A Perfect Halloween

Today was Halloween.  Judging  by the fact that I actually have the time/energy to blog about this on the same day, just shows how perfectly it went!

Caveat: Lately, I have realized the need to simplify. I have been trying to do this in MANY areas of my life.  Mostly out of necessity with having 2 extra kids living with us.  My mantra has turned into, "ok, what can I cut out?" :)

In past Halloweens I have noticed that by the end of the day I feel exhausted.  I put so much effort into making the day super fun and memorable for my kids, but after today (a day of simplifying) I realized I have been going overboard!

Today was memorable and fun, yet simple!  I got up, got the kids all ready, sent them to school.  Got myself ready, the girls ready, and headed to the school for the costume parade.  I wound up being 30 minutes early...which was on accident, but turned out really nice.  I was able to drop things off the kids classes that they needed. Talked to Jake, the duty guard, his teacher, and other kids about how he crashed and burned on his skateboard on the way to school.  He will probably lose a fingernail as a result.  But he was fine by the time I saw him.  

Because I was 30 minutes early, the girls and I calmly found 3 chairs from which to comfortably watch all 3 kids (M, J, and London) march through confidently showing off the spooky digs.  The girls were happy.  I was happy.

We left, headed to Papa Murphy's for a Jack-o-Lantern pizza, and even had time to go to Costco to meet Trev for lunch.

We then headed back to the school to help with J's Halloween Party.  I was in charge of the Mummy Musical Chairs (tp and music...SO EASY..not much fuss or prep).  The girls hung out, then we left and took J with us.  His finger was throbbing.  But the pain seemed to fade as we headed to Walmart to get him a new skateboard which he paid 1/2 for!  He was all smiles. :)

In the late afternoon we came home.  Hung out.  The kids played.  I tootled around the house.  Not stressed.  Not trying to cram too much in...something I would normally do.  I just let the day pass and enjoyed it.  Then while the pizza cooked, I prepped the trick-or-treaters one final time and took pictures individually.  I would normally try to have them all together...why??!!!  The group shots NEVER turn out, and I wind up frustrated.  I also would take them RIGHT as they were trying to leave to collect oodles of candy...not this time.  They actually were happy about the picture-taking!!! See??

I passed out candy for a bit while Trev took the little girls candy-collecting.  At each house Abby would ask for 2 candies instead of 1. :)

Once Trev got back, Abby, Morgan, and I headed out.  I took my neighbor girls as well.  Jake went with his buddies Luke and Cam.  We girls had a blast!  I SERIOUSLY loved it!  Plus the weather was AMAZING.  We didn't even need jackets!  I got to chat with neighbors.  Be my the fun mom I dream about for a bit.  It was truly great.

As the night drew to a close and all the kids were back home we hung out together.  We even read spooky stories before bed.  Another thing my energy level has not supported lately. :)

Today taught me something great.  I don't need to cram things in to make our holiday (or our lives for that matter) memorable.  I just need to do the important things, and let the rest go.  What my kids will remember about today was how I was with them.  How I made them feel.  They will remember how much fun we had, and the love they felt from me.

I am grateful for the lesson of this Halloween.

Doing less lends to loving more.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!