Halloween 2012

Inspired by an entire extra hour in the day today I cooked and cleaned.  Ok, well, cooking really involved heating a few things up and making some oven-baked chicken tenders (and the kids actually did all of the work), but the cleaning was involved.  What do those of you out there with kids and no housekeeper do to keep things tidy around your homes?  It is enough to make a borderline obsessive-compulsive person like myself suffer with panic attacks.  I can handle the routine tidying up after a long day of work (and that is work - the kids 'play' all over the house - and we have a dog now).  It is the more involved cleaning that gets me.  I just don't know how people fit it all in.  I spent the better part of the day today (even with the extra hour) changing and washing sheets.  And does anyone loathe washing and refitting duvet covers as much as I do?   Getting the duvet cover on the king sized duvet is akin to wrestling an alligator or baby tiger.  I don't like it.  Writing all of this seems incredibly shallow in light of everything else going on in the world right now - I mean it only as a cry for help to those who manage to do it without help - tell me your secrets!

In addition to the chores I found some time to download the pics from Halloween.  This year the kids had half days so I ended up taking the day off of work and it was the right idea.  The day was busy and filled with fun.  Christian found a VHS copy of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and I showed it to the kids (in his classroom since nobody seems to have a VCR these days, understandably).  I loved this cartoon when I was little and was thrilled when C finally found a copy of it.  They were not as amused and when it ended Lucy offered a simple "that's it?"  Oh well, maybe I will try again next year.  

We spent the afternoon with friends visiting while the kids played (and ate candy), stopped at G.G.'s for some trick or treating, checked out the entertaining and ever-expanding "skeleton" house on St. Charles, and made our way down to Aunt Margot and Uncle Walker's for the annual Halloween party and trick or treating.  It is the best way to celebrate Halloween!

Dressed and ready to go, Little Red Riding Hood and Anakin Skywalker:

With GG:

The "skeleton" house on St. Charles Avenue:

Luz, finally wearing her 'real' costume:

With the Barnes kids, ready to trick or treat:

This was the gang last year...time continues to fly:

With sweet Miller, the mummy:

OMG - I just 'published' this post and realized it is my 1,000th blog post.  I cannot even imagine that I have had 1,000 things to share. I suppose I should have approached this post with more care and come up with something memorable, but I am lucky just to get the photos downloaded and a few quick sentences about the activities.  It is sad to say, but I just do not have the time to devote to blogging these days (or the brain capacity for good writing and/or entertainment).  And, honestly, as the kids get older I worry about 'over' sharing.  What are the implications of all of this information being out there and accessible on the inter-webs.  Is it fair to future, teen-ager Lucy and James?   Will they be mortified?  Maybe it is time to consider wrapping-up NOLA baby until I am otherwise inspired.  1,000 posts is plenty!