Halloween spooktacular

Grandma Shirley and Grandpa Al came up Friday to celebrate Wayne's birthday. Of course they can't come visit without bringing Lukas something. They brought sweets and something to drive mom and dad crazy.

We carved the pumpkin on Sunday evening and used Lukas' gift from Grandma Shirley and Grandpa Al as the inspiration for our masterpiece. Lukas added the stickers




Lukas was raring to go on Halloween. We let him skip gymnastics. We figured he wouldn't be paying much attention if he went. He chose to be a pirate this year. He was very excited about the facial hair! He was the Captain and I ended up being his first mate. Translation is I got to carry the bag of candy when it got to be to heavy. We made it to a few more houses this year before he started to poop out.


Daddy and grandpa held down the fort while mommy and grandma walked the plank with Lukas. And off we go...


The front of our house lit up. Spiders and skeletons were the theme at our house. The window posters were quite popular in our neighborhood this year. We even had a light-up pirate skeleton coming up out of the ground whose heart flashed on and off.

Our pumpkin collection on the front porch. I think they turned out pretty good.


There was one house in the neighborhood that really out did themselves. We didn't make it down their street last year. They cleared their garage out and had all sorts of crazy decorations in it like skeletons riding a bike, a life size animated witch and lots of creepy cobwebs and fog. The best part was they all dressed up and sat really still. Especially the guy under the tree as you came up the walk. He scared both Lukas and I. Lukas tried to defend himself with his sword. I thought the witch was going to be real and that this guy was just a decoration.


Back at home resting his feet and handing out the last of our candy.


What's under the hat?




The singing, dancing skeleton grim reeper....

The adventure continues...race in the morning, pumpkin picking in the afternoon

This year we opted to skip the festivities at the Big Red Barn at Larriland Farms and go pick our pumpkins from the fields. They still had quite a big selection still on the vine inspite of it being the weekend before Halloween.

Lukas searching the fields for just the right pumpkin.













Daddy: How about this one? Lukas: nah, it's all dirty?

Mommy found her pumpkin. It has the perfect face for my spider!
Lukas finally picks his out.
Lukas wanted to break it off the vine himself. He is getting to be a really big boy now. I can't believe how different he is from last year!
Lukas and his pumpkin in front of a stray stalk of corn.
Typical boy, has to play with the broken pumpkins!
Wandering the fields to see whatelse he can find.
Wow, check out all the smashed pumpkins mom!
We were also there to pick some apples for grandma Shirley to make applesauce with. We picked some up for ourselves too. Note the odd shaped tree he is picking apples from. By the time we got there the trees were all picked out so they brought some bins down to the field from the barn.
We still took the obligatory picture in front of a tree for posterities sake.

Komen Race for the Cure...Lukas' first race

A good friend and co-worker was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer this summer. She was fortunate in that it was caught early but will be undergoing both chemo and radiation. A group of us at work decided to form a team and do the Susan G. Komen race in our area in honor and support of her. I thought it would be a good time to introduce Lukas to fundraising and racing. I chose for us to do the Family 1 mile fun run since I didn't think he would make it for the whole 5 K. It proved to be the right decision.

It was an early morning for both of us. I had him sleep in his race clothes and carried him out to the car in the morning. I hoped he would sleep the 45 minute drive, but noooo, he talked my ear off the entire drive. It was quite the philosophical conversation for that early in the morning. We talked about how God made all the animals different colors, angels, and heaven.












Waiting for the rest of our group to show up.












Part of Team GRECC. Some of the team were doing the timed run and had already taken off.



Lukas and his new friend, Jonathan.





And we're off!





Hey mom, this is fun!

Of course the boys had to stop for nourishment...




The finish line is in sight...Lukas sprinted ahead. That's him crouched over at the bottom of the picture.

Lukas and mommy at the finish line.

Some watch dog we have

What's that!? (the ice maker)


Did you hear that? Don't let it get me!


Protect me please!!!

School Spirit Week- Hat Day

Lukas chose to wear his Buzz Lightyear cap.

Picking up the paper on the way to the bus stop.


Lukas with some of the neighborhood kids waiting for the bus.

West Friendship VF Open House

The local firehouse was having an open house Sunday afternoon. We missed it last year so I made a point to take Lukas this year. You know how boys are about Fire Trucks. He had a blast checking out everything at the fire house.

Of course we had to get in every vehicle they would let us get in. Here he is in the EMT vehicle. This is his Super Hero pose.


Then he had to check it out from another angle...


Getting in the big rigs...it's a long way down.



Is he happy or what?



Future Volunteer Fireman. Of course he will be the one driving the rig!


I think this was his favorite part of the afternoon. They let them put out a fake fire with a real hose. He took at least 5 turns.


Of course Lukas had to go set the target back up. The target was a bunch of flames in a window.


Then to finish the afternoon we went for a ride in the cherry picker on the hook and ladder. They took you all the way up and then rotated it 360 degrees around before bringing it back down.

Sykesville Fallfest

It was a beautiful, warm, fall day so we decided to check out the Sykesville Fall Festival. Lukas collected a bunch of free give-away items and was excited to check out the model trains.




His favorite part of the day was dancing to the music one of the live bands played.


He was joined by some other little boys...


Check out the air guitar moves...

School makes for one tired little boy

Part of his homework each week is to practice writing his letters. On Friday they send home a notebook with two or three letters to practice writing in lower case. This week is c and a. Lukas got out his own notebook and kept going. When it was time to get ready for bed he brought his pencil and notebook with him. He was still hard at it when I went to take a shower. This is what I found when I came out of the bathroom...


Still holding the pencil and notebook even though he was out cold.


He is doing really well with writing. As you can see here they are teaching them how to write within the lines.