Hot Mess Halloween

Once again I am back after more time away than I anticipated. Suffice to say the title of this post should give you an inkling of my past 2 weeks.

Since the fire, holidays have been difficult on many levels. It's hard to explain to a group of eager children that they no longer have their plug in "punkin" to display. And that beloved Darth Vader costume with the sweet talking helmet is FUBAR. Oh yes and those decorations that you used to make your bedroom windows spooky and festive...gone. You see my children "know" all of this but in the frenzy that can only come with holidays they forget and the conversation goes like this.

" Mom! we need to put up that skeleton that we stuffed with newspaper and hung from the tree, remember? "

" yes I remember but we lost it in the fire."

" oh.......yea"

" Maybe you could make a skeleton out of construction paper?"

" nah I just forgot"

So yea that makes holidays hard. It's not just Halloween, its every single holiday. I just wish it didn't feel so awful to see them remember .
Enter their new art teacher. She has spend the month of october preparing them for Halloween. They painted , they played games, they made halloween decorations and they even painted T shirts for Halloween. Yay new memories! We don't have a lot of decorations or a fraction of the things we had before but the kids will want to pull out the things they made this year, next Halloween. That is a good thing.
So here is the Halloween break down you have all been waiting for.

In order of appearance :

MTA went as a Mobster named Puff Pinky. She had a fedora and all. Too bad people at church thought she was a pimp. I wonder if that reflects badly in some way. LOL. She spent the night with her girlfriends listening to thriller and no doubt gossiping. She was disappointed that her lack of attention toward trick or treating resulted in a poor haul.

MacGuyver Jr. went as Bleeding Death. He had a bleeding skull and the whole shebang. He walked around all night squeezing a little pump shaped like a human heart that pushed blood into his skull mask. He grossed out his Grandma and considered it a successful night. Namely because he grossed out his Grandma.

Sketch has worn his favorite costume for two Halloweens in a row now. He went as a Dead Metal Biker. Complete with skull mask and a pretty sweet jacket with spikes. He had a very good Halloween but his main focus was making decorations and carving pumpkins. He was very concerned that we might not get pumpkins this year. ( due to funds, can you believe pumpkins were 6 dollars for one? ) He did in fact get to carve a pumpkin and on Halloween night his focus shifted to trick or treating. He was very focused. He was pleased with his haul. He seemed to have fun being chased by the several girls that have seemed to notice his existence in the last six months.

Walker TR went as Spiderman. He even had a spiderman bucket for which to carry his ill gotten gains. He made a pretty find Spiderman and we all felt safer for our Superhero protection. He isn't nicknamed Walker Texas Ranger for nothin! He made a nice haul and spent most of his evening trading karate kicks with his friend. When he got home he proceeded to help Superman find a nice spot for his candy and only then did he put his own away. I heard him telling Superman to make sure to have Mom check all his candy before he ate any. I also overheard him telling Superman he was checking to make sure he didn't have any gold coins , because they had to be thrown away right away!

( we told the children of the poison candy and told them under no uncertain terms that they were in fact deadly and they were to throw them away should they happen to get a gold coin)

Superman oddly enough went as a Blue Power Ranger. His evening consited of running around to each and every car in the parking lot ( We did Trunk or Treating at our church) multiple times and getting as much loot as he possibly could carry. We even emptied his bucket in a pillow case so he could get more! If there was a more focused child trick or treating, I did not see one. Not even Sketch. Superman trampled small dogs and small girls to get to the good stuff. He was always polite to the candy vendor but those in line were fair game. Now mind you he wasn't being mean he was simply on his game. I couldn't believe the amount of energy he still had when it was all over.

FP and I crashed and the kids reminded us that the fun had just begun! Oh Sweet Candy Hell. We came home to our house destroyed! Clothes everywhere, diry dishes on the table, make up and costume pieces strewn about. Couch cushions askew, some on the floor. ( don't ask me why)

Enter the Hot Mess Halloween. Between checking candy, picking up wrappers, convincing a 4 year old that he cannot exist on candy alone and trying to clean up after Halloween. We live in what is no longer our home but Hot Mess Halloween. We are trying to recover. The children are in a 12 step program. FP and I are working with therapists. It is all very painful but we are managing.

I love Halloween. I even got to brush up on my special effects make up. I did a frost and ice effect for my face. I think it turned out pretty cool. I got several compliments and a lot of questions on how I did it.

FP got off of work and took us all to the church to get our trick or treat on. Bless his heart he gave out candy while I took Superman around. How sweet he looked sitting on a lonely curb with a glow in the dark pumpkin candy bucket in his lap. As we neared the end of the night I walked over to him only to discover a tidy pile of candy wrappers next to him. He had his hand in the candy jar all night! I was feeling sorry for him and all along he had the better job!

All in all a very good night.

Mrs. F.

p.s. check out my new recipe on Foodie Flabulosity.