TRICKS and TREATS

For those of you who've missed some of the last couple of books in the Fall Fab Book Giveaway, here are the links so you can easily click to read about them and enter to win ...

One Flight Up

What Came First

Falling Under

Pinch Me

Dogs, Dogs, and More Dogs

There's still a few more days to go and enter on each post above to win those books, and remember, if you enter each post, that gains you MORE entries toward the end of the Fall Fab Giveaway to win ALL the books at the end, which we are nearing. We've got about nine books (or two weeks left to go)! That's the TREAT part of this post.


The next part is about TRICKS, or Halloween ...

I figure I've had about, between my three kids, 35 Halloween costumes. For the life of me, I can't remember them all. This upsets me greatly, because I used to be able to rattle off all of their costumes year by year, and say what they wore. I mean, I remember some of them. I know for sure that AJer's first Halloween he was nothing because he was five days old and I had been home from the hospital only one day. I was a naive mom who had written a note on the door that said, "Baby Sleeping, Please Don't Ring Bell."

Of course, all of the children rang the bell - none of THEM could read! And of course, a newborn baby wouldn't be DISTURBED by a freakin' doorbell! A new mom lesson quickly learned.

As I sit here and write, I can't even remember what he was dressed as for his very first real Halloween. WHAT KIND OF MOTHER AM I? OMG. Didn't I dress him up? Oh! Thank goodness, I just remembered! He was a clown. Phew, I am not going to hell for forgetting. And he was a very cute clown, and I think he had a lollipop and loved it.

His second official Halloween, which would have actually been his third, but the first doesn't count because he was five days old, Ajers was joined by his sister, who was six months old, and I had the perfect solution for them. I dressed them as an angel and a devil. It was the perfect combination. And here's where I show my age. Back THEN, there really wasn't digital cameras. OK, maybe they were just starting to get popular, but I didn't have one yet, and I certainly didn't know how to upload photos to a computer, so you're not getting to see a picture here. Imagine it, if you'd like. Or, I could go find a photo, take a picture of it and then post it. But that would be a lot of work.

Through the years, we've had a pirate, Tigger, a fairy, and boy, was that fairy ever pissed off - I do have video footage of that one and one day she is going to get to view that and see just how fiercely mad she was at age two. However, the very next year Diva was THRILLED to wear that same costume, so it worked out well in the end. We've had girl rocker stars, a Woody, Spiderman, two Hulks one year -- that was very cute, a small Hulk and a medium Hulk. A fuzzy Big Bird graced our presence once ... I love the years where WE moms get to decide what the kiddos will wear.

Unfortunately, my babes are older now. They still want the candy, they just don't want to work as hard to get it. Ajers will go out as something goofy. At almost 14, they still want to go around the neighborhood with their buddies, but he wants nothing to do with dressing up. Diva Darling, however, bought a masquerade dress and mask and will put on gobs of makeup and do her hair all up and pretend to be someone famous. Any chance to dress up and act older than she is. And Tukey, who is just 10 ... when I asked him what he wanted to dress up as? He said he might just put on a jersey and be a sports guy. Or after a few minutes of thinking, he said, "Or maybe I'll just take my pillowcase out and go as a candy collector?"

Now that's original.

I don't know if they do "Ghosting" in your neighborhood, but they do in mine. And they did in my last neighborhood in Chicago too. The first time we experienced it in Chicago, I freaked out. I thought maybe I should call the police because strangers were giving us candy and what if it was poisoned? Later, I found out it's a fun tradition that neighbors do. We've taken to doing it too. We haven't been "Booed" or "Ghosted" yet this Halloween season, but we're always on the lookout. It's mostly fun to catch the person doing the tricking. You can find extra fun ways to "Ghost" people in your neighborhood over here at the Fresh Takes site. And if you've got a fun family story to share while you're there, do so. You'll be entered to win a $50 gift card and will have a chance to have your story or family featured on the site!

And yes, in case you're wondering, I get dressed up for Halloween too! MaNiC MoMMy can get pretty scary!

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