The Halloween I Lost My Son...

It just didn't FEEL like Halloween here last night. I mean didn't school just start a week ago? *sigh* I think we're over-done, over-baked, half-baked, whatever. It doesn't matter, so long as I keep getting these little blue cocktails.

The night before Halloween I passed by the porch where the pumpkins sat. THE PUMPKINS!! We didn't carve the pumpkins this weekend and John is teaching school tonight! Awww mannn....so Alex washes them off, Cody hauls them inside and we commence to gut the pumpkins. It's going well...until I notice Alex is getting very quiet. He notices it isn't the same without John. I broke the no calling Daddy in class rule and let him call. Dad would cut class a little short and get home. All was well in Alexville.

Awhile back, Alex saw 'bling' at the store he thought would make a fine addition to Halloween. I told him no--I wasn't going to let my son be a pimp for Halloween. Banter, banter banter, we check out with bling. But that's IT, no pimp clothes. So he made do with what he had, an ape mask and a hat. Very scary ape!

This is Pam and...are you ready for this? GIDGET! Not kidding...it's Gidge with a little hat on! I don't think Pam named her after me, Gi. Isn't she adorable? The dog, not Pam! Okay, Pam is adorable too. And a great cook, she made chili for all of us (there were other families there too). I'll forgive her for forgetting to get ketchup because she forgave me for not remembering to put sour cream in the cornbread casserole.

Niki and her friend stopped in (they live in our neighborhood). They were off to have fun with other kids but she wanted to stop and tell us where she was going. Between you and I, I think she wanted to stop by and see Pam's son (seen there in the middle) but shhhh!

Where was Cody? you ask? Well, hmmm...gosh! We left him...ummmm, lemme think...Cody who? We're trickorating the houses, all the adults staying on the streets, when Mary tells Pam this next house redid their kitchen and it was to die for! Well Pam...that's all she needed to hear. Motions fervently for me to me to hurry up to the porch. Actually her words were "just play along Stacey". She wants to see if she can glimpse the kitchen from the porch. Psshhh! Okay, okay....I have no idea who these people are, so what do I care how stupid three women with big toothy grins pasted on their faces, looking beyond the candy person, on their tiptoes. To see whatever it is she's got going on back there!

The door opens and there's the mom of the house. With a crowd of teenagers behind her. I quickly scan the faces with mild interest. Cody!!! Hey bud! Whatcha doin here? Yes, there was my son. That's what was going on back there! This is where he went, and I had no idea who this family was. Turns out I wouldn't know this girl because her mom won't let her visit houses unless she meets the mom. So she's never been to our house because we've never met. Until now.

Do you think she noticed I didn't know he was there? Is this bad? She might think I should have known where my son was. The truth is Cody has never broken our trust, he knows the power of the momma stare. So I just trust he'll make good choices. That and I really was in a big hurry to get there--dinner!!

She did invite us in to see her kitchen (well...Alex was begging for a drink of water). And we thanked her, trapsed back through the house, waved goodbye to Cody and went about our way collecting candy for ourselves to munch on day and night each time we pass bythe little ones. That's our Halloween and I'm stickin to it!

After about an hour of sorting through and sampling candy, I allowed him to sleep on the couch with a movie. Before I went to bed he said "Mom? Can I please have a snack? A healthy snack?". Who IS this child?

Its Here Its Here Its Here!!!!!!

Edit: Bridget--it was Bridget who gave me the first Wonder Woman Award and I clipboarded the picture and went off and left it there, all lonely and....well, alone. Bridget, I'm sorry. Pleeeeeeze forgive me--pleeeeeeze! I know you will...but I thought it was funner to holler it out! But I am sorry, my friend. I'm still not sure how this happened--you know much I like awards!

I couldn't decide what to be this morning......I STILL didn't have my costume ready for trickorating! Then I remembered as I was reading GiGi's brag page (a little extensive, Gi, just saying) that AHA! Misty had also given me the coveted Wonder Woman. I'm all about Wonder Woman--I mean, she's even launching her singing career and stuff. I get to be on the Christmas choir this year (that is until Ethan, our youth pastor and worship leader hears of this--maybe he won't see me. He knows I can't sing for a box of pudding, so we keep this on the down low for now. I'm a fake singer, but I wanna be in the choir, but I'm wayy off topic here!)

*Disclaimer: This award sounded mighty familiar to me, and I knew when I went over and put it in my blog folder and saw it sitting there I had been given it before. And I can't remember where! So to who gave it to me--I'm sorry I forgot, I am positive I love you dearly, and I hope we can still be friends!

I'm doing Wonder Woman today, thanks to Misty! And I know exactly who I pass this onto.....

Eileen--Eileen is all over the place helping others and loving her family. I'm totally drained everytime I go over there and at the same time, I'm inspired to do better. I'm a works in progress, but I'm still keeping the WW badge! (I was waiting for an excuse to belt that song!)

Sharon--Sharon is my favorite seamstress/clown/dancing librarian (ask her)/puppy momma. She is definitely a superhero in my eyes.

Okay, off to the store, got a few subjects to finish up with Alex, then showtime! We're going over to our friends' house (remember Gary and the manfire?), they live on the other side of the hood, just beyond them thar ponds, and we're eating chili, cornbread, crackers, jalapeno squares and brownies. Chased down by those innocent little margies she serves. You know I enjoy those margies in a bottle! (Debbie my favorite SIL, Chuck, my pastor, Ethan, our youth pastor--- I mean that in a completely non-alcoholic sort of way--pshh! Is there any other way? I wouldn't know. Those blue drinks over there on the side offend me greatly!)

Happy Halloween my friends, I hope yours is fun fun fun and safe! Come by my house--I have the little candy bars.

Trick-O-Rating The Years Away!

Our youngest, Alex, somehow heard trick orating when we said we were going trick-or-treating. Go figure--it works for us, though, and now at 10, he understands what we mean when we say 'hey let's go trick orating'.

I pulled up a few of the photos through the years. I'm a big fan of this day and for years took time to sew costumes for the kids. The one below is Niki and her brother Cody being little matching devils in 1994! They were matching pumpkins the year before. I used to get away with that, hey, I wonder if....

First house, and I know it's 1996 because I'm a preg-o queen, Alex would come along in the Spring. My sister Jamee made these costumes, she and her husband wore them if I recall. She was in town from DC and brought them along for fun! So....John and I got to be the queen and king for a night! No worries, you can giggle. Jamee and I teased John all the time about his stiff-faced pictures, you can laugh! I'm sure if we asked John, he'd tell you he's give a lot to hear us girls tease him relentlessly again.

This is 1998, and we had just moved to the suburbs of Kansas City. The kids didn't have a lot of friends yet, so we brought in all our old friends from the 'hood'! Niki still keeps in touch with them all. Cody is the yellow peek achoo, he lost his tail somewhere along the way, we never did find it! Niki and her friend are the die (I did this with my b/f, it's a tradition now!). Alex went as Blue--a very cute little red-headed Blue. Did I mention he was very cute?

Here they are, getting closer, 2002. This is the after-party for the pumpkin carving! I just this year broke one of the black mugs, so now I only have two! I'll get out to the clearance sales after Wednesday and try to find a matching set!

And finally, 2002 again. Clearly Alex has graduated from Blue to Dracula (Cody is the black thing next to him). It was a gradual thing--I'll try and hunt down Scary Monster Duck and post it tomorrow. That was the year previous. The story is ALMOST as funny as the photo.