I can’t promise that any of this is going to come together in any kind of coherent way today. I am suffering from the after effects of too much candy corn followed by a few fun size Snickers chasers.
Our Halloween festivities started bright and early on Friday morning as we got Caroline dressed and her face painted for her school’s dress up day. She was a butterfly this year. A sparkly pink and purple butterfly.
For the record, 7:00 a.m. is way too early to paint flowers and vines on someone’s face.
I dropped her off at school and then picked up AJ so we could grab something from Starbucks to give us energy before our day of shopping. The good news is the second dress she tried on turned out to be the perfect dress. But the bad news is I made her spend five more hours at the mall just to make sure it was actually the best dress. No dress left behind is my personal motto.
(That’s not really true. I don’t really have a personal motto. And if I did it would probably be something like “Never miss the chance to take a nap.” But that could just be because Caroline woke me up at 5:45 yesterday morning and I’m coming down off my candy corn high and feel like I’m about to drop.)
AJ and I finished shopping just in time for me to pick up Caroline from school and experience the Friday afternoon that tried to kill me dead. I was one of the first cars in the carpool line but Caroline’s class was late coming out of the school for reasons I still don’t understand. Which means I was that annoying car holding up an entire line of cars and I try very hard to never be that annoying car in any situation. I immediately felt the need to explain the situation to all the cars behind me but of course I can’t do that because then I would be that mother walking around outside of her car and holding up the carpool line.
Finally Caroline came out of the school loaded down with various pieces of her costume and her Black Beauty pumpkin which was much worse off after three days on display in the school library. She hopped in the car and began to melt down as she told me that some fifth grade boys made fun of her in her costume. Naturally, I was ready to put a hit out on some ten-year-old boys. Maybe they needed to wake up to find a Black Beauty pumpkin head on their front porch as a warning sign.
As I pulled out the rest of the story it became apparent that the fifth grade boys were making fun of all the second grade girls and not just Caroline. That doesn’t necessarily mean that they aren’t all juvenile delinquents who need a good spanking, but it did make it a little bit better. I explained that’s what boys do and it’s a good reminder of how important it is to be kind to everyone and remember how it feels when someone hurts your feelings.
We got home and I started to help her put all the pieces of her costume back on because we had plans to go to the Halloween Pixie Skate and the roller rink. And that’s when we realized her sparkly antennae were missing.
Heaven help me.
So we went back up to the school and searched all over for the sparkly antennae that were nowhere to be found. And then I had to start coming up with a back up antennae plan because OH BRITNEY, THIS IS NOT GOING TO END WELL.
Ultimately, she ended up wearing one of her tiaras as a temporary replacement and I tried to sell her on the coolness that is a BUTTERFLY PRINCESS, but I could tell she doubted me. Then we walked into the roller rink only to see her friend’s mama wearing Caroline’s antennae. As it turns out, Caroline had handed her the antennae as she walked out of school because they were falling off her head and the mama had told her she’d bring them to her at the roller rink.
All this falls under the category of things that would have been good to know before I desperately rummaged through all manner of forgotten lunch boxes and smelly sweaters in the school’s lost and found.
But the important thing is that my butterfly was reunited with her sparkly antennae and the world continued to spin on its axis.
Saturday morning, the Cheetah Girls played the best game of their soccer season. And, best of all, Jackson and Will were there to watch her play.
The rest of Saturday is a blur but the important thing is the Aggies beat Texas Tech. And Baylor beat Texas which probably means the end times are upon us.
On Sunday morning, Caroline woke up bright and early at 5:45. I don’t know why.
All I know is that before the day was over, I’d carved pumpkins while she gave me orders like I was working in some sort of Halloween sweatshop.
(What I lack in carving skill, I make up for in enthusiasm. Or at least Caroline makes up for in enthusiasm.)
I made popcorn balls and got a blister on my thumb and pinky finger.
I cooked a batch of chili to take to a Halloween party.
I painted yet another face on my little butterfly but couldn’t get her to really smile for the camera as opposed to making the dramatic faces apparently favored by pink and purple sparkly butterflies.
I channeled the version of myself who lived back in 1988 when my biggest concern was getting the proper height out of my bangs and the right amount of blue eyeshadow.
(Yes. That’s a banana clip in my hair. No. My bangs did not turn out like I wanted. Apparently getting the right height out of your bangs is an acquired skill that I have forgotten. Or maybe your bangs have to be trained over time. Or maybe I just didn’t have enough Aussie Sprunch Spray to get the look I was going for. Or most likely my hair is no longer fried on a steady stream of perm solution and AquaNet.)
I watched P let Caroline dress him up as a vampire.
(A vampire in Birkenstocks and cargo shorts. I don’t know that anyone is going to leave Team Edward for Team P.)
(I’ve only read one of the Twilight books and don’t really understand the hype. I’ll stick with Team P and his Birkenstocks. He’s like a laid-back vampire.)
But most of all, I watched Caroline have the best time making memories I hope she’ll never forget.
And that makes it all worth it.
I think.