I've Been Meaning to Write...

...but life just keeps happening around me and not leaving much time to breathe. I've been meaning to write about the things that have been coming home in SmallBoy's notebook, good & bad. I've been meaning to write about Girl's latest round of injuries (none due to her insane sports schedule, believe it or not). I've been meaning to write about LargeBoy's first "big purchase," and I don't count the iPod, since that was gift money. I've been meaning to write about the new paint job in the house so that we can jack up the equity and hopefully get a good re-finance rate. I've been meaning to write about how North Country is just crashing onto the scene. I've been meaning to write about SmallBoy's sleepover, when his bestest bud, PQ, stayed, and how the whole social thing played out. EEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKKK....I've had a lot to write about, but no time. When I manage to find the time, either someone else is on the computer, I'm insanely busy at work, or my laptop is busy crashing for the 10th time in 4hrs (no virus, it just hates me).

Let's start with SmallBoy, though, since he's the important one in this whole posting. I've mentioned before what great success we're having with the notebook that we're using to communicate between school and home. It's been helping all of us - SmallBoy, the teachers, and us, of course, to keep track of SmallBoy's comings and goings, send suggestions back to the teachers, send notes from J the Fabulous OT, etc... I've made smaller, one page, mini-notebooks for the teachers that he sees for the specials - music, art, Spanish, computer, library, gym. It truly is an amazing tool and I can't believe it took so long for me to pick up on it.

Every once in a while, though, I seem to be unprepared when the notebook comes home saying that SmallBoy had a bad day, even less prepared when he's had an awful day, and just dumbfounded when he's had an atrocious day. Why? Don't know. Last week, after having just a terrible week or so prior, due to schedules, Ex being a schmuck, SmallBoy feeling under the weather and just down on himself in general, the notebook came home and I was prepared. All week I had read about the difficulties that he had been having and sending the notebook back the next day with my tips and bits of SmallBoy wisdom. I didn't expect this entry to be any different than the rest, but was hopeful for something good. HA. I wish I could quote it verbatim, but I don't have it in front of me, but the premise was this: the teachers were chatting and thought that perhaps SmallBoy could also have ODD (for those of you not in the land of abbreviations, learning disabilities, and spectrum disorders, who just happen to be popping by for the first time, ODD is short for Oppostional Defiant Disorder). She asked if this is part of Asperger's, if it is something completely separate, etc. I've gotta tell you, I had that same, WTF moment that I had the first time the school suggested that there was something "wrong" with my child.

ASD, yes, maybe even a little ADHD when his engine gets really revved, but ODD???? Knowing now, from experience and learning, what I didn't know back then, I tried to push out the immediate reaction and attempted to look at it from the teacher's perspective, and consider everything that's been going on with SmallBoy. He's been melting down more frequently in class, especially when he has to make corrections or is overloaded on directions, etc...He's been not "showing respect" to the teachers in the school by speaking to them as he would a friend or a brother & sister when he disagrees with them. He's been melting even further if the teacher gets a little frustrated when he tries to leave the room during the middle of an assignment or classroom project because he's melting down. He's being loud and vocal in his objections to things. He's getting up from his seat and moving around more frequently. He's JUST NOT getting it with some of his assignments and getting upset by that.

Ok, I could see some of his behaviors mimicking those of ODD, but these behaviors are not exhibited outside of the school, and if they are, we understand why he's doing what he's doing and act appropriately, in ways, I suppose, they can't (or won't) at school. Don't get me wrong, I'm not speaking against the school or the teachers, I adore them, they're doing a wonderful job, and were it not for the notebook going back and forth, this situation could have gotten MUCH worse. I knew, again from the experience and scads of books that I've read, that ODD was NOT what we were looking at. The teachers happen to be with SmallBoy for some of the things that set him off the most - FRUSTRATION: due to comprehension issues with reading, due to not knowing how to handle his own disappointment, due to not being able to self-manage a meltdown, due to not being able to sit still, due to his need to be perfect to be "accepted," (gee, I'm pretty sure that I know from whence THIS came, Ex's lack of acceptance of him because in his eyes, SmallBoy is less than perfect?).

I wanted to be certain that I wasn't seeing this with the eyes of denial, as I did initially with the "something's wrong, we need you to have SmallBoy evaluated by the school district," conversation, so when we went to OT that night, I talked to J about the teachers' thoughts. She completely disagreed with the idea of ODD, but agreed with me, that yes, indeed, the teachers are with him for most of the things that will "set him off." She offered suggestions to the teachers, (ie: visual directions on the board in addition to oral directions to the class, allowing him to leave the classroom to a predetermined spot in order to self-manage a meltdown with the caveat that he must ask permission first, and a few more which I'll expand on in another post), and to us on helping SmallBoy learn more self-management techniques.

I am very pleased to report that since this "conversation," things have been better for him. Granted, he's still forgetting assignments, still having outbursts, etc, but he's learning to manage them MUCH better. One such instance happened just last week at an all-school mass. It was a LONG service and, in addition to the homily, there was an additional speaker. A 45-minute long mass is difficult on ANY child his age, especially when expected to act in a "proper" manner, but put this on an ASD-er, and then add an extra 15minutes for a speaker and the scene is set for trouble. Well, our SmallBoy, bored off his rocker with this ridiculously long service, let it be known that the speaker was taking WAAAAAAAAAYY too long! Everyone, of course, turned around to look and, instead of freaking because now everyone was staring, he used that moment of embarrassment (or the "oh-shit-moment"), to self-mange and compose himself. I have to applaud him for that! Since then, he's been fantastic! I'm SO proud of him.

To finish off his "lovely" week, SmallBoy had his "bestest bud" sleep over on Friday night. PQ is SmallBoy's rock and helps keep him on an even keel. He's a truly wonderful kid, we adore him! SmallBoy, as excited as he was about this sleepover, was off in SmallBoy Land. Oh yes, the boys definitely played together for quite a while, but when SmallBoy got bored, that was that. He would go off in another room and hole up with his GameBoy. PQ tried, I tried, PC tried...we all tried to get him to participate in fun things with us but all he wanted was his GameBoy. Perhaps this was his release for all of the stress from the week, because normally, he will come out of SmallBoy Land to hang with PQ and his buds, especially if it's on his turf. Not this time. He'd come out if he felt like it, or if they were playing the Game Cube, but other than that, it was a battle.

The next morning started off very well, the boys got up and played and were happy as clams. They discussed going out in the snow, since we had TONS of it outside. They played video games until I told them to stop. Yeah. That's when it got a little hairy, again. I asked them if they'd like to come and help me make breakfast, to which they both boisterously agreed. They wanted scrambled eggs, and we were going to make biscuits - something quick and easy, and something fun and tactile. I made the eggs and had the boys do the biscuits. Well, this time, SmallBoy was so upset with me for making him come and participate and turn off his game, that even the sensory that he loves so much of handmixing the biscuit dough and squishing it and getting it all over his fingers, was just way too much, but we got it done. It was time to roll and cut. I figured this would be fun, and it was. Each boy took turns rolling out the dough and using the glass to cut the biscuits. We got the biscuits out of the oven just in time for PQ's mom to arrive. We sent them on their way with half a dozen steaming biscuits fresh from the oven and all was well. SmallBoy, after PQ left, was totally bummed that his bestest bud was gone. Though I see this on a regular basis, I'm constantly amazed by the fact that, though SmallBoy wanted more to play with his GameBoy or Game Cube independently, and only interacted with PQ minimally, that he missed him so much when he was gone. What are friends for, though, right?

Ahhhh, m'ijita, my wittew goowah, Girl, in all her glory has managed to injure herself not once, but twice in different parts of her body over 4-day span. This used to be a regular occurence when she was little; we had a pool going on the block to see how many times in one summer she could skin her knees - no, seriously, we did. This time was beyond knee-skinning, however. This time, she was going for something big like "contusions" (she's rather fond of those). That's my Girl!

It all started on Friday at Mission Day, the school fair that benefits the Ursuline Sisters Mission. This is a big deal at school, and, being in 8th grade, it was her last one. She went all out. She won the "sacred" goldfish (long standing tradition - ring toss game, I think), and won a white cake, with chocolate frosting, topped in snow caps candies!! YUMMO!!!!! As the storm on Tuesday had dropped quite a heavy blanket of white fluffy snow upon us (not to mentione dropped the temperature quite a bit), the ground, as you can imagine, was quite frozen. Girl, SmallBoy, & Snood were getting a ride from Snood's father and, on her way to the car, she slipped. In the process of falling, she dropped the cake (which was saved by Snood's father, who would never let anything bad happen to chocolate), and tried to stop herself with one arm while attempting not to drop the goldfish bags. Let's just say the goldfish was in one piece.

(Update: I am now starting day 2 of this post) I was hopeful, when she called me at work and told me she fell, that she had just banged up her funny bone, because we all know what a sting that leaves. Those hopes were dashed when she delivered the next line, "Well, I can't really move it, and my arm is hanging funny." Thankfully I was at the end of my work day, so I bypassed my workout and went straight home to don my Dr. Mom hat. Her arm was definitely hanging funny, but I'm fairly certain that was due to the gigantic swelling of her elbow. She was able to bend it up and touch her shoulder, with pain, mind you, but she could do it. That pretty much quelled any worries I had about it being broken, but you never can tell. I thought about taking her for "just-in-case" x-rays, but they would have been fruitless with all of the swelling. Instead I plied her full of Ibuprofen and the heat/ice treatment and just made her rest. I kept her home from softball practices all weekend, and, thankfully, there wasn't much in the way of basketball. Within a couple of days, the swelling, and the pain, had gone...

...just in time for the 8th grade ski trip. Yep. I said "ski trip." This was a MUCH anticipated trip that had already been cancelled once due to the freezing temps with an even more freezing -30degree windchill. Fortunately, the two week span allowed the sun to awaken from its winter slumber and force its way out from behind the dreary gray winter clouds to warm the earth, or at least out little part of it, to a beautiful 35degrees. The ground was covered with many more inches of snow due to a massive snow storm earlier in the week (see pic at right), and the kids were more than willing to get up at the crack of dawn on their day off to hop on the bus at 6:30 in the morning. They skied all day, somewhere up in Wisconsin or Michigan and finally called around 8:30 that night to say they were almost home, exhausted, but exhilirated. When I spoke with Girl, I asked how the trip was. Her answer, "Well, mom, the first two hours were great, but I hurt my ankle and spent the rest of the day in the lodge. I'll tell you about it when I get home."

My immediate thought went to how lucky she was that she hadn't broken her elbow a few days back, and that I hoped we weren't tempting fate. After hobbling through the door with PC & ET, we did the ibuprofen heat/ice thing (again) while we listened to her tale of woe. The story began with her all so brief lesson on the bunny hill. She quickly ascended through the ranks and graduated from her 20minute course with flying colors. Next she moved on to the beginner hill, which she conquered with ease. Feeling bold, as she is want to do, she took to the intermediate hill. She was cruising along, and was almost to the bottom when IT happened: her ski fell off. Thankfully, she was pretty much at the bottom and was preparing to stop anyway. Unfortunately, the lack of ski left her a little out of control and as she tried to stop, she tumbled into a woman who had already finished the hill. If someone had a video camera, this would have made perfect fodder for AFV, as, after Girl fell into the woman, a classmate came down the hill and fell onto them. I'm not going to get into how rude and uncaring the ski patrol guy was because that's another story, but we'll just leave it at the fact that he was a very incondsiderate jerk who told my daughter that he could have her thrown in jail for being out of control on the ski hill...even the woman she fell onto was defending her.

ANYWAY, of course she did something in the fall to injure herself. We're still not quite certain what it is, but she wasn't swollen this time. Perhaps x-rays would have been helpful, but, nah. We think that she pulled a ligament or something. Thankfully, some pain spray and a couple of really hot baths helped to work this out and she was back at basketball practice the next night. Wearing the Smart Mom hat this time, I intercepted one of the coaches who, thankfully, had already heard the story, and let him know that she was insisting on practicing, but not to let her run. She's fine now, just home with the flu, or something normal like that, now.

LargeBoy - my child is growing up on me. Many moons ago, he played the cello and has since abandoned it for the bass guitar. He is quite accomplished in his songwriting (and novel writing), and has also taken up the acoustic guitar. Taking after his mother and step-dad, he and his buddies are working together to write music (I'm beaming with pride). LargeBoy's had a few issues with his bass, as it's old - I bought it used for him in 2002. It finally cashed out on him last weekend while he was at his friend's house writing. He called me and said, "Mom, is it ok if I buy a new bass? I've got the money, and I've already called the store and they've got one for $500, one for just over $200, and a couple for $99. I'm not even thinking about the $99 ones and I can't afford the $500 one. So, since I have the money saved up, can I go buy it?" We had a conversation about what he was saving the money for, originally - and is still saving for, an Outward Bound trip, and came to the conclusion that, well, it's his money, and he can spend it as he chooses; that he won't be going on the Outward Bound trip for at least another year or two, and that gives him time to save up again. For the most part, just the fact that he called me to ask my permission to make a major purchase, even though it was with his own money, showed me how incredibly responsible he's getting. He'll have no problem saving up the money for his trip! I'm so proud.

I was hoping to have the pictures of the new paint job that we did up already, but they're still in my camera and my laptop is just being stupid, so I haven't loaded them, but I promise I'll try real soon. The colors are fab!

Finally, the band is just bursting out into the world right now. This is keeping us oh so busy, and we're loving it. We've been writing, recording, promoting and haven't had a whole heck of a lot of time to do much else. We put together a demo of a few of the songs we've written, and a couple of cover tunes, and made a fabulous, professional looking insert for it....just tickles me pink. This is so much more than we ever got done with the previous band - and North Country's only been together since January, really. We've received airtime on a few internet stations, including the Susie Doo & Mandy Too Show on Thursdays 1:00 on HomeGrown Radio. Next week we'll be doing a live interview on the airwaves between 5 & 7 CST. See the widget in my sidebar for more info. I'm blanking on the station's .com, but I'll have that and post it ASAP. AND, if you haven't already, click on the little box off to the side here, to listen to our originals. We're extremely pleased with them. The most recent, Pick the Tune, was written by our bass player on Feb. 12, recorded on Feb. 13, and given to his wife as a Valentine's gift the next day. Click here to find out when and where you can hear and see North Country. I can't begin to tell you how incredibly exciting this is!

In the meantime, since I've "talked" your ear off, I'll post this and go back to doing my day job (since I'm sitting at my desk in my office on company time).

Normal Life, Again.

The boys are home from their trip, I'll post some more about that tomorrow. The trip was given mixed reviews. Right now, all that matters is that they're home, safe & warm. PC is exhausted and is taking a nap. I know it's late, but he needed the sleep. I won't let him sleep much longer, though, or he won't be able to sleep tonight.

Heading out in the cold, in PC's nice warm car that doesn't have a terminally flat tire or a whine in the engine, to take Girl off to softball practice at the high school - gotta love softball in the freezing cold of winter - oh! NO! it's STILL autumn! GEEZ O PETES! Kyra, when's Solstice again? The 20th? 21st?

SmallBoy is in the living room using up his stars on some video games, LargeBoy's in the shower, and Girl's getting ready for softball. Thought I'd take this opportunity to SEIZE the computer before I lose it to the powers that be - no, that would be my kids.

Well, off I go. Slugging my coffee and finding my snow boots! Chat with you tomorrow! Happy Sunday. OH, wait...look what I found on this site. I found lots of great things and ordered a TON of stuff, but THIS one struck me. Perhaps I'll put it on SmallBoy's coat if his father ever sees him again. I LOVE it! I think it might, at the very least make a statement. Might not necessarily be effective in sending the message that it intends, because Ex is too pigheaded to understand, but it will get the message to others! Ok, really now, going to put on my snow boots and coat. Layers are the key here! Lots and lots of layers!

What a Weird Day

...oh, btw, if you notice that a word is missing a "d", it's because my "d" key is being stupid. I'm convinced that it's either the result of teenagers eating at the keyboard, although I've done the turn over and pound on the back thing, or that they've just plain damaged that key. I'm going to start charging them a fee to use this computer. I still don't have it paid off and they've managed to trash it. I suppose, though, that is the way with teenagers.

Back to the post. Today has been a rather interesting day. PC, ET, and SmallBoy left this morning to go camping with the scouts. The town where their campsite is located is up north, near the Wisconsin border and got SOCKED with snow the other day. They WILL be staying indoors, but their cabin is heated only by a wood burning stove. Being scouts, you just know that they will have been outdoors from the moment the exited the comfort and luxury of the nice, snuggly warm car.

They went prepared, though. They had a very explicit packing list and directions on dressing in layers - and bringing tons of socks. Long underwear, layers, coats, boots, hats, gloves in tow, the guys hit the road. They haven't come home, so that's a good sign. I was worried that they might end up returning home this evening if the cold got to be too much for SmallBoy - because once he wraps his mind around the fact that he's cold, he stays cold and perseverates on that to NO end. I bet they're having a blast, though.

PC is so wonderful for going on this trip with our Not-so-SmallBoy. He's never really had this much time alone with SmallBoy without ME, so this will be a great opporutnity for the two of them to form an even greater bond than they already share. I'm missing them desperately, but I know how good this is for me. (This "d" thing is really starting to piss me off.) I feel so comfortable in the knowledge that my bug is in such good, loving, hands. He is with someone who knows him like he knows himself, sometimes I think PC has a better handle on SmallBoy than I. He'll know what to do if a meltdown is imminent. He'll know what to do to avert a meltdown. He'll know what to do to continually encourage SmallBoy.

ET brought to the trip, not only his experience as an Outward Bound alum, but his love for SmallBoy. He, too, in the short time that he's known my son, has grown to love him - also unconditionally. He knows what to do, how to handle situations that might arise. He also, on this trip, will have the opportunity to use his expertise with Outward Bound to help explain to SmallBoy WHY so many rules have to be enforced when camping, why this, why that...simple things that most of us would take for granted. I am SO glad that both of these wonderful guys are with my son today.

Which means - it's me, LargeBoy, and Girl. Weird. PC and I will have been married for all of 2yrs come New Year's Eve, but it feels like forever since it's just been me and the kids, not to mention how long it's been since I've been with just Girl and LargeBoy witOUT SmallBoy. Very, very strange.

This morning, Girl had placement exams for math & science for high school, and wrapping gifts for underprivileged kids with an order of nuns today. I went with Meem, FIL, and Punkie to the auction where Meem's art was on the block. Talk about exciting. It was an amazing experience and, I must say that we left there celebrating! It was truly exhilirating. I don't know how we didn't squeal with delight every time the bids were raised, and how we didn't just leap with joy out of our seats when the gavel fell. Oh! It was WONDERFULLY exciting. We followed the auction with a celebratory lunch (thanx, Meem & FIL!), and then went to our respective homes to enjoy the rest of the day.

When I arrived home, LargeBoy was up, and Girl was still out. I had grand plans for this afternoon. Laundry, intense cleaning, sweeping up all of the remaining globs of dog hair, washing everyone's bed linens, FINDING my bedroom...you know, all the fun stuff. The stuff that I have absolutely NO time to do on any other day because there are always too many oter things that MUST be done.

I sat on the sofa, LargeBoy in the comfy blue chair, and he asked me if I wanted to play one of his video games with him. I SUCK at today's advanced technology. If I can't just move a joystick and hit the red fire button, or roll the ball to get my blaster to blow up a centipede, an asteroid, or a space invader, it's just entirely too much for me an I can't do it. Well, LargeBoy convinced me that I could, in fact, o this. It only involved MOST of the controller, instead of ALL of the controller. I said ok, and I loved it. I still suck at it, but I had great fun. It's not often that I get to play with him anymore. Seriously, how many 16yr olds sit down and acutally PLAY with their mothers?

After my ass-whooping at the game, I decided that it was finally time to do some of those things that I never get to do when we have a house full of other places to be and places to go...and then I nodded off for about two hours on the couch. I was able to justify this, however, because it IS something that I never get to do, unless it's the end of the night and we're watching a movie.

Tonight, LargeBoy is out with his friends, and we're having a girls' night. Girl is having Snood and her friend TR stay over night. We've decided that we'll probably watch a movie and play a board game later, and that I'll hide the computer so they're not messaging all of their other friends all night long. We've already been bad and ordered really greasy, cheesey pizza, and now the girls are in Girl's room decorating her doors. I'll have to remember to send you pics. She puts quotes all over her bedroom doors. It's really quite cool. If we ever move, I'll have to be sure we take the doors with.

Yesterday was pretty chaotic given that it was a snow day. PC and ET were out gathering all of the stuff that they needed for the trip, Girl was at the sled hill with the rest of the school, and SmallBoy went out in the snow to play. He wanted to build a snowman, but was convinced that it was entirely too difficult and that someone should do it FOR him. Well, you know THAT didn't happen. But he ended up having a blast anyway. The picture was taken during the brief 15seconds that the sun chose to come out and blind us with its glare off of the snow.

I sang last night at the house walk. Kristina, Laura, thank you for your fabulous ideas. It went very well. The house was decorated beautifully and I think I only had to repeat one or two songs. It was a lovely evening. When I got home, after freezing on the way back to my car, we stayed up for another couple of hours. PC, ET, LargeBoy and I played a game of dominoes while waiting for SNat to come over to hang for a bit. Exhausted (and out of beer) we crashed at around 2 or so.

Tonight, we will crash MUCH earlier, or at least I will. I know that Becky's friend, TR has to boogie out relatively early in the morning, and I have to cantor 11:00 mass. SmallBoy was supposed to be singing with the choirsters tomorrow morning, which is how I coordinated the mass I was going to sing, but he won't be back from camping by then, and if he is, I'll bet he'll be wanting to shower and sleep.

Well, the girls are getting loud, so I should probably go do the "mom thing".

Snow Day

Happy Friday! I am HOME today! After waking up at an ungodly hour and assessing the threat of the inclement weather (ok, CRAPPY weather), and the sleet and rain and yuck this morning, topped with the winter storm warning and a couple of the schools in the area closing (ones that NEVER close), my regional director and I made the decision to close the office today. So, I get a snow day.

To my surprise, the Archdiocese of Chicago closed all of the parochial schools - grammar and high schools, but our local public school district followed the lead of the Chicago Public Schools and did NOT close. What did this mean for OUR family? It meant that Girl, SmallBoy, PC, and I got a very rare snow day, and that LargeBoy had to go to school. Currently, Girl is out doing the sled hill thing with all of her friends. Our house is situated less than half a block from the hill, so, therefore, the MommyGuilt Ski Lodge is open for business. PC is out stocking up on warm clothing and accessories for the overnight with the scouts tomorrow night, so right now, I'm enjoying having my SmallBoy all to myself.

This morning, PC drove LargeBoy to school so that he didn't have to walk 2miles in the snow and biting sleety/snowy wind. Me? I went back to sleep. Yeah, right. I made coffee, and snuggled up back on the sofa to watch MORE coverage of the storm. We had thunder and lightning with this stuff - VERY bizarre. Girl woke up shortly thereafter and we watched the morning news together - something usually reserved for PC, since I'm always gone by the time the news comes on. It was a nice little time with my Girl. Apparently, I drifted back to sleep on the sofa and woke up shortly after 9. From then on, our day has been non stop - although I did JUST now (it's after 12N) get dressed and straighten my hair.

PC will be back soon with warm camping stuff in tow, and with ET. I was hired to sing carols at a Holiday House Walk this evening (3hrs - I don't think I know 3hrs worth of carols...gonna have to do every verse in English & Latin (Kristina, how many Christmas songs can you translate by 6:00 CST? Kidding.), so while I'm out, the boy reign supreme. Girl will be at a friend's house tonight and I will be the only estrogen vessel to pass through the house. Hopefully, she'll sleep well - high school placement exams in the morning.

The guys leave in the morning and I will be hanging out with Meem and a couple of her friends as we go and watch an auction in which she has a piece of artwork on the block. To see it, click here, scroll down to the picture of the football player. Click on the pic to find out it's info and to, potentially, bid if you're so inclined.

I gotta say, I'm missing NaBloPoMo. I know I won't be feeling the pressure to post every day, but I can tell you that I'll at least feel the URGE to post every day. Well, SmallBoy is snuggled up in front of a movie, the house is still just him and me, so I will end here and go hang with my bug.

The First Day

Today is day one of NaBloPoMo. Since I haven't figured out how to load Yoda into my side bar, I will keep posting him every day as my first picture! Conveniently I have something to write about today. I have some Halloweeny pics. Let's start with Girl.



She and her friends were taking on the 80's (anyone recognize that outfit?). The original idea was to go as jazzercisers. So, Monday night, we attempted to make BIG hair. For once, Girl had the WRONG hair. She was looking through my high school yearbook for 80's hair and kept asking why So-&-So's hair did this and could I give her DJ Tanner bangs (from "Full House). I told her that all of those people had layered hair - with many layers, shorter and all the way around. I taught her about the rule of big hair, though - When in doubt, apply hairspray. Her plan was to "do the do" as a practice, take a picture, download it to the computer, email it to her friend's house and to be able to use it as a guide to prepare her costume.

I didn't see her before trick-or-treating, as she went right to her friend T's house after school to get in costume, and didn't get home until 9ish - well after the costume had been worn well and loved well, so this pic is post t-or-t'ing. Ultimately, it was a Flashdance costume. She found her "clothes" at the Salvation Army store - BAD 80's sweatshirt that she took a scissors to and gave it the Flashdance flair, and a funky robe-ish sweater with tight ribbed sleeves that she cut to turn into legwarmers. UGH...just the thought makes me quiver.

The girls froze because, of course, even though it was about 40degrees at night, they didn't wear COATS!, didn't bag as much candy as they had hoped, but hell, if you don't stay out for the full 3.5hrs alotted (3:30 - 7), then you're not going to get what you wanted - and even less if it's cold out, cuz no one wants to stand outside passing out candy on a freezing cold Chicago night. However, she and her friends managed to bag a pizza dinner from T's mom! Good thinking!



LargeBoy went to a friend's right after school also. I didn't think that he'd go out, actually. When he was 11 or 12 yrs old, he and his friends had gone out trick or treating together on a block that was having a block party - 2 blocks from our house, at the time. As he and another one of his friends split to go home, LargeBoy turned right and his friend crossed the street. LargeBoy got thrown up a fence, punched in the face by a child and adult, got his candy swiped, and since then, hasn't gone out again for Halloween. He's never lost his taste for Halloween, it's the favored holiday in our house, which is good. He's always been more than happy to sit on the porch and be the Candy Man. This year, he went out with his good friend J - one of my favorites of his friends, had a great time just hanging out, and came home by 8:00. Good kid that LargeBoy. Oh, and by the way, Potato Man is LargeBoy's contribution to his "costume". He lived in our refrigerator and got kind of scary looking.



The Not-So-SmallBoy...ah, my little love. He was a Ninja-DUH! Don't you know that ALL ninjas wear sweatshirts under their body armor? It truly was cold, but that wasn't going to stop him. No way. His line last night was "Trick-or-treat for the Ninja!" He had a blast. We went out between 5 & 5:30 while the sun was still out and did our block and the next block over. Surprisingly, there were a decent number of people home. By the time we got back to our house where PC was manning the door, we were FROZEN. We opted to stay in and eat pizza while we warmed up before heading over to our old block to trick-or-treat at the houses of those we spent 10years with.

We love to go over there. Nothing special as far as candy and, usually, only half of the block participates. My previous next door neighbor, though, has a thing for Halloween. Every year, he seals off his porch and front yard while the Halloween Muse takes hold of him. Each year his creation is even bigger than the last. He always involves his two skeletons - full size, mind you. In addition, he strings up voice activated bats that fly around at the first sound they "hear". What's great about them is that he hangs them high enough, strung tree to tree, so that when it's dark out and the unsuspecting trick-or-treater (or parent) comes walking by gawking at his creation, they don't see the bats until it's too late!

We wondered what L would create this year. In the past he's done The Grateful Dead - which was pretty cool, the debates with Kerry & W (only what was really cool was that he made their names something skeletal and spooky, but so that you knew who they were), one year was the Cubs & Sox - again, in skeleton. This year, and dork me didn't take a picture, we came upon two skeletons in the front yard, decked out in the black jackets, black hats, and black shades - no, not Tommy Lee & Will Smith, no Flashy Things - these guys had keyboards & harmonicas - yes, oh yes...it was The Boo's Brothers. He even had an animated hand to make it look like one of them was actually playing the keyboard. It was very very cool. It is very apparent how much L LOVES/LIVES for Halloween!

So after visiting all the houses on that block that still had lights on and finishing our warm grown-up beverage, we headed back home. SmallBoy was perfectly content when, after counting each and every piece of candy, determined that he had 73 pieces and a coupon for the karate studio down the street (run by our neighbors). I'm actually surprised that he had that much stuff...but it's the karate coupon that was a total score!

Punkins....It's really hard to take a good pic of these guys with no flash...the light just blurrs automatically. Bummer, but you get the gist....PC's pumpkin, the one on the left, is posted in the post below, the one in the middle is the one that LargeBoy impaled with the butcher knife, and the one in the on the right is the one that Girl & Snood carved...

I hope you all had a wonderful, and warmer, Halloween, and aren't suffering too much of a candy hangover from all of the candy when, on the Required Parental Safety Inspection, you deemed unsafe (and devoured for yourself) - Guilty. I can't wait to stop by and see all of YOUR pictures!