When life deals you Candycorn...

So this year’s celebrations were all changed in light of the pandemic. Halloween is no different. This year I decided to forgo Trick or Treating with the kids and opted for some indoor activities. So I came up with some quick activities to do with the kids so they wouldn’t feel like they missed out on trick or treating.

Our first activity was cookie decorating. Let’s just say I felt like we were on an episode of Nailed It because these cookies were far off from my idea of what was going to happen. I originally wanted to get the Pillsbury sugar cookies with the jack o lantern image in the middle of the cookie. Kroger was out of them. This was the beginning of the struggle. Then I went to Micheals and Joann’s to get Halloween sprinkles (with cutouts of pumpkins, bats, etc)- all sold out. Returned to Kroger to get icing to decorate cookies with. I got green, black and white icing. The orange icing was out of stock so I improvised with orange sprinkles. These colors would be used to make jack o lantern, ghost, bat, etc. One small thing I didn’t think about- the tip of the icing was thin and the plain sugar cookies I bought were shaped small. So it was hard for anyone to create these masterpieces I imagined in my head. Then cue Buster’s I just want to put icing and sprinkles everywhere just for the sake of creating a huge mess attitude and this activity was more challenging than I bargained for.

Beanie was making a ghost in this decoration. It was a baby ghost. That’s my story and Im sticking to it.

The second activity was carmel apple decorating. I purchased carmel apple slices and carmel dipping cups. Since I forgot to get fruity gel to decorate the apples with, we would improvise with the icing I already purchased. I then thought why not make Mac and cheese and have apples slices for dinner. It could be Brains and Bugs for dinner (use the icing to draw legs from the apple body). I was telling someone on the phone what they were about to eat when Beanie comes over in the most concerned voice and says, “I don’t want to eat bugs for dinner.” So we ended up just playing in the icing and caramel dipping sauce. I stepped away for a moment to get Beanie into her costume and Buster created the largest mess known to date. I would have taken a picture but I was terrified that in the 2 seconds it took to grab my phone he would smear caramel sauce somewhere else😩

It’s an abstract of the Joker. That’s all I got for ya.

The last activity was our indoor candy scavenger hunt. This by far was a success. The kids loved looking in couch cushions, behind stuffed animals and under pillows for candy. Their mama even had her own bucket to go on the hunt with them.

Who would have thought the pocket in the back of a Fisher Price chair would be a good place to hide candy?🧐

What I thought it would not be enough and was lacking, the kids saw as amazing and enjoyed the quality time with family. Despite all the bumps in the road, I would not change anything because of the joy on their faces. Just because I’m a stay at home mom it doesn’t mean I’m Martha Stewart. Actually I’m far from it. I’m trying to define what stay at home looks like for me. Motherhood is not a one size fits all type of thing. Comparison only robs your gratitude and breeds frustration. Don’t mind the Candycorns that pop up in your Halloween basket because there are 10 more Cherry pull and peel Twizzlers to outweigh that nastyness.

Mama, Beanie and Buster enjoying the fruits of their labor😎