SEC Tailgate

Bring on some football season!  That's right!  It is that time of year...time to break out the football team décor (I am sure a post will come on all of that) and cute outfits!  A couple weeks ago, I headed with friends to the SEC Tailgate!  Tanja and I have been to this together for four years now.  I have to say this year's was a little disappointing.  I still had a fun time, but it was at a new location right in the heart of downtown Nashville and I feel like that changed the dynamic.  It was really crowded and the lines for a drink were really long and there weren't as many BBQ restaurants (and the ones that were there closed up shop way earlier than in the past).  Of course it was fun ringing in yet another football season (and I got to get out without any of the kids - amazing!)! 

 

Here is a cute picture of Tanja and myself!

And a picture of me with Tanja and Clair!  Please excuse the fact that you can sort of see through my shirt - glad I stepped it up in the bra department that evening - nursing bras don't usually offer much support! HA!

And a group shot!

 And then a cute picture of Nick and Tanja!

After we finished at the event, we walked down the street and grabbed a late dinner at a rooftop restaurant (I, of course, can't remember the name of it) - it was so cool to look across the river at the Titans stadium and across the street at Hard Rock Cafe down below!  Thanks, Brad, for letting me have a few hours out of the house!

 

WAR EAGLE!!!!

 

Day 2 + Boo Hoo Breakfast

Katie's second day of Kindergarten was just a half day - but it was with girls and boys!  Here she is before we headed to school!

And heading in! I was so thrilled that she was so excited to go inside!

And she certainly did not want to take this picture - it sure is amazing how quickly she can go from a scowl to her picture-ready smile!

She showed us where her cubby is and sat right down to work on her art!  They did lots of fun Pete the Cat activities those first couple days of school!  In fact, on this particular day, I think they went looking around the school for Pete (and couldn't ever find him)!  I think that may have been their way of making it fun to show the kids around the school :)

After we kissed Katie goodbye, Brad and I headed to the Boo Hoo Breakfast that the PTO hosted for kindergarten parents.  Each long cafeteria table was for each teacher's class.  And we found our place by finding this.  A picture of Katie with her teacher, a sweet poem, and a drawing!  At first look, it appeared Katie had written "crap" on her page :)  When I asked her what the picture was of (she said it was of her sitting on the rug in the classroom - in her place - and she is even sitting criss cross applesauce) and that the word says RUG. :)

And here is the up-close look at the picture and poem.  It is very sweet.  And I am fairly certain Katie and her teacher could be sisters or mother/daughter or something.  I could see Katie looking a lot like her teacher when she gets older! Kind of strange :)

They also had this parent survival kit set out for everyone.  Each item in the kit has a special purpose...so nice and thoughtful!

Many people had contributed to cooking different items for the breakfast and it was delicious!  The principal read the book The Kissing Hand - so sweet. What a great way to start the school year as a kindergarten parent!

 

 I am so, so glad Katie is still loving school!  She is making friends and learning and comes home excited to talk about her day (sometimes to me, sometimes to Daddy)!  I hope she loves to learn and make friends and go to school for many, many more years :)

A Little More Pre-Kindergarten Fun

We did a few more things leading up to the first day of Kindergarten!  Katie went to play at a friend's house for me to take Ryan to his 2 month appointment and then I went to get the girls for an afternoon of fun!  We went and all got pedicures (the girls also got their fingernails painted) and then hit up Sweet Cece's for some ice cream!

 

Here they are picking out a color.  If that was the hardest decision they had to make that day, life is just right for a 5 year old :)

 And here they are ready to be pampered!  I loved watching them - while I got mine done too, of course!

 That night, Brad and I headed to Parent Orientation for the kindergarten parents - it was so fun to see her classroom and meet her teacher!  We went out to eat (Ryan went with us too) afterwards...that's the closest we have come to a date night since the night before Ryan was born (and let me remind you I was having contractions the whole time)!

 The next day, Jack got to go to school so I could have time with Katie to have a day of fun!  We started out with breakfast at Krispy Kreme (of course - where else would we have gone?!)...

 And then we headed to the park!  Katie let me take a sweet picture of her before hitting the playground!

 Then it was time to play!

 Afterwards, we headed home for me to feed Ryan!  She also wanted to color some pictures to take to her teachers from The Academy - she wanted to take the pictures to them when we picked Jack up!  After she finished that, we met Brad for lunch at Chuy's!

 That evening, we went to the clubhouse in our neighborhood for a meet and greet of all the kindergartners going to the same school!  It was so fun - pizza, lemonade, and cookies - and the kids had a blast running around!  We did manage to catch them for a group picture in the midst of all the running around!

 Ryan just hung out in the carseat!  He is such a sweet, good baby!

 And Jack had a blast!  We let him have a little bit of freedom with going and playing on the playground (we could still see him but weren't right on him the whole time) and he was amazing!  He would come find us and tell us he went down the slide and then go back for more!

 Here is Katie with a couple of friends - they were all excited to play together (especially knowing they'd see eachother at school the next day)!

Katie is doing a great job with the school routine - I am just so proud of her!  She isn't much on telling me about her day just yet - she saves that for Daddy :)  I'm just glad she likes riding the bus and going to school!  Hopefully the new, exciting part of it won't wear off for a while!

Fair Fun!

Earlier this month, Jill and I headed out with the girls for our annual girls' adventure at the fair!  I didn't tell Katie we were going until like an hour before we left and she was SO excited!  It has been so fun to see how the girls have grown in the last three years - this year they were both tall enough to ride the bigger rides (which meant us mommas could ride a few things too)!

 

Here are the girls when we got there!

And I think we finally figured out a good time to go - Sunday afternoon!  It was perfect - hardly any lines...overcast...great!  Here are the girls on the first ride of the day!

And then I managed to get a blurry action shot :) Think she was having fun??

And then time for another ride!  Such sweet friends!

There is just something about little girls holding hands - absolutely precious!  They were waiting their turn to ride the bees here!

Ready to go!

And a momma selfie :)

And the girls wanted to go on this ride - I couldn't wait!  Finally!  I love these rides - and I wasn't pregnant! :) That has been an issue in the past...either the girls aren't big enough or pregnant ladies not being able to do these type of things.  We all had a blast on there!

Then Tilt-A-Whirl time!  This was my attempt at a selfie - and I didn't get Katie's whole face.  Oops :)

It was a BLAST!  This was Katie's reaction at one point.  She kept saying, "Mommy!! Do you love this?!" :)

And this was Stella's action shot - she was having a blast too!

And the girls wanted to do bumper cars!  I rode with Katie but let her drive.  I had to do the pedals for her (something she actually wasn't tall enough to do - reach the accelerator) but I let her steer!  She loved it!

And Jill and Stella were ready too!  So much fun!

Then we headed inside to see all the tractors and trucks and bulldozers and things...Jack would have loved this part - may have to include the brothers at some point because they would have a blast!

And then it was Ferris Wheel time :) Katie absolutely loves this ride - and she was finally tall enough and the line wasn't a mile long! This was the view of the fairground from the top.  My palms were sweating :) Oh, the things we do for our kids!

And here we were at the top!

We also did the part where the girls acted like farmers - they sure love that!  And they rode a few more things (including the carousel)!  Neither of them were thrilled about leaving, but it was time...and we had a blast!  Such a fun way to spend an afternoon with friends!

Preschool Graduation

As mentioned in a pre-kindergarten post, Katie graduated from preschool earlier this month!  As I was sitting there, I couldn't believe she was headed to kindergarten.  But I was also thinking of the parents that had their children there since they were 6 weeks old - that had to be surreal!  Katie was only there for this summer for their Kindergarten Bootcamp (which was amazing), and she learned so much!  During the program, the kids said the Pledge of Allegiance and sang a special alphabet song they had worked on and counted (by 1's, 2's, 5's, 10's, etc) and read sight words...and then each child got up in front of everyone and said something specific - Katie said her name, her mom and dad's names, and her phone number (some said their address and some even read a book!) - so amazing! 

 

Here Katie is before getting ready for the ceremony!

 And I caught a smile during the ceremony!!

 Here she is getting ready to receive her "diploma" :)

 And I wanted to get a picture of her in her cap and gown before she headed back inside - she would have none of it.  But thank goodness for Coach Ted!  He was standing there (his little lady was graduating as well) and told Katie to smile for me - and this is the result.  Glad he had my back on that one!

 And afterwards they had a reception with cupcakes and Capri Suns for the kiddos.  Here are Katie and Chloe - such a sweet picture!  Can't believe they are both in kindergarten now...I have pictures of them from when they were teeny tiny babies!

 And isn't this adorable?!  Their mascot is a frog, so these were appropriate!

 And Katie made a new friend (well, she made lots of friends, but this one was her "best friend") named Kinsley - had to get a picture of them together!  They were always together when I picked Katie up!  One time Kinsley was out of town and when she got back, these girls hugged each other so big - you'd have thought they hadn't seen each other in years!  So sweet.

 And since we didn't get one before, we got a picture of the three of us when we got home.  Katie was sure to spend some time with Grandma (who had stayed home with Jack) before heading to bed.

Such a fun way to celebrate Katie heading to Kindergarten!