Pinterest Party Season is Here....ugh!

It's that time of year again!  You know...the time of year when everyone goes Pinterest crazy with clever decorations and foods....and I work on my golf game.  It begins at Halloween and does not relent until Christmas is over.  I am sure the Pinterest gurus are licking their tasty, glittery chops just thinking of all the traffic they will be getting over the next two months!  Think of all the table decorating ideas, Thanksgiving meal ideas, Christmas nativity configurations, Griswold-esque outdoor lighting ideas and healthy gluten free turkey dressing ideas one can glean from Pinterest....it boggles the mind!  The pressure to perform is killing me already.  Nah, not really.  I mostly look, admire and carry on.

I was reminded of all the revelry last weekend while I was visiting my daughter and her family in Madison, WI.  I had the honor of attending two Halloween class parties while I visited.  I was amazed by the effort put forth by some of the class moms.  I overheard two of the moms chatting and one asked the other, while admiring the festive table (pictured below), where she found all of the wonderful food ideas.  "Pinterest", she replied.  "Of course"... I silently groaned to myself.

It is all almost too cute to eat!

It was all adorable and the kindergarten class loved the chocolate donut spiders and the vampire donuts.  I'm still not sure I would have taken the time to put eyes on every vampire donut, spider donut, and ghostly banana.  I would have been much more like the room parents of the other class party.  The food all looked like...food and there were fun games, which the kids and the teacher enjoyed.   I wonder if I would volunteer to be a room parent now with all of the added pressure from the Pinterest Moms.  I would probably step aside and let them shine and figure out another way to contribute that doesn't involve being creative or spending hours stalking Pintrest.

We had a great time visiting the grandsons.  We had not seen them since Easter!  I know...!  They change so much in such a short time at their ages.  We had a lot of catching up to do while we were there.  My first activity was to go on a nature hike with the two older boys and one of their friends.  I did my best to keep up with them and keep them out of the raging waters in the stream.  They were certain we could all jump right over it to the other side, I was a little less certain.  Being in or near the woods lead to boys climbing on logs, boys finding sticks and making them into weapons, boys running ahead, boys sticking things into the raging waters and getting as close as they possibly could without actually going into the water.  All of these activities reminded me that it has been a very long time since I had a little boy much less chased one.  We all survived and were gone so long their mother was beginning to wonder if we were ever coming back.  It's hard to get boys out of the woods!

This is what my view looked like most of the time.....
"hurry up, Gigi!"

Searching for a way across the raging waters.

It was getting dark but none of them wanted to go home,
there were still more logs to climb on!

This was my second trip to visit them for Halloween.  As I have said before, Halloween is not my favorite holiday, so I have decided to figure out a way to make it enjoyable.  I must say, I do enjoy Halloween with grandsons.  It's very nice to show up and reap the joy of treats, costumes and parties without doing any of the work.  That's me...no work and all play!  Needless to say, the trip to Madison was a success and we caught up on a lot of life.  It's such a shame that I don't get to see them very often.  Living apart is not ideal to say the least.

The Grim Reaper, a Shepard and a dragon.
They covered all bases!

One more indulgence, because I can't get enough of this video.  The finer details of vampires, boys and girls....according to John.  He was having a private conversation all the way home about this topic and finally I just had to video him, I could watch this over and over.  Time needs to freeze him at two and a half for a while, he's too cute!

The three people he mentions are his very brave teachers....who are not afraid of vampires!

Have a great day and party on!