Halloween + Day with Paul + Weekend Stuff

I’m finally getting around to recapping Halloween. Here is how the day started…

While it’s not out of character for Halloween to be chilly, snow is NOT typical. The boys were thrilled, the adults were not. It had mostly melted by that evening but was still chilly. 

Waiting in the neighbors spookily decorated yard for the block photo! Hard to see their costumes (Spider-Man and Marshall from Paw Patrol) under their winter jackets and such.

Our pumpkin! We always carve a cat. We only have a very part time cat but we are definitely a cat-loving house. 

Paul’s haul. Maybe it will be gone by Christmas?? The boys only get 2 pieces/day. We are super fun parents.

Paul didn’t have school on Friday so I took the day off so I could spend time with him versus trying to work and letting him be on his iPad for hours on end. We started the day by going to the clinic to get both boys’ Covid and flu vaccines. Again, super fun mom. The boys need their vaccines in their thighs since they are so small/petite so I try to plan their appointments when I have a day off. I look forward to a time when we can just go to CVS or Walgreens! 

Post vaccines treats. Donut for Paul, coffee for mom. Will got dropped at school so missed out on the treats. And I was thrilled that our Starbucks has holiday cups this year! Last year they said they didn’t have them because they aren’t recyclable but this year the person said they didn’t buy them last year because they aren’t compostable but their compostable cups were leaking so they just ordered them anyways this year. So who knows the reason. I don’t want to hurt planet earth with my weekly coffee treat but it is very festive to drink out of these cups!

We had a really quiet day together. He watched some shows while I worked on my Christmas card address list and several months of our 2023 Shutterfly photo book. Then admittedly, after lunch I let him have iPad time while I took a much-needed nap. It’s been hard for Phil and I to fight the viruses we’ve had because rest is so hard to come by when you are crazy busy at work and have young kids. I know that sounds like I am throwing a pity party but it’s the reality of life right now. Even on my day off, I was fielding questions and trouble shooting issues that were happening at work. My new hire is helping but I’m still drowning in work and I don’t see it improving anytime soon.

We ended our day with a trip to Paul’s favorite park before picking up Taco. 

The zip line is Paul’s favorite!

When we got home, I raked up a pile of leaves for them so they could jump and play.

So the day wasn’t a complete screenfest… more screens than is ideal but such is life when I’m not feeling super!

Other weekend stuff:

- I was feeling better on Saturday morning so I tried to go for a run. About a mile in, I started coughing so much, I feared I would throw up. The running path is pretty busy so that would have been humiliating. So I walked back home with my tail between my legs. I guess I need to stick with walks. I will probably have to run a 5k on thanksgiving instead of the 10k unless my cough drastically improves soon. 

- I usually pack salads for lunches. I’ve done this for years but this week I hit my breaking point and couldn’t bring myself to eat salads for lunch, maybe because I’m craving comfort when I don’t feel great and salads aren’t a comfort food for me. So this weekend I made a huge amount of a sheet pan meal to have for lunches and to fill the gaps on week nights when we don’t have meal plans. This is way more work than my salad prep but wanting to eat what I planned for lunch is really important. 

Sheet pan meal of the week - chicken sausage, sweet potatoes, broccoli, and peppers.

- It was the end of daylight savings here which I loathe. Why do we manipulate time like this? We let the boys stay up late to watch movies on Friday and Saturday nights and wonder of wonders, they slept until 6:15 on Sunday morning! We did deal with some very crabby boys when we let them stay up until 8:30, but it was worth it to not start my day at a time that starts with the number 5.

Does your area of the world recognize daylight savings time? If so, how did the transition go? Do you hate it as much as I do (I did love falling back pre-kids)? Do you have a favorite sheet pan meal that does not include fish or shrimp (I will NEVER reheat a fish- or shrimp-based meal in a communal kitchen at work because I am a decent human being).