Game Ball

Carter's baseball team had their preseason baseball game last Friday.  It was a makeup game because they were rained out earlier in the week.  Unfortunately Spring Break started for most kids in the area the next day so Carter's team was running low on players with several out of town already.  Carter's coach asked Rylan to play and since they still needed another player, we had one of Rylan's teammates (Sam) also play.

Rylan and Sam were nervous as they've never played kid-pitch before.  However, they both did great.  Both of them got hit by pitches on their first at-bats and got walks and survived.  Sam even got a hit at his second at-bat, which is amazing since each team only had 3 or 4 hits the entire game.

And Carter's team won!  The team they were playing was missing a few players but they are one of the most experienced teams in the league.  It was an exciting game.

Coach Jeff even gave Rylan and Sam game balls for helping out the team.  Rylan is so proud of his most recent ball!

NSC - Game 2

Last Saturday we went to our second Nashville Soccer Club game.  This was the official home opener (the last game we went to was a preseason game) and it was at the Titans stadium.  Our seats were still front row but got shifted to the sideline! 

Unfortunately, it was raining, again.  At least it was much lighter this time and slightly warmer.

The game ended in a 0-0 tie.  The NSC goalie (Pickens) had some amazing saves that were directly in front of us.

Penalty Shot

Carter and Rylan have already had two outdoor soccer games this season.  Preseason baseball games start this week.  I don't usually get to see many of Rylan's soccer games because of overlap with Carter's baseball but I got to see most of his game this past weekend.

Rylan scored a goal in the first half and then scored on a penalty kick in the second half.  He was dribbling around all the defensive players and then a kid took him out in the box (for probably the third time but they finally called it).

And I actually got a video of the PK.  It was pretty!!!

Teeth

Rylan lost his 7th tooth at school last Thursday (March 8th).

He's now lost more teeth than Carter (Carter's lost 6 but I think the braces are actually holding one in and the palette expander caused one to move back towards the roof of his mouth).  Rylan also likes to pull teeth out before they are really ready.  He will wriggle them compulsively and then pull on them until he gets them out.

Rylan is going to need some major orthodontal work just like Carter.  He lost the bottom 4 middle teeth quite awhile ago but only 3 huge teeth have come in (that fourth one just has no room).  And his top middle front teeth are huge too.  We've been going to the orthodontist every 4-6 months to see if Rylan is ready to get started with an expander but he hadn't lost enough teeth.  He may have finally lost enough by the next time we go in.

Gray is probably going to be the same way.  His bottom baby teeth overlap (I don't remember Carter and Rylan's even doing that).

Portraits

Carter's art class has been working on portraits the last couple of weeks.

He did this one first ...

And then last Friday he did a self-portrait ...

I think it looks like him!  But then again, I still draw a nose with two sides of a triangle!

Book Character & Vocabulary Parades

The kindergarten through 2nd graders had a Book Character Parade at school today.  Rylan chose to be Harry Potter (which is what Carter was last year).  Rylan is currently reading the book, though I'm not sure how much he's comprehending.  He does make a cute Harry Potter!

The 3rd through 5th graders had a Vocabulary Parade.  They each had to choose a word and dress like it.  Carter and Whit wanted to do synonyms for "friend".  I ended up making them these shirts.  Carter chose the word "chum" and White chose "comrade".

Lego Contest

The boys did the Lego contest at the Nashville Library again this year.  We missed last year because we were in Orlando but had participated in the contest the previous two years.  The awards ceremony was yesterday afternoon.

Carter's design was titled "Machu Picchu":

Rylan's design was titled "Lego City Park":

Gray's design was titled "Picasso at 3 years old with Legos":

The boys all worked hard on their builds and we thought they did great.  Carter was the only one to win something this year.  He got a superlative award in his age group for "Most Realistic Landscape"

He won a ribbon and certificate. 

Carter won a superlative in 2015 and Rylan won first place in his age group on 2016.  Carter and Rylan are already working on their entries for next year!

Valentines

The boys picked out Valentine cards from Pinterest this year.

Gray did Play-doh ...

Carter and Rylan both wanted to do dogs.  The version that we found online of these cards had "XOXO" on the bottom so Carter made this version on his new computer.  They turned out cute!

Nashville Soccer Club

We bought season tickets again this year for the Nashville Soccer Club games.  This year the team has moved up to the USL which is one step below MLS.  Nashville recently won an MSL team but that's a year or two away.

This season, NSC is playing at the Nashville Sounds baseball stadium.  They put artificial turf over the dirt and call it good.  The seating is a little odd but it works.

NCS had their first preseason game last Saturday afternoon against Atlanta's MLS team.  The good news was that it got up to 58F that day.  The bad news was that it poured ALL DAY.  We decided to go the poncho route and I picked some up at Walmart during the week since we knew it was predicted to be wet.  

This little man wasn't too happy (but he looked like a cute E.T. to me!) ...

Rylan hunkered down on the end and hid in his poncho the whole game

Carter was willing to stand up and get into the game more.

We wanted front row seats so that the boys would be able to see since people often stand during games.  Sideline tickets were out of our budget range so we needed endzone.  By the time NSC got to us during the season ticket sale, we had to take the corner to get front row.  And since they are using a baseball stadium this season, it's a bit of an odd seating arrangement.  We are actually right behind the 3rd base dugout and the foul ball net.  These would be awesome seats for a baseball game!  They aren't bad for soccer either and we'll get a better feel for them when it's not raining.

NSC did great.  The game was scoreless at halftime (and Atlanta brought their starters).  Atlanta ended up winning 3-1 but two of those goals were because of errors with passing the ball in front of the goal where the water was pooling in the artificial turf covering the dirt and the ball died.

We are looking forward to 17 more games!  And hoping for drier weather!

ABC's

Gray is getting better and better at counting and singing the alphabet.  He recognizes some numbers and we are working on letters.

A shirt is optional when you sing the ABC song ...

And here's a little "Wheels on the Bus" ...