Hockey Star

 

 

On Saturday, Luke participated in Try Hockey for Free Day, a national program that introduces 4-9 year olds to hockey.  It was very well done, with mentors helping each child put on their gear, and explaining all of the parts of the uniform.  Each new layer became an adorable addition as my little man was transformed into a hockey player:

Suiting up!

Another layer...

Adding the skates...

And lastly, the stick!

 

Finally, Luke was ready for the ice!

While some of the kids ventured onto the rink with sticks in hand, Luke stayed close to his walker, which he called a "skater" (and actually that name makes much more sense!).  I was relieved, because I wasn't sure how this whole event was going to work with inexperienced skaters and young children.  Luke had a blast, skating and pushing the pucks around.  Coaches and older players assisted the kids and taught basic skills, while the parents looked on from the stands: 

Looks like a bruiser!

 

 What a great afternoon, and a neat way to expose our little sports fanatic to hockey!

Trick or Treat

 

Trick or Treating this year was wonderful.  It was a gorgeous 70 degree evening (Mark wore shorts!), and our three little pirates had perfect weather to gallivant through our neighborhood.  What a difference from our childhood memories of Halloweens in the northeast, where we were all bundled up, costumes barely visible under all the layers of clothing necessary to brave the chilly temperatures.    

 

Now that the construction on our street is finished, our neighborhood joins with the one next to us, and we had literally hundreds of trick or treaters come to our door.  Every year, there is a tractor-pulled hayride that drives through the neighborhood and unloads parents and children on each block.  "Only in South Carolina," we think to ourselves, but it is pretty neat.  We met up with friends this year, and made our way from door to door, practicing our pirate voices and running with excitement after receiving goodies: 

 

Even more exciting than the many treats the children received was the GIANT leaf pile that our neighbor raked, specifically for trick or treaters to jump in and play.  There are two enormous oak trees whose leaves contributed to this pile, and the kids had a ball running and sliding down the hill and jumping into the tower of leaves.  We must have played here for at least 30 minutes, and it was a highlight of our Trick or Treating experience this year:

 

 

After a busy, fun-filled evening of gathering pirate loot and jumping in leaves, these two little guys were tuckered out and ready for bed!  What a great finale to Halloween 2013!

 

Happy Halloween!

Wishing you a fun and spooky day!

Boo in the Zoo

 

A few of our favorite pictures from Boo in the Zoo last weekend:

 

Instead of saying "Trick or Treat" at each treat stop at the zoo, Leah would turn into a fierce pirate and scrunch up her face.  She'd exclaim, "Trick ARRGHH Treat!" and every single time, the adults handing out the goodies would burst out laughing.  You just don't expect such a sweet, innocent little girl to have such a mighty pirate voice.  It's my absolute favorite part of Halloween so far this year:



Leah's "Mean Pirate" Face.

The kids had a blast at Boo in The Zoo, and our two little pirates are ready for more Halloween events ahead!

Pumpkin Fun

 

We've been enjoying lots of fun with pumpkins this week.  We brought a pumpkin to Luke's kindergarten class, helped the children to scoop out seeds and carve it, and then roasted the seeds for them to have as snack the next day.  The class had a contest to guess how many seeds were in the pumpkin, and Luke helped me sort and count all 629 seeds! 

 

  Leah and I also visited the pumpkin patch yesterday, and she took her turn checking to see how tall she is this fall:

 

 

 Leah picked out several small pumpkins for a special project that we had planned.  For the first time ever, Mommy was brave enough to use glitter, and from my little pumpkin's enthusiastic reaction, I see many more sparkly crafts in our future!

First, we sized up our pumpkins.

Next came the glue...

Finally it was time to sprinkle the glitter!

Almost done!

Our pretty glitter pumpkins!

This morning, we carved our family jack o' lantern.  Luke drew a prototype for us, which Daddy carved onto our large pumpkin.  Our artist's requirements were: vampire teeth, triangle eyes & nose, and a frowny face:

 

Helpful assistants.

 

Making "yucky" faces as they scooped out the guts!

Here's to a great job by our jack o' lantern team!

Halloween Costume Reveal

 

 

The children are pirates this year for Halloween.  Yep, all three of them.  Thanks to a great authentic Jack Sparrow costume from Disney World that our neighbors passed down to us, Luke has wanted to be a pirate for months.  Luckily, Leah just goes along with the flow and looks up to her big brother so much that if he says that he is going to be a pirate, then she wants to be a pirate, too.  And poor Winnie just puts up with it all (although I think she may have protested a bit more if she knew how excited I was to search the internet and find a coordinating doggie pirate scarf for her!):

 

 

 

So far, our little pirates have been happy to model their costumes, but somehow were still surprised when they checked out each other's outfits:

Wait, you're a pirate, too?

 

We've been practicing our fierce pirate faces, complete with eye patches:

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And perfecting our friendly pirate expressions, as well:

I'm not sure how many more years I can get away with my children agreeing to coordinate costumes, but it certainly makes this holiday-loving Mama very happy to see my little pirates together!