Halloween is Coming

This is actually a very poignant time for me, you see I love Halloween.. my parents had one of the cool houses when I was a kid (nowhere near the extreme that they do it up now, but spooky music wafting out the window and my dad sitting quietly on the porch ready to scare the kids). Every year we would have a pumpkin carving contest and 6 pumpkins would line the front porch.

Now I have tried very hard to emulate this tradition for my kids and when they were younger and we were stable it was easier, every year even after the divorce we would purchase pumpkins and get to carving.. and by the end of the day.. 5 little pumpkins would like the balcony railing. With the onslaught of poverty I had to stop this about 4 years ago. Now I hope they remember those moments.. that they choose to pass them on.

When they were little I spent hours on their halloween costumes, I had themes each child would have a matching costume, at least until they got old enough to choose their own. We have had an awesome dinosaur, a knight in shining armour (complete with horse), clown and jester, peter pan, captain hook and tinkerbell, a ghost (made from garbage bags.. let me tell you this one was tough), mickey mouse, a spider, a witch, a dancer, alfaelfa, the list goes on.

Now as they age, really when we were kids trick or treating had stopped by now, the costumes are definitely more from their heads.. my youngest is still floundering between Marilyn Monroe and a boy (what a choice) and I have no clue what my older daughter is doing.. all I know is, I will miss it.. each step they take away from me and on to their own unique selves.

Sometimes I love being a mom