Halloween 2023

Different.  Easy.  Good

That’s the best way to describe Halloween 2023.

All three girls pulled together their own costumes from existing wardrobe options.   That made it cheap, easy, and fantastic…until later on in the evening, I realized that the girls were taking after me with not going all out for Halloween and that thought was somewhat depressing too. 

Harper opted to be a cowgirl borrowing Emerson’s cowgirl hat from last year’s costume.  Avery was intending on wearing one of her many dance costumes and last minute chose to be a preppy school girl.  Emerson chose to be a frat boy and swapped Justin’s khaki shorts that she was wearing to gray sweatpants, when I asked her if she was going for the butch lesbian look, a comment that she less than appreciated. 

For the second year in row, Harper trick-or-treated with her friends in a different neighborhood, even she had mixed emotions about it….she’s all about her friends but misses the trick-or-treating and mass amounts of candy in our neighborhood, as evidenced by the significantly smaller volume of candy she brought home compared to Avery and Emerson’s amounts especially considering Harper trick-or-treated for at least an hour more than them. 

Alex came over and went door to door with Emerson.  Avery went with Cora and Maddie, though Maddie had not been in Avery’s plan. 

We started the night with pizzas in the cul-de-sac (20 of them) from Lombardi’s followed by a quick picture of all the kids.  And then off the kids went along with everyone else in the neighborhood…the smokeless firepit attendance for over an hour was Justin and our two neighbors…odd and interesting!  Quite the change from years past, but actually a welcome change…it was nice to be in early on a Tuesday and to not smell like smoke. 

Our skeletons (yes, we have three now) stayed in one place this year (so far) and each time I drove up to the house, they made me smile.  The pumpkins and hay set up were a good addition to this year’s scenery.

So, it was a different Halloween night, but easy and good.

One-on-One Dates

The girls love one-on-one dates; we have been doing them occasionally for the last five years and we were long overdue for this round.  They all chose me as their date this time.

Emerson – Emerson has been longing to watch The Summer I Turned Pretty, a show whose main characters are affluent teenagers, and while good kids with good hearts, underage drinking and potty mouths are the norm. The plan was that we would watch two together as the “test” and then I would make the determination if she could continue to watch it; I felt comfortable with her watching it along side me.  I was just as into as her and we binged watched the first two seasons over in just over a week. Oh to be that young again!

Harper – Harper knew immediately that she wanted to go to Muse Paint Bar, her first choice, certainly not mine.  And while I wasn’t thrilled about the idea of painting, I was excited for our 1-on-1 and my heart was open and willing to this scary activity.  I thoroughly enjoyed our time together and believe it or not, painting.  I learned a few things which I kind of wouldn’t mind trying out on my own; and I surprised everyone with my masterpiece!  Harper’s was great, but everyone was expecting a dud from me….glad I shocked them!

Avery – Avery was sick on her original date day so we rescheduled, sticking with the same plan.  A 30-min foot massage accompanied by a snoring man in the next room (not so relaxing).  An All-Caps donut stop at Dunkin Donuts. A Pre-point make-up class sandwiched the middle of our date.  Our date ended with more pampering time at the Diamond Spa where Avery had a mani/pedi and I had a pedi. 

Avery, Emerson, and Harper really value and appreciate our dates…the girls actually talked about some of their prior one-on-one dates with me during our one-on-ones…I couldn’t believe that it has been almost five years since we began doing them; 2. It reiterated how much they enjoy them; and 3. That we should continue them!

Sweet Notes

Three girls…three distinct personalties, interests, needs, and worries.  

Parenting….is not for the faint of hearts….it’s so true.

It’s tiresome, grueling, and yet amazing and beautiful.

Occasionally I slip handwritten notes under the girls pillows.

On a night when not one of them said anything about finding there note, and I was feeling kind of sad about the lack of acknowledgment, I found this under my pillow.

THIS is everything:)