Trick or Treat... Please Don't Give Me Sweets To Eat

The other day, as I was talking to my students about what they were going to dress up as and if they were excited for all the treats they were going to be getting for Halloween, one of them told me that as part of a health class assignment they could not have sugar for something like 8 weeks. What a bummer! And right before Halloween too!

The next day I was sitting at work and I was thinking about how much I love candy. I really do. I don't go out of my way to buy it or anything, but I love to have a small bite size candy bar after dinner sometimes. Dessert is the best meal of the day. But I began thinking that maybe I rely on it too much. I have trained my brain to think that I need candy right after I eat something else. I was just beginning to think that I should challenge myself to something similar to what my student is doing when Ryan called and offered me chocolate cake. I very proudly told him no. And then he showed up with a huge piece of cake anyway. Not a normal size piece. A huge one. He knows I am a total sucker for sweets and couldn't really mean no. And as I nibbled away at it, I realized that I could and would finish it without even trying. The whole thing. Even if it made me sick I wouldn't want to throw it away. Thankfully I did get myself to stop half way through and exercised a huge amount of self restraint and tossed the rest. And then I decided. I was going to go without candy/dessert for a whole month. I decided to start Nov 1st, but realized I would miss Thanksgiving, and that made me sad. So Ryan suggested starting that day - thus missing Halloween, but Thanksgiving would be exactly a month away and that would be a great reward. Makes sense to me! So despite my huge piece of chocolate cake, I decided from there on out, no more sweets.

Later that night I was already cursing myself for making that decision. I wanted candy! But a piece of gum held me through. I have now made it through one whole week and am quite proud of myself! I know it's silly, but it's a big deal for me. I really don't feel that I eat that much candy, but it's good for me to retrain my brain to not think it needs it so much. Wish me luck!

As a general rule, I don't love Halloween. Except for the goodies of course. I think the dressing up factor is a lot of fun for kids, but I hate the gory factor. I don't like the creepy stuff. I am a baby that way.

Things I do like:

Fall leaves.

Creative treats and projects. My piano student's mom gave me this little creature and I thought it was so stinking cute! What a fun idea for a party!

And though I have never dressed up for work and try to avoid it if I can, I did "dress up" this year - costume idea courtesy of my co-worker Brittanie:

"Sunny Side Up!" I'm an egg! Hahahaha.

And now for the second year running, our family Annual Pumpkin Carving Contest! This year's theme: Disney!

Some of the entries included Rapunzel, vampire Mickie, Tigger, Princess and the Frog...

Ferb, Stitch, Tow Mater, Jack Skeleton, Mickey...

Scar, Goofy...

And Kermit! When searching ideas for Disney pumpkins, I discovered Kermit! I didn't know the Muppets were owned by Disney, but I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised. Disney owns everything. :)

Kermit won the "Happiest Pumpkin" award. How could it not? Next year we are going to do Super Heroes.

We had a great time. It is a great family activity. Last year we only had maybe 6 pumpkins, but this year we had closer to 13-14. It was a blast. I am excited for next year when I will be able to dress up a little 10-month old! Obviously he won't care about the candy. I am just excited to dress him up!

But I almost forgot! The thing I love most about Halloween is this little guy:


Halloween is Dodger's birthday!!! He turned 3 this year! He is such an awesome little pal. Happy Birthday little guy!