Bat Girl drank lots of caffeine-laced tea

• It’s 3:30 p.m.  We have exactly 2.5 hours before trick or treat starts.
• This comes with impending porch parties up and down the street with their enticing hot dogs, mulled cider and bowls of popcorn… and CANDY!
• It’s Friday night; and it’s warm.

We’ve already had enough excitement today to last us until Christmas, so, we’re hunkered down in the basement, watching Mr. Magorium.  We need our rest.

Following today’s REVISED Halloween schedule (note changes underlined), I had exactly 85 minutes to pick up the kids at school, feed them something nutritious to last through the night’s sugar feast, transform them into their costume, and get them back to school in time for the, voila!, parade, and class Halloween parties.

Heaven help you if you plan to drive back and forth to school on this mayhem day. I did, as I was bringing a cooler full of water bottles; I thought it would be too much to carry the cooler for 3 blocks.

The closest parking spot was 1/2 block from my house.  Big savings on the steps there.

I did cook up an awesome barley pilaf, as it’s supposed to stabilize blood sugar for hours. Cooked with lots of butter and a dash of salt.  I know, I couldn’t help myself; I worry about their diet. They each ate one tablespoon — good enough. But can you blame them, when they had these mummy dogs waiting?

Picture courtesy of the Picky Palate.

And I made lots of tea, which I savored in every sweet rare moment I had to sip today.  I think I’ll whip myself up a big mug of chai latte and pour it into a thermos to keep me grounded and centered throughout the inevitable excitement tonight.  But you know, my hands will be full, holding pillow cases full of candy, so I’ll barely have a chance for a sip.

Just like every other parent tonight, I will watch and savor each sweet nothing that will tumble out of the kids adorable mouths tonight, as they walk in awe from house to house, freely collecting their goodies. Stuff I swear I’ll remember forever, but will probably be fleetingly gone out of my mind by morning. Now that I have a 7th grader, I can just relish the fact that some of my kids still think it’s cool to have Mom at their side on trick or treat night — even if she is dressed up as Bat Girl.