When you have a just-turned-6-year-old, a 12 year old and an-always-a-kid-at-heart-Big-Guy, trick or treating is still on the menu. When you have a nearly 19 year old, no matter how kiddish in the heartish, and a 13 year old going on, er, someone older, the 7 year old merely looks like a decoy. This is why I am nixing the trick or treating for the older two this year and having a Halloween party for them instead. Crazy, I know. My energy levels are so unpredictable, it seems just this side of Bedlam to actually invite people over for a specific date, one which is on the calendar and cannot be fudged. (Oh! George’s birthday? That’s next week! Sorry for the confusion . . .)
Take, for example, what happened to me after the Little Guy’s birthday wherein only one quiet and well behaved first grader was asked to woo hoo with us. Flattened for days afterward. This same boy will be here prior to trick or treating but the Middle Child, the only one in the house with any kind of social life, will have three or four large teenage friends littering the limited floor plan. Even the Big Guy will have a friend, a great kid he met whilst bowling with Special Olympics; they became instant buds after discovering their shared penchant for the special features option (always watched prior to the movie) all things Star Trek and Legos Wii games (besides which, the way they feel about pizza puts the “p” in passion). 
I have a plan, er had one. I was Planning to do One Thing each day during the month of October to prepare. Now it is a mere week and a half away and all I have done is put out the décor, made the courtyard festive and put away five of the eight orange and black totes. There is much baking still to do, pumpkins to be carved, the cloister to decorate with lights and tombstones and costumes to be devised out of nothing or a snap of the fingers or a wisp of air, whatever works best but I’m not counting on any of it. One thing I have managed to accomplish. In fact, I think it was rather clever of me. I neglected (on purpose. Or not) to water my plants.
Because nothing says Halloween like dead plants. Brilliant. I know.
I really like the way the bench looks. The drapery kind of looks like spider webs.
ReplyDeleteHey if you need more dead plants I have plenty to share! At least you have some decorations up. Mine are all still in the tubs in the shed.
ReplyDeleteeverything looks fabulous! I say less is more;) Have #2 help you with things. The party's mostly for her.... I know you can relinquish control for a bit!
ReplyDeletekids don't really mind as long as there's food!!!
My kids get upset because I don't decorate enough for any holiday. Your place looks terrific.... the dead plants are a great touch!
ReplyDeleteThis is the part where I admit the decor is all for me, me, me! I don't care what they think about it (the kids, I mean) but I do plan to have plenty of food--thanks Hillary. : ) And, Jen, thanks for the offer, but my plants were extra obliging this year. Kazzy--you are such a sweetie!
ReplyDeleteyeah, we don't mow the lawn the whole month of October. There are weeds everywhere and the grass is really tall, but we can get away with it because it's halloween.
ReplyDeleteAnd the dusting--no need to dust!
ReplyDeleteMan, if all it takes to make halloween is some dead plants, we have halloween ALL THE TIME!!!
ReplyDeletehey, i love the new look for your page. very festive! i'm so jealous that you're doing a halloween party. i wanted to do one but nathan pointed out that we have no one to invite. a good thing to consider, i suppose. :) what does michael do at the special olympics? does he have a favorite?
ReplyDeleteYou are good to have a party for your kids! The decorations look great, and I like the idea of giving #2 some of the responsibility, I'm all for the kids taking ownership so they can't blame us later that it didn't turn out as they envisioned :o).
ReplyDeleteAgreed...the festive new look is great. Is there a rule that says you can't use your children's names on here? I don't think I've seen their names once. just curious.
ReplyDeleteJessica--you have enough to do right now--there will be lots of time for parties later. Birthday parties for one, (gah!) Tina--yes, #2 and I have a lot of that psychological stuff going. Pretty soon she will be better at it than I. Erin--no, I don't use my kids names. It's a bloggy thing but I am not sure it really matters. It does give #2 some privacy--she is at that age where she doesn't want to have much to do with her mom. And, there is the whole security thing. Since I started my blog with the full intention to become wildly famous (as opposed to just writing for me or my family) I wanted to keep their names out of it (but, if you go back far enough, you will see that I not only used their names, I wrote bios about each with song names to match).
ReplyDeleteI love your new look. Very classy!
ReplyDelete