Dear Lucas (6 years and 4 months,)

It's been a great fall so far. We had fun decorating the yard for Halloween and for the first time I didn't have to carve the pumpkin! This year you and your Dad scooped out all of the guts and gave it a funny face.

Right now you are very into Harry Potter so your Halloween costume was an easy pick. I had fun collecting the pieces to pull it all together. I even made you a broom out of sticks and found you a stuffed owl for Hedwig. It's been a blast falling in love with all things Harry Potter with you. I can't wait until you are old enough to finish the rest of the books. We stopped reading them together once they got a little dark and more mature.

We went trick-or-treating with your friend Preston and his sister Sierra. It has become a sort of tradition. I think this is the fourth year in a row we've all gone together. As always you guys had a blast! You got so much candy but the funniest treat was a Kraft cheese single. You thought it was hilarious.

I had to go to work and you had school the next day so we didn't stay out trick-or-treating long but that didn't stop you on wracking up the candy. You went through the candy and picked a few pieces and left the rest out for the Sugar Fairy who switched it out for a Lego board game.

This month your school had its very first awards day of the year. You made high honor roll and it couldn't be prouder. When you walked up front to get your certificate you saw me sitting there in the front row and your face lit up. I live for moments like that.

Over Veteran's Day weekend we planned to take care of my flight benefits for the first time and head to California to see our family. Flying standby was certainly a learning experience and you were a trouper. We spent a lot of time just sitting and waiting and not getting on planes. I think you took it a lot better than most adults would! I can't wait to go on more adventures with you!

While we were in California I went to our cousin Davia's wedding and you hung out with our other cousins. You had a blast playing with Ben and Ean. I don't think you even missed me while I was gone.

One of the coolest things we did while we were in California was go to the beach at Sunset. It wasn't planned it just happened that way. It was so pretty and you could care less that it was cold and windy. You still ran in and out of the waves and dug in the sand.

Getting back home to Georgia was another adventure. We ended up spending the night in the airport in Atlanta. When we got to Savannah I took you straight to school. You were really great at catching up on your homework. You even had to do your first report in a short amount of time. You could choose any animal and your of course decided to learn about Snowy Owls (the same kind of Owl as Harry Potter's Hedwig.) I can't believe you are old enough to write research papers!

One of my favorite fall traditions is taking you to the Children's Book Festival at Forsyth Park. In the years past you wanted your picture taken with the book characters like Clifford, or Pooh but you had no interest this year. Instead you wanted to sit and hear Peter Catalanotto read one of his books and talk about how he ended up writing and illustrating children's books. He was very inspirational and talked about how all kids are artists and that you should just keep writing down your stories and drawing. You were enthralled by everything he was saying and you slowly made your way up to the front of the group. Ever since you've been making little books and writing stories.

Over Thanksgiving break we finally accomplished another first when I took you to play miniature golf. You really enjoyed it. I don't know why we haven't been sooner. The place is right near our house.

For Thanksgiving your Uncle Ted wanted to take us all to his favorite restaurant Maggiano's. We all loaded up and headed down to Jacksonville. It was so much fun. We all sat at two tables pushed together and passed four courses of food around the table. It was nice to try something different as a family. I'm so glad we took a family picture before we left.

Before we left we also made sure to get a picture of all the cousins together now that Teddie is here. I am sure it is the first of many to come of the seven of you. Good news, Joseph and Joshua won't be moving after all. I'm so happy that you get to grow up together!

The Day after Thanksgiving we headed to Tybee Island for some fun at the beach. Ever since we went in California you had been begging to go back to the beach here. We built a "Sandman" and tried to get a good picture for our Christmas card. I can't wait to experience another Christmas with you! Every year it just gets better and better!

I love you to the moon and back,

Mommy

Dear Lucas (6 years and 3 months),

I just love this time of the year. The weather is starting to cool down and the holidays are just around the corner. You are so excited for Halloween. It is just around the corner!

This month you finally went in for an eye appointment. Several months ago your eye doctor decided to retire so we had to find you a new one. Now that there is only one pediatric eye doctor the wait to get in was over 6 months. He said your eyes are still looking good and that he'll see you back in six months.

We were happily surprised to discover that you and your friends were in an ad in a regional magazine. The Roundhouse used a photo of you four from last years Santa train to promote the upcoming Santa train event. It is the October/November 2011 issue on page 89. The issue had two different covers and of course we bought one of each! When I showed you that you were in a magazine you acted like you weren't surprised. All you said was "I was in the newspaper before and now this, I guess I am really famous now."

All summer long you have been dying to go bowling but we just never got around to going. You got to finally go when your friend Bella had a bowling birthday party. You loved it!

Every October since you were born you've always gone with us to Helen, GA for a family reunion. This time around I was working and couldn't find anyone to work for me. You still got to go though because your Grandparents were nice enough to take you. I doubt you even missed us for one second.

You had a day off from school a few days ago so we packed up a picnic lunch, grabbed your friend Gabe, and headed to the park. The weather was perfect and there was a light breeze for kite flying.

I got to go with you to your first 1st grade field trip. Your class went to the Civic Center to watch Junie B. Jones play. You really enjoyed the performance and the music. I loved being called "Lucas' Mom" all day.

You cannot wait for Halloween. We have the yard all decorated. We are going to go Trick-or-treating with your friend Preston like we have done for the last several years. Halloween falls on a school night this year so we won't be out that late but it should still be fun.

You can't wait to go trick-or-treating. This year you wanted to be Harry Potter so I've been finding different pieces to put together for a costume. You would probably just be happy with some random prepackaged costume but I love adding little details.

I love you to the moon and back,

Lucas' Mom :-)

Trick-or-Treating

My knight in shining armor.


Lucas and Steven

Practice run with uncle Michael who stayed at our house to hand out candy.

Lucas with Preston the Pirate

Dear Lucas (5 years 3 months),

This year seems to be flying by faster than before. Here we are smack dab in fall just a few days before Halloween.

We went to Helen at the beginning of October and you had a blast. You met cousins you never met before and had a blast. You literally played until you passed out. Your poor Dad ended up getting sick the very last night we were there and we had to leave early on Sunday. For the first time since you've been born we didn't get to take a family picture but I did get some great ones of you with your Dad.

For me one of the highlights this month was getting to have lunch with you at your school. I loved being called "Lucas' Mom" and meeting all your friends. You were so proud and happy that I was there and told Everyone, "this is my Mom, her name is Kari." It was neat to watch you at school. You guys all seem to get the same thing for lunch, like the first person in line picks what they want and then the kids behind just follow suit. You hate salad but you picked it anyway since that is what the kids in front of you were eating. Then you picked out the cheese, ham, eggs, cucumber, and tomatoes.

Your school has had so many fun things going on and we try to make sure we participate in all of them. The othere night was Pumpkin Math Night and you went to all four kindergarten classes to do different fun mathmatical things. You guessed how much candy was in a jar, weighed pumpkins on a scale, found out if pumpkins float (they do) and graphed how many pumpkins there were of each color.

Last weekend was your turn to bring Traveling Teddy home to hang out. Every weekend he goes home with a different student and they share a few pictures of drawings of their adventures and share them with the class on Monday. On Friday Traveling Teddy dressed up and played Super Heroes with you in the backyard. On Saturday we went to Lowe's with you to the free kids clinic and held the instructions for you. He got to bring home his very own pair of safety goggles. Then on Sunday you two went to the pumpkin patch up the road to pick out pumpkins and that night you filled out his journal with all your adventures.

If I had to guess the highlight for you this month I would think it would be bringing home the newest member of our family, Siren Firetruck. You have been begging for a kitten forever and we finally gave in a few weeks ago. Our neighbors have been trying to find her a home for a few weeks and kept offering her to us when you would mention wanting a kitten. One Friday I told you we could just go look at the kitten. I wasn't intending on bringing one home but we did. On the way home she made sounds like a siren so you decided to call her Siren Firetruck. We just call her Siren for short. Now that I think about it, you really named her Siren Hose Firetruck. I forgot how much I enjoy having a cat around. She is a real sweetheart and you couldn't be happier.

Sweet Pea, I love you to the moon and back,

Mommy

He Really Hates Pumpkin Guts

Dear Lucas (5 years 2 months)

After a few technical difficulties (meaning my laptop died last week and now your Dad and I are sharing a computer) I am finally able to sit down and write to you. It is finally starting to turn cooler and I absolutely love this time of year. It's so much fun being a Mom around fall. You are excited about Halloween (and no for the 5th time today it is NOT next week) You want to be Knight in shining armor... which really surprised me because of your current obsession with Super Heroes. Then again, you dress like a super hero every day so I guess being a Knight will be exciting because it is something new. Thank goodness the Dollar store is selling plastic knight armor. I have your costume put up in mt closet. Without fail if you wake up before me you sneak and get it out. Then when I wake up, you always make a sad puppy dog face and say, "Mommy, pwease foegive me"

It's nice to be in a set schedule again. Most mornings you ride the bus to school and we always leave the house about 8:00am and walk to the end of the street. Some mornings you will ask me to drive you and I usually give in and secretly I love taking you. You always ride the bus home though and you get off running towards me with a big smile. Well, unless you got in trouble at school, then you get off the bus slowly and looking down at the ground, but luckily those days are few and far between. You seem to REALLY love kindergarten and you are learning so much. Your teacher has recommended you for speech therapy because you don't say your "L" and "R" the right way yet. I guess by now you should be able to say them clearly, but you are the youngest one in your class.

When you get home, the first thing you do is sit down and do your homework. On Mondays you come home with a couple worksheets. Usually they are just practice for writing a letter or number. They aren't due until Friday. Sometimes you do them all at once, sometimes you do one a day, it just depends on your mood. Your handwriting is getting so neat so fast and you are teaching me all these tricks for writing letters... (like j has a "money tail")

One of the reasons you are so well behaved at school is because you know if you aren't then you won't get to go to Lowe's on Saturdays. Man whoever thought of the free kid clinics is a genius. Talk about brand loyalty. Anytime you see a sign or Logo for Lowe's you get so excited. I love watching you and your Dad build things together.

You are so inquisitive right now. You want to know how things work and how words are spelled. You even want to know what would happen in the strangest of situations. Out of nowhere you will ask something random like "what would happen if I turned into a dog" or "what would happen if a dragon swooped down and ate the car." Those aren't actually "what would happens" from you but that is only because you ask so many in a day that I can't keep up with them.

I really love our neighborhood. It is such a safe place to walk and for you to play. The weather has been so nice that we walk the dogs quite a bit. I don't think Jadie has gone on as many walks in her whole entire life as she has in this last month. Jadie and Nicey like when you walk them because you like to run and so do they. In fact you like to run so much you usually run in front of me all the way to the bus stop. If you aren't too tired in the afternoons you'll also run home.

Sweet Pea, I love you to infinity and beyond,
Mom

Peter Pan & Tink

Before heading out to a Fall Festival and Trick-or-Treating

So excited!

Trick-or-Treating with his buddy Preston for the 2nd year in a row.

Checking out his loot.

He left the candy in the pumpkin for the "Sugar Fairy"