Why so serious??

Our latest pumpkin project - The Joker!

Thanks Daddy!!

Funny, Funny Quote

Rafe and Cory's bedtime conversation:

Rafe - "I toot everywhere I go."

Cory - "You don't toot at school, do you?"

Rafe - "NOOO!"

Cory - "You don't toot at church, do you?"

Rafe - "NOOO! I toot outside and in houses!"

That's a boy for you!

Wonderful Day!

Yesterday was a great day for Rafe. We spent the morning doing several Halloween crafts. One of them was decorating a pirate pumpkin. Rafe had a lot of fun with this. Last night was Rafe's soccer banquet where he received his long awaited TROPHY. Rafe has talked about getting his trophy since the first soccer game and I believe the trophy was the only reason he ever played in a game. Needless to say, Rafe has been looking forward to this day for a LONG time. We had a great time at Pizza Inn hanging out with the team and of course eating yummy pizza. In addition to the trophy, Rafe also got a treat bag, a cupcake and a cake with the team picture on it. He was on a SUGAR high when he got home! After looking all over the house Rafe found the perfect place for his trophy. (he said he wanted to keep it away from Buck!) We were pleasantly surprised at how nice the trophies were. Rafe thought he was going to get "breakable plastic"!

Congratulations, Rafe. I am sure this is just the first of many trophies for your collection! Good job!

Rafe and Coach Greg

Rafe's trophy!!!

Landon and Taylor Hicks

The Bulldogs

Rafe's picture before he ate his cake!

"Spooky" Times

We had an absolutely WONDERFUL weekend. First of all, we finally have Cory back with us. He took his Endocrinology boards on Friday and we are SO thankful to have him not studying all of the time. After his boards were over on Friday we went to BOOseum in Greenville. I thought it was really fun, but when we got in the car I said to Rafe, "Did you have a good time?" He politely answered, "No!" At least he was honest. We walked through a "haunted house" to help Captain Jack find his lost treasure and I think it scared him a little bit. After that he did not really have much to do with the rest of the activities.

After Booseum we went to Wal-Mart to get a few things. As always we HAD to go to the toy department just to "look". Rafe was pitching a fit to get a nerf dart gun and I told him to remember to tell Santa Claus that he wanted it. All of a sudden a man popped up from the shelf that he was working on and said, "You rang?" It was Santa Claus himself. He heard our whole conversation. It looked like Rafe had see a ghost. His face was priceless! It just goes to show that Santa is ALWAYS watching!

Friday night we carved our pumpkin. Rafe enjoys everything except scooping it out (which really surprises me!). This year he wanted a bat on his pumpkin. We handed over that job to Daddy. He did a nice job!

Saturday afternoon we went to downtown Greer for the Halloween Hoopla. They had a costume parade, trick-or-treating down Trade Street, carnival rides, jump castles, face painting, tattoos, crafts, etc. It was really nice and all sponsored by a local church. That was such a treat. (I also forgot to mention that Buzz Lightyear turned into the Incredible Hulk yesterday!)

Tonight we went to our church for Trunk-or-Treat. It was wonderful! We had a hot dog supper, games, jump castle, pumpkin auction, and trunk-or-treating. Cory and I feel so fortunate to be involved in such a wonderful church. We are really blessed.

Between last night and tonight we now have more candy in our house than Wal-Mart. I am sure Rafe will take care of that problem! I can't imagine what it will look like after Friday!

Happy Halloween!

Whiplash

Here is a funny video of Rafe at the State Fair. When he got off the ride he was holding his back and saying his neck hurt. We did not realize they were so jerky. Watch closely for Rafe's face as he comes flying around the curve. (his mouth is wide open) It is too funny!

Final Game!

Rafe is really listening to the pre-game drill!

Monday night was Rafe's final soccer game. It was a little more special for Rafe because his daddy helped coach. I did not know if that would be a good or a bad thing, but Rafe absolutely LOVED it! He was so proud to have his Daddy on the field with him. I worried that Rafe would just want to be wherever Cory was, but he ran around and did exactly what he was supposed to do. Now Rafe is expecting Cory to coach him in everything else he does!!

I know the soccer season was a little bit shorter for Rafe than it was for his teammates (he "warmed-up" the first 2 months!) but I have never been more proud of him. The move from Charleston to Greer has been SO MUCH harder on Rafe than I could have ever imagined. I am just now starting to feel like I have my little boy back. He is now getting comfortable with new friends and gaining the confidence he needs to try new things. I did not expect Rafe to go out on the field and play like David Beckham. I just wanted him to try something new and have fun. He finally did that!

CONGRATULATIONS, Rafe, on a wonderful soccer season. I am so proud of you.

I love you,

Mommy

A Weekend of Ups and Downs

Once again, we had a busy weekend at the White house. Friday night we went to Boo in the Zoo with my cousin, Tiffany, her husband, Stewart, and their children William and Jay. Rafe absolutely had a ball. We go to this event every year and he always has so much fun trick-or-treating and looking at all of the spooky decorations. Getting him or William to stay still long enough for a picture was next to impossible. I did not even get a picture of the adorable cow, Jay. I am sure next year he will be chasing the boys around there!

Saturday was a LONG, but fun day. We left yesterday morning heading to Columbia for the State Fair and Carolina football game. The weather was perfect for the fair and Rafe had a blast riding rides, eating A LOT of junk food and mostly wrestling a "plastic" Superman he got. The fun really started after the fair! Since the Carolina game was so late, Gram and Rafe left the fair with plenty of time to get home before the kick-off. Well, that did not happen! The traffic in the fairgrounds was so bad that it took Gram over 2 HOURS just to move about 10 car lengths in order to get out of the parking lot. Thankfully Rafe was so tired from the fair that he fell asleep in the car singing! It took a total of 5 hours for Gram and Rafe to finally get back to Greer. Needless to say they missed the first half (and the only exciting half) of the game. Pop, Cory and I stayed for the football game and knew we were going to get back home in the middle of the night. We left the game around midnight and got home around 2:45. We have now all agreed to never do the fair AND the game again in the same day!

Wacky Wednesday!

Shaving cream fun!

Getting his "board" ready

Writing his name

The finished product

Breakfast Conversation

This was a nice father/son conversation over breakfast this morning:

Rafe - "Daddy, why is your name Daddy?"

Cory - "I don't know why we say, 'Daddy'"

Rafe - "Your name should be Cootie. 'Cause you whine every night."

See, Cory, even Rafe notices your wonderful mood after a great day at work! I LOVED it!

A Complete Game!

Last night was a very special night for the White family. Rafe played his ENTIRE soccer game. I really did not know what to expect since his last game had been a week ago. I decided just to show up at the game with him and see what he was going to do. As soon as we got there he said, "See ya', Mommy, I'm going to play soccer!" Of course I did not get in his way. I was so afraid he would come out of the game to take a break and not go back in. As it turns out, the only time he took a break was during half-time. He played the whole game. He really seemed to have a great time and as a result I think he will get his trophy!! Go, Rafe! I am so proud of you.

Apple Orchard

Sunday afternoon we went with Pop and Gram to Sky Top Apple Orchard. The weather could not have been better. Rafe LOVES to pick fruit and he had never picked apples. The only problem was most of the low branches were bare. Luckily he has a tall Daddy that put him on his shoulders to reach the apples! I think the highlight of our trip were the apple doughnuts. They were delicious. Rafe and Cory enjoyed the bamboo forest. Thanks to Cory, Rafe now has a nice bamboo sword to fight with. GREAT!!!

Great Pumpkin Express Train

What an excellent day we had yesterday. Rafe, Gram and I rode a train in Bryson City, NC to the pumpkin patch with Charlie Brown. We had a WONDERFUL time! You board the train for a 30 minute ride to the pumpkin patch. When you arrive there are tons of activities for the children to enjoy before riding the train back to the station. The children are encouraged to wear their Halloween costumes for trick-or-treating. Rafe has decided to be Buzz Lightyear for Halloween and that is by far the hottest costume he has. Since it was over 80 degrees at the pumpkin patch we quickly changed him into a t-shirt when we arrived. It sure did not feel like a fall day! They had a train bounce house, coloring station to write a letter to the Great Pumpkin, hay bale maze, hay ride, tattoo station, music entertainment and petting zoo. Rafe's favorite part was bobbing for apples. I think we went back 6 times to get more. My favorite part was the trick-or-treating. They had a tent decorated like a neighborhood on Halloween night. The children rang each door bell to receive their candy. It was really cute. We were completely exhausted by the end of the day from the heat, but we had a great time. We will definitely be going back next year!

Homework Project

Rafe came home from school yesterday with a homework assignment to create a family banner using our hand prints. The banner could have anything on it using our hands. We were all immediately drawn to a Halloween theme because of Rafe's love for this holiday. Luckily Cory is creative and can draw anything. We had a great time doing it. Rafe especially enjoyed getting to pull all of his art supplies out. He could sit for hours and cut, glue, stamp, color, etc. Thank you, Mrs. Bagley, for giving us such a fun homework assignment. I hope all of Rafe's homework is this enjoyable down the road!!!

He did it!

It is with mixed emotions that I write this blog. Rafe FINALLY played in his soccer game tonight and, unfortunately, my camera was at home :( I knew this would happen. For those of you that don't know it has been quite comical each game. We went from saying we were going to play, to just "warming up" with the team, to only running through the tunnel to get his snack. Everyone had completely quit asking Rafe if he wanted to play. We all knew the answer. Well, something must have been in the air tonight. Rafe and his buddy, Carter, both played! I know this is wrong, but Cory and I had bribed Rafe with everything we could think of to get him to just STAND on the field. We weren't asking for much, just stand out there! As the season is starting to wind down it hit Rafe that he did not have the trophy he is looking so forward to getting. I told Rafe he needed to at least attempt to play or he might not get a trophy. So tonight we started talking to him about it during the game. I could tell he was at least listening to what we were saying, unlike the other nights. Well, next thing I knew he was guarding the goal with Gram right beside him (whatever it takes!!) I tried not to just jump out of my seat in excitement (which is what I wanted to do) so I just gave him a thumbs up at first. Next thing I knew he not only started running down the field, but he KICKED the ball two times. He was in the middle of all the action. Well, I could no longer contain myself. I started screaming and cheering so loud for him. This was a big deal for ALL of us! I was in complete shock.

Unfortunately the game only lasted about 5 minutes after Rafe went in, but it was a big starting point for him. After the game Cory and I told him he could choose where he wanted to eat supper (Moes, of course). Next we found out how Gram had convinced Rafe to play - she gave him money. He immediately took his money and started thinking about what he wanted to buy at Target. After Moes we quickly went to Target for Rafe to pick out his prize. Cory and I had already discussed how you just never know what Rafe will choose when he has endless choices. We came out of Target with a dancing cow that "Moo's" Jingle Bells. This is typical Rafe!

So, as I write this, Rafe is in the bed probably listening to his cow over and over and I am filled with so much pride. We made HUGE progress tonight. I just hope it continues on Thursday when I will have both cameras with me!

A relaxing Sunday afternoon!!

Rafe and I invited Pop and Gram to join us at Jump Zone yesterday for some jumping and fun. Well, everyone (except Rafe) left bruised and exhausted! Rafe's favorite jump castle was Batman! He was extremely excited to see it when we walked in. The funniest thing we did was a sunken pirate ship. This was by far the fastest slide I have ever been on. We found out later they had just wiped it down with a furniture polish rag. No wonder!! Here are some videos of our adventure down the slide. (my sliding was quite traumatic as you will see!!)

Craft Day!

This morning Rafe and I did a couple of crafts together. The first one was decorating a gingerbread, haunted house. It was quite challenging to get any of the candy actually on the house before Rafe ate it!! He also enjoyed making himself look like a pirate with the black icing! Every time he walks by the haunted house now he tries to break off a piece of candy or coconut grass. We will see how much of it is left by the time Halloween rolls around!

After we made the haunted house Rafe and I took on making orange play-doh for his classroom. I have never made homemade play-doh and was pleasantly surprised at how easy it is to do! This is one of Rafe's favorite things to play with so he was pumped to actually make some "all by myself!" (it even smells like oranges!)

After being in the kitchen ALL morning, Rafe and I went outside to enjoy the beautiful weather. They recently cleared out the lot beside our house and Rafe decided to ride his gator all around it. He absolutely had a ball. Rafe rode his gator until the battery finally gave out! (I tried to video and walk at the same time so excuse how bumpy it is!)