Reading to Cats

Today was the first day of summer vacation.  And it was rainy and cool (only about 60F).  The big boys were supposed to start swim team practice today but it was cancelled because of the weather.  We have also been INSANELY busy the last week with the end of school, end of soccer, baseball tournaments, end-of-season sports parties, etc, etc, etc.  I was actually hoping the boys were with me on taking a lazy day at home with the weather not being so nice but they were begging to do something about an hour after getting up.  We decided to take Gray to storytime at the library and get new books.  I think all of Brentwood had the same idea - I've never seen the library so packed.  Jen ended up meeting us there with her kids too.  Her kids wanted to go to the Williamson County Animal Shelter and read to the cats.  My boys were all like, "um ... no" but I forced them to go anyway (because they were also not into going home).  And they ended up thinking it was pretty cool.

How cute is this!?!

Gray was even trying to show the cats the pictures in his book :)

Afterwards we went to Sonic for Wacky Pack Wednesday ($1.99 kid meals).  Our crews were a loud bunch but we survived lunch before going our own ways.  Gray took a nap and the big boys remembered they had toys they haven't played with in a long time.  It was a good afternoon.  

It's supposed to stay cool tomorrow (swim team practice has already been cancelled) and we are headed to the zoo with Jen.  We have lots of activities scheduled for the summer but they don't start until June.

Last Day of School

Carter & Rylan's last day of school was yesterday.  They love school so while they aren't disappointed that school is over, they weren't really excited either.

Love Gray's excited smile :)

Yesterday was a half day.  But the end-of-year parties are from 9:30 to 10:30 and we are encouraged to check our kids out when the parties are over.

I'm the lead room mom for Rylan's class so I ran his party and only got to run upstairs to Carter's for about 3 minutes.  Rylan had a luau theme and Carter's was a carnival theme.  I'm also a room mom for Carter's class so I got to make all the photo booth props and made the cupcakes.  I had some help for Rylan's party so luckily I didn't have to make and buy everything for it (unlike the winter party when I only had one helper and ended up just doing it all myself).  Rylan's party went well and the kids all seemed to have fun!

Though I didn't love Rylan's teacher (for so many reasons - next year can only be better), he still liked her and generally enjoyed school.

In the afternoon, one of the moms in Carter's class hosted the entire class for a end-of-year party at her house.  Carter was in a class that looped (had the same teacher for two years) though he and Whit were new to the class.  The teacher also went through a divorce last year so she put everything into this class and they were tight.

Carter and I both loved his teacher this year.  She is just awesome and we are going to miss having her!

And now summer begins!!!

NCS

After the boys played five games on Saturday (Carter had one soccer and one baseball game / Rylan had two soccer and one baseball game), we took the boys to the Nashville SC game.  Unfortunately it started raining about 30 minutes before the 5pm game time.  And because there was lightning, the game got delayed.  We hung out in our car for a long time (even took a quick drive over to McDonalds for ice cream) and then finally decided to venture out into the rain about 15 minutes before the new game time of 6:45pm.  Forecasters were saying the rain would be over shortly after the game started.  And they were completely wrong.  It rained the ENTIRE game.  We were drenched (and chilled) but it was a great game.  There were tons of cards (including a red card on the other team near the end).  There were even two penalty kicks.  And Nashville SC pulled out the win 4-3.  The boys (including Gray) are so into the games.  They are picking up all the cheers too!

And we listened to the Predators game on the way home and they won to go ahead 3-2 in the series against the Ducks.  It was a good day for sports for us (the boys won all but one of their games too!).

Last Days of Kindergarten

The kindergartners got to have special days the last full week of school.  Rylan was half into it - he really wanted to dress up some days and was embarrassed that people would see him dressed up on others.  He is my fashion conscience one and very particular about his unique style :)

Sunglasses & Jump Rope Day

Pirate Day

Superhero / Princess Day

Totally not into superhero day.

Cowboy / Cowgirl Day

Bubbles & Flip Flops Day

Here are pictures of Carter dressing up for his last week of kindergarten: LINK.

Nashville SC U23

Nashville is getting a professional soccer team next year that will be part of the United Soccer League.  But before that starts, they have a U23 team this summer.  There are 8 home games that are either at the Vanderbilt football stadium or soccer fields and we decided to buy season tickets.  Saturday night was the first game.

The boys will watch a little soccer on TV but it doesn't hold their attention for long.  Seeing these guys play in person though was really exciting to them.  They all loved it.

Plus the fan club area was loud and crazy and helped to keep things fun.

Nashville SC beat Peachtree City MOAB 6-1.  It was a fun game to watch!

Buddies

I watched Lofton on Friday so Jen could go on Evie's field trip.  These two were both exhausted from a long week and got each other's nerves so much but also had some sweet moments.  Gray loves Lofton though and gets so excited when we are going to do something with her!

Gray is going through a phase where he makes a silly face for almost all pictures.  Rylan did the same thing at this age.

We went for a walk in the afternoon and I asked the kids to hold hands thinking there was no chance they would.  But they did!

TryBoro Kids Run

The boys ran a race in Murfreesboro on Friday - the TryBoro Kids Run.  This was the third year they've done it.  Carter did the 5K race and Rylan did the 2.5K.

We did not have good weather!  Luckily the severe weather missed us but it poured for an hour before the race.  It continued to rain during the run but did lighten up.  We hung out in the car until 10 minutes before the race.

The 2.5K race started five minutes before the 5K.  Both races are on the same course but the 5K is 2 laps.  I ran Rylan's race with him and then waited a few minutes for Carter and ran his second loop with him.  Those boys are fast :)

Last year Rylan ran the 2.5K in 16:07 and placed 3rd in the 5 and under group.  This year he ran the race in 12:50 (8:16 pace!!!) and placed 3rd (again!) in the 6 year old group.  He ran so hard the whole time.  He got water once but even continued to jog as he drank - he was super motivated!

Carter did an amazing job as well!  He's moved up to the 8-9 year old category which is much more competitive than the 7 and under he was in last year.  Plus he had an AMAZING race last year that is going to be hard to beat for awhile.  Last year Carter ran the 5K in 26:36 and placed 1st in his age group.  This year he ran the 5K in 27:59 and placed 8th in his age group (the 1st place runner had a time of 20:56!).  Carter was a little disappointed that he didn't get a trophy but he handled it great (it wouldn't have been so pretty if it were the other way around!).

Gray did a great job (as always) hanging at the boys' sports events.  He cheered for them and loved on them when they finished.  He overheard me saying Rylan poured his water over his head during the race (which I pointed out as being silly since it was raining).  Gray then proceeded to pick up an open water bottle and dump it over his head.  Luckily he couldn't get any more soaked than he already was :)

We are super proud of our boys!!!

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star

Gray likes to sing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" all the time ...

Here's a video of Rylan singing the song when he was about the same age ...

Soccer Videos

We are usually running around between so many games on Saturdays and I'm either helping coach or watching Gray that I usually forget to take pictures or videos at the kids' games.  But I have gotten a few recently.

Here's one from Rylan's game.  He set up Mac perfectly (though the ball may have been going anyway - hard to tell from my angle).

Carter played a makeup game last night.  I actually got 2 out of the 3 goals he scored on video.  This first one is a pass from Calum (the boys had spread out and Carter was wide open).

Carter is the go-to guy for corner kicks.  This is why!

Summer is Soon!

Even though the kids aren't done with school for a few more weeks, Rylan's teacher is apparently ready for summer!

It's a good thing I signed Rylan up for a tennis league this summer since that's the one think he drew!