Clearly Lucy is fascinated.Happy Halloween!
Each year I start to dislike this holiday a tad bit more. I mean, seriously, it is a lot of work. And I am a lot of tired. But every year I fall a little more in love with it by the end.
This year when I was in the midst of my detestation of all the costume-idea-changes and all the candy and parties, the little girls and I scrambled to Target to try to find the last-minute costume finishing touches.
It was crunch-time before a party. Grace had worn me down for days that it was an absolute necessity to have bracelets to complete her punk-rocker outfit. Lucy was not budging from her desire to be a black cat which we couldn’t find the ears for..even after trying four different stores. And Claire had decided she didn’t want to be Amelia Bedelia after all.
(That’s what she was for her school “character” day and here she is trying to show Lu who in the world Amelia Bedelia is:)
But right there in the middle of the Target isles I realized I needed to chill out and slow down. The kids didn’t care if everything is perfect for Halloween. They just needed a mom to be excited with them. Who cares if they didn’t get completely gussied up all the way for every party and get-together. As long as they felt loved and happy and secure that’s all that matters.
Isn’t that really how all of motherhood is? The spirit in our home is so much thicker when I let little details fly to the wind and just love those little ragamuffins with all my heart. I don’t want them to remember the frustrated, frazzled mother they see so often. I’d rather fill their minds with rich memories of love and the sparkle in my eye because I let some things go to “be there” for real.
So I slowed down and took in their big smiles and fascination with all the different outfits and Halloween ideas lining the isles of Target that day. I let their excitement seep into me.
And this season has been a lot better since that little Target epiphany.
Dave and I even dressed up for another party.
And we even talked Max and his friend into getting dressed up for a teenage party they were nervous as all get-out to go to…especially since some cute older girls offered to give them a ride. 
Our super traditional family pumpkin carving morphed into something new this year.
We decided to invite the cousins to join us…
…and decided to add paint to the mix.
So although we started out like this:
It turned into this:
What are they so amused at about Max’s pumpkin?
This:
The little kids, sad from lack of their very own pumpkins took to painting paper plates.
We do this pic. every year.
How in the world did they grow up so fast from this stage??
Here’s a little preview of what’s happening tonight:
Claire fell head-over-heels in love with that Mitt Romney mask she found at Target. (I love Mitt by the way…and I’m really glad he doesn’t wear shoes like that…)
We’re going to CHILL out with some chili and let it all soak in.
Happy Halloween!
