Vandy Women's Soccer

I signed the boys up for the Vanderbilt Kids Club this year.  It was pretty cheap - $20 per kid.  With that, they got t-shirts, drawstring bags, and a few other goodies.  They also get free tickets to several games (football, basketball, and baseball).  And, the chance to participate in games.  So far, Carter got to be a ball boy for women's soccer games!

The first game he did was back on August 11th.  The game started at 7pm and the next day was the first full day of school so I took Carter and left the other kids home with Brian.

Carter got a nice bright shirt to wear!

And he ended up with the mid-field position which was the best spot (he got to retrieve the most balls :) ).

Carter seemed to have fun and it was fun to get to spend some time alone with him before and after the game.

Carter was asked to do another game on August 25th.  Unfortunately the weather wasn't as nice this time (it rained HARD for most of the game).  Brian ended up taking him this time and the other boys and I watched a bit of it on TV.

Even though Carter was soaked and a bit cold, I think he still had fun.

Uno

When we started playing disc golf at Crockett last summer, we met a cat named Uno.  He followed us around twice as we played for several holes.  His tag said he was friendly, loves kids, and lives near the park where he returns at night.

One day we even found an abandoned collar for another cat named Dos.

We hadn't seen Uno in several months until last week when we saw him in the parking lot at the Crockett Indoor Arena.  The boys and I were irrationally excited :)

While Rylan was practicing, Carter and Gray went outside with my phone to play with Uno and take some pictures.  Gray REALLY wants a cat :)

I think Uno liked the warm light on the ground!

Rylan's Fall Baseball Team

I was lazy this past fall and didn't take team and individual photos for all our sports teams.  Honestly, it's a lot of work and I didn't have it in me.

I did get this one photo of the team after the last game of the season.  These boys know how to get dirty!!!

Back Row (L to R): Hunter, Mac, Connor, Bates

Front Row (L to R): Rylan, Matthew, Jonathan, Haigen, Jack, Eli, Jude, Liam

Group Photo

This is back from summer.  I attempted to get a group photo of my kids and Jen's kids before we saw The Lion King.  Fail!

Halloween

Ever since seeing it on Fortnite, Gray loves to sing "Peanut Butter Jelly Time" (and do the dance).  I haven't been able to get him to wear a costume since his first Halloween when he was almost one so when he actually requested a costume this year, I was very excited.  He picked a banana.  And Carter decided to join him!  Rylan was finally something other than a ninja - some evil random dark guy is so much better :)

As usual, we went trick or treating with Jen's family in their neighborhood.  Evie was a bag of flaming hot Cheetos, Reed wore Carter's costume from last year, I don't remember what Mae was (something like a dead Little Red Riding Hood???), and Lofton was Wonder Woman.

That night was freezing!!!  It was hovering right around freezing and so windy.  But the kids toughed it out and did over an hour of trick or treating.  They ended up with the usual crazy amount of candy.

Outer Banks - Day 1

All the kids had off the entire week of Thanksgiving.  Like we did in 2012, we decided to visit the Outer Banks for a few days earlier in the week.

We drove to Raleigh on Sunday, spent the night with Brian's parents, and then drove to Manteo on Roanoke Island the next morning.  Monday was gorgeous! Our first stop was the Roanoke Marshes Lighthouse.

Then we grabbed some lunch at a local deli called the Hungry Pelican before searching for a multi-cache geocache over back by the lighthouse.  The waterfront was peaceful and a great place to walk around.

Next we headed over to Fort Raleigh NHS.  This is the site of the Lost Colony, the first English settlement in the present-day United States.  We spent some time in the visitor center and walking around the site.

The boys also completed the Junior Ranger Program to earn their first badge of our trip. 

After awhile we headed east and north up the coast to the Wright Brothers National Memorial in Kill Devil Hills.  Again, we spent some time in the visitor center and then walked around outside.  And the boys also did the Junior Ranger program here to get another badge.

There were no clouds at all that day and the setting sun was beautiful.

We walked up the hill to the actual memorial.

As it was staring to get dark, we headed to our hotel (a TownePlace Suites in Kill Devil Hills that had opened a few months earlier).  After getting all our stuff into our room, we headed back out to dinner at Jack Brown's.  It's a small chain that Brian has actually been to in Nashville but their burgers were amazing!!!

The hotel had a great indoor pool and the kids got in a swim before we headed to bed.

Gentry's Farm

Gray's pre-K class went on a field trip to Gentry's Farm back on October 4th.  This was my second time there.  I went with Rylan's class when he was in first grade.  Carter also went on a field trip there in first grade but I didn't go (I'm guessing I couldn't find someone to watch Gray as well as get Rylan to/from preschool).

The kids ate their lunch at some picnic tables when we all arrived and then we got to go on a hayride.

Gray with one of his favorite girls, Elyse.

While on the hayride, we toured the farm, saw lots of cows, and visited the pumpkin patch.  It's been since we lived in Knoxville that we've been to a true pumpkin patch where we get to pick pumpkins off the vine!

Gray's two favorite kids in his class are Elyse and Cheney.  Both girls are also the youngest of three and have two older brothers.  No wonder they get along so well!!!

After the hayride, the kids got to visit several other play areas and see some other farm animals.  It was a really great field trip for this age group and they all seemed to have a lot of fun!

L to R: Jackson, Ben, Elyse, Gray, Zane, Hudson L., Rylan, Mack, Hudson S., Alister, Luna, Cheney, Hayes

Random Fall Pictures

This random bear appeared at the Nashville Zoo this fall.

Carter and Rylan did running team at school this fall.  Since Rylan is in third grade this year, it was his first time he was able to be on running team.  He liked it but one of his best friends is insanely fast which I think put a damper on it for him.  He's just so competitive.  I'm not sure but I felt like he purposely didn't give it 100%.  But he still seemed to have fun and I'm sure he'll want to do it again in the spring.  Coach Clark added a new element this season - a weekly triple jump competition.  It took a few weeks but Rylan finally won for third grade (I think he ended up winning three times!).

My mom visited and we did some fun things with Gray while the big boys were at school.  We went to the Adventure Science Center.

And the zoo.

Gray's school had parent's night and we all got to visit his classroom one evening.  Ms. Melissa had this very cool camping unit in a corner of the classroom.  The kids could make a fake campfire with s'mores.  It was really sweet.

Rylan's class went on a field trip to a little farm called Green Door Gourmet at the beginning of the school year.  They brought home a baggie with a little bit of soil and a green bean seed in it.  We watered the soil and put it on a windowsill.  And we actually grew green beans!!!

Gray's Soccer Team Photo

Gray played on his first soccer team this past fall (past post).

The company the Y hired this year for the photos was SO BAD.  They did composite photos which is the new trend (individual photos of the kids are combined into a team picture).  The company the baseball league uses actually does a great job with posing the kids differently and making a cool photo.  We watched as the photographers had to ask how to use the cameras, weren't worried about how the kids were standing, and generally really didn't care.

Here is Gray's team photo.  Notice how the kids are all the exact same height, come up to Brian's chest, and don't even have matching jerseys.

And Gray's individual.

Luckily I took a team picture at the last game.

L to R: Abi, Ben, Wyatt, Gray, & Jack

Gray's 5th Birthday

Gray turned 5 on November 3rd.  We talked a lot about doing a party with his friends from school but Gray changed his mind right before I booked a party.  We decided to have a date with Lofton instead.  Which meant a lot less work for me, and I'm great with that!

The only day near Gray's birthday that we were all free happened to be Halloween.  After Lofton was done with school, we met her and Jen at the mall for lunch at Chick-fil-A.  But first Gray opened his gift from Lofton, which included this blue unicorn.  It is extra sweet that Jen found the unicorn because a few weeks earlier, Jen was watching Gray for me.  She took both kids to Lofton's PT appointment and they got to pick something from the toy box.  I'm not sure the exact details of what happened but Lofton got the white unicorn which Gray really wanted.  He was quite upset.  Now they both have unicorns :)

After lunch we went to Build a Bear.  Since we weren't having a party, I let the kids get whatever they wanted (granted, I had a coupon and got the Build a Bear gift cards at Sam's that were 20% off).

This was Gray's first time at Build a Bear.

Both kids got Paw Patrol pups and Gray also got a birthday bear since we were there for his birthday.

Afterwards we went to the Great American Cookies for birthday cookies!

And because we still had a little time, the kids played on the indoor playground at the mall.  Gray seemed to really enjoy his "party" and I think it meant more to him to be with one friend.

The next day (November 1st), they celebrated Gray's birthday at school.  I had lunch with him and brought in sugar cookies in the shape of 5's for everyone.

Ms. Melissa let's the kids break a rule and stand on their chair while everyone sings Happy Birthday - the kids love it!

Sunday was Gray's actual birthday.  This year I did a Paw Patrol themed banner for him.

Carter's baseball team had their second day of a tournament that morning (Rylan helped out because they were short a player).  Unfortunately Carter's team lost their first game that morning so Gray got to do something other than watch baseball all day.

Gray got a golf bag from GG and Papa Art for his birthday so we decided to try it out and went to Lightning Bug after a quick lunch at McDonald's.

After dinner (I can't remember what we did!), we had brownies at home.  Gray doesn't really like any type of cake right now so he chose brownies since he knows the other boys like them

I found some cute Paw Patrol candles to add to the brownies.

Gray got mostly Paw Patrol toys for his birthday, along with a couple of Playmobil toys.