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 :-)

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

Then and Now

This past Friday, we picked Lucas up from school early and headed to Helen, GA for our annual trip. This was Lucas' 5th trip there. It is really cool that we're able to take him somewhere that I've been going since I was a kid. I thought it would be fun to compare pictures of Lucas on our trips to Helen.

Then: October 2005- Barely 2 Months Old. Lucas had just started to sleep in his Bassinet and instantly became attached to him lovey that got nicknamed "Baby"

Now: His still sleeps with his "baby"

Then: October 2006- Content to sit still and be quiet

Now: Nothing quiet or still about him now

Then: October 2007- He had a lot of fun hanging out with his Aunt Lori

Now: Aunt Lori has her own little one to entertain

Then: October 2008 - Still has a bit of that cute baby look in his face

Now: He looks so grown up

Helen, GA 2008

How is it October and still over 80 degrees?!?!

Lucas' cousin Steven is in town for the week and today we got to spend a few hours with him all to ourselves. Since I knew that the boys would have more fun outside then cooped up indoors we headed downtown.

Our first stop was Forsyth to play on the playground and have a picnic lunch. Before we left this morning Lucas was rash free. On our way to find a perfect picnic spot I noticed that the backs of Lucas' legs from the knees down were breaking out again. I am starting to wonder if he did pick something up from Helen and if it is on his car seat since that is the only thing that the back of his legs really touched and just about the only thing from our trip that I haven't washed. I think I'm also going to start putting pants on him (even though it is HOT) because he has these bug bites on his legs he keeps scratching and won't let them heal and he won't keep band aids on them.

Since I forgot a blanket to sit on we ate lunch on a bench in front of the fountain. I love letting Lucas eat outside. He seems to eat more if we can walk around (which he doesn't get to much at home) and all the crumbs go on the ground and don't have to be cleaned up.

One of the last things we did before leaving the park was let the boys hang on a tree branch.

Lucas wanted to get up in the tree after Steven did it but once he was actually sitting there he wanted to get down FAST.

From Forsyth we headed to River Street to ride the Ferry.

I wasn't exactly sure where we were supposed to get on the ferry so we just walked along River Street until the boys found a giant sandbox with a boat in the middle of it. I finally decided to text my friend who I knew where we were supposed to go and it turns out we were almost right there already.

Steven and Lucas were excited to finally get on the "big boat" (see, don't they look thrilled) Once they turned the boat on though it was really loud and I'm not sure if either of them knew what to think.

Once we got going they were really loving it. Lucas kept waving at all the boats passing by and kept pointing out the window saying "Looooook, water!"

After the ferry ride Steven got an ice cream cone and we started to head back towards the car but not before taking a few more pictures.

This has got to be the biggest real pumpkin I've seen in my life!

More pictures Here

Our Adventure Packed Weekend

Friday morning we packed up the car and headed for our annual trip to Helen, GA. We thought this was going to be a pretty smooth trip because we came armed with a portable DVD player. Lucas could not believe that he was watching Veggietales... IN. THE. CAR.

Before we were even halfway through the drive Lucas managed to bang his head on a McDonald's playground fence and get a bruise on his head AND throw up all over himself and his Dad TWICE in less than 5 minutes. Thank goodness for extra changes of clothes, soap and water and baby wipes! Once everyone was cleaned up Lucas and Lori ended up passing out in the backseat.


We were the first to arrive at the Lodge so we let Lucas explore the porch and playground. This is where I first noticed that his bruise was a perfect grid mark from the fence and he had also managed to scrap his chin and nose as well. Lately it seems like all Lucas does is fall down and hurt his face and head... I know it is all part of the whole childhood experience but I'm starting to think about investing in a good helmet that he can wear 24/7... maybe I'll search for headgear for kids with overprotective mom's on eBay.

Pretty soon the lodge was full of family and food and Lucas just wandered from family member to family member so that people could tell them how cute he was or how smart he was and steal a sticky toddler hug. Being the little ham he is he loved every minute of it.

Saturday morning a few of us got up and went for a walk. I had planned on leaving Lucas at the lodge with our family but he wanted to come along so we let him. I knew it wouldn't be long before he was asking to "please, hold you mommy?" only he always fails to mention that it is really me that will be doing all the holding.

Lucas actually did a lot better than I thought he would. He walked all the way to our halfway point (which just happened to be a field of cows that Lucas "moooed" back and forth with.)

On the way back Lucas' little legs got tired and he was able to hitch a ride on his Daddy. At first Lucas seemed a little unsure of the new higher altitude so his Daddy held his hands and reassured him that he wouldn't let go and Lucas was fine.


For lunch Saturday everyone brought a dish to share. Curt ended up helping make deviled eggs while Lucas watched. When he was finished Curt let Lucas lick the spoon. Lucas returned the favor by spitting out the small bit of deviled egg into Curt's hand. I think he was expecting them to taste like scrambled eggs and was surprised when they didn't.


In the afternoon Lucas and his Papa met on the basketball court for a short game of hoops. When Lucas realized that he couldn't quite slam dunk just yet basketball ended up being more of a soccer game.

When playing with the yellow ball got old Lucas invented a new game... make Grandpa hold the seesaw while I try to crawl to him.


While Lucas played Curt built a fire in the fire pit so it would be ready for making s'mores after dinner.


When Lucas noticed that one of his cousins was sitting still watching the smoke and the fire he decided that he wanted to do it too. He is very much in his "monkey see, monkey do" phase right now.


After dinner I went with my cousin Nicole and my sister Lori to downtown Helen while Curt put Lucas to bed. We just walked around looking in the little shops and watching all the crazy people that were dressed up in German costumes. We didn't go too wild because we were back at the lodge by 10:30.


It's a good think we didn't have a wild late night because Lucas ended up waking up a little before 3AM and not wanting to go back to sleep. He was chewing like crazy on his blanket and I am pretty sure he is teething again. Thank goodness for the portable DVD player because we were able to keep him in the room and quiet until a little before 6AM. Curt instantly fell back asleep and started snoring. Every few minutes Lucas would scream "STOP IT!" in between trying to stick his feet into my ribs. Between Curts snores, and Lucas constant need to put his feet on me I could not get back to sleep. Just as I was about to decide which one of them I should throw my pillow at I took Lucas downstairs and let him run back and forth across the lodge and gave him his breakfast. A little after 7 we woke Curt up and I handed Lucas over to him and I went to sleep for about 30 minutes.

While Curt and I were packing everything up to get ready to go Lucas was brought to us with a rash and hives covering his arms. Our quick acting family had already rinsed his arms off twice right away and managed to find benadryl and hydro cortisone cream in a matter of minutes. We smeared his body in the cream, gave him the medicine and had to put him in jeans and a long sleeve shirt to stop him from itching. Around 10 he feel asleep in Curt's arms and stayed sound asleep while we put him in his car seat and left. We still aren't sure what exactly he got into but are leaning towards poison ivy since it was all over the woods around the lodge. Even with the throwing up, the lack of sleep, the strange rashes, and everything else we had an amazing time.