Halloween Dreams Come True

Not many people love Halloween as much as Benjamin--and this year he couldn't wait to finally be DARTH VADER. He was pretty happy with all the candy he got, too!

 

Last year Janae had the flu on Halloween and ended up staying home and watching a movie with her mother. This year, however, all of her Halloween dreams came true :)

 

And Alaina--well, she actually got to have some candy this time! Someone at our church's trunk-or-treat gave her a sucker to "hold" . . . and by the end of the night, she had got through the wrapper. I thought I'd just let her give it a try, and pretty soon she looked like this:

 

She was one happy little pumpkin!



Yesterday we had a Halloween party here at our complex,



then we went to--you guessed it!--the library for a Halloween storytime. The kids got to hear a book about monsters called Scare Me, Beware Me, read by the author. They got an autographed copy, and then Benjamin won another book in a draw at the end (our library lucky streak continues!).

Last night we went to our church, where everyone had their trunks decorated and filled with candy. The trick or treaters went from car to car (or--more accurately--van to van), and got LOTS of treats. I'd never been to a trunk-or-treat, and it was much more fun than I had imagined!

Then tonight we had grandma and grandpa, as well as Princess Leia, Snow White, Raggedy Ann, a clown, Magnum P.I., and Mrs. P.I. over for a few snacks

 

and our annual ghost pie.



We passed out candy to a few trick or treaters, and that was that.

Until next year, of course. . . .

One of Our Other Favorite Places

I know everyone thinks the only place we ever take our kids is the library, but that is simply not true.

Sometimes we go to the pumpkin patch!

 

There is a great apple and pumpkin farm--with a playground and petting barn--just down the road from Benjamin's school. We have been there several times this year already, but this time I brought the camera.

Look at these cute little pumpkins:





Alaina found some that she liked, too.

 

Benjamin gets lots of practice at being a farmer (he's chosen this as his future career, for anyone who hasn't heard!),



and once in a while we even spring for the hay ride.

 

Alaina was only a few weeks old when we went on the same ride last year--she enjoyed it a lot more this time :)

 

It was such a beautiful, sunny, fall day--perfect for the pumpkin patch! (We can always go to the library another day. . . .)

So Thankful. . .

 

I don't have to look very far to find something to be thankful for. . . .

Happy Belated Thanksgiving :)

Insomnia Not Recommended for Parents of Children Under Three

A recent study has confirmed what parenting and sleep experts have suspected for decades: insomniac mothers are not recommended for children under three years of age. While it is true that children of all ages suffer, it is those under three that show the most significant effects of a sleep-deprived mother's poor judgement.

In an alarming case study, a mother suffering from severe sleep deprivation--including repeated bouts of insomnia and three children who wake repeatedly at night for the first several years of life--climbed up onto a top bunk to make her son's bed. Leaving her youngest child to play with the telephone and a roll of scotch tape, she proceeded to lie down and close her eyes.

Hidden cameras showed that when she climbed down half an hour later, her youngest daughter (an infant barely over a year old) had found a red marker and drawn all over her face.

 

Unfortunately, that was not all.

The young child had also unloaded the shoe rack,



climbed onto a chair and helped herself to a drawer full of kitchen utensils,

 

opened and emptied a tub of glitter,

 

filled her purse, acquired a chapstick and made plans to strike out on her own,

 

then thought the better of it and put herself down for a nap on the couch with a toy bottle.



It must also be noted that this was a home where not only scotch tape, telephones, and colored markers but also Lego, Polly Pocket accessories, fridge magnets, and coin collections were all freely available.

While these incidents alone are both dangerous and disturbing, researchers believe the psychological effects arising from being raised by a sleep-deprived mother may be even more serious.

Further investigation is needed. It is clear, however, that children of all ages--and particularly those three and under--can benefit from being raised by mothers who SLEEP AT NIGHT.