We carved our pumpkin the night before Halloween. He is loosely based on Mickey Mouse. Daddy drew the face and both Mommy and Daddy took turns cutting out his features. Hallie was the official "face puller." She eagerly pulled out the eyes, nose and mouth after they were cut. We like to name our jack-o-lanterns every year. This year, we thought he looked like an Eddy.
If you are totally DONE with Halloween (which I finally am), I apologize. But, I have to document our last three days of spooky revelry. We made Halloween themed food right up through October 30. And then I was too burnt out to do anything fancy on the big day! Isn't that a riot? I did do a batch of spiced cider. Here are the final things we made: monster mouth tacos, witch finger cookies (such a blast), caramel apples, and snake stromboli. The snake stromboli was a little stumpy so I decided he was slug stromboli instead.
On the night we carved our pumpkin, we had ghost hot chocolate to warm us up. We also toasted pumpkin seeds. We did one batch of traditional salted and one batch of Ranch flavored. We liked them both.
I had so much fun with the festive food again this year. I promise I don't have all the time in the world to do this. I accomplish it because I am a "meal planner" anyway. I plan out my meals one week in advance so during October I just planned around my Halloween magazines. Most of the recipes were so quick, they ended up being easier than the usual meals I make during the week. Not that I spend two hours at dinner; but I usually take anywhere from 20- 45 minutes.
I love Halloween. I just love holidays in general. If you read this blog frequently, you probably have deduced that already. Here are photos of our recent festivities.
Would you like to see one of my most treasured pictures of all?
.JPG)
This is Grandma and Grandpa Skaggs with two-week-old baby Hallie.
In early 2006, doctors discovered a large tumor in my grandfather's bladder. In June of that year, he went in to have the tumor removed. After several hours, the doctors reported that Grandpa was recovering but that they did not remove the tumor. It was too large and it would have been unsafe. When my Mom gave me that phone call my life changed forever. I knew it meant Grandpa's time on earth was very limited. I can recall vividly the grief I felt that day. I remember what it felt like to be six months pregnant and to ball up in a fetal position on the couch just sobbing. It was one of the hardest days of my life.
One week later, I flew from Idaho to California and visited Grandpa who was recovering from surgery in the hospital. The things I most remember from that visit are 1.) how many times he told me I looked beautiful, 2.) how many times he asked other people "Doesn't Michelle look beautiful?" 3.) How proud he was that I was awarded a full-paid scholarship for my last semester of college 4.) How he asked other people if they had heard about my scholarship 5.) his frail shoulders under his hospital gown 6.) and what an honor it was to spoon ice chips into his mouth.
The summer progressed and so did my pregnancy. I couldn't attend our family reunion that August because I was too pregnant to travel that far. On September 21, our little Hallie was born. The following day was the last day my Grandpa climbed the stairs in his home. He made the journey upstairs to add Hallie Laine's name to our family history files. My parents informed me that his health was rapidly declining and encouraged me to visit when possible. At first, we were planning to come down for Thanksgiving. But Chris and I felt strongly that we needed to fly home right away. That was one of the best decisions we've ever made. Hallie was just two weeks old when she took her first plane ride.
The treasured picture is from Hallie's baby blessing. Our family gathered in my grandparent's living room. In a standard baby blessing, men stand in a circle and hold the baby. But in this case, dining room chairs were placed in a circle and the men sat to accommodate Grandpa in his wheel chair.
The last day I saw my grandfather was that Monday. We chatted in the living room as he sat as comfortably as possible in a wing back chair. After a time, he grew weary and retired to the bedroom. I didn't know if he would sleep right away and I didn't know if I could see him before he left, so I stood up and gave him a quick hug. As I pulled away from the hug I could tell he was in pain. The cancer by that time was deep in his leg bone. Yet he didn't utter a word of complaint and did everything to hide it from his face.
Several minutes later, when Grandpa was settled in his bed, he called for our little family. Chris and I scooted into the room with Hallie in her infant seat. We spent twenty minutes engaging in the most beautiful dialogue. I told Grandpa that he was one of my best friends. I told him I would miss him for my entire life. I told him what an honor it was to grow up so close to him and to sit next to him in church and hold his hand. He told me that he wished Grandma was in the room to hear all those beautiful things because they were even more beautiful when shared with a spouse. I told him how thankful I was that he wrote such a beautifully detailed autobiography-- that some nights I stayed up late reading it because it was like I could hear his voice across the miles. He told me how much he loved me and how proud he was of me and he said beautiful things about Chris. He loved Chris. I kissed him and hugged him continuously. I left the room feeling refreshed. I knew it was the last time I would see him. And even though it was much too soon, I had closure. He was still lucid and bright, loving and dignified. And he stayed that way until the last breath.
Several weeks later, I called him on a Thursday night. His voice was cracked and hoarse. But I got to tell him I loved him and how much I loved being a mother. And he told me he loved me. Friday night he drifted into an unconscious state and on Sunday morning we received the call. That was three years ago yesterday.
When we received Hallie's first birthday card from Grandma Skaggs it said "Happy Birthday Hallie! I am so happy Grandpa got to meet you!" I cried with both sadness and joy.
And here we are three years later. At first, I would think of him and cry. It wasn't just tender-- it was a gaping, aching wound kind of tender. Now, I still feel sadness but it is much easier. More than any other feeling, I feel gratitude. How was I so lucky to be born in to such a family? How was I so privileged to get such wonderful grandparents? How was I so lucky to have them at every high school performance? How was I so lucky to get a good farewell with him-- to say everything I needed to say? How am I so blessed to know that he will be my grandfather forever and that I will see him again someday. What a gift.
Hallie just saw me crying and asked what's wrong. I told her I was thinking of my grandpa. She gently stroked my arm and said in a slow, tender way "Oh Mom, do you miss your grandpa?" Grandpa would have loved that.
Last Saturday we made our annual trip to the pumpkin patch. This year, we tried a new location, Wishing Star Farms. At the farm, Hallie rode a horse, petted every farm animal imaginable, and went on a choo-choo train (twice). We were able to take a hay ride as a family. The pictures make it look really cold. It was more windy than anything. We learned that Claire does not tolerate wind. But, as long as she was tucked away in Daddy's coat, she was a happy snuggle bug. She even fell asleep. 
Our family picture complete with one worried pumpkin and one sleeping pumpkin
on the train ride 
safe in Daddy's jacket 
in hay bliss 
patting her hay bale best friend 
on the hay ride 
the pig patiently waits for the restroom 
feeding the horse 
feeding the goat 
I thought the pig would eat her 
precious 
in the barn 
I love this picture-- we look so happy. But check out my death grip on her sweater. 
safe on Daddy's shoulders 
before Claire ditched me for Daddy 
decorating our sugar cookies
pumpkins and candles . . . two favorites!
We baked pumpkin white chocolate chip drop cookies together (some of my white chocolate chips were green). These taste like pumpkin pie and are so soft.
Hallie and I made spiders (we cut and painted old egg cartons). Hallie made one for each family member. These are the Hallie and Claire spiders.
We made "witch hands. "
Our annual haunted houses. Hallie insisted that she put her candy "in" her house and not "on" her house. I did it on a smaller scale than previous years and it was much easier. But, let's not talk about all the black sprinkles I had to sweep up.
My weekly chalkboard menu. Here is this week. Last week's meals were spookier-- jack-o-lantern pizza and jack-o-lantern cheeseburgers. Too bad we were too sick to make them. This Sunday we are going to do our annual Halloween themed meal though.
.jpg){kind=link}
