Happy Valentine's Day

Here are a few scenes from our valentine workshop. Having 3 kids in preschool also means making 56 homemade valentines.

Vive la Glitter!

First, take a look at the Valentine Workshop that Annabella and I set up while the boys were at school.

Next, have a look at what happened when they came home from school. Let's just say that they're idea of "arts and crafts" consists of throwing everything all over the carpet, pretending to eat it, and then trying to cut Annabella's hair with the craft scissors.

Happy Valentine's Day.

Halloween: Discuss Amongst Yourselves

On my first Halloween as a mom, I reminisced about my own youth. A few short years later I had already turned into a Halloween curmudgeon, probably because I couldn't talk Annabella out of dressing up like a princess even though I really, really wanted her to be a super hero.

This year Annabella wants to be a black cat and we're working on making the costume with a leotard, tights, feather boa, and some face paint, so thing are looking up.

For the boys I'm going to make use of our extra Costco diaper and wipe boxes to turn them into robots. I'm planning on spray painting the boxes silver. Not sure if they'll get any additional ornamentation. Wearing a silver box might be all they need. I considered getting some Thomas the Train costumes and attaching lead pencils or lead weights to them, but I'm just not sure people are ready to laugh about that just yet.

What's your costume game plan this year?

I believe in Santa Claus

Santa Claus.

A parent's perpetual lie? A commercial invention? An accepted method of December bribery? A child's first act of faith?

I have friends whose children ask questions about Santa Claus; questions ranging from the logistical, "How does he get to all of those houses in one night?" to the graphological, "Why does he have the same handwriting as you?"

Annabella doesn't ask those questions and I know she got that from me. I've always been inquisitive, but I'm also willing to accept any crazy answer in order to continue to believe.

Take, for example, the fact that my (jewish) father used to dress up as Santa Claus every year and hang out in our living room on Christmas Eve. I never doubted that he was the real thing even as I sat on his lap and listened to him talk in his Santa Claus voice which, by the way, soundly suspiciously like the Bilbo Baggins voice he used while reading me "The Hobbit."

When I was 6 my sister stopped believing. She was 10 and in order to keep her from telling me the truth they let her dress up as an elf and be part of the show. When I asked where my sister was, they told me she was taking a shower. I honestly don't remember this making me doubt their story. I remember being upset that my sister was missing the visit from Santa Claus. What bad timing she had!

There's no story attached to the year that I stopped believing in Santa Claus. And for that reason, I don't think I'm lying when I tell my children that Santa will bring them presents on Christmas Eve. When we recently moved into a new house without a fireplace, I asked Annabella how Santa Claus was going to get in and she's the one who suggested the heating vents.

I think there's a little bit of bribery and a little bit of commercialism in Santa Claus, but mostly I choose to believe that it's a child's first act of faith. Because, "Faith," as Miracle on 34th Street tells us, "is believing in something when common sense tells you not to."

Halloween Curmudgeon

Why is it that someone who loves costumes as much as I do, has such mixed feelings about Halloween? I love this holiday. I love dressing up and helping my kids dress up. I love going to the pumpkin patch and picking out the perfect pumpkin. I love the taste of freshly baked pumpkin seeds. So why do I spend most of October agonizing about all the negatives about Halloween. Here's a list to enjoy with your candy hangover.

• Kids costumes reinforce gender stereotypes.
• Kids costumes are too expensive.
• I don't have the time or skill to make my children's costumes.
• Toddler costumes rely too much on a cute hat that my kids will not keep on their heads.
• Women's costumes are too sexy.
• Candy rots your teeth.
• Trick or Treating teaches your child to take candy from strangers.
• When stores offer a "safe trick or treating experience," it's just a cheap advertising ploy.
• Neighborhood teenagers ring the doorbell too late and wake up my kids.
• Pumpkin seeds are way to hard to separate from pumpkin pulp.