Half-way There

Wow, I am feeling a bit overwhelmed by Halloween and my house would show it. Yesterday was the craziest day and I never felt on top of things. I got both kids ready for school (since it was Robyn's first day of preschool) and got one out the door to the bus and the other in the car to drop her off. I came home and had my visiting teachers over and I frantically fed the baby, started chicken cooking and dressed child #3 for Music Makers (where they were wearing costumes). I was a few minutes late, but I think Ivory had a good time regardless. I rushed home for a few minutes before heading over to get Robyn, and of course Ivory had to go potty so we all got out of the car and headed inside to pick her up. I also wanted to stop by a Halloween store to get the finishing touches of Tyler's costume and I didn't want to interrupt Ivory's nap-time so I thought I would get it done in the morning. So I went and picked up June from school so I wouldn't miss her and we all went to Halloween USA. I was able to find what I needed, head home, make lunch, throw Ivory in bed and convince the remaining children that at least ONE room in the house needed to be clean so Mom wouldn't start hyperventilating. Ivory never went to sleep (cheeky monkey), the girls watched Tinkerbell one more time (before we needed to return it at Redbox) and I worked on the soup some more (we were having a chili/soup cook-off with the Trunk-or-Treat in the evening). Tyler came home early and took the movies back to Redbox while I curled hair, spray-painted hair, threw myself in a costume and eventually painted Tyler's face all while keeping the baby happy, finishing the soup, getting decorations for the car, finding candy bags, and maintaining the noise level in the house. I couldn't even find the little gifts we were going to give away instead of candy, so it was a good thing I bought extra candy the day before. Finally we jumped in the car and were only 10 minutes late. The kids seemed to have a good time and we even got a few pictures, although by then I had given up on being in charge of the camera. The dinner was good, although by the time I got to the table my soup was gone so I didn't even get to try it. All in all, it was an exhausting day. So today is my day off and tomorrow I get to do it all again, but this time in the morning since both kids get to wear costumes to school and then go trick-or-treating at night. Holy cow people, does anyone else feel overwhelmed by being the mom during this crazy holiday season? Don't get me wrong, I love Halloween, but I may hire someone to get everyone ready next year.
Monday we carved pumpkins to match our costumes. We have the unicorn pumpkin since Robyn was the queen of the unicorns. Ivory was Nemo again and June sported the pink Supergirl costume (hence the 'S' on her pumpkin).



I will try to get better pictures of them tomorrow, but here they are last night. Queen of the unicorns:



Nemo: (with a runny nose, poor girl)



and Supergirl:



Oh, and somehow we managed a family picture. I love my family.