As an Elementary teacher and a Mom, I am always hoping for extra doses of calm on October 31st as much can go sideways with Halloween celebrations. Lots of candy, excitement, costume drama and big expectations often lead to meltdowns, minor catastrophes and just a general sense of, to borrow from the brilliant Kate Dicamillo, “holy unanticipated occurrences.” However, on the morning of November 1st, I can truly say Halloween 2014 was smooth. Smooth and full of “Phew” moments. At least eleven worth celebrating.
1. Everyone is my household was up without nagging to ensure that face painting with the talented Dad/Artist could happen. No fussing. No complaining. Out the door early in fact. Phew.
2. My students came in the door (some with fluttering wings) smiling and went out the door smiling. Phew.
3. No costume drama. All costumes stayed together. No pieces were lost. Everyone agreed to keep fangs and false teeth in little (labelled) plastic cups during learning time. Phew.
4. My own early in the week costume change decision worked out wonderfully thanks again to my husband’s face painting brilliance. (I am the witch on the right not the beautiful princesses) Phew
5. My students happily settled into an academic morning designed to keep routine and lots of calm. Phew.
6. When we attended special events like potion making in the library with our little Kindergarten buddies, everyone listened. Nobody fussed if they didn’t get to drop in wonderfully icky ingredients like white rats, tarantulas and slithery snakes. Phew.
7. Afternoon yoga led by our resident yoga expert and for the day, pixie, Miriam was focussed and fun and paved the way for more calm for the rest of the day. Phew
8. Choices time was full of creativity and cooperation, not grumpy, over excited moods. It looked a lot like this. Phew.
9. When checking in with other staff throughout the day, calm and happy seemed to be the general theme. An all around successful day. Phew.
10. The rain that seemed torrential and endless all day ended in the afternoon. Trick or treating was warm, dry and not too muddy. Phew.
11. My own children, now in Grade 7, went trick or treating on their own with friends for the first time. I handed out candy at home, fretting. But both returned on time rosy cheeked under all of the makeup. Big smiles. Rules followed. Maturity and responsibility demonstrated. Biggest phew.
All of these things I celebrate. It was wonderful to be pleasantly surprised at the calm and the ease of a festive Halloween!
Thank you also to Ruth Ayres, for the inspiration and her Celebration Link up that she hosts each week. I love how being a part of this #celebratelu community reminds us weekly to look for the positive and take some time for gratitude.
There's a Book for That 
Loved your post!!!! Phew!!!!! Xo
Sent from my iPhone
>
We missed you on this day. Lots of fun!
I love Halloween, but it can be some challenging with little ones, lost costumes, etc. Love all your posts, & that last ‘phew’, a milestone I think. Have a great weekend, Carrie!
The last one was a milestone. Agreed. Having great kids is always big reason to celebrate!
I enjoy hearing about how your day stayed smooth… it is amazing how this holiday is such a teacher-dependent and potentially tiny-disastrous day for teachers. I always struggle to keep the lid on, keep it happy, keep it safe… you did all of that! Congrats!
Thanks. It was one foot in front of the other and I just kept thinking, “another thing that went well” all day long!
Perfect encapsulation of Halloween from a teacher/mom perspective — So much excitement can “lead to meltdowns, minor catastrophes and just a general sense of, to borrow from the brilliant Kate Dicamillo, ‘holy unanticipated occurrences.'” It is wonderful when it is good. So glad you had a fun-filled and in the end mature, good choices made day/night. Phew….
Bingo – when it is good, it is very, very good but . . . Thanks for connecting – as a fellow teacher/mom, I know you hear me in this post 🙂
Loved the photos from your classroom and so glad it was a calm day! We had a lovely day too–despite some minor costume malfunctions. When we were out trick-or-treating last night, my son ran into many of his friends–trick-or-treating with other kids, not parents. I figure this is probably the last year he will go with us. This growing up business is hard for moms! Halloween is, oddly, the only holiday when my kids are calm. It makes NO SENSE. We have HUGE meltdowns at Thanksgiving, Xmas, Easter, and don’t even talk to me about Mother’s Day, but Halloween is just fine. So I enjoyed an evening off from therapeutic parenting. And bonus: there’s lot of mini sized candies to munch on today! I only like the chocolate, and my son only likes the fruity, luridly colored candy, so he is happy to share what he doesn’t like.
It is so hard – all of this growing up. Sigh. But I suppose the raiding the Halloween candy can continue! Hope you are not on a total sugar high this week! 🙂 Glad it was an enjoyable holiday!
I love the “phew” pattern throughout your blog post, and your day, Carrie 🙂 Such adorable pictures of your students! Looks like they had a great time. The yoga photo is making my back sore, so I think I will go do some stretches, myself 🙂
Yoga on Halloween is highly recommended. Centers everyone and keeps it calm!
If only, if only I could have read this post on the morning, before school, on October 31st! I could have saved myself much fretting and stressing. But then again, Carrie, you bring a sense of calm to EVERYTHING. I am a self-proclaimed loather of Halloween but if I had just taken a few deep breaths and looked at it all through my “Carrie glasses” I would have clearly seen that I had a room full of very happy kids who, much to my pleasure, squeezed learning and loving new stories in between the costumes and dancing and Halloween mayhem. Lesson learned. When life feels a little uneven. Put on your Carrie glasses. Phew!
As always photos of your kids, precious. Days like that are memory makers! Thanks for sharing!!
Thanks Stephanie. One step at a time on Halloween. Keep finding the smiles and there are many! Carrie glasses! Love it!
Phew! What a great post! Love the theme and SO impressed with your very talented hubby’s artistic make up! Was curious what he dressed up as! Love the yoga in costume! How fun!
My staff went as Scrabble tiles – and the letters spelled out a secret Halloween message that the kids had to figure out! Lots of fun! Thanks for sharing!
He is very talented but he doesn’t dress up himself! High school and all. Cute staff costume idea! Kids must have loved it.
So glad that things went smoothly, but I know even if they hadn’t, you would have rolled with it. 🙂
Or turned them all into toads! As a witch, I had that option 🙂