I woke up to a crazy storm and can’t go back to sleep, so I might as well make good use of these sleepless hours.
Halloween 2019 was warm, trick or treating in short sleeves and sandals, and windy. LG does it right, and this year was no different. And I think we had less people this year because of the weather, which is a little added bonus.
We hosted a potluck dinner, so I did the requisite all day cleaning that goes into hosting. Happily, Matt hung my beautiful doily and another project that’s been sitting around for awhile, and everything looks so good all put away. 🤗
I had made pulled pork a few weeks ago and it was so easy and delish, I thought I’d do it again. In true Shell fashion though, this one wasn’t as good. It’s one of my fun quirks, you never know if what I cook will be delish, or disgusting. It’s like roulette, it’s great.
Today was also book character day at school. I am working hard at saying ‘yes!’ to as many things as possible, so in that vein, Halloween and Red Ribbon week have been exercises in patience and giving kids choices. Frankie decided to remain Mal, and Delaney decided to revisit last years Queen of Hearts. Not one to break with tradition, we were 15 minutes late for school. Because that’s what you do on spirit days, duh.
Crazy hair spray hair when she got home. Before I ruffled it, it stayed up all by itself.
We had 38 friends for dinner. Thankfully our weird Halloween weather allowed for outdoor dining. Right before T or T’ing is always a madhouse, and this year was more of the same. T or T’ers started coming in earnest, our kids were itching to leave, and I was the only adult outside trying to manage. I did the best I could and released the animals.
Silly shot!
These 11-year-olds were thrilled to be on their own again this year. They carried walkie talkies and had loads of adventures tricking people and getting the middle school/high school low-down.
Frankie went off with Morgan and her mom. Halfway through, they grabbed the golf cart and finished trick or treating in style. Lucky girl!
Matt stayed home to man the fort, and I got to take the 7-year-old crew around. We occasionally walked with friends, but often found ourselves in just our trio.
We met up with other friends from school and they were cute and fun for a few houses.
I told them we could stay out as long as they wanted. That ended up being till just passed 8, which was perfect.
As soon as we walked up our driveway I realized how tired I was. I grabbed our almost empty cauldron of candy and told Matt we were going in. He was like “let’s get rid of the rest...” and I was like “nope, let’s get girls too bed, too tired.” And he was like “ok!”
We let the girls sort candy as we tidied post party. Delaney requested a shot curled around her candy.
Candy sorting is a joy of childhood.
Frankie’s pile remained unsorted because she had hair dye and had to take a shower.
It was a good Halloween with these big, growing girls. Sometime in the next 5 years they’ll probably all want to go alone, or be done, and then I’ll pass out candy for the first time in 23+ years. We are in a fun stage of life and I’m excited.
Oh, and we can’t forget the cutest baby shark we ever did see!
After the dress up fun, he decided Halloween was too spooky. He’s just the sweetest and we all can’t wait for their family to come visit next month!
