First things first, here's my ghostly girl all dressed up for some icky, drizzly, nasty trick 'r treating in the rain. But hey, a little rain isn't enough to get between my girl and her chocolate, after all, she is my daughter! (Never mind my messy clutter in the background!) So we went out, despite the rain, for about 1 1/2 hours, well 1 hour trick 'r treatin, 1/2 hour wandering around the neighborhood, aimlessly searching for our lost car! Next year, we've vowed to get a freakin map of this massive neighborhood. Because, in all honesty, this wasn't the first time we lost our car here on Halloween! I know, I know, I never said I was the sharpest tool in the shed! Anyway, I almost thought we weren't gonna get to go for a couple of reasons. Number one, the rain of course, it was coming down pretty hard all day, but let up to a drizzle right around dinner time. Number two is that my goofy daughter took it upon herself to absolutely gorge on candy and treats at their school party today, and came home with a big 'ol headache and an upset tummy. Luckily, she's learned a very valuable lesson based on the concept that just because it's there, it doesn't necessarily mean you have to, or should eat it all, however it did make for a very unpleasant afternoon and evening. But she was determined not to miss out on one of her favorite days of the year, so she toughed it out and got over the crummy feeling quickly when it came down to actually getting dressed up and starting the hunt for free candy! Anyway, we had fun and her costume was a big hit, plus she really hauled in a ton of candy since everyone had an overabundance of it due to the rain induced low turnout of trick 'r treaters. But she did opt not to eat any more of the sweet stuff after having made herself so sick earlier. When we got home we dumped out her loot on the living room floor to check out all the good stuff she got, and we separated what she would keep for herself and what would be given to daddy. Hers was pretty much anything chocolate or peanut butter, and all the tootsie rolls, and his was just about everything else! Ahhh, she so has my taste in candy! I even stole one of the little mini tootsie rolls for myself, and enjoyed the sweet indulgence that I rarely let myself have. I am happy to say that the presence of candy (especially the good stuff like snickers, reeses pb cups, butterfingers, etc.) no longer have the same hold on me as it once did. I think I've accepted the fact that I just can't eat that kind of stuff if I want to maintain a healthy lifestyle, so it's best to not even get started, because if I do then it's all downhill from there. And I'm okay with that because I really don't crave this stuff like I used to, and it's a small price to pay to keep myself in check. I also want to point out how truly grateful I am that I really don't struggle with these kind of cravings very much anymore. I know that I must be in the minority on this one, and I often wonder if I would have been able to stick with this, were that not the case.

Anyway, I guess I'd better move on since this is turning into a feakin book here, and I still have more to write about. I still have some bragging to do on my gifted, intelligent, beautiful daughter, for the contest she entered and won last week! The bank where she has her little savings account, put on a pumpkin decorating contest and invited all the kids to enter. They provided the pumpkins and the kids were supposed to decorate (not carve) them however they wanted to. It was split up into three age categories, and her design took first place in the 6-9 yr. category! Here's some pics of her pumpkin and of some of the competition:
Hmmmm, did you notice how her pumpkin's face looks suspiciously like SpongeBob? Yeah, she's a nut-head! But hey, she must have done something right, 'cause she won first place, which BTW, happens to be a hundred bucks!! Yeah, that's right, $100.00, can you believe that? Lemme just tell ya, it made her day! We put most of the prize money right into her savings account but we did keep out $20.00 so she could get something special at Walmart. A new Bratz doll, of course! What else? Oh, BTW, the hat her pumpkin is wearing is the very one she made and wore for hat day at school last week, isn't it cute?!

Also, a little more bragging and then I'm done, I promise!! We had Em's parent teacher conferences last night, and both her regular teacher and her gifted and talented teacher gave her rave reviews. Their only concern was her reluctance to speak up in group discussions, which she gets from me of course, always concerned how others perceive her. But other than that she is doing wonderfully. She's struggling a bit with some of the new math concepts they've imposed this year, but her overall math grade was still a 98%, so no worries there. Her reading, writing, and spelling grades were outstanding and way above grade level. In fact, her core teacher, Mrs. French, explained that she has never once given such high scores to a student in the first nine weeks, as she did for Emily, in all her years of teaching. She thinks Em is well on her way to becoming the aspiring author she dreams to be. I also love how Mrs. French calls Em out on her sneakiness and reluctance to ask questions when she's not sure of things. Em is always a fabulous student, as long as she's not getting caught doing something she shouldn't, which almost always revolves around talking at inappropriate times or being catty with the other girls. But there's no fooling Mrs. French as she's done with all of her previous teachers! That's one sharp lady, and I am liking her a lot. Anyway, she did great for the first grading period, so we're gonna figure some sort of fabulous reward to further demonstrate just how proud we are of her. And she's gonna get to work on trying to speak up more in a group. I told her that her thoughts and opinions are just as important as anyone else's, and they need to be heard. And not to worry about what others may think of her, 'cause they're all just as busy worrying about what everyone else is thinking of them anyway, so who cares?! She says she's gonna try, so we'll see how that goes. Anyway, I think that's it for now, I guess I better get some actual work done sometime today, ugh?!