Fall Harvest vs. Halloween

I don't need to be scared of you...

It's that time of year. When the veil between worlds opens up and for a season, wild magic can run rampant in the world with no repercussion. At least, that's how I talk about the holiday with my spawn. They understand this explanation well, and share their knowledge of scary things with other children. It makes them look cool. It's my favorite holiday. Win! And win!

It's not "news" that all over the place, Halloween parties at school are being replaced by Fall harvest parties, as more people are not celebrating the holiday. I used to battle against this all the time when I was teaching, cue the memory of a student calling me a devil worshipper because of my tattoos and piercings and me yelling back at her that the Devil goes to church too. Scared the pants off her and myself, honestly. The holy water don't burn when I go to church, honey. I digress.... I feel a bit disappointed that this is going on now even more. It's taking the fun out of being a kid, in my humble opinion.

Here's where it gets interesting. I was helping out at Pixy's school, which is a Catholic school, and the CHILDREN were discussing this topic. Not because it was being banned from their school, they even have a parade there, but because some of the children have siblings who attend public schools and have to follow different schools. Honestly, I shouldn't be surprised that children can hold sophisticated conversations of their own like this, but to hear them voice my own frustrations in the most innocently accurate of ways...was awesome.

Spooky or harvest?

In order to hear the conversation in depth, I became a helicopter parent and just hovered by. I NEEDED to hear what they were saying. There was a lot of:" I'm sad that they can't celebrate it. Isn't it just supposed to be fun?" There was also: " I don't see why they're all weirded out. We're playing dress up. Everyone likes to dress up." To this golden nugget from my own spawn: " it can be scary but I don't need to be scared of you in a costume. Lots of scarier things happen in daylight when everyone is watching." Whoa!! Stop the presses!! How do they possess all this wisdom? They're in kindergarten!!! Be a kid, kid!!

Truth is, that children are more in tune with the goings on of the universe than we are sometimes. They overhear things. Trust me, they know more than you do on a good day. So, the fact that they know that other scarier things than neighborhood kids being in costume exist and happen daily, shouldn't be surprising...but somehow it is. Why do we fixate on protecting children from things that for the most part, won't really cause any harm in the long run? Is dressing up as the grim reaper, or a zombie, or a ghost so repulsively horrifying that it will mess up their psyche? Truth is, probably not. We seem to be doing ok and we were exposed to all kinds of parenting that, by today's standards, were irresponsible. I guess, I'm just not sure that's where real evil lies. In costumes, candy, and mischief. Isn't the real evil in the daily things we hear in the news? On the radio? Around us at any time? Will we have to start putting our kids in bubbles to protect them from the next thing that will offend or upset someone?

I think that's where we are headed. Every time someone gets upset about something, they will just take it away, until all we have are robots instead of children. Someone will always be upset about something. It is the way humans work but to target something that is supposed to bring joy to children and adults, make everyone the same age for one night of the year seems...I dunno. Kinda Scroogey.

Perhaps, I'm just upset because it's my favorite holiday. Maybe, it has more to do with school turning into a testing machine instead of teaching anything. For sure, it has to do with the fact that we are protecting a loss of innocence that occurred way sooner than we originally thought and we are scrambling like mad to fix now. Because, let's face it folks, a witch costume did not cause this loss of innocence. Oh no. The loss of innocence I'm talking about is a lot scarier than that. It begins much sooner as the ways of the world seep into our everyday lives, and drives Kindergartners to have passionate classroom conversations about things that walk in daylight that are much scarier. And they're not the walking dead.

As I sit and plan a whole new different costume for Banshee's fall harvest party and separate it from their Halloween night costumes, I shiver a little bit. Yes, me. The woman who really isn't scared of anything and thinks werewolves are cuddly. With that one statement, my daughter just brought a whole new kind of Big Bad through our front door. And there is nothing I can do to keep it away. For now, I will keep on doing my thing: putting up Jack Skellington decorations, carving Jack o' lanterns, and teaching neighborhood skills about the advantages of having a gargoyle on your roof. It will be All Hallows' Eve. We got some candy to score. I guess the rest can wait for another day. Right?

Have you encountered the Fall Harvest vs. Halloween debacle? What is YOUR opinion? 

Photo by bplanet courtesy of Freedigitalphotos.net

Little Monsters - Children and Halloween

My son is excited about Halloween. He's been ready for three weeks to put on his costume and wander up and down the street in Uncles Nic and Carlos' neighborhood, stopping at houses and saying, "Trick or treat!" And I'm excited for him.

Silas Halloween 2012

He's 3. He knows no strangers. He says hi to everyone. Last year he saw gaggles of kids trick-or-treating together and he would run up to them and cry, "Hi guys!" Some of the older kids would give him a look and keep walking, and my son ran back to me, dejected.

"A**holes," I thought. There is no reason for that. I wanted to cry for him. But he kept doing it. 

"Hi guys!!"

No response. Funny looks. Keep walking.

Eventually, you know what happened. He slowly stopped doing it. Finally he said, "Mommy, I all done trick treat."

I was so angry. I wanted to pull these people aside and say, "Are you kidding me? The least you could do is say hi and wave to him!" I wanted to find these kids' parents and talk to them about common courtesy.

My son is what some people would call "sensitive." He picks his nails when he gets anxious. He cries when he gets in trouble and runs to his bed, later to return and say, "I so sorry. I never do it again. I love you." I hate the thought that trick or treating can make him less likely to put himself out there and be friendly. 

Last year I remember a meme floating around Facebook that reminded people that some of the "visitors" they have for Halloween may be different than what they perceive as "the normal child." Some may have developmental delays, physical differences, Autism, the list could go on. And seeing this image, this reminder, made me tear up.

These little guys and girls are out there to have fun. They're out there to dress up, say hi to people, and enjoy this yearly opportunity to just enjoy...well...life. To them it's not about differences or sometimes even the candy (although that's a bonus).

So please. If you're participating in Halloween this year, make an effort to stop and say hi or "Cool costume!" to these little people who are putting themselves out there. The Silases of the world will have their day made by just that one little act of kindness.

What We Learned This Week (October 27, 2013 edition)

October is flying by! Pretty soon we'll get to ogle pics of Lisa's new little one and be celebrating Christmas or something... So Mamas, what did you learn this week?

Robyn:
This week I've learned that I can feed our family (of 6) for $75 a week! It was a challenge, but I hit the grocery store determined. This weeks menu even includes Chicken Fried Rice, Grilled Chicken and Beef Enchiladas!

Friday is the worst day for traffic and running errands. People are jackasses on the road! Cutting one another off, speeding up just to hit their brakes on the highway, etc. Therefore, I've learned to turn Friday into laundry day, and to not be on the road.

I'm not superstitious...until it comes to the Red Sox in the World Series. Back in 2004, I did the same thing every night that they played. And by golly, they won! This year, hubby stopped watching the game for a sec, and the Red Sox got a triple! He's the bad luck...I feel a goose chase coming on in his bear future during game 4! 

Lisa:
After a hectic week of being pregnant and running around with the girls, Lisa took the week off. She'll be back this week with a post about the controversies surrounding Halloween!

Liz:
1) I learned that the Big Bad Spam Filter Monster can get us and I need to check it more often. How horrible do I feel when companies reach out to us for promotions/giveaways for you guys and we miss it because it went to spam. *Shakes fist at the spam gods...or devil*

2) I learned I need to be more proactive about Halloween costumes. I really do. I knew what I was going to order from Amazon (which has an amazing costume selection even right now, and fast shipping for you...late orderers...like me) but just didn't do it until last week. Now I'm fingers crossed that Silas' dragon costume will be here for Thursday. Bad mama! Bad!

Too many clothes...

3) I realized saving clothes from child one for child two can be a blessing and a curse. This is our 18-24 month "wardrobe" for Sage. Apparently someone went a little clothing rediculous previously. My suggestion? 14 outfits (2 per day, wash once or twice per week) for this age. Oye! 

What did you learn this week? Share something fun even if it seems small to you - learning's always big!

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What We Learned (Sunday, October 20th Edition)

First with business...
This has been kind of a big week for us. We've made some decisions about the blog as a team. First, we're going to switch to a 3 posts per week schedule as oppo

ed to a post every day schedule. This means that on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays you'll get your weekly dose of the Mamas. Will there be other posts in between? Sure, but most of them will be relating to giveaways we're sponsoring with other bloggers. Speaking of giveaways, we're trying to provide our readers with some awesome giveaways that they can use (or gift for Christmas), so be on the lookout for those in the coming weeks. Always visit the Giveaway tab (top right) on the blog to see just what we've got cookin'.

How will I know what's going on?

Will we be posting every day on Twitter and Facebook about the giveaways? Not every day. So how will you know if there's one you want to enter? Great question. Become a post subscriber - on the right of this page you'll see "Daily Email Updates? Yes Please!" Signing up there will get you an email whenever we post something new to the page. So then what's the Subscription box above it? That's for folks who want to be on our subscriber list - those folks will receive info about giveaways, upcoming posts, and even discounts from the marketers we work with starting in November. Want in? Heck, sign up for both!

And now...the mamas.

What did you learn this week ladies?

Liz:

- I learned that Halloween shopping for these children is a beast. Silas switched his thoughts every day, every HOUR on what he wanted to be. Finally I ordered their costumes from Amazon - Silas will be a green dragon and Sage is being a spider. DONE. Now I have to wait the almost two grueling weeks of "Today Halloween mommy?" No baby it's not yet. "Tomorrow?" No, not tomorrow either. *Eye roll* I want to say, Get a calendar kid! Eesh! But we all know that wouldn't help.

- I learned that using certain blog helping tools rock our socks in terms of page views (PVs) and I love it. Being the person that manages the blog, checks the stats, and is always looking for new ways to get us "out there" (not like crazy out there, we're already there, hullo), I'm feeling like what I'm doing is paying off. It's a pretty cool feeling. Keep up the reading hard work ya'll. I appreciate every single reader (maybe a little more the ones who comment though...hint hint).

- I'm pondering vlogging (blogging via video) but I've watched so many bad ones that I don't want to be "that guy," you know? TV blaring the in background, gum snapping, looking like they haven't showered in a month, dogs barking...not so professional right? The thought freaks me out. But it's growing on me. Would you want to see vlogs from our Mamas?

Robyn: While cleaning out a peanut butter jar (to reuse and recycle) I've learned that wet peanut butter feels like dog sh!t. 

I need to add an addiction to my list.. Chocolate, Wine and now Scandal addict. I see the previews once a week...or maybe 4. I wait *patiently* until Thursday evenings for the next episode. Put the kids to bed, grab a square of dark chocolate filled with caramel as I pour my red wine, and then indulge in my guilty pleasure.

I've learned that my kids hide frogs and lizards in the metal tank that belongs to the local water company. The small one that contains the meter, in our front yard. This week: 5 dead ones. Silver lining: Atleast their hiding spot is NOT in the house! 
Lisa:
1. I learned that a road trip with the family is still a fun opportunity to see all kinds of things. From the truck driver picking his nose, to the lady shaving her armpits. Fun times!! 

2. Seriously, manners matter. I had the opportunity to help out at Pixy's classroom and the amount of children who need to learn please/thank you is huge!! People...it takes two seconds to teach this concept and it will help you for the rest of your life. Get.it.done. Sigh.

3. I treated myself to a 3D/4D ultrasound, having never had one before. The military doesn't use those, so it was fun. Girls and Sailor went with me and we got to see Cubby's face. He's a wild man, not that I'm surprised, and super fat!! Yay! 

What about you? The one reading this. What did you learn? Don't be shy, share! Comment below! 

Halloween and Julep Nail Color - Halloween Fun for your Nails!

As you saw in a post last week, I just started receiving the Julep Maven boxes and I'm loving their nail colors. I scope the site now and then and have been finding all sorts of cool stuff such as the Julep Spooky Sets for Halloween - perfectly matched nail sets and accessories for Halloween nail designing. How fun is that? And right now the Halloween sets are 70% off. Bonus! My favorite sets are the Candy Corn Spooky Set and the Bloodcrackling Spooky Set. Cute right?! In recent years I've done a lot of holiday nail art and I get a lot of "cute idea!" comments, so I'll be looking forward to getting these sets and doing them Halloween week.

Julep Halloween Styles!

You don't have to be a Maven subscriber to buy the nail colors and sets like this, but Maven subscribers do get special benefits like 20% off all purchases, free shipping and priority notifications on exclusives and new products! I love getting emails from them letting me know about upcoming stuff (like, you know, this Halloween 70% off awesomeness). Interested in this Maven subscriber "thing?"


Become a Maven! Sign up for the Maven monthly beauty box subscription and get the intro box (valued at $40) for free using the code FREEBOX. There is a $3.99 shipping charge, and you are signing up for a monthly service, however, you can cancel the subscription, put it on hold or even gift it at any time. When you join Julep you'll complete a style quiz and then you'll receive Maven boxes fitting your style. Last month I received two nail colors and a foot lotion that I loooove. Try it out!