Happy Halloween!

Dash woke up the other night in the middle of the night which meant I woke up in the middle of the night. Thankfully, I don’t often wake up in the middle of the night, but when I do, it sometimes means I am left to lie there and think about all the ways bad things could happen. Which often leads to this kind of phone call to Heidi the next day:

“Can’t shake it.” (this is my greeting when she answers the phone. there are seldom hellos with us because every conversation starts like our friendship…deep in the middle.)

“Can’t shake what?” she asks.

“Cloud of anxiety today. Like we’re talking shroud. Get it off me.”

“What’s it regarding?” she asks–pertinent information for what approach she’ll take.

“Hmmm…funny you should ask. Let’s see here. Oh, I don’t know–Is someone going to sick? Is our country going to war? Are our kids safe? Are people I love going to die someday? Will we have enough money to take care of everyone? Is North Korea a threat? Is everyone a bad person pretending to be good? Am I fulfilling what I’m passionate about? Are we all just living Groundhog Day when we’re supposed to be doing more?” I shove this all into one quick sentence, of course, taking a deep breath after that last word. “So yeah, I guess that.”

She laughs. “Okay. You know how this goes. It will pass. Take a deep breath. Go make some coffee.”

I laugh because I know how it goes too. That balloon-in-my-chest feeling is just a ball of stories my brain throws at me from time to time, usually when I’m tired.

“It all comes down to one question,” my friend Amy tells me later, “Are we doing things that bring us joy?”

The balloon was gone by the time the moon rose later that night, and as I looked around the living room, the answer to “Am I doing things that bring me joy?” was clearly evident. A fire crackled in the fireplace, a half-read book lay open on the coffee table, felt scraps from last-minute Halloween costume changes littered the floor while the tea kettle whistled from the kitchen.

Meanwhile, we’re Enjoying the Halloweenish Things…

Our second annual kid Halloween party.

I didn’t take a lot of photos this year but managed to get a few before everyone arrived.

Behold, I give you….bloody Band-Aid cookies…

Cat Poop & Litter Box Delight (rice krispy treats with chocolate that I–yes–hand-formed into cat-sized logs)…

…and brain cakes.

My dad turned Dash into this character. I don’t know who it is, but it was funny.

The  hit of the night was the slime lab we set up in our back bathroom. I basically just lined up gallons of glue, contact solution, shaving cream bottles, bowls, spoons, containers to store concoctions in and a bunch of mix-ins–glitter, foam beads, food coloring, etc. and let them have at it. There was a group of girls huddled in the shower making slime, another at the counters, and the BIGGEST. MESS. WE’VE. EVER. MADE. at the end of the evening.

The other hit was the fortune booth with Madame Zelda. I had collected some specific information from all the kids’ moms unbeknownst to them, and they were floored with my psychic abilities. “Wait–how did you know that?”

And then we turned off all the lights and played Sardines. We had some spooky visitors arrive in the middle of the game which had the girls giggling and screaming and running, begging “Can you make it scarier this time?” for each round we played. The littlest ones were removed for this part but ended up wanting to join in once they got to be part of the “backstage” crew, helping my dad and Gary get their masks on.

And now that we visited our pumpkin “patch” and carved our jack-o-lanterns, there are only two things left on our fall bucket list before we start our holiday one (which I’ll share here and give you a free printable, so stay tuned!). We don’t stress to cross everything off our list and choose simple activities to keep us inspired rather than overwhelmed.

The bonus for waiting until just a couple days before Halloween to get our pumpkins? We got the cold front for our pumpkin adventure.

Are we doing things that bring us joy?

We can’t control it all, but we try where we can…

Visit the pumpkin patch. Wear stripes. Make note of deliciously crisp air. Hug the kids longer than usual. Give a compliment.

Wear a hat. Red lipstick. Cute socks.

Replace tomorrow’s worries with today’s recognition…it’s a good day, our favorite season.

Happy Halloween!