Halloween Month, Plus Pontifications on Parenthood

Gah!  Every year it's the same story.  The holidays arrive with all their magnificent chaos, I get ridiculously behind on the blog and getting started again is pure drudgery.  This year was a little extra special given my intense course load and hosting both Thanksgiving and Christmas.  All of this translates into being extra backlogged.  I mean, Halloween was great and all, but who really wants to write about it in January?  

I guess I do.  But before I start, I thought I'd share a bit of humor.  This past week I've been working like crazy on applications to nursing school.  When they asked me to write about service, I decided to go all in and share my adventures in parenthood.

While unconventional, I’d like to conclude with my service as a mother.  Over the past seventeen years, I have conceived five children, lost one to miscarriage, and carried the rest full-term, nourishing them literally with my own body.  I have delivered babies in the hospital after long hours of labor, on the hospital doorstep (practically) after a quick labor, and even in my own home.  As proof, I occasionally pee when I sneeze.

I have fed these babes with milk I made, sharing both a maternal bond and the pain of thrush.  I have changed countless diapers, cleaned numberless messes, and marched through the house doing a “potty parade” for those who successfully deposit in the toilet.  I have nursed these children through everything from spiking fevers and strange rashes to tonsillectomies and broken bones.  I have been peed on, pooped on, and puked on, with extra goobers thrown in for fun.

I’ve both cried and celebrated sending my children off to kindergarten.  I have relived the magic of life in all its stages—first word, first step, first time riding a bike. I have known the joy of a child whose world expands as she learns how to read.  I have known deep sorrow wiping tears from a child who’s been ditched by her best friend and just can’t understand why.

These days the conversations are bigger—first period, first car, a new driver’s license.  No more diapers, although the laundry doesn’t seem to change.  Just don’t get me started on all the meals.  I shuttle to baseball, play practice, frisbee, scouts, and dance.  When it comes to music lessons, I even take notes, occasionally filling in as accompanist.  After flailing through pandemic home school, I thank the good Lord for amazing teachers who do a far better job than I.  And yes, I still bribe the kids to get everyone to smile for the family picture.

I never think of it as service.  I’m a Mom.  It’s who I am.  It’s what I do.  Yet if there is anyone in this world besides a parent who can appreciate the collective import of all the small details required to raise these tiny babies into marvelous, engaging human beings, I think it’s a nurse.

And now, back to Halloween.  After getting some free tickets to Kuwahara Pumpkin Patch, we met up with Brianna and Ruby for some Halloween fun.

I think Annika and Ruby loved the dance party most.

At age 12, Eli's in a bit of an awkward stage where it's hard to know if you are too old for Halloween.  (The answer is no--you're never too old!)  I appreciated his being a good sport--it was a fun evening.

As for our ward Halloween party, we had a lovely celebration in the Worsleys backyard.  Here's Brooklyn helping to set up.

A little rain couldn't stop us from having a great time.  While you can't see all the faces in this picture, we have Melanie Powell, Joyce Bennett, Larry Montgomery, Alex Cortes, Dave Kubinski, Elaine and Chuck Clark, Judith and David Nielsen, and the back of Brooke Kubinski's head.  (Throwing all those names out there now because it's so easy to forget.)

Here I am hanging out with the Aubri Harmon and her adorable daughters.  Aubri's husband Mark manned the grill for us all.

Denver and Nicole Smith chatting with Kelsey and Duncan Hartt.

Hard to tell beneath the mask, but here's Tanni  Bowers helping Annika get some hot chocolate.

Brooklyn invited her friends and they came!  :)  Here we have Chantal, Jasmina, and Chantal's mom Lydia.  

Can't forget the Blackham family (Brian and Sonja) plus Robyn Christensen.  Oh, I adore these people!

All in all, it was a great celebration and wonderful to get together as a ward after so many months of distancing.  I'm just sad that case counts are so out of control once more (more than 9500 new cases in Utah yesterday.)  Like many, I long to associate freely without calculating the risk.

Speaking of associations, these guys are the best!  Our neighbors Brian and Rachel Richins make living on our block such a delight.  Here we are celebrating Isaac and Ashton's fifth birthday.

It's time to blast off with this zipline rocket ship cupcake.  

Tuck in, gentleman!  How amazing to be born with a built-in best friend.

The Richins' youngest Liam is sure growing.

As for Annika, she was thrilled to drive a car while holding Tundra, the Greene family's adorable pup.

Other fun from the Richins' backyard--they hosted a pumpkin carving party.  It was amazing!  I'm so glad, because I really don't think I would have gotten around to carving pumpkins at my house.

Plus, check out the Richins family Halloween costumes.  Super Mario never looked so fabulous!

Crossing over between Halloween and Christmas, this is the crew that awaited Eli at the orthodontist on Halloween.

As for Brooklyn, Talia, and Jason, they all joined in the costume fun while playing Ultimate at the Halloween Hat Tourney.

Talia designed and made her own fabulous costume.  Anybody recognize it?

This cutie was Lady Loki.  All she's missing is the cape (which is really my fault, because I never took her to buy fabric.

Okay, this is totally unrelated, but while looking for this picture I just learned that Sylvie's costume was specifically designed to allow her to breastfeed or pump between takes.  That's pretty cool!

Moving on to school celebrations, Wasatch Elementary hosts a pretty epic Halloween carnival each year.  As you can imagine, my kids are particularly excited about the cotton candy.  My dad said it looks like dryer lint.  He's not wrong.

In case you are wondering about Annika's costume, she wanted to be Dizzy Tremaine from Descendants

At Emerson Elementary, they celebrate el Dia de los Muertos.  This year may have been different due to Covid, but the burritos were still great.  

At West High, Brooklyn's A'Capella Choir had a great Halloween concert with their choir conductor, Ms. Hernandez, dressing up as Bette Midler from Hocus Pocus.  (Not pictured here, unfortunately.) 

West High Seminary also hosted a fun trunk-or-treat.

I feel like Annika's costume begs for explanation.  Long story short, someone gave her a giant stuffed bear, so she did surgery to turn it into the ultimate fuzzy costume.  I created eye holes using an empty toilet paper roll (classy, I know.)   Her outfit certainly turned heads!

Talia was all in favor because she how has a huge beanbag full of stuffing to use for her crochet projects.

Since I was too busy to do much else in terms of decoration at home, Annika took over and started adorning the place.  There were even tissue paper ghosts hanging from the ceiling.

Annika's Brownie Girl Scout troop took a fun trip to the BOOtanical Gardens at Red Butte.

This year's theme was all about Fairy Tales, ranging from Alice in Wonderland to Cinderealla.

Okay, nearly done.  At last Halloween weekend arrived.  In truth, I'd really wanted to go down to Capitol Reef to see the changing leaves, but I knew the kids would be disappointed if they couldn't get together with friends and Trick-or-Treat.  So as a compromise, we stayed in Salt Lake and I made Annika and Eli come hiking with me while Jason, Brooklyn, and Talia were at the Halloween Hat Ultimate Frisbee Tourney.  We had fun!

Even if it was snowy.  And muddy.  And slippery.

Evidence of a couple muddy falls.

We try to leave everything in nature where we found it, but sometimes it's hard, right Eli?

Last but not least, a call out to our lovely Avenues neighborhood.  This year Halloween fell on a Sunday so I wasn't comfortable letting the kids trick or treat out of respect for the Sabbath.  While I tried to hide it, I felt pretty disappointed since last year's Halloween was all messed up due to the pandemic.  In the end, our neighborhood surprised me by pulling out the lights, candy, and decorations on the 30th as well.  I really didn't expect this since we don't have that many children in the Avenues, few members of the Church of Jesus Christ, and far fewer that actively participate.  Even so, the neighborhood came to life and children were welcomed on doorsteps on both Saturday and Sunday.  In the Avenues, it's all about inclusivity.  It was nice to realize this inclusivity extends to LDS church members as well.

Heading out to Trick or Treat in style.  Both Annie and Eli found it a bit hard to see.  Can't imagine why.

Finishing up the day with chili, cinnamon rolls, and love from our favorite next door canines.  Many thanks to Kurt, Finn and Murphy for adding the crowning touch to our Halloween festivities.

Now on to Thanksgiving!  With a little luck, maybe I can get caught up before Valentine's Day arrives.