Glow Golf

On Sunday I took the boys on another "adventure" since Brian was working all day again.  This time we headed over to Murfreesboro.

Our first stop was Glow Golf.  Rylan asks all the time to go to Glow Galaxy where Carter had his 4th birthday party because he wants to play the indoor golf.  Last year we went to Glow Golf in Murfreesboro as a family on Carter's birthday but hadn't been back since.

I didn't tell the boys where we were going and they were super excited when we arrived.  The way the pricing works is that you get to play 3 rounds of the 18-hole course.  I gave up keeping score after one hole.  They tore through the course.  Usually the ball would still be moving when they took their next swings.  But there were only a couple of other groups golfing so we could move fast and they were having fun so who cares about doing it right!!!

Grayson wasn't a huge fan of all the weird lighting and I had to hold him the whole time so he didn't cry.  And he only spit up on me and the floor about 5 times :)

After finishing the 3 rounds, you get to hit your ball into the 19th hole and it keeps the ball.  Rylan's ball ended up in the special hole and he won a free game.  I guess we'll have to go back!

I'll share the second part of our "adventure" in my next post!

Phrase Lists

Carter got a note sent home the other day saying he'd completed all the sight word lists for kindergarten (including the challenge lists).  So now Carter is getting phrase lists that he has to practice at home and then get tested on at school.

He's doing great with these too and is already on list 4!

Fort Negley

Brian has to work all weekend but we are finally having some mild weather (low 50s) so I'm trying to get out of the house with the boys.  Yesterday we visited Fort Negley for the first time.  Fort Negley is located in downtown Nashville and was the largest inland stone fort built during the Civil War.

After Carter's basketball game and lunch, we headed down to the fort.  The visitors center opened in 2007, and while small, it's really nice.  We stopped there first and the big boys wanted to watch the 20 minute film about Nashville during the Civil War.  They watched it intently but I'm not sure how much they got.  Rylan asked if it was about a different world.  When I told him it was about our city 150 years ago he then asked if there were dinosaurs then.  I don't think Rylan has a great grasp of time yet :)

After the film, we went outside to walk around the fort (some of the stonework is in the distance behind the boys).  The boys were so excited to see everything.  I have no idea why they were so into the fort and information about the Civil War.  They also wanted to act out fighting.  Everything stick was a gun.

Carter took this picture of Grayson and me.  Not too bad :)

This is the one and only entrance into the fort.  And love this picture of the big boys :)

Inside of the fort are these wooden walkways that were constructed to keep visitors off the stonework.  They are actually pretty fun paths for the kids to follow.

The boys liked finding all the places they thought canons had been set up during the war.

Rylan took this one of Grayson and me.  I turned Grayson around in the Bjorn to face me after he started getting fussy and he passed out.

It was fun exploring the fort with the boys.  There really wasn't all that much too it but they loved it!  While at the fort, we search for and found 3 letterboxes (these are Grayson's first finds).

Inside the second letterbox we found was a cootie.  We got to take this stamp with us and we'll leave it in a letterbox when we find one out of town.

Such a fun local adventure with my boys!

Insanity

I am 2 weeks into the Insanity workout.  About 3 weeks after having Grayson, I stopped losing any weight.  And if I thought Rylan stretched out my stomach, this time is even worse.  So I really need a core workout instead of just running.

I have been crazy sore for the past two weeks but I've lost 5 pounds (without changing how I eat).  I still have 20 pounds to lose though.  Hopefully the next 7 weeks of Insanity workouts will get me through at least half of that.

Plus nothing keeps you honest like a 6 year old!  Two of Carter's comments so far ...

"When are you going to lose your belly?"

and

"You aren't going as fast as them." (Referring to the people doing the Insanity workout on my computer.)

I also signed up for the Music City Half Marathon on March 22nd.  I ran this race in October 2013 and it's where I have my half marathon PR (1:46:33).  I hope to finish in no more than 30 minutes over that time :)

Hansel and Gretel

Yesterday I took Rylan and Grayson to the Nashville Library for a puppet show.  This month they are performing "Hansel and Gretel", a play we hadn't seen before.  Rylan asked me what the story was about before we left the house and I started telling him.  When I mentioned the house made of candy, he finished the story for me.  When I asked him how he knew it, he answered that he'd seen it on "Curious George".

But then he also said he didn't want to go to the play because he was scared of the witch.

I made him go anyway.

We got there about 10 minutes early and I fed Grayson because he was fussy.  That made him wide awake and he actually sat on my lap and watched the entire 30+ minute play.  At one point my leg felt wet and I figured he'd thrown up on me.  But it was completely dark and I couldn't tell.  Grayson didn't feel wet anywhere so I deduced that he'd actually pooped on me.  Which he had.  Oh fun.

Rylan was scared until he finally saw the witch and then stopped covering his ears and/or eyes.  He still didn't like her until she got pushed in the oven by Gretel.  That was his favorite part of the play and part he told Brian and Carter about.

After the play, the librarians brought out a couple of puppets for the kids to see.  This was as close as I could get Rylan to stand by the witch so I could take his picture :)

Next month they are doing "Tall Tale Circus" which is my favorite of all the plays we've seen so far!

Carter's 6th Birthday

It's about time I post about Carter's sixth birthday!

We have done a party for his first five birthdays but we decided to keep it simple this year since we were unsure when Grayson would arrive and didn't want to be stressing about a party.  We actually gave Carter a choice - he could have a party out of the house or we would give him $200 and he could pick out any Lego sets that he wanted.  It took him a few weeks to decide but he finally decided to take the money for Legos.

Carter's birthday was on a Saturday this year so on Friday night I put up banners I had made for his previous parties.

2nd Birthday:

3rd Birthday:

5th Birthday:

When the boys got up, I made blueberry muffins - Carter's favorite food.

Carter wore his birthday crown from school that he'd gotten the day before most of his birthday.

After breakfast Carter opened up his presents from us.

We limited the number of Lego sets we gave him since Carter would be picking out more in the afternoon.

Carter had basketball practice and then we let him pick out where he wanted to eat lunch.  Brian and I have taught him well - he picked Bojangles! :)

Then it was finally time to head to Toys R Us to pick out Legos.  I thought it was going to take FOREVER for Carter to pick out $200 worth of Legos.  Brian had gone ahead inside with the big boys while I fed Grayson in the car.  It only took me 10 minutes and Carter was almost decided when I got inside.  After about 15 minutes, he had made up his mind.  Amazing.

Carter picked out 3 big sets and 1 medium set.  He also got a free little bag set.

Brian picked out a small set for Rylan so he wasn't left out (and he got the free little bag set as well).

Our next stop was Sweet Cece's for ice cream - yum!

After a light dinner at home, I took all the boys to Harpeth Gymnastics for Maddie's birthday party (Carter had his party there the year before).  So even though he didn't get a party, Carter got to see a lot of his friends on his birthday.

Carter's school does a lot to make the kids feel special on their birthdays.  One thing we have the option of doing is donating a book to the library.  I think it cost $15 and the kids get to pick out any book they want from a cart of pre-purchased books.  Carter picked out this book.  He said he picked it out because he loves dogs.

Inside the book is a sticker with Carter's name on it.

Carter was the first person to check out his book and now anyone can.  The librarian sent home this card with a picture of Carter holding his Birthday Book.

The picture of Carter holding his book is also posted outside the library with all the other kids and their birthday books.

Carter's teacher gives the kids a twisty straw.  It seems so simple but Carter was talking about it for days before his birthday.

And of course a crown that Carter wore for days.

Carter got a note from the principal too wishing him a happy birthday.

We aren't allowed to bring in any food or treats for our kids' birthdays but we can supply goody bags (that don't include anything edible) for the kids to take home.  Carter decided he wanted to give his classmates stamps so we found these fall themed ones to give out.

It was weird to not have a party this year but Carter didn't seem to care at all about that.  He still got lots of special attention and seemed to have a fun day!

Target Toy Clearance

Grayson had to put up with this first big toy clearance at THREE Targets this morning.

Brian was nice enough to take the big boys to school for me this morning so I could shop.  I may have spent over $300 :)

Recent Pictures

Before Christmas break, Carter's school had Parents & Pastries one morning.  We got to come in before school and have breakfast with our kiddos in the cafeteria.  I brought all the boys and we got to enjoy some yummy doughnuts!

I took pictures of all the kids in Rylan's class for their ornament craft they made during their party.  Since I had pulled these two out of class at the same time, I got a picture of them together.  Rylan and Radnor were best buddies their first year of school.

Over Christmas break I think we went to the Adventure Science Center three times.  It was been cold and rainy a lot the last few weeks and there just aren't enough indoor places to go sometimes!  During the break, they have their 12 Days of Science with special events going on each day.  On one of those days the kids got to test out some new toys.

Rylan liked the Wubble (which the boys ended up getting from my sister for Christmas).

The new temporary exhibit is all about rivers.  Carter did a little catfish noodling :)

Keeping all the boys together can be hard now that I have Grayson in a stroller and can't really follow Rylan up the spine :)

Wouldn't trade it though - sweet boy holding his doggy's paw :)

I had Missy's kids over for a playdate on Friday.  Luke came dressed as Spiderman so we got out our costumes for everyone else (Rylan is also Spiderman, Will is a mad scientist, and Ellie is just Ellie).

And a sweet picture of our 3 boys ...