My nod to Halloween was orange eyeshadow and an orange sweater. That’s it. That’s all I’ve got this year. Today held two kid parties at two different schools, dragging Abby to both of them, three hepped-up kids from piles of candy, then our church Trunk-or-Treat party tonight. By about 7:30, I was done. The kids weren’t, but I was. Our bishop decided to make homemade doughnuts after the chili cookoff contest, (which was awesome and made the building smell fantastic- but I can’t have doughnuts anymore!) and then Abby spilled not one but two cups of hot (lukewarm) chocolate on her Snow White dress, getting some on (oh NO!) Beanie’s costume too, and the meltdown that ensued pushed Mama over the edge. Done and done.
Officially half-past-Fun, I coralled Bean and Abby on the stairs to the stage and went looking for Jeff. It is freaking hard to find an 8-year old boy in a stake center filled with costumed trick-or-treaters. By the time I got back, Abby had touched Bean, and Bean had dropped his doughnut and was hanging from the cliff of another complete meltdown. He maintained until we got in the car, then his candy bag snagged on his booster seat, spilled, and that was all she wrote…
😉
Dandelion Mama 
So sorry to hear about your crazy day. Your eyeshadow and sweater beat me. I went to the school parties and helped out, but I am SO over all of the other festivities. Bring on the new month.
I’m so sorry!
I wish there were more peeps to help you and yours on such outings.
I would if I was there.
Thank you Em- there are so many people who do offer help- it’s just that when the push comes to shove, I’m their mom.
I don’t think my experience yesterday was much different than any other I’ve had with the kids all sugared-up. The only part where I missed an extra pair of hands was getting them all coralled and into the car.
All that said, I wish you’d been there. 😉
I am pretty sure your experience isn’t all that different from anyone with kids in tow. We get that way all the time, but some days I laugh and shake it off, some days I freak out and lose it. I try to get myself into a good mood before we go, but if that doesn’t work, all is lost before we step out the door.
As for the children’s school Halloween parties, they are a freaking joke!!! I wish schools would do away with them like they did back home. We have been party free before we moved here and now to see these stressed out mother’s trying to out-do each other for the “Martha Stewart” award makes me sick. The kids could care less, they just want to have fun, but the parents miss out on that part. I could go on, but it increases my insulin 😉
Soooo, good times. 🙂
Sometimes fun ain’t all it’s cracked up to be.
Seconding 2xaday’s opinion that your experience isn’t that much different than most of ours (at some point anyway). It’s just going to seem harder as a single parent because you don’t have anyone to trade off with. I’m on our activities committee and I always try to schedule things so not too many kids get off track. Our very low key activity last night didn’t seem too crazy but all the kids were having fun. And parties at school? I balked several years ago when we moved to the south that there aren’t holiday parties, but my kids don’t know any different and I’ve been able to let go of the stress of getting them ready.
So basically, sorry your day didn’t go like you wanted. It’s hard. I know. Hugs to you.
Teachers at our school tell us what they want at the party and the parents sign up…Napkins for me!
Good luck tonight trick or treating!
Totally understand trying to find a costumed 8 year old. I had that same problem last night. He knew I was looking for him and he didn’t want to be found.
As for being halloween’d out, I have given up carving pumpkins and left them in their original state on my front porch. The 8 year old seems to understand.
oh goodness–two days in a row with the impossible public outing! moments like that can really suck the vim and vigor right out of you. keep on keepin on!