Lots of fun for The Man in the Yellow Hat, Damon, a small Tiger, Uncle Peter (aka Calvin), and the rest of us. I know I have been behind in uploading flickr and whatnot, so I put up the pictures for now. I will title, tag, and whatnot everything tomorrow. (click the picture to go to flickr.)

I have been non-stop since yesterday. I finished painting the porch (pictures later) and then started playing catch up with the stuff that fell to the wayside while I painted. Today I had a doctor’s appointment and then off to mom’s group.

I am trying to straighten the house before our Halloween visitors come by. Luke and his uncle Peter will be making the neighborhood Trick or Treat rounds with Damon and Fuller around 6:30 this evening. Esther, Peter’s wife Janet, Ben and I will be relaxing at home, passing out the candy.

Last year I ended up passing out candy Fuller collected because we ran out of the stuff we bought. So I was pretty nervous buying candy this year. Will it be enough? Will I end up with too much? I figure if I have some left over I can just put it away to give as treats for our Sunday School class.

I have an important question to ask, but before that I think it is important to point out some links as to why I think it is ok to “do” Halloween.

Christians usually fall into one of four camps:
1) they don’t do anything in October
2) they have a party at church, usually a celebration of Reformation Day or a Fall party
3) they have a Fall party at church one day and then go trick or treating on the 31st
4) they just go trick or treating.

Our family goes with option four for the fun of getting multiple chances to dress up and get candy. It ends up being completely secular to me. I grew up as a pastor’s kid who trick or treated, but wasn’t allowed to spend money on costumes. I like how we now make our costumes from thrifting or sewing for ourselves.

For me Halloween is candy and costumes. I don’t do the ghosts, witches, or goblins when I decorate. I prefer a generic fall theme complete with candles.

I didn’t plan on getting into this, but Rebecca started it. And I wanted to pass her post along because I know a lot of people who read here don’t read her (but they should!). The first article she links to is a great read and it was this quote that reasonated with me:

The concept, as dramatized in Christian custom, is quite simple: on October 31, the demonic realm tries one last time to achieve victory, but is banished by the joy of the Kingdom.

I remember my parents reminding us that exact concept when we would go out on Halloween.

Wondergirl posted a great letter her pastor wrote and is also worth a read.

And now for my important question: When your family passes out candy do you put it in the trick or treaters bags or do you let them take it from you?

My sister noticed I put four pictures up on Flickr and then they disappeared. The story behind that is I am behind on posting pictures (we have been busy and have pictures to prove it!) and when I started to upload them on Saturday, it interfered with the internet broadcast of the Auburn game. So I canceled the upload and didn’t do anything until today.

I have more pictures to upload, and I need to title and tag the ones I did today.

Unfortunately, until I finish the front porch, you may just have to wait.

I woke up at 6:30 this morning. I just woke up and couldn’t get my mind turned off again to sleep another 30, 10, or even 5 minutes. Instead I gave myself a little talking to.

“Alicia, there is no reason you can’t get out on the front porch and finish it by Halloween. No reason. Get busy.”

And so, when Damon left for work this morning, I was busy taping down plastic tarps on the second half of the porch. I finished priming by noon. And then around 1:30 I started putting the light yellow color on. I just finished the first coat and I will do the second coat tomorrow and then add the dark yellow on the accent trim.

It should go much faster tomorrow because I won’t have to do the prep of taping down the plastic (the mental stumbling block that kept me from proceeding- I HATE prep work). I also have figured out how to get the really high parts without using the extension ladder, which is now I my list because I almost fell from it twice. (Look for future pictures of the bruise I expect to appear on my forearm in two days.) I did manage to dump a tray of primer onto the plastic during one of the falls. And both Fuller and Maple have accented their bodies with touches of yellow paint and white primer. My hands are a testament to my hard work today.

I think we are on track for having this project done by Wednesday. So exciting!

I haven’t been working on painting the front porch like I need to. I had a few set backs like rain and attitude. But the rain has subsided, the attitude has adjusted and hopefully tomorrow I will be able to get my grove on for painting. I still have the goal of having it all pretty by Halloween.

I also am going to pick up some LED Christmas lights since our front porch light is wonky. We put up regular Christmas lights last year, but LED uses 1/10th the energy and will last even longer.

And if we want to eventually switch out all our Christmas lights to LED, it needs to start with one strand. I can’t wait to show you pictures!

Busy day today.

I have My Family Dinners this morning. While I am spending about 3 hours to myself preparing next month’s meals, Damon will be working on Fuller’s costume for the Fall Costume Party this afternoon. And Fuller will be doing his best to build the best block tower ever.

Then there is the fun of the party. Seeing other kids’ costumes, playing games, hanging out with other adults and roasting hot dogs and marshmallows. So much fun!

What does your Saturday hold for you?