I love being a mom and Halloween pictures . . . November 2, 2009

I love being a mom. L O V E it. I had the time of my life yesterday, I”m still glowing. I went over and spent a few hours with my kids again today and made them all lunch. I love cooking for them and I loved baking the cookies yesterday–yeah I know they were pre-made, but you just can’t make them and their cool. When I was a SAHM (stay at home mom) I cooked from scratch allllll the time. Well, except for the Pillsbury Shape Cookies around the holidays. They added a sprinkle of fun.

I love all things mommy and woman. I’ve always loved being a woman. And when mommy was added, that just made it all so much better. I’ve always loved the whole package of being a mom. Okay, never liked the housecleaning thing. Detested it really. I could have used a housekeeper. The enormity of time it sucked from me always grated on my nerves. I always wanted to busy myself creating. I had so much I wanted to do. So much more that I would have done with the kids. So many ideas would come to me and no time to execute them thanks to the need to clean.

Okay, so for those pictures Halloween pictures I promised. They need a little intro so here goes:
1) Dan made his own costume. All his own thought and creation. He worked long and hard on it too for a few days. He’s a Zombie. His top was done in two layers. He cut holes and painted red underneath to look more realistic for the blood and gashes. He’s amazing! The pumpkin is the one Dan carved himself. When you see just the back of a child, that’s Dan’s back of his costume.
2) The two girls together are of my daughter Sarah, who you’ve not met yet till now!! She’s on the right and her girl friend is on the left. They were winter Barbies
3) The other girl in pics with John2 and Caleb is John’s girl friend. So together they made a family of Vampires. They were just the three of them for the last 45 minutes and people thought they were a family.
I’m going to say goodnight in advance. Night, love ya. Theresa Jane.

Halloween FUN! November 1, 2009

All I can say is FUN! I had a fun, terrific, eventful, peaceful, happy day with my kids. Halloween is always a wild card day, all the energy surging from anticipating Trick or Treating, last minute things that can go awry with costumes, someone can get an upset stomach, and more. It can be a perfect atmosphere for break down somewhere. But this year, none of that. Dan got a little edgy wanting to go, but that was it.

-I quit working on my business and arrived at their home arrived at 2 and began to bake Halloween cookies for all my kiddos. I made the Nestle Toll House Pumpkin cookies and the Pillsbury Shape cookies with the ghosts. Pillsbury won hands down.
-Put the face tattoo on Zachary as he wanted to be a tiger. I was a little nervous about this full face tattoo working out well. But it pretty much turned out fine. We had some parts that broke apart, but luckily between his glasses and the long bangs he sports it covered the discrepancy.
-Around 3:30 I did Graces make-up, she had a party to attend before Trick or Treating. Then I did Caleb’s.
-Sat down at one of their computers and researched some more about E-books and sunk deeper into a new forum I joined for bloggers, it’s called Problogger. So far it seems quite helpful. I’ll keep you posted.
-Then it was time to do Dan’s make-up, which he wanted me to hurry because he was going Trick or Treating with, you guessed it, Brent. He had waited a bit long to come and get ready. I had sent his sister to get him earlier but he decided it was too early, it could wait. Sooooo, he ended up being the one having to deal with the time it took me to do it and for the pictures that I insisted we were going to take. He made it out the door with a bit of time to spare, but you know how kids are. They want to get going…..
-Then Grace returned. John2 arrived and changed. Caleb dressed. Leah, John2′s sort of girl friend arrived. We left.
-We went house to house for about a half hour and Sarah and her friend arrived to join us. More fun!!! I was so glad to have Sarah with us her schedule with her school I don’t see much of her at all anymore. Sort of catch glimpses of her.
-Took lots of pictures. Took a little video, but doubt it will be any good, too dark.
-Finally 2 1/2 plus hours later we returned to their house to size up the booty and compare what treasures lay within their bags. I have to say Grace is awfully possessive of her Peanut Butter cups! Man. John2 split his with me. Zach let me have a couple pieces from his bag then said, “Don’t eat it all!” As if!
My kids are loaded with more candy than I think they’ve ever pulled in. Those hefty sacks are going need monitoring and piece mealing! Scott, their father, will be complaining in the morning when he sees all they got.
-I got a hankering for a movie, but none of us, me included, wanted to do a late show at the theater. So we scanned Hulu. Free movie streaming from the internet, furniture realigned, Leah, John2, Daniel, Me, Zach, Ben, Grace blankets drawn up around the chin, Caleb snuggled up under my arm and off we went into “A Dog’s Breakfast”. OMG I laughed till it hurt. We all laughed till it hurt. It is a dark comedy, perfect for Halloween. It edges up to Halloweeny material. I’m not saying more than that. I don’t want to ruin it for you. Just watch this movie!! I intend to own it one day. I will add that thankfully Dan and Cal zonked out. Kept me from having to tell them they needed to go to bed because the content would creep them out too much. But that was only because of their age.

Love ya,
Theresa Jane
-who will post more pictures tomorrow, now it’s 1:47 AM and I need to hit the hay!

Pumpkins, and Witches, and Bats. OH MY! . . . October 22, 2009

Halloween. Long ago memories wrap around me like a snuggly blanket. Faded memories of carefully examining every costume from among the matching boxes that lined the shelves. Then and only then did I make my choice picking the one that was just for me. Then came the waiting. Time seemed to inch by. Daily I would ask, “How many more days till Halloween?” I would nearly bust from waiting till I was able to slip the costume over my arms and shoulders and stretch the mask’s super, skinny elastic around the back of my head, and position it onto my face.

Finally Halloween day arrived and I brought my costume to school for the parade in the gym. Then, still fully dressed, back to our classrooms for our party, the beginning of the delicious sugar load. Once the bell sounded, I scurried home with great urgency, as if the faster and earlier I arrived it would push the hands of time ahead making it time for Trick or Treating when I got there. Five minutes after I got home I teased about what time it was, how long was that before it was time, could we start early, could we go to Grandma’s so I could show her my costume? And we did. Grandma, always the first to christen the bottom of my sack.

I love this! Fun!

Finally the time would arrive. Street lights glowing a warm yellow, cast a hint of eeriness adding to the aura of the occasion. The darkness would be filled with a deep chill requiring my heaviest pants, good old jeans, knee socks, and long sleeved shirt. I always at least tried to pull my costume over my fall jacket. But even if it didn’t fit I was going out, a sweater would have to do. The cold of the night wasn’t holding me hostage inside my house. Not when I had my new terrific costume and candy just waiting for me.

All dressed and ready I was out the door, bag grasped firmly in hand. I would locate my friends from the kids milling out on the street and with my mom trailing behind with the other mother’s, I would race from door adding my shout to the chorus, “Trick or Treat,” and gathering large quantities of delicious morsels of candy from every door that shone their light, beckoning us to come. It was always so disappointing to come to a house whose doorway was shrouded in darkness. I always felt a small twinge, and not just for myself and the loss of a candy opportunity. That dark doorway just seemed to illuminate sadness. Whoever dwelt inside didn’t want to enjoy the festivities that surrounded them.

Theresa Jane
-who is feeling all nostalgic and again counting the days till Halloween, when I get to be the mom trailing behind