Boo- yeah!

I love Halloween for so many different reasons, one of which is that it makes having kids totally worth it.  Especially when one is old enough to choose his own costume and the other is young enough to enjoy (or not notice) whatever cute little thing I decide to put on him.  It's really the best of both worlds.

But on the flip side of that, my own creative efforts have suffered over the last 3 years.  Being the utterly selfless mom that I am, every ounce of my energy has gone toward making these guys and the house look as festive as possible.  I haven't even attempted to throw together a costume for myself since I was pregnant with Niall.

But this year, I was suddenly awakened out of my slump when a friend told me that her 6 month old would be a shark and that she and her husband would wear blood-splattered shirts to pose as his victims.  Now that's the spirit!, I thought.  Blood and gore and offending people-- that's what Halloween is all about.  Why shouldn't I get in on the action?

So this year, things are different.  I came to the important realization that walking my kids around from house to house, taking pictures of them looking all cute and cuddly, helping them collect their pieces of candy and teaching them how to shout "Trick or Treat!" (and hopefully say thank-you)-- those are all admirable things, sure.  But that's not me being the best mom I can be.

This is...

Dressing up as Snooki and explaining to Niall that I'm being a girl who likes to spend too much time at the beach without sunscreen and wears clothes that are too tight-- that's being an involved parent. Just putting my best foot forward and doin' it for the kids. (Minus my laziness of only covering my face and neck with bronzer because I didn't feel like doing my arms-- other than that, I really went for it, and may have actually scared both my kids.)

Speaking of being selfless, I sacrificed my puking pumpkin this year for the sake of a father/son moment that couldn't have happened any other way.  Before I even had the chance to even weigh in on what our pumpkin's face would look like this year, Matt and Niall were anxiously flipping through the pumpkin carving kit book for the perfect stencil and went right on ahead without me.

It looks pretty good, I have to hand it to the team-- this was definitely a collaborative effort.

And maybe next year, Matt will put the butcher knife and other sharp utensils off to the side before inviting Niall over to help out...  But let's not get too far ahead of ourselves. 

 Happy Halloween!