FJ40

This was Gray's birthday present!

Not really, but it did get delivered on his birthday!

Brian has been looking at old Toyota FJ40s for awhile now.  The supply in this part of the country is not great and they generally cost a lot.  Brian found a '69 that looked to be in really good condition (ie - not a rust bucket) and a reasonable price in Colorado Springs.  After talking to the owner several times and seeing lots of pictures and videos, he flew out to Denver for a couple of days.  He found a crazy cheap flight on Frontier ($65 roundtrip) and only spent two nights in a hotel so it wasn't too expensive.  Brian liked the FJ (thankfully) and it was picked up on his second day out there by a car carrier.  It took a week but finally made it to Franklin on Gray's birthday.

The FJ runs great but there are few things Brian needs to fix immediately (such as leaking power steering fluid - the previous owner added power steering a few years ago).  Before he started taking pieces off the FJ, he gave the boys a few rides around the neighborhood.  Gray was so excited about his first ride!

He's been begging to go for another ride ever since!

First Light Artwork

Here are a few pieces Carter has been working on recently during his art class at First Light:

Carter did a great job of mixing paint colors to get the different colors for the leaves ...

One thing that is hard for Carter sometimes since he is only seven is taking his time.  He actually took more than one class to finish this one and that's awesome!

I have no words for this one.  I was shocked that Carter did this by himself.  Even the studio owner was impressed.  The legs are awesome - the turkey actually seems like it's walking!

Our Sweet 2 Year Old ...

Happy Birthday

Happy 2nd Birthday, Gray!!!

Trick or Treating

This year we went trick or treating with Charlie, Whit, Camden, and their parents (Suzi & Josh) in their neighborhood.  The houses are closer together there and there are tons of kids so it was a lot of fun.  Plus we ran into a lot of friends while we were out.

Suzi got Jersey Mike's for the adults and I got Papa Murphy's for the kids.  After an early dinner, we headed out.  Carter was a hot dog, Rylan was a ninja, and Gray was a skeleton.  Even if Gray would have let me put the monkey costume on him that the older boys wore, it was too hot for it (it was still over 80F when we started trick or treating).  Charlie was a wolf, Whit was a dinosaur, and Camden was a Ninjago guy.

Gray was so excited to get candy.  Even when his bucket was getting full, he would not let us hold it for him.  But he did make Brian hold him most of the night.

Gray only went to about half the houses as the big kids ran ahead.

It was impossible to get a good picture, but there was a beautiful sunset to enjoy as we walked the neighborhood.

The boys ended up trick or treating for about 1 1/2 hours.  By the end, some of them were just exhausted from the heat and their costumes (even though they had stripped off a lot of them).  The boys almost filled their pumpkin buckets though.  And they had a blast going with their friends!

Recent Pictures

Our front porch decorations for Halloween:

I decorated our pantry door again this year.  This time it's more of a Frankenstein's monster:

Somehow Rylan's kindergarten teacher picked me to be the head room mom for his class this year.  Almost every mom signed up to help though.  One thing I've done was decorate her door a few weeks ago:

Whenever we get lemons in our waters, Gray likes to eat them (rind and all, though he doesn't eat much).  He never makes a face either!

The weekend before last, Josh threw a small surprise party for Suzi's 40th birthday.  The boys especially had a blast with their buddies.

Last week Jen and I took the little ones to the Brentwood Library for storytime and trick or treating.  I didn't even try to put a costume on Gray this time.  And he did a little better being brave and going up to the librarians.

The big boys do a program at the Brentwood Library when we have free Thursdays called Kids Makerspace.  They get to make anything they want out of tons of art supplies, recyclable containers, and random stuff (like straws and seashells).  While they are there, I usually take Gray for a run on the adjoining greenway.  It's been so warm still and beautiful in the evenings!

Missy threw a Halloween party on Friday night.  We don't get to see this group of friends as often as I'd like now that the kids are all getting older and busy with all their sports, etc.

Every month Carter submits a drawing to an art contest for our electric company's magazine that we get in the mail (random, I know).  So far, he hasn't won but this was his drawing last month (he was inspired by our family room):

Rylan's Field Trip

A couple of weeks ago, the kindergartners at Clovercroft went to Lucky Ladd Farm for their fall field trip.  Brian was awesome enough to watch Gray so that I could chaperone.

We finally had a cool day and it was so nice not to be miserably hot (though a lot of the kids didn't bring enough warm clothes and were freezing at first).

There were plenty of parents on the field trip so I only had one another kiddo to keep track of - Rylan's buddy Amogh.

The field trip was fun and Rylan enjoyed showing off his knowledge of the farm since we'd been there a couple of weeks earlier!

Fall Sports

Carter and Rylan both played baseball and soccer this fall.  Baseball ended a couple of weeks ago and soccer ends the second weekend of November.  Brian head coached both soccer teams and Rylan's baseball team.  Carter's baseball coach's son is also on our soccer team.  So that meant we were able to arrange schedules this season so there was absolutely no overlap in games.  Which was a good and bad thing.  Both Brian and I got to see Carter and Rylan play every game, but it made our Saturdays VERY long.  And our weeks.  And we were sick a lot.  And it was VERY hot this fall season.  The boys struggled more than normal with being tired and we'll be rethinking how we organize things in the spring.  But they still seemed to have a lot of fun which is all that really matters.

The fall baseball season is developmental.  That means it's a little shorter, we don't keep score, and there is no tournament at the end of season.  The big change in Carter's age division this year is that they now play with a catcher.  Also, instead of 5 pitches, the boys strikeout after 3 strikes (with a maximum of 5 pitches).  This is supposed to help them become selective on pitches as next year, the kids start pitching instead of the coaches (eeekk!!).  Carter did a great job this season.  He is a smart player and knows how to get outs.  He really liked playing catcher and played at least one inning each game.  He went through a period when he was a little scared of the ball and wasn't as aggressive with his fielding, but he improved on that by the end of the season.  Carter had some amazing hits this season too.  He's learning to transfer his weight when he hits to get some more power.  His throwing and catching have come a long way too.

I took photos again for all our teams this season.

Front Row: Fisher, Drew, Christopher, Gavin, Riggins

Middle Row: Ford, Jack Henry, Jacob, Hayden, Hunter, Carter

Missing: Max

Coaches: Andy, Jeff P., Jeff T., Gavin

The major change for Rylan's age group was that they no longer get to use a tee if they can't hit a pitched ball.  They get 5 pitches and then strikeout.  Rylan did a great job this season too.  He pays attention and always knows what to do with the ball when it's hit to him.  He fields well and is aggressive.  He makes contact with the ball, and we're going to work on him getting more power in his swing.  This season we switched him from hitting right-handed to left-handed.  We're still trying to figure out which is better for him!

Rylan's team was also the Mudcats.  This was convenient for Brian since he assists on Carter's team and could wear the same jersey.

Front Row: Jude, Rylan, Parker, Eli

Middle Row: Nolan, Abiy, Blake, Mac

Missing: Bennett, Matthew

Coaches: Brian, Chris

While we enjoy baseball, I think the boys (and Brian and I) have more fun with soccer.  We have the best group of boys and parents and we've been together for a few years (or more) now.  We had to get both boys' teams down to just seven players this season with the changes in the league.  It was hard to tell some kids that we didn't have room for them on the team this season but I think it's worked out for everyone.  Rylan is now also playing on the Crockett Park fields.  The games are 4 v 4 plus goalies.  Rylan's team has done really well switching to these larger fields and some are doing amazing in the goal.

Front Row: Whit, Carter, Ian

Back Row: Charlie, Calum, Jack Henry, Jude

Front Row: Cooper, Rylan, Mac B.

Back Row: Maddox, Angelo, Mac H., Jameson

I swear we didn't keep only the blondes on purpose!!!

This is the BEST!!!

We stopped by the Fall Festival at the Brentwood YMCA yesterday after Carter's soccer game.  While munching on our free pizza, we were hanging out by the DJ.  He called all the kids up to dance with him and they copied his moves for a few songs.  Eventually they were all doing their own thing.  Our normally shy Carter was really getting into it during one song.  The DJ stopped Carter and whispered something to him.  And then this happened ...

Little Goalie

Both Carter and Rylan play with goalies now in their soccer leagues.  They are both getting pretty good - especially Carter the second half of this season.  This little guy was wearing our extra set of gloves during Rylan's game last weekend and looked pretty cute! (And yes, it's still warm enough to not wear shoes - we do live in Tennessee.)