Halloween Inadequacy - AGAIN!

Attention all MWOBS - this is one happy week because today I present our second guest "blogger", one of my hard-core friends, Karen.   I met Karen in the early days of reality television when "reality" was not a dirty word.  She is an Emmy award-winning (true!) producer who left the glitz of a Los Angeles life in television to pursue a career where she receives absolutely NO accolades for the brilliant job she does.  Yes, she is a SAHM.  Beseiged by feelings of inadequacy, Karen spends her days mothering her three gorgeous girls and staring at piles of paper to organize.  We hope to hear more stories from her world... 

From Karen:

I decided to jump into the fray that is Moms Without Blogs.  And the multitude of parent-provided Halloween pleasures my kids are experiencing drove me to it! I would not be writing this if I was the parent providing this pleasure, of course. I consider MWOB a place that parents like me can say it like it is with no judgement, right? A sort of online support group for those of us who can't possibly measure up to what is out there in mom-land.

Okay here is the fall-out I'm dealing with today: My 8 yr old daughter came home from her 2nd halloween party last night with the 3 crafts she made and a treat bag. She narrowly missed winning the most creative costume prize, something sketchy about miscounted votes and hanging chads...hmmm - bummer cause she clearly needs more loot! I decided to take a picture of the crafts and treats that I didn't think of, didn't shop for, and didn't help create. Bottom line I didn't have anything to do with the pride and happiness Abby exuded when she showed them to me. The only thing I did was drive three blocks at 4:55 to drop her off and then again at 6:55 to pick her up. Oh wait, I dribbled some fake blood out of her lip at 4:45.

This experience led me to contemplate how continually lame I am when it comes to Halloween. I'll just share a few disappointments my kids have experienced in my household just THIS Halloween - not counting all the other equally disappointing ones (I've lost count of how many times my girls have asked us to host Halloween parties to no avail):

1) My 13-year-old is disappointed that last year she missed Halloween parties with her friends because we were in San Diego, that is dredged up AGAIN because she is missing THIS year's Halloween parties with her friends because we'll be in Lake Arrowhead at a wedding. She is also disappointed that the horror film that she and 2 friends made for a school film festival has fallen culprit to our unpredictable, ancient, falling-apart Hi-8 video camera - and after the FOURTH re-shoot and several cups of wasted Ketchup, they made the video with her "Vidster" camera she was given when she was 9 from her grandparents - the quality is suspect at best especially with the lovely hum that covers the majority of the climactic scene.

2) My 8-year-old complains AGAIN that we have no Halloween decorations, we haven't carved a pumpkin, we won't be here for trick-or-treating and she's missing the sacred school Halloween parade and class parties (with more candy and cute crafts I had nothing to do with).

3) My 2-year-old is disappointed because it just wears off on her from her older sisters. Oh yeah, and she wanted to be a bumble bee for halloween and I'm talking up being a princess so I don't have to buy anything!

This picture represents all I am not and that my kids, sadly, realize that I probably won't ever be.  Below are three clever crafts from last night - feel free to steal the ideas - they are cool, even I admit it!  

There's a candy bag; cups from last week's party (again that I did not host); a dream catcher craft (isn't it incredible!?!?); and a spider craft I included that Penni, my 2 1/2 year old, DID NOT make at her play-n-learn class (the teacher did everything - don't get me started on that issue).  Take a look... and this is just the tip of the iceberg in my house.  Now you can see how I feel inadequate this time of year.  How can I compete?

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