational Garden program next year.  Hopefully next year will be a more successful year for the garden (I think a lack of volunteers this year was part of the problem)!