Fun Fall!

We have had a lot going on these last few weeks.  I am crazy busy at work, and the kids school schedule has been pretty wild too - which is a probably a good thing since it helps distract everyone from sadness about Ray Ray.

The Hound Dog run was a really fun day.  The kids ran a mile with us cheering them on, and then we spent the evening at a carnival/festival at the school, which they loved.  They really like for us to come to school events these days because they want us to meet their friends, and in the case of Katie - want to introduce me to the parents of her friends to try to coerce us into sleepovers and play dates (she had me talk to the mom of one of her friends last night at their music performance to convince me that it is time for a slumber party).  I am actually okay with a sleepover/slumber party in theory - but will not allow Katie to do it until she can stay in bed and not yell down to us for hours after bedtime - she knows that, too, but hasn't been able to accomplish it yet!

Anyway, here are some pics of my little runners!  They have been working hard to be able to run a mile and did so good!!!

And at the Festival.  Most of the Festival was outside and featured bounce houses, arts and crafts areas, and games and seemingly EVERY SINGLE KID was wearing the exact same shirt, in the dark - chaos!

Last weekend we decided to enjoy the weather and took the kids camping. It wasn't too cold, no rain (good thing since the piece that holds our rain guard on the tent has gone missing), and a beautiful spot about an hour and half away on Center Hill lake.  We had a blast roasting hot dogs, making smores, telling ghost stories (more of the haunted hamburger who variety - courtesy of Tyler - rather than super scary), and just spending time together without any distractions.  I would love to go camping more often, but rarely is it the perfect combination of not too hot and not too cold!  I swear they wear things other than that Hound Dog Run shirt - it just so happened that we left from school on a Friday when they are allowed to wear the shirt to school instead of uniforms!

Tonight is Halloween.  The weather looks pretty nasty - cold, windy, rainy - but not as bad as last year when we had storms!  The kids already enjoyed a neighborhood Fall party and the opportunity to wear their costumes.  They wore them again last night at the music performance (don't have any great pictures because they were on opposite sides of the stage and I hesitate to put up pictures with so many kids other than mine), and tonight will be the main event!  Tyler selected the "cool guy" that he wanted to be a while back and talked Katie into matching as a Pink Lady.  They are really having fun with it, even saying they are glad they aren't something that everyone else is but I know Katie kind of wishes she could have something sparkly or princess-like (or from Frozen) similar to most of her friends.  I bet, though, that they will both be glad for the warmth of their costumes tonight!

Our neighbor did a great job face painting.  It was so fun for the kids to be able to play and not have to wait in line for their turn and then get to pick anything they wanted!

Fall Break!

We had an amazing trip to the beach for Fall Break.  Perfect weather, fun family time chillaxing on the beach, great food, and attended a beautiful wedding to end a much needed vacation.

While the vacation was awesome, the actual drive home was harrowing, with tornado warnings, torrential downpours, and really strong winds - and bad weather continued throughout the night cancelling the baseball game that was scheduled for the next day.  The baseball cancellation meant that Tyler got to go to his first Boy Scout meeting of the year. He liked it, but surprisingly said he wished his game hadn't been cancelled - he is really enjoying playing!  The game is rescheduled for Thursday and the last game of the year is Saturday.  It will be a long wait until Spring season, but I am sure we will appreciate a little schedule freedom in the upcoming months. 

Life was in full swing the minute we got back.  My work is ramping up, it's time (way past time actually) to get serious about school and all of this reading and homework that is expected of us, and  it is Hound Dog run, Spirit week at school, so lots of festivities!  The kids had a field trip today, and the run and family night is later this week. Poor Tyler has had a horrible ear ache since we got back and we took him in to the doctor today so hopefully he will be on the mend soon.  He was kind of grumpy at the wedding and end of the trip, which I now suspect was because of the ear pain.  He didn't even complain until we asked him why he didn't eat his banana (he is practically a monkey and would normally eat a whole bunch of bananas if we let him) and he said it hurt to chew.  Fall is hard on him with a new round of allergies, and swimming for a week doesn't help.  The weather sure is turning Fall-like, though - which I love.  The kids, for a change, chose Halloween costumes that wont be too hot or too cold regardless of the weather (they are a Pink Lady and T-Bird from Grease), but I always like when Halloween is a little cooler!  It may be Halloween until I find time to post again, but I'll try to check-in and update sooner! 

Sad Days

I was considering stopping writing this blog, since the main fan of news of the kids was their grandfather.  He sadly and unexpectedly passed away last week and we are all devastated.  As I was reading back through some of the posts, though, I realized that this is a place of lots of good memories of time spent with Ray Ray, and just as I appreciate that now - there may come a time in the future that I will look for words and memories and thoughts from these years too.  So, I will skip over the last couple of weeks that I will likely never forgot for how sad and shocked and heartbroken we all have been and jump right in to the last couple of days!

This weekend we went with So-So to see Frozen, Disney on Ice.  Fabulous show, and even more fun than watching the kids try to recreate the theatrics once we got home - backyard version, which was pretty hilarious.  I can't explain the fanatical love of the movie by every child I know, but I do admit that it is a pretty good movie and was fun to watch on ice.  It is a very different experience nowadays than when we went to ice shows and circuses and performances when they were younger.  Back then they were probably more in awe, but now they truly get what is going on and can enjoy all aspects of the performance.  Big thank you to So So for braving ridiculous traffic and it being super cold inside of the arena, to treat us to a fantastic afternoon. 

This morning, as I was trying to get my and the kids schedules straight in my mind for the next month - lots going on with the end of baseball (which Tyler still absolutely loves) season, school activities, holidays, school breaks, etc. - I realized that we will not have an opportunity to go to any of the Fall festivals or pumpkin patches any weekends before Halloween.  Fall activities like that are some of my favorite things and I really love that Nashville has so many fun things to do once Autumn arrives, and I didn't want to miss out this year!  So, today, we made a trek out to Lucky Ladd Farms.  It is about an hour away, but the farm we usually go to was visited by the kids on a school field trip just a week ago, so we wanted to check out somewhere new.  It was awesome!  Lots to do, perfect weather, and definitely worth the drive.  The friendliest animals ever in the petting zoo, good ole fashioned farm activities like tire swings, playing in the corn, hay rides, and sack slides, topped off with candy apples and fresh squeezed lemonade - made for a great day!