The Scent of a Baby...

Being a grandma has been BTE+
That is a rating system my husband's work used years ago to rate how employees were performing.
Here it is in a nutshell;
LTE - Less than expected
E - Expected
BTE - Better than expected....
And then the plus sign and minus signs gave an even more accurate descriptive power.
The lowest being LTE- and the highest BTE+
As I stated earlier.....Katelyn + grand mothering = BTE+
(There might even have to be a new category: BTE++)
Some of the things I already knew I would enjoy.
Her soft skin, her first smiles, her little sleeping positions, her laughter.
I expected those.
I forgot though the smell.
Babies smell better than anything.
Even better than "new car" smell or "clean house"

Particularly after a bath. This is Katelyn's very first bad just hours after her birth.
She loved it.

I think that the scent should be bottled....
WAIT....STOP THE PRESSES!!!
IT HAS!

That's right folks baby cologne.
Now you too can have that baby magic scent in your world without even having a baby.
Now I've seen everything.

Showed it twice on purpose.
It is one of my favorite pictures EVER!
Now go and freshen up with some cologne.

Public Service Announcement Numero Dos

I have warned you about swallowing watch batteries.
I have warned you about healthy eating.
Now comes another very important warning.
Jalapenos are hot!
And even more importantly they should not be used as a lip balm or lip stick.
Please people don't just shrug this off and say. "Duh Shelley"
Let me be the voice of warning.
A couple of weeks ago I was preparing my colorful black bean salsa for my family.
Yes, as part of my "healthy lifestyle" changes. (ironical voice)
I usually put in:
Black beans
Corn
Celery
Green Onions
Cilantro
Sea Salt
Lime Juice
and that is it. I am not a fan of spicy foods.
Here is my policy:
Eating and Pain should not be combined.
It is a fairly simple rule that has served me well in my life as well as protected my taste buds from destruction. My husband Todd has no taste buds left since he thinks the hotter the better.
(Which all in all is good for a wife since he always thinks my cooking is sooooo good)
He has passed down his love of spicy foods to our children.
Particularly the love of the Jalapeno.
One of his favorite treats is Jalapeno Kettle Chips. Every time he would treat himself to a bag the kids would clamor around him. He loved watching their little faces the first time they would try one. But since they were young and didn't know any better....they liked them.
I on the other hand do NOT....not only do I not like the spiciness, I do NOT like the flavor or the smell.
A bag of Jalapeno chips pretty much assured Todd of no close contact with me for awhile.
Well I guess last week I was trying to show off a little.
I wanted Todd and Megan and Dave to be a part of my "healthy lifestyle" changes too.
(Once again not out of love but out of a perverse need for others to be as miserable as I)
So I said, Get some jalapenos and we will put them in the salsa.
I mean I am a tough girl. I could handle it.
And I was not about to eat healthy by myself.
I was careful to cut them and take out the seeds and the spines which I know are the hottest part.
The millions of hours of Food Network had taught me something.
But I eschewed their advice on rubber gloves.
Really people!
It's not brain surgery.
I diced the first pepper into bits and wondered how many jalapenos I should include.
For those of you who aren't familiar with the jalapeno.....some are mild and some are CALIENTE and the only way to know is to taste.
I asked Megan who loves spice to try one and tell me how hot they were.
"No way" she smartly said.
Well once again I am a tough girl and so to show just how tough I was I said,
"Fine then! I will"
Those fateful words were the last I uttered pain free that night.
As soon as the tiny piece hit my tongue I knew what a mistake I had made.
Can you say MUY CALIENTE!!!!!!
I quickly took it out of my mouth and ran to the sink where I went gasping for water.
I wasn't thinking straight since I know you are suppose to drink milk or eat a cracker but pain has a way of altering your knowledge.
I gulped water straight out of my hands like a dying man.
And then I swiped them across my lips......
BIG MISTAKE!
The pain on my tongue was child's play compared to the burning of my lips and the skin that surrounded them. For as any true Texan cook knows...the oil of the Jalapeno on your hands is far worse than the taste in your mouth.
Now here is where my words fail me.
I cannot describe the pain to you other than to say....
You know when you  touch something in the oven and it burns?
Think about just keeping your finger there while it is searing and not drawing back.
Intense.....
I took the lid off of my Route 44 and stuck my whole face in it. That was the only relief I could find.
I was pretending that it didn't hurt that much.
(You know...tough girl)
But I guess my whole face stuck in a Diet Coke was a dead give away.
Megan and Dave started telling me remedies that they knew.
"Eat bread"
"Drink milk"
I did.
I went from item to item trying to stave off the pain.
Dave, ever the helpful action hero, looked on the internet and said....Rub a dairy product on the burn.
I grabbed the first thing I saw.
Cottage cheese....I smeared it on my lips and around them. I looked like a white version of Bette Davis in "Whatever happened to Baby Jane"
Then I tried Greek Yogurt. Smearing it everywhere the skin was searing hot.
I now approached a look of a reverse made up clown.
"Try Apple Cider Vinegar"
I did.
The memory of the stinging will always haunt me.
Dave reads a site on the internet that says that sometimes people end up in the ER and have blistering and pain for days.
He looks at me with yogurt  cheese and vinegar spread all over my mouth and says, "I think we should go to the ER."
Ummmmm....pain or vanity?
Tough choice.
This is too humiliating to go to the ER I tell him. So he took matters into his own hands and went to Walgreens where he bought what the pharmacist said would work.
Lidocaine!
I applied it over the layers of home remedies and finally began to feel relief.
Ah blessed numbness.

The upside of all of this?
Angelina Jolie lips for about 6 hours.

A Public Service Announcement.

Look how bright and colorful.
You know that you eat with your eyes before it ever hits your palate.
This is a meal to delight all of the senses.
Well except for one that is.
It smells good.
It looks good.
It sounds good. (crunch crunch)
It even feels good.
So hmmmm I wonder what sense I have left out?

This on the other hand is NOT very colorful.
It is mostly browns and beige.
It does not feel good to your hand. It is very sticky.
The smell is not as strong.
It does not make a snapping sound in your mouth.
It really only appeals to one of the senses......
TASTE!
This message has been brought to you by someone very grouchy and bitter about her "healthy lifestyle" changes.
She would like you to join her.
Not because she is worried about your health.
But because misery LOVES company.

Extra Energy for Kate

Life is dangerous.
There is always something you can worry about, try to avoid or try to prepare for.
My Megan is a Class A Number 1 worrier.
(I have NO idea where she gets it from)
I tell her all the time that usually the things we worry about most never happen.....
And the things we hadn't even thought of...well do happen.
Megan has been worried about Katelyn choking since.....
Well since her first breath I guess.
Every time Kate clears her throat I see Megan spring in to the Heimlich Maneuver position.
When Kate started eating food Megan cut everything up into minute pieces.
Which was fine until Kate decided that she wanted to feed herself.
The pieces were so tiny that she would have needed a microscope.
And that's a mean thing to do to a little person who is just figuring out how to use her thumb and forefinger.
I did not share that same fear.
I was a battle hardened mother of three.
One of my children who shall remain nameless, would stuff HIS mouth so full that it would set off his gag reflexes immediately and there would be sounds coming from his mouth that no mother should have to hear.
HE could eat a banana in three bites.
Our pediatrician said that I should cut everything up into tiny pieces so that he would not choke.
I did.
HE just waited until my back was turned and then HE would just scoop them all up into a pile and shove them into HIS mouth.
I would know this because of the awful gagging noises.
I hate to say this but I got use to the sound.
So much so that when we would go out to eat, I would forget that it was unusual and would always be surprised at the terrified look on the other patrons faces. I would just give them a wave so that they knew everything was okay and to go back to eating their normal sized pieces of food.
(By the way HE who shall remain nameless still eats like that minus the noise)
So Kate's little coughs never scared me one bit.

Last Sunday I was sitting on the floor during Relief Society (women's organization) meeting at church.
Kate is so wiggly that it is just easier to join her on the floor than try to hold her on my lap.
She likes to sit close, which of course is no problem for this Grandma.
She was sitting against me with her back to me playing with toys from my purse.
Her mother was sitting facing her on the piano bench listening to the teacher.
I was concentrating on trying to name every sister in the room.
I game I like to play which I picked up as RSP.
I was stuck on one sister in particular.
I knew her but I could NOT remember her name!
I hate when that happens and so I concentrated even harder trying to block out all distractions.
All of a sudden I felt a rush of adrenaline and panic.
"Check Katelyn's mouth"
The message was quick and clear.
I stuck my finger in and swept over her slippery little tongue and pulled out....
A watch battery
For a second I just stared down at it, for sure that my eyes were playing tricks on me.
I thought, of all the things she could have swallowed that would not have alarmed me...
A penny,
old food,
A bug,
Dirt,
anything but a battery.
Where did it come from. This is not somebody's house but Church for Pete's sake. I scanned the floor and saw a second little shiny button battery.
I looked in the garbage can next to us and saw a broken key chain that had a little light where the batteries had come from.
How many batteries were in it to begin with I wondered?
I signaled for Megan to follow me out in the hallway, not wanting to alarm her but not feeling confident that there were only two.
I looked up what to do on my phone while she fiddled with the case to see if it looked like there was only two batteries to begin with.
On Google I punched in...
"baby swallows watch battery"
Thousands of articles came up, but the one that caught my eye first was
"Toddler dies from swallowing watch battery"
No I am not ready that one OR showing it to Megan.
I find the poison control centers advice.
Watch batteries are particularly dangerous because they do not have much protective coating on them to keep the battery acid from leaching. If it is able to pass through to the stomach then usually there is no harm, but if it gets stuck in the esophagus it can be fatal. The child should immediately be x-rayed.
Both of us studied the broken key light.
Were there two batteries or three?
After calling the pediatrician, her mother and father decided that it was not a question that we could leave up to chance.
So I watched as their little family loaded up their car for their first trip to the emergency room with a child.
I hope that it is their last....
Something tells me that with life...we never know.

P.S. Xrays showed no battery. Whew! Katelyn was perfectly fine.
P.S.S. When her Dad was waiting in the ER he told a joke that no one laughed at. I did though when they came home.
He was asked if she had any other symptoms from swallowing the battery and he said,
"No just a little extra energy"
Ba ha ha ha ha ha.
You crack me up Dave!

Crocheting Grandma...Sexy?....I think so.

I started to feel the gravitational pull towards crocheting about 5 months before this little ball of yarn entered into my life.
It started out innocently enough with a pretty ball of yarn that was on sale.
I rationalized it's purchase because I could use it to make photography props for my new career.
My beautiful friend Jenelle made all sorts of baby caps, cocoons and diaper covers. Each one was so well done and I was jealous of her ability. Until I remembered that I too knew how to crochet.
Well that is a little bit of an overstatement.
I had made hanger covers and dish cloths.
Worried that crocheting might mark me as an "old person" or even worse..."a granny", I comforted myself by rationalizing that Jenelle was one of the hippest, coolest and youngest friend I had.
That's right I thought...... crocheting is COOL!
This isn't your grandma's sport anymore....
So I embarked on the adventure of hipster crocheting, learning how to read patterns and buying trendy colors of yarn.
I even made a kitty hat for my sweet niece Miss Lisa who is ALWAYS on the cutting edge of what's hot and  edgy.
I acquired yarn by the skeinfuls not even knowing what the next project would be...only knowing that the soft ombre colors made me happy.....and cool.
Until I caught a reflection of myself one day in the mirror.
Messy  graying ponytail, old sweatshirt,  squinting through my reading glasses.....
 and I knew that I was definitely not on the cool train to Edgyville.
Darn it!
I AM a grandma!
I still haven't lost hope though. I found these pictures as I was meandering down my local Hobby Lobby's yarn aisle.

 These women obviously know how to keep that sexy edge while crocheting.
So I know there is hope.
I plan on having my hair and make-up done and I am practicing my sexy smile.
I will learn how to crochet will I smize.
So with that in mind I have picked out a few new projects to up my crocheting street cred.

and then on to sewing.
I am thinking this outfit would really give me the cool factor for any jobs I might book.
In short.
Watch out world.
I may be a grandma but,
I still got it!

I Matter....

Funny story.....

I was going through my lists of posts since it has been awhile since I have blogged.

I came across a post entitled..I Matter. It was an unpublished draft.

I couldn't quite remember writing it and since I thought that it sounded interesting I opened it up.

Obviously I did not finish the post since it is literally a cliff hanger.

And now for the life of me I can't remember what it was that I wanted to say.

Isn't old age grand?

I am going to ponder it tonight while I try and sleep

(Isn't old age grand?)

And if I remember what it was that was going to convince me that I MATTER and that you do as well I will get back  to you and write

I Matter part 2.

If any one else feels inspired to finish this clearly inspired post feel free. 

It will be like the game we use to play in elementary school where someone started a story and then it went around in a circle until it's conclusion.

Meanwhile while you are waiting....please believe that I REALLY do think that you and I matter.

Honest.

Sunday, I taught Relief Society for the first time in awhile.
(Relief Society is the LDS organization for women and what a wonderful organization it is)
Thankfully the message I was to deliver is right up my alley and one I feel very passionate about lately.
It really has been on my mind the last two years as I have tried to make a "graceful" (a word not often used to describe me) transition into the next phase in my life.
I have gone from full time mother....
To part time photographer, part time Real estate courier, part time mother (if that is even possible?) and
FULL TIME SHELLLEY!!
That's right full time Shelley is back and for awhile did not know what to do with herself.
The lesson on Sunday answered that question in a beautiful way that really resonated with what I have learned (and NOT the easy way) over the last two years.
I felt so strongly about this message that I gave each woman a challenge (and candy of course...duh)
Was to post within daily site and repeat every day these two words.
I MATTER!
I also asked them to share it with at least one more person because the message needs to be said and felt more than ever in our world.
And so you are the person I want to share it with.
I wish I could sit down with you and share a Route 44 Diet Coke with Cranberry and extra ice....
(and by share I mean you get your drink and I get mine....I don't share my drink with anyone)
and tell you this face to face.
This will have to do.
We spend a LOT of time as human beings on measuring.
We measure our time by seconds, minutes, hours, days and years
We measure our food by meals and standards like small, medium and large and the all important Route 44.
We measure our education by degrees and standardized tests.
We measure our height and weight by the numbers and then classify ourselves into categories of short, thin, fat, average.
We measure our children by the milestones they reach, the grades that they make and the awards they receive.
It's not that measuring is a bad thing
But it can get in our own way.

Watching Paint Dry and Awards

My dear sweet daughter Megan nominated my blog for an award.....

Of course I am sure that there was no bias in the awarding of this honor....

So I gladly accept this wonderful prize and I would like to thank the academy and the foreign film press and my Mom and Dad and all the little people.....
Oh wait there is a little catch.
I have to answer a few questions first to deserve the accolades.
And so here they are...

1. If you had to eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?
That's an easy one. I have even given quite a bit of thought to it. Why you ask? This is a question that if asked quickly you do NOT want to get wrong. I have many favorite foods and as you all know sugar tops that list but you have to consider health and wellness if you want to have a "rest of your life". So the answer would have to be bread.
2. What is your favorite memory from college?
That has to be meeting the man of my dreams. Although we grew up in the same stake here in Houston I never laid eyes on him until we met outside my dorm room in Helaman Halls. I can honestly say that I have never met a more handsome, kind, sweet man in my life and I know that we were destined to be together forever
3. If you had to choose a different career (besides teaching and mothering) what would it be?
Lol I think I have already done so......
Hello....PHOTOGRAPHY!!!
But I would be working for National Geographic....dream job!
4. What was your craziest motherhood moment?
There were many....far far too many but the one that springs to mind with you was when I was wheeling you through Target....you were about 2 or 3 years old with quite a vivid imagination and vocabulary. You had been quiet for a few minutes (that should have tipped me off to trouble right there) and I was looking at a pair of scissors, deciding which one to buy. All of a sudden in a very loud voice you cried, "Please Mommy please don't cut me with those scissors!" I quietly put down the scissors and in my sweetest voice (the public sweet voice that let you know you were in real trouble) said out loud to the people staring at us that mommy had NEVER ever cut you with scissors. I could see them all racing to their phones to call CPS.
5. What is your favorite quote and why?
That's is a hard one but recently it has been:
I choose to excel; not compete.
Oh and the classic...When it is your time to go.....Go.
6. What did you want to be when you were a kid?
I knew that I would be an actress like the kids on Brady Bunch.
7. If your life were made into a movie, what would it be called?
"Who would ever pay to go to a movie about my life" That would be the title.
8. If you could interview anyone from any point in history, who would it be?
Eve
9. If you had to change your name, what would you change it to?
Champ
10. What compliment do you receive the most often?
What a wonderful daughter I have.
Go read her blog at meganarratives.blogspot.com

The Two New Men in my Life

What's new?
Well.....I will just come out and admit it.
There are two new men in my life.
There I said it.
Feels good to have it all out in the open.
One is a sea-faring man, an officer whose nutty ways always bring a smile to my face.
The other is sleek, dark and handsome with an ability to bring sunshine and music into my life.
I had always thought that "mid-life" crisis relationships were only for men. I didn't even realize that I was looking for them until they appeared in my life like ships that pass in the night.
Let me just dispense with the suspense and introduce you.
Mystery Man #1

The Cap'n

I wish that I knew what power this old man has over me lately. Heck I don't even think that he is even officially in the military. He doesn't call himself Captain Crunch but Cap'n.....suspicious.  The missing finger is a problem and well I have never been big on a man with facial hair.... Growing up my mother always bought Cap'n Crunch cereal as I suspect it was what could be purchased the cheapest. I didn't even like it then. I would usually just dig around in the box, pull out all the crunch berries and see if there was some prize to be had.

But doggone it.....This is ALL I want to eat anymore.

I think my record is 9....

Nine straight days of peanut butter Cap'n Crunch for dinner.

I hear whispers behind my back  from my children about a possible "crunchervention" being planned.

I find myself wanting alone time so that the Cap'n and I could meet without the stares and comments.

"Cap'n Crunch AGAIN??"

Todd offers all the time to take me out to dinner....anywhere I want......but truly this is my manna.

This is what I want.

I am fully blaming peri-menopause for this one.

That and the fact that after 50 years of not eating hamburgers, the only thing that can entice me away from my maritime friend is a western bacon cheeseburger at Smashburger.

I have always despised peanut butter, ground beef and barbeque sauce....the very three foods which are currently keeping me alive.

Mystery man number 2 you ask?

Black Jack

My new car.

Yes he is a guy.

Todd said that it was impossible and that all cars are girls but he is wrong.

This guys a dude! I am positive as I checked under the hood.

What is strange about this new man in my life is that I didn't even know that I wanted him.

I have always been apathetic about my mode of transportation, even going so far as to look down a little on others who went on and on about a certain make or model. Never wanting a vehicle to be a status symbol which represented me, I always said, "All I need is for a car to be reliable, take me from point A to point B, and have air conditioning. (which in Houston is not a frivolous request but an actual necessity)  

So when it came time to get a new vehicle the conversation went like this:

Todd: Well what kind of car do you want?

Me: I don't care...whatever.

Todd: Really?

Me: Well I am sick of driving around in an empty van. I feel like a sad retired school bus driver with no children. My voice echoes when I sing along with the radio.

Todd: Are we ready to make the leap to only having sedans? What if we need to haul something? How will we take everyone places when they come to visit?

Me: I don't want to haul anything and they will just have to bring their own cars.

Todd: What about camera equipment?

Me: Valid point....SUV then?

Todd: Great! What kind of SUV then?

Me: Oh I don't care....whatever is the best price and reliable.........

and...........

a sun roof.

(Here is where I start to become a different person....one theory.....recent change of diet)

and American made.....

Ford perhaps.....

And definitely not white but any other color....

Or maybe grays and blacks.....

A few weeks later I find myself negotiating with the slick used car salesman Abraham...

I stride in and before I even shake his hand I say,

I want a Ford Escape 2011 or newer....black.....dark interior......under 25,000 miles and it has to have a sunroof. And I won't pay more than 19,000 Do you have that??

Nope? 

See ya!

Who am I???

As I evaluate my sudden interest in cars over a bowl of crunchy cereal I realize that I need to just go to Todd and tell him to buy me whatever is the most reliable car, that gets me from point A to point B and has air conditioning for the best price he can find.

He smiles and says, "we will find something."

That sweet man found me Black Jack.

And it is everything I asked for.

2012,Ford Explorer, black, sleek, sexy and the sun shines on my head as I go from point A to point B.

So is Todd worried about the two new men in my life?

How could he?

With a man like this...

There is NEVER any competition.

5 friends Part 1

My daughter Megan and I were talking today
(we are able to do that a lot while we spend our days feeding, rocking and staring at the little princess.)
And we agreed upon two things.
1. That we were both married to some of God's finest men on earth.
and
2. Sometimes you just gotta talk to a woman no matter how great said men are.
Females need other females.
I know and have known some wonderful females in my half a century on earth.
Today I started thinking about the ones who made an imprint on my life.
If only for a brief time.

I could think of with 5.
Each from a different time and place in my life.
All of them now not a active participant in my world but a treasured memory. Only one of the 5 do I even still keep in contact with and know where they are.
But each one was played a part in my life.

Lana was my first friend.
She was three almost four and I had just turned 5. Her mother thought it would be a good idea for me to come and play with her since she was an only child, adopted by two people who were over the moon with the opportunity to be parents. I was disgusted with the idea of playing with a "baby" who was still three and I remember being very ticked at my mother for agreeing to the arrangement. It was a done deal though and so I trudged down the hill and around the corner to Lana's house in the cul de sac. I entered a world which I never knew existed. Lana being the only child had EVERYTHING! I mean it....everything. She had every doll, toy and game that I knew of. For Easter she would get two or three baskets of candy, milk chocolate, white chocolate (I didn't even know that existed) and bunnies the size of  an infant. I remember one basket was even made of chocolate. Don't even start with how Christmas was celebrated. She had (brace yourself) a TV in her room. For those old enough to remember the 60's....a family was lucky to have one TV in the den! And for lunch her mother made her whatever she wanted. She served Lana (brace yourself again) Fluffer Nutter Sandwiches!!!! That's peanut butter with marshmellow creme people!! For LUNCH!!
Okay I am calm again.
Even though there was every reason to hate her with her abundance and being a baby and all....we clicked and I loved playing with her (or it might have been her stuff but hey I was 5)
I was very sad when after three years I had to move from New Jersey to West Virginia and leave Lana behind. It was my first taste of friendship sadness.
(and boy did I miss those sandwiches....my mom was not on board with those for lunch)
Years later in 2001 I went back to the street...Fawn Ridge Drive....and stood outside the old house. I walked to the side of the yard to look where we had played tag and "Planet of the Apes"....a game we had invented after seeing the movie. I walked down the street and around the corner to Lana's house where her parents still live. They greeted us like long lost friends and welcomed us into their home. They told us all about Lana and the wonderful life she had in New York City.  I could just picture her sitting by a window of her high rise condo in a beautiful sequined gown looking over the skyline with a TV in every room and a giant chocolate bunny. It was good to sit and chat with her parents and remember old times....But dang it if there were no fluffer nutters.
Friend 2 to follow.....Linda and my teenage years. :o

Plan B

Megan had one of those "mommy" days.
You know the ones where the baby is fussy
You feel exhausted
And there is just a dark cloud that seems to hover over you no matter what you do.
I had my fair share of those.
So I know what they look and feel and sound and smell like.
And to add the cherry on the top.
Deep down inside you know that you are so blessed and fortunate to be right where you are under that dark cloud, tired and listening to her cries and so you feel ungrateful to go along with the plethora of emotions that surge through your postpartum body.
I also felt a little listless today as well.
And so I came up with a magnificent solution.
We would work ourselves out of our funk.
We would do all we could to make the sweetie baby happy and then we would organize our world, letting her cry if need be.
Two women shoulder to shoulder...
In the trenches of domestic warfare.
Two generations of strength and resolve ready to tackle our emotions head on.
Our mother daughter shoulders to the wheel.
Megan went about cleaning the kitchen while I labored to put everything in it's place, moving from room to room like a man on a mission.
The baby was not thrilled with our new found determination but we remained strong to her protests.
We moved her from the floor to the swing to the jumper to her stomach to her back to the floor and well you get the picture.
After a hour or so I caved in a little
My grandma resolve not as resolute as I had planned.
She thrust out her arms and formed a human T, arching her back so that I could pick her up easier.
I looked over at Megan folding a massive mountain of laundry with tears in her eyes.
Plan B
I scooted Megan out the door with an errand to buy baskets at the dollars store with a coupon to chickfila in her hand for a free sandwich.
I assured her that it was an important task and that I would hold down the fort...chief baby and all.
And then I layed on the carpet beside Kate and spent the next hour just enjoying every moment with her.
Kissing her soft brown hair and listening to her squawking attempts at conversation.
I silently prayed and thanked God for the opportunity to enjoy a new life to it's fullest.
Not like I did with my own.
Tired and worried with the weight of the world on my shoulders.
But from a new vantage point.
From a grandmas perspective.

 And I knew what I wanted to tell Megan when she got home.
I wanted her to know that she is doing an amazing job with my sweet grandchild.
That she has met and exceeded all of my expectations of her.
That she is mother that I am proud to call my daughter.
And Kate is lucky to have been born to her.
And although the hormone fairy delivers a bad day once in awhile.
She is doing the most important job in the world.
And she is doing it amazingly.

Halloween...SERIOUSLY!

A sweet friend on facebook asked me to post pictures of my Halloween decoration.
She really knows the way to my heart.
I am not quite finished with them.
There are a few cobwebs to place and a few rats to place in strategic places, so while you are waiting....
Well maybe SOMEONE is waiting...
Here are some pictures from last year.
On the downside.....
It was the first time that I had been away from home for the holidays.
On the upside it was the first Halloween that I was with ALL of my kids since 2005!!
What a wonderful treat that was.
Megan pregnant with her first little ghoul...I mean girl.
Jack my pumpkin carving enthusiast who loves it just as much as I do.
And Lauren my talented makeup artist. What that girl can do with eyeliner!!
What I was unaware of though was Utah residents love of Halloween decorations!
My goodness they were festive.
In Megan and Daves neighborhood alone there were 20 or so houses that were spookily bootiful!

But there was ONE HOUSE....
I mean pirate palace.....
These mateys are the REAL DEAL....I tell you.....even I...the self proclaimed Queen of Halloween was speechless....

It was even more spectacular at night.
They had skull and crossbones projected on the garage door and windows that looked like pirate flags blowing in the wind.
They piped in jaunty sea shanties like the soundtrack from Pirates of the Caribbean and one song in particular which still plays a loop in my brain from time to time.
"What do you do with a drunken sailor....what do you do with a drunken sailor....what do you do with a drunken sailor early in the morning...
Shave his belly with a rusty razor...shave his belly with a rusty razor....."
Well you get the point.
The only thing I could do to answer back to their challenge was have my professional makeup artist make me as scary as possible.
(not as hard a task as one might think)

 The trick or treaters were ADORABLE!
My favorite of the night?

They got extra candy....in fact they got my FAVORITE candy
FUN DIP!!!!
All of the kids were given a choice of that or snickers...
Fun dip won EVERYTIME!

My lovely niece Lisa picked Fun Dip too ;)
There were a couple of trick or treaters in the house as well...

 Johnny Appleseed

And a pirate family with their baby parrot. Argggg.
And of course no Halloween would be complete without the annual Winn pumpkin carving contest.
(where EVERYONE winns)

All in all it was an amazing Halloween.
And the best part....
being with my kids.
I think I love them even MORE than I love Halloween!
(but not by too much )
BOO!