Acorn Fun Run

Last Saturday we had the kids run another one of the fun runs for the Middle TN YMCA Race Series.  This one was the Acorn Fun Run and was part of the Harvest Half Marathon.  Brian did the half last year and the kids did the fun run.

It was COLD this year.  The kids race started at 10 am and it was only around 40, overcast, and super windy.

The race ended up being super short (only about 0.35 miles instead of a full mile) and unorganized but was still fun.  The kids had to do two small laps around part of the soccer fields.  Carter is in the center taking off first and Rylan is on the left in the photo.

Carter stayed in the front for a few seconds before getting overtaken by the older kids.

Here Carter comes around the 2nd corner - almost 1/4 of the way done.

Rylan was so close to Carter still that I almost missed him.

Carter finishing the first lap ...

And Rylan still pretty close behind!

Carter did a great job running the entire race.  He paced himself though and ran a little slower than normal for him.

Rylan only had one short walk break.

And then picked it up and ran the rest of the race.

Carter finishing with a time of 3 minutes, 10 seconds.

And Rylan with a time of 4 minutes, 10 seconds.

After the race we saw one of Carter's classmates who also ran the race.  Jett is a super sweet kid and crazy cute.

The boys got dog tag medals again for completing the race.  Apparently the Y is using up all their old left over medals from previous races because these are the same as the left over ones the boys got at their last race.  I added the name of the actual race to these as well.

After the race we picked up my mom from the airport and then returned to the Y for their Fall Fest.  It was so cold that it was almost empty this year.  This was our third year going to the festival and they had the same attractions as previous years with several inflatables, a hayride, a train ride, face painting, a DJ, and food, including pizza.  And best of all, it's 100% free (and you get a t-shirt).

It was hard to drag these kids away when it was time to go - they had so much fun!

First Soccer Game

Grayson attended his first soccer game today at 5 days old.  Carter had his last game of the season today.

Grayson slept through the entire game (and was under a blanket covering his carseat because it was a little cold for him).

Big Brother

Rylan is loving his new title of "big brother" ...

Grayson's First Doctor's Appointment

Grayson had a checkup with our pediatrician today.  We ended up leaving the hospital after 2 nights and came home around 5 pm on Wednesday.  Because Grayson was still losing weight at this point (at his morning check, he'd dropped from 8 lb, 6 oz at birth to 7 lb, 11 oz), our pediatrician wanted to see him today.

My milk finally came in late yesterday and this afternoon Grayson was up to 8 lbs.  Dr. Huss also said he was a bit jaundice, but nothing required any treatment.  He gave Grayson a quick look over and said he was perfect!

Grayson's Hospital Photos

A photographer came by our hospital room today and took some pictures of Grayson.  I don't think we'll purchase any of them put I pulled them off the website to share with everyone.

Grayson's feet with Carter and Rylan's hands ...

 

 

Face Painting

The boys went to Brooks' 5th birthday party on Sunday afternoon.  It was supposed to be a costume party since it was just after Halloween but only a few kids wore their costumes.  Carter decided to wear a cowboy costume we had which was easier to play in and Rylan decided he was fine in just in Ninja Turtle shirt.

Melanie got a bounce house and the kids played outside in the reasonable weather (as opposed to the freezing weather the day before).  Melanie also hired a face painter.  The girl is only 13 but she has trained with a guy that owns a company that does a lot of the local festivals.  She was amazing!

The girl had a couple of books of options for the kids to choose from.  Chase, McCabe, and Carter decided they all wanted to be some cheetah-monster thing but were calling it a tiger.  When Chase pointed out that one and said tiger, she corrected him, but offered to make up a tiger.  The boys all agreed to that and ended up looking awesome.

Rylan originally chose a scary monster but ended up telling the girl the pirate on the adjacent page.  I think it turned out really cool as well!

Happy birthday, Brooks!!!

Grayson John

Our newest addition has arrived!  Grayson John was born yesterday morning (November 3rd) at 7:54 am via a planned c-section.  And he is absolutely perfect!  He weighed in at 8 lbs, 6 oz and was 20 inches long.

Grayson has lots of dark hair (compared to Carter and Rylan at birth).  However, his eyebrows are lighter so who knows what color it'll end up (Rylan's hair was pretty dark too when he was born).  Also, unlike Carter and Rylan, Grayson has regular eyelashes.  They aren't super thick and long.

Carter and Rylan came to the hospital to meet Grayson after school yesterday.  They were super sweet.  Carter could have held Grayson for hours and Rylan just got excited about each time he touched Grayson.  I can't wait for us all to be home together so they can spend some time together!

Lots more to come soon ...

Halloween

For the fourth year in a row, we went to Missy's house to trick-or-treat.  This year it was us, Missy's family, and Jen's family.  We kept it simple this year by eating dinner beforehand and just snacking on yummy treats.  The temperature dropped all day but it stopped raining by the evening (however it was still super windy).  Before heading out the kids played inside for an hour and then got their costumes on.

Will was Flash, Luke was Darth Vader (a last minute decision), and Ellie was a pumpkin.  Chase was also Darth Vader and Sutton was a ladybug.  Rylan was Donatello (the purple Ninja Turtle) and Carter was a Lego Guy.

We layered the boys up under their costumes to try to keep them warm.

A family photo.

The kids raced from house to house.  We kept having to holler at them to slow down!  A little over half the houses on Missy's loop had people home and handing out candy.

A gray cat (see the right corner of the picture below) followed us around most of the night.  It kept darting in front of people and got stepped on several times.  We convinced ourselves it was gray too instead of black (don't need any bad luck!).

Rylan eventually got cold enough that he wore one of Brian's hats.  I thought he looked like a tougher ninja in the hat than with the turtle mask.  We also ended up carrying most of his costume (his mask, shell, and bo staff).

Notice how Carter's Lego head spun around a little so his eyes don't match up?

He ran around like crazy for awhile but when we were about 2/3rds done, he fell a couple of times.  He landed forward and wasn't able to catch himself.  He was then stuck and needed help up.  After the second or third fall, he wanted someone to walk him around.

Once we finished trick-or-treating, we stuck around Missy's house for another hour or so playing before heading home.  The boys had lots of fun and scored lots of good candy.  However, they aren't big fans of chocolate and that's what they mostly got.  At least there is very little asking for candy.  They may have had one piece today.