The "Finnster, et al."

Michael decided to give the boys one more fun family day before school started back up this fall. We called our close friends, loaded up in a couple of vehicles and headed to the Harpeth.  We decided to get two canoes.  Me, Will and Sam rode in one canoe and Michael shared the other with Finn.  I though that Sam would be my big helper - but it was actually Will.  Will paddled the entire time while Sam sat and took in the scenery.   We stopped midway down the river to hang out in the water for a while.  Near the end of the trip, the boys asked to ride together.  They had a ball, but they were terrible.  They zigzagged back and forth around down the river, cutting off unsuspecting canoers, yelling the entire time.  Thankfully, most people found them to be charming.  

Since the boys have really started to enjoy soccer, we decided to take them to a Nashville SC match at Geodis Park. We had watched a few matches on MLS pass, so we were really excited to meet the Cox family at the park.  Before leaving Will and Sam made their own signs.  Will made a NSC sign and Sam made a Ronaldo sign.   The boys dressed as the United Nations for this particular game.  True to form, Sam was most excited about the game snacks.  He had his heart set on a game pretzel.  The match that we watched was against Toluca.  They lost.  A few weeks later, our family returned to watch the Minnesota match. It was a really exciting game.  They won 5-0.  The boys were freaking out. This one lost a tooth in the van on the way to the game.  Always a fun time.   I love Will's face in this picture.    

  So, we go through phases in the Begley house.  Our most recent has been SpongeBob.  All three of the boy love SpongeBob. But in the spring of 2023, Will branched out.  He came home obsessing about Lionel Messi.  Messi is all we have heard about for months.  Will and Sam have had many discussions about who is greatest - Messi or Ronaldo.  It's cute - but it gets old quick.  I guess Will's interest in Messi started with the World Cup this year because all he could talk about was getting a Messi Argentina soccer jersey.  Well, his mama found him a pretty good looking and cheap knock-off.  He wore it for almost two solid weeks.  Another interesting fact about this photo is that is shows another of Will's "likes" - "the pie maker."  The actual name of the show is "Pushing Daisies," but Will affectionately calls it the pie maker.   We spent many nights snuggled up on the couch watching the pie maker together drinking hot ...

Our family vacation this summer was at the Phoenix West in Orange Beach.  We went with Grandad, Gigi, Emily, Zac, Cooper, Hank and Quinn and Lauren and Ryan. This was first year that all of my kids could swim really well.  It was so relaxing and so much fun.  Sam has always loved to be buried - all the way up to his head.  This year was no exception.  This is our Mordor sandcastle.  This is the sandcastle that we built without Uncle Zac. I think that we had a really original idea.  We used a Gator-Aid lid as the "eye."  The last night we were in town, we ate dinner at the best barbeque place.  The Condo had a slide and a lazy river.  "Mordor" Sandcastle. Each night we went outside and played football and hunted crabs.   On the way home we introduced the boys to Pop-Eyes chicken.  We have created monsters.