{the 31st}

I had a meltdown in the middle of my neighborhood. literally the middle. & although not literally a meltdown it sure felt like I was becoming a puddle of anxiety & crazy.  I am the Grinch of Halloween. Its a lot of preparation, and decor I don't love, & excess sweets that somehow find their way to my hips. Its keeping track of 5 small people in the dark with lots of other people & cars, & spooky decorations. including heads on a platter. Okay...the head on the platter thing was pretty neat Erin. We had pizza as usual & things seemed to be on track for meeting up with neighbors at 6. The kids got dressed, I drew on mustaches & tied bows. We had our bags, we put out our galvanized bucket of goodies & a "please take one" note. I grabbed my camera & started heading out when it happened...someone got mad about something & started to fight with someone else & someone started to cry, another someones mustache started to rub off, & someone tripped on a shoe lace & fell. all with in 1 minute of being out our door. we hadn't even left the front porch! My crazy kicked in. I forgot to take pictures of the 5 as I do every year. We walked down the hill & I joked that if I were ever to start drinking... everyone laughed because they know all I really need is a diet coke to find serenity. From there Maddox called a football player fat because of his padding. He meant large, but said fat. He made the boy cry & I was mortified. Then the best part of the night came when Maddox saw an "Enderman" don't ask. you don't want to know. & touched the 10 yr olds costume. Well, I have tried & tried & tried to explain to Maddox that you don't touch people you don't know, you don't talk to strangers. His response? every time its "Heavenly Father wants us all to be friends. Heavenly father loves everyone. I love everyone." Well, yes darling, but...   It makes me think of that crazy Saturday night skit "School Visit." thats Maddox. He would be "all about vans." WATCH THIS. its hilarious.  anyway, I digress. The father of said Enderman blew a gasket! I ended up calling this guy dressed as a knight a bully & then walked over to a friends house to drop Tre off to be with his big kid friends. & that is when it happened. My friend Susie said Hi, & I proceeded to cry in the drive way like a nut case. I got lots of hugs from my visiting teaching companion & the ladies of the ward, & then walked home embarrassed & ready to throw in the towel. But...then my sweet friend Julia's little Elsa ran by our house & seeing Presley & Jordan together cheered me up a bit & we decided to go ahead & keep the night going with a party at Kim's house.  The children took pictures of themselves against a green screen & watched a movie on the outside theatre. We went home & they all were very ready to sleep. I love my children so much. I love that they enjoy these fun holidays so much. It certainly makes it worth it. I am happy to say that they did not once catch on that I was having a hard time. They are pretty sure I love Halloween as much as they do. I finished the night off with a good cry on the phone with Rod. He tells me I did the right thing standing up for Madds, but I still feel pretty darn silly for being a total disaster of a mother on the 31st. Its okay now though. Its November! 

& then.... I packed my things & headed to Houston to see my dear Taralyn. We have not seen each other in 3 1/2 years. I have missed her & really wished she was around during some hard times...say like...the 31st of every October of my life. I arrived at the hotel early & you know what I did? I put on my pajamas, shut the curtains & went to sleep with a smile on my face knowing that no little ones would be waking me. It was amazing. I set my alarm to wake when Tar would be showing up. We met up in the hall & we couldn't let go of each other. We spent the day together. It was only one day, but It was a good day. We picked up right where we left off. I am so blessed to have that with my med school girls. Tar is such a genuine friend. She loves me & my quirks & she makes my back feel better even though she is not at work, & its her day off from being Dr. Sowby. Her parents were bragging on her at a wedding reception & I couldn't help but join in. She is an amazing Mother, Friend & doctor. She balances things so well that she has me convinced that she has more hours in the day than the rest of us.  I left the hotel bright & early Saturday morning so Rod could head back to Dallas & so I could get home to my babies & also I missed my primary kiddos & wanted to see all of them since it was stake conference the previous weekend.  I am so grateful to my parents for setting up the hotel & details, Grateful to my husband for somehow finding a way to switch weekends so he could be home Saturday night, grateful to Tar's family for the nice lunch & for letting me tag along all day, & mostly grateful to Tar for being such a wonderful friend to me. 

Now onto a week of 1/2 days of school...