{SQT} Costumes and a Launch

Happy Feast of All Saints! It’s November and I’m done making costumes- huzzah! (There is the All Saints party at our church this Sunday, but I believe only Teddy is dressing up and recycling a tunic and armor from previous years with Tony’s help- huzzah!) While there are still a lot of capital letters and exclamation points on the calendar, I somehow feel a bit calmer now that October is past.

Our town held trick or treating on Wednesday due to predicted thunderstorms on Thursday. I had not finished the boys costumes in time for the local Comic Con on Saturday, and was only mildly stressed that now I would not have Thursday morning to finish things up. But, despite the time spent helping Edie figure out how to make a helmet for an oversized paper maché head, I did get Fulton and Teddy’s costumes done- and not in a “Well, this will just have to do because we’re out of tape and trick or treating starts in 15 minutes.” but a “Hey! This actually looks really good and it should last the whole time you’re out ringing doorbells!”.

Ultimately, Byron did not finish a costume and decided to stay in and work on schoolwork…which made me think that maybe we had an invasion of body snatchers or something. I was a bit disappointed he didn’t want to put in the last minute frantic rush to put something together (which I always make look super appealing), but I wasn’t so upset that I was willing to create a whole costume for him out of thin air either. The plan is to work together to come up with a plan for him to finish his original costume before the next local Con. I learned a bunch about helmet creation this time around, so hopefully I can offer some guidance in a non-annoying way that will help him get past the road blocks that stopped him before.

This was our first Halloween in our new town. This meant more houses closer together, and probably more kids knocking at our door. Originally I wanted to set up a whole Halloween display in the garage with snacks and adult beverages, but that idea occurred to me during a month that was not October and as such, was not realistic. Ultimately we had fewer kids visit our home than I expected, but even after only a short time out, our kids had made out like bandits. I think the weather (it was still misty out) kept some families away, plus I’m sure some people didn’t realize trick or treating got moved. Tony took the kids out while I stayed home. I tried to have allergy friendly treats on hand, and I put a teal pumpkin up to let people know, but no one seemed to care how accommodating I was trying to be. FINE. More Airheads and glow sticks for my kids.

Now for a few completely non-Halloween Takes:

Back in September while Teddy was hospitalized, I took the opportunity to redesign and launch a ministry for Catholic special needs parents, called ‘Accepting the Gift’, based on the conference of the same name I held last spring. While I completed many of the backend technical tasks, it’s only been recently that I secured a team of writers, created a Facebook group, and figured out an all important social media strategy. We have a post from Kathryn Casey up today to kick things off, and next Monday there’ll be a giveaway on the Facebook page and Instagram, so go like, follow and do all. the. things. if you’re a Catholic special needs parent who wants to find resources and support from parents just like you!

I’ll be attending Jen Fulwiler’s comedy show ‘The Naughty Corner’ in New York City on November 12th, and so long as nursing comes through, Tony will be coming too! Will we see anyone else there?

Now it’s your turn to share copious amounts of costume pictures. Write down all the deets and link them up below. Be sure to include a link back to this post so your readers can find the rest of the Takes. I look forward to reading your posts!