I admit it - I am not the biggest Halloween fan. The dressing up is cute, but I don't love the chore or stress of coming up with costumes every year. The decorations are fun, but I am not a great decorator, and it is another thing to clean up. Yes, I am a party pooper. The candy is delicious - big problem!! Who needs more candy - or any candy, for that matter? Certainly not me or my children! (Nate hates candy. Why can't I have that taste bud?) When the kids were younger it was no problem to have them all donate the collected loot to a communal bowl. I went through it and sorted it out - all hard candy got chucked, all chocolate candy went into a baggie to be frozen and either used in Christmas stockings, or chucked the next time I cleaned out the freezer. The rest was eaten slowly, and typically thrown out after a few weeks. Some of the kids still go for that, but Cam rebelled from the plan years ago. Fortunately he is now too old to go door to door, so he is out of the mix there.
What I DO like about the holiday is the fun places to go, and the creative crafts that are interesting to make. These pictures are from fall break. Kathryn brought her kids over and we painted pumpkins and made cookie spiders. Then we watched Corpse Bride. We also went to HEE HAW farms last Tuesday. We had a great time petting animals, picking a pumpkin, sliding down slides, and going through a blown up haunted house. That one wouldn't have been too bad, but it was dark by the time we went in, and it was pitch black inside. Fortunately I had brought my bag, and it has pretty much everything in there, including a trusty little flashlight. Good thing, because Andi and Emma were inside screaming, and Kaylee was crying. Kathryn and I went in after them, ran through the maze to get to them, and led them to safety. Tiffany was sure that she would have nightmares about being in a pitch black maze, and running out of air to breath. Should be good for a halloween dream, eh?
