Motherhood, where sleep is a rumor and laundry
is eternal. And somehow, we're supposed to be
raising tiny humans through it all. We're here
to laugh at the chaos, cry when necessary, and
remind you that none of us actually know what
we're doing. This is No Manual, a momcast. Your
mom friend group chat, but with microphones.
Welcome back to No Manual Momcast. Today we thought
it'd be kind of fun, since this week is Halloween,
to just talk about Halloween. So we did put some
question box up on Instagram and have some fun
answers. Yeah, so we don't have like a real specific
direction for this episode. It'll probably be
a little more freeform and talking like fun things
about Halloween, what we're gonna do with our
kids, what we did growing up. Okay, I can go
first for my mom moment. So this last week we
had a staff retreat for our staff at the church.
And so we left our kids for two days, which it
was my first time away from Cruz overnight. And
he is like fully breastfed, so exclusively breastfed,
other than a few bottles like for childcare,
but all breast milk. He never had formula before.
And going into this, I did not have enough frozen
milk knowing we were leaving for two days. And
so I had to like introduce him to formula, which
made me really sad because I was like – I didn't
feel like I failed in any sense, but it's just
like a – That wasn't the desire. Yeah, that was
not in my plan. So got him just used to the taste
of formula like a couple days before. He loved
it, obviously. I'm so glad he did. And thankfully
with us being gone, he actually didn't end up
going through all of my frozen breast milk. I
don't know how that happened, but so he didn't
have to have any formula while we were gone.
But yeah, really my mom moment is like, I think
going on this staff retreat, I was really anxious
leading up to it just because I didn't want to
leave my kids for two nights. Felt like. Obviously
these intrusive thoughts of like something terrible
is going to happen. Just always like thinking
about the worst case scenario. And overall it
went really well. Like it was really good for
me to have like a break kind of. I mean I was
working in a sense. But like just being able
to have a break and then come back. And it's
like we talked about it in last week's episode
of like. being away from your kids almost like
brings you back to neutral and like reminds you
why you love your kids so deeply. And that was
so true. Like when we, we got home yesterday
and Colt was so excited to see us. We were so
excited to see him and same with Cruz. Cruz was
so happy. And like, it just, we just had a great
rest of the day because it was so like, we were
all so excited to be back together. And so that
was. That's my mom moment. And you did it. And
I did it. Yeah. That's sometimes the biggest
thing. Yeah. Yeah. So it was really tough leading
up to it, but I think it was a good thing in
the long run. Nice. Yeah. What about you? Mine
is that Lloyd is just obsessed with our cat,
Ricky, right now. Aw. Like, if she is upstairs,
like, Ricky, come downstairs. Ricky come downstairs?
I'm like, buddy, she's a cat. So even if I brought
her downstairs, she's probably, if she doesn't
want to be here, she's not going to stay. And
he wants to give her hugs. He wants her in his
bed. Just all the time he's asking for Ricky.
And he loves Ricky so much. He'll say, I love
you, Ricky. But he doesn't say I love you. He
says, I put to do. So I put to do, Ricky. No
one else would understand that except for mom
and dad, for sure. Maybe I'll try to get a recording
of him saying that so you actually understand
that. It's like complete gibberish. We'll insert
that here right now, Stuart. Yeah, but he just,
he loves his Ricky Kitty. So cute. Just asks
for her all the time. What about Red? No? Well,
Red, he... Red's our boy cat and he is just less
interested in the kitchen. Ricky will put up
with anything to the point where we have to tell
her, we're like, you can walk away. You don't
have to put up with him. grabbing your tail or
whatever you can walk away ricky also like we
don't want you to hurt him but you have claws
too like you could put him in his place oh for
sure and like there's a point where he needs
to that needs to happen kind of learn his lesson
and yeah we would trust like this sounds weird
but we would trust ricky putting him in his place
with her claws right because again she'll put
up with anything yeah um but red not so much
he just keeps his distance like he's not a mean
cat he's kind of skittish sometimes so yeah he'll
red just keeps his distance so lloyd still he
likes red and he'll ask for red but not in the
same way got it ricky nice so oh that's so cute
okay do you like are you a halloween person um
Yes and yes. I feel like that is a no. Not that
you don't like Halloween. I think Halloween is
fun. I think it's like the least favorite holiday
in my mind. Sure. I think it's going to be –
that's going to be different as my kids get older
and it's like a fun like dress up, like fun thing.
But like definitely as an adult before I had
kids, it was like – I mean we didn't really.
do anything for it we'd like it just was yeah
we'd get maybe a couple trick -or -treaters at
our house but it was never like a big deal for
us and growing up like yeah I feel like growing
up we we celebrated it um we'd like dress up
for school my siblings and I we would go trick
-or -treating but it was like I don't know. I
just like never was like, oh, my God, I'm so
excited for Halloween. You know, I had like a
couple of friends that like didn't celebrate
Halloween for like religion purposes. But my
parents never were like, this is like the devil's
holiday or anything like that. So what about
for you? So I love dressing up like I love a
costume party. I've never been the person who.
Like I have friends who are decorating for Halloween
like September 30th kind of thing. Or earlier.
See, I don't decorate for Halloween. I don't
decorate. Part of it is an energy thing. Yeah.
I don't have the time or energy to do that. And
a storage thing. Yeah. We went through the neighborhood.
Like we were on a walk last night in the neighborhood
like adjacent to us that is the rich neighborhood
that we can't afford. So many of them have just
giant. halloween decorations yeah that i'm like
i've seen that at home depot and it's like 300
bucks yes so your yard is like a thousand dollars
just you know seeing what you've put up but then
also where are you storing this yeah is my other
question um like people are like full -on halloween
like yeah yeah uh so i'm definitely not that
no but i do love dressing up i think that's really
fun one of the things so for me I grew up, I
was homeschooled for my entire schooling. And
while my parents were never the parents who were
like, we can't celebrate Halloween because, you
know, Satan's holiday or whatever, which like
I also have friends who that was their experience.
The like group that we were a part of for homeschooling,
a lot of people did lean much more that way and
were much more conservative in that capacity,
I guess. But I think it's people like dressing
up. So just like churches have fall fests instead
of Halloween parties, we would have literature
parties every year that would just coincidentally
be around Halloween. But what it was is it was
a costume party and everyone had to dress up
like a character from a book. Of course. And
also you had to guess people's characters. So
you would go into it wearing your... I don't
know. Give me an example of one of the. Okay.
So let me think of someone. I was Robin Hood
one year. Okay. So I would go and dress up as
Robin Hood. You would be Nancy Drew. Yeah. And
so then you'd try to all guess each other's costumes.
So you would like write down who your character
was on like a index card or whatever and put
it in a basket. And then at some point in the
night, like that was the game. So it's like kind
of masquerading where it's like you would pull
a name out of a basket and you'd have to figure
out who Sherlock Holmes is or who Nancy Drew
is or who. Got it. So you wanted to be kind of
like an obscure character a little bit. A little
bit. Yeah. Yeah. So. Yeah, like, Sherlock Holmes
would be a bad one because he's super obvious
with his famous hat, right? For sure. But, yeah,
so everyone had to dress up as... I think there
were probably some morals, like, something, like,
a witch would be frowned upon, but you might
be able to get away with it if it was, like,
specifically one of the witches from... Is it
Macbeth? Or Hamlet? One of those. Couldn't tell
you. Shakespeare? One of those. So, like, you
might be able to get away with it if it was,
like, that specific. Like, I am this character
who is a witch. You might have been able to get
away with that. But it was supposed to be a character
from a book. And then also most people made their
own costumes. Yeah. See, that's so fun. So like
my sister is a really good seamstress and my
mom is too. So my mom made most of our costumes
growing up. And then once Caitlin was getting
older, she started to make a lot of her own.
And she made a historically accurate Scarlett
O 'Hara costume, which is like crazy. Just the
amount of work. Did she start like months in
advance? I think so. Yeah. It's very impressive.
Yeah. So there's lots of like hooks and eyes
and buttons and laces instead of zippers. Yeah.
So. See I want to be that type of mom. Yeah.
Who like makes really intricate Halloween costumes.
I mean when I talked to my mom this week she
was like. never want to make a historically accurate
costume ever again. Know that. My mom made our
Halloween costumes as well. Usually they were
fairly I guess simpler. Maybe not. I remember
specifically one year I actually don't remember
what I dressed up as but one of my brothers was
Yoshi and he just wore literally like a green
sweatsuit and then she made the tail of Yoshi
but it was like What's funny is it was like a
really dark green color, which is Yoshi is not
dark green. And so everyone just thought he was
like. A dinosaur or something like that. Yeah,
like Godzilla or something like that. And so
we had to explain. And then that same year, my
other brother was the Hamburglar from McDonald's,
Ronald McDonald. And that costume was hilarious
because he's a redhead. So it was like it just
worked out and it was funny. Perfect. Yeah. I
don't remember what I was, but those are the
two like distinct costumes that I remember that
my mom like fully crafted herself mostly. So
I love being creative and I would love to like
make costumes. Last year I tried to make my own.
And the biggest issue with that was I couldn't
find a pattern for what I wanted. And I couldn't
even find like multiple patterns to put together.
So last year. We were the characters from Emperor's
New Groove. So Lloyd was Kuzco as a llama. And
then Stuart and I were Chica and Pacha. That's
her name or their names because I was pregnant.
So we needed a pregnant costume. So I tried to
make her dress, but I couldn't find any patterns
weirdly. It's not that weird of a, I don't know.
So yes, if you're going to sew, use a pattern.
Yeah. That was a terrible, terrible mistake.
Yeah. I don't know how to sew. So I think I would
need to start there. Yeah. I have a sewing machine.
I can teach you. Thank you. Please. I feel like
that's like one of the. i know this is not actually
true but like one of the qualities as a mother
that like most moms just like know how to sew
i don't know i mean i feel like at one point
in time that was true because everyone like that
was just a skill that you learned and now that's
not just like a skill that you learn i totally
i could probably like i could maybe hem something
like by hand but like not a clue how to use a
sewing machine couldn't tell you setting it up
is the hardest part and then once you get it
set up it's pretty easy it's pretty you're good
to go yeah yeah but learning how to thread a
sewing machine is not for the faint of heart
yeah sounds exhausting um okay so we we had a
question box and we asked a couple different
questions to you guys and i guess we could just
kind of go through them and then do our answers
too if you want so first thing was favorite costume
growing up um and a few of your guys answers
so uh one of you said uh the statue of liberty
it's a good love that very regal yeah i want
to know i wish we had gotten pictures of some
of these i also want to know like hey also send
in a picture what like was this a storm was this
a party city Yeah. Or did you like have a robe
or like sheets that you used? Like were you fully
painted green? Would love that. Would love, love
that. Okay. Another one was Dorothy from The
Wizard of Oz. Classic. That's a good one. Yep.
And then love this one. This person used their
dad's World War II gas mask, painted it bright
red, and then wore it. they were an alien with
the gas mask. That's a good one. Like the big
eyes. I can see that. Yeah. It's also fun. And
I feel like our parents had less fun stuff like
that. Just, and I know we're not going to have
anything that interesting for our kids. I know.
Like I don't have a gas mask. Definitely don't
have a gas mask. Just hanging around. Hanging
around. And like World War II one is like intense
and creepy. yeah so that's super cool yeah that's
cool okay what was your favorite costume um okay
i just like had a list because i also asked my
mom for a few of her favorites that like we did
growing up so i already mentioned i was robin
hood yes we had read robin hood for school and
it is one of my favorite stories and i feel very
passionate about robin hood but we won't talk
about that on here so that was a fun one one
of my best friends growing up her and i did like
a combined costume a couple times so one year
we were abbott and costello and we memorized
who's on first that's hilarious so we it would
take a little bit of memory but i think we could
probably do it again if we really if we really
weren't tried I would like a video of that, please.
Thanks. I'll call her up. And then another one.
I don't know if anyone actually knows who Laverne
and Shirley are, but it was like a TV show from
the 60s, I think. And so we were Laverne and
Shirley one year. Could people like, people knew
who you were? Or did you have to like explain?
Anyone our age, we had to explain. Yeah. And
then. Like the older generation. Yeah. Okay.
And then older generations always thought it
was really funny too, because we were like. middle
school. Yes. Oldest. Yeah. Um, so older, anyone
who knew who it was, thought it was really funny.
Yeah. And then anyone who was like our age was
like, what, what's happening? Or they would just
be like, oh, you're, you're 50s, 60s girls. I'm
like, well, I mean, I guess technically yes,
but no. Yeah. Let's see another one. I love the
Phantom of the Opera. Okay. Um, and so I dressed
up as Christine one year. Nice. My sister made
my costume for that. This is a fun one. So my
first Halloween costume ever was a chili pepper.
Oh, nice. And my mom saved that. So that was
also Lloyd's first Halloween costume ever. And
then Stuart and I dressed up as Red Hot Chili
Peppers fans. Yes. So that was really fun two
years ago. That's cute. And then one of my mom's
favorites from when I was little was my sister
dressed up as the Tooth Fairy and I was a tooth.
Nice. Cute. So that was super cute. Love the
partner costumes. Yeah, I love. I will definitely
like force my ideas onto the kids as long as
they'll stand it. Yeah. I know there's going
to be a day when like they want to do their own
thing and I'll be devastated. I want to be Lightning
McQueen. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I love it. What about
you? Okay. So yeah, growing up, my best friend
at the time, her and I would always do costumes
together. Love it. And we were both really big
tomboys. And so they were, they were never like.
we're both princesses. Or it was like one year
we were army men together. The next year we were
like baseball players. Oh no, we weren't baseball
players. We were the number one sports fans.
So we like, we just were like, we carried like
big signs around that said like, go, I don't
remember what teams, but yeah, baseball fans.
Kind of funny. But my favorite costume we did,
I remember it was sixth grade and it was an election
year and it was. She was John Kerry and I was
George Bush. That's really funny. Yeah. Especially
for sixth grade. Sixth grade girls. Yes. And
she had really short hair. So she just like spray
painted her hair silver. And then I had like
fairly short hair, but I just like wore it in
like a low bun. And then we like spray painted
my hair too. And then I remember we went to Goodwill
and we bought like men's suits. And they were,
I mean, they didn't fit us. They were ginormous
on us. I mean, because you're already not a big
person. So then in sixth grade. I was tiny. I
was tiny. And I'm wearing this like massive like
Navy suit jacket. And the only thing that like
told people who we were, we made like little
name tags for ourselves. That's so funny. Yeah.
And it just said like President Bush and then
like John Kerry. That's so funny. I love that.
It was honestly, it was. So great and so memorable.
And did you guys come up with this on your, like,
there's no, like, influence from anyone. That's
so. Yeah. Yeah. That was my favorite costume
and the one that I will, like, remember for the
rest of my life. And, I mean, we didn't, like,
other than trick -or -treating, that was, I think
we wore them to school. Yeah. And nobody really
understood except, like, the teachers thought
it was hilarious. Right. Yeah, I feel like, like
I said, with. A couple of the costumes I've had,
and just in general, I've had a lot of costumes
where it's, like, parents and teachers all think
it's really funny. Honestly, isn't that the goal?
I feel like that should be the goal. Yes. Like,
how can we make the adults laugh? Yeah. Like,
how do we make this as niche as possible? Yeah.
So, yeah, it's so, like, a niche thing to. Yeah.
I like a good niche costume. Yes. I'm trying
to think some of the other, like, funny niche
stuff that I've. done throughout the years one
year i was dana scully from the x -files nice
one year we did a bunch of my friends and we
were the seven dwarves that's good i've always
wanted like a full group halloween costume and
i when i was thinking about this and like costumes
that i've done and wished i've been able to do
and stuff i've always wanted to do the characters
from clue but the only time i had a friend group
that was big enough that we could have pulled
it off None of them would have gone for it. Like
they weren't dress up people. Okay. And that's
like a, those costumes are, I feel like are kind
of like you really got to, like if you're Colonel
mustard, you gotta, you gotta commit. Yeah. This
isn't just like, can you just put a suit on and
pretend you're this person? Yeah. Like, yeah.
You need the full yellow vibes. Exactly. Yeah.
So yeah, none of them would have gone for it.
Maybe one of them would have, but yeah, it wasn't
like, I would not have been able to pull it off.
So, but I do love a group costume like that.
Me too. I know. I'm hoping, like, as the kids
get older, I mean, you guys have already done,
like, your family costumes. Michael's not a huge,
like, dress -up person. Well, he's not. Yeah,
I know, right? Like, so before we had kids, I
feel like we always kind of had to dress up for,
like, for Fall Fest at church. And so one year
I was Salt and he was Pepper. And it was like
the simplest thing. He wore all black, which
he wears most of the time. Yes. And I wore all
white. So he didn't dress up. Yeah. We just put
like a P on his shirt and an S on my shirt. And
then one year we were, I was like a hipster girl
and he was a Hydro Flask. Love it. Literally.
Just put the Hydro Flask logo on his black outfit.
Perfect. Things like that. Stuart, well, he can
get super into costumes too, which is really
fun. So the first year we were married, I was
a circus ringmaster and he was a bearded lady.
Nice. So we like got him a dress and he put on
lipstick. I got to see a picture of this. The
worst part is we got married in 2020. So we literally
had like one other couple over for Halloween
and that was all we did because no one was like
throwing parties or anything. Yeah, right. That's
so funny. Trying to think other things that we've
done. I think that was one of the funniest ones.
That's amazing. I love that. Let's hop into the
next question. So we asked like funny Halloween
stories. Can you think of? I think I came up
with this question and then I was like, I have.
You're like, I have none. I can't think of. Okay,
I have one funny Halloween story. It was me and
my friends and we were going to a Halloween party
at our friend Brayden's house. And we'd been
to his house before to like hang out. So we get
to his house. We pull up. There's like other
people going into the party. So we walk into
this house. Like the doors just open. So we walk
in. And there's like someone giving a tour of
the house. So we just like. we're like we've
been here before we'll just like go along with
the tour and then all of a sudden like my friends
and I like look at each other and we're like
do you recognize that person and we're like no
like oh my god my my friend Kimber I remember
she looked at me and she's like oh my god I think
I think they moved And we're like, oh my gosh,
we're just in, we legit were in just someone
else's home. Like our friends did not live there
anymore. Yeah. Someone else's Halloween party
that they had just like let us into and we just
were there. And so we legit just like snuck out
the back door and then like ran to our car. They're
probably telling this story. Oh, for sure. Remember
that year that just like a bunch of random kids
showed up at our house and then disappeared?
Yeah. We've, we've totally talked about that
before that we're like, I'm sure they're like
telling their friends about it too. And I remember
one distinct thing is that the lady who was giving
the tour, she had like a French accent. That
sounds like you're making it up. It legit sounds
like a made up story, but I promise you it is
not a made up story. So then we get back to my
friend's car and we're like, we call our friend
Brayden and he's like, yeah, I moved like a month
ago or something like that. And we're like. okay,
well, can you send us a new address? Because
we have no idea where you live now. And how old
were you when this happened? In high school.
Because that's also such a high school boy thing
to invite you to a party, not mention, knowing
you've been to his house before, not mention
he's moved or provide the new address. I'm like,
is that like a, was that a non -purpose thing
or a frontal lobe, not development? Probably
just a frontal lobe. Yeah. Like just assume we
know where he lives. Yeah. So that, that was
my funniest Halloween story because, I mean,
it just was legit crazy. That's so funny. Yeah.
Yeah. I don't think I really have any like crazy
stories. Go trick -or -treating every year. Have
you ever been given like a toothbrush or toothpaste?
So in the neighborhood I grew up in, there was
a dentist in one of the like cul -de -sacs. So
he would give out a toothbrush every year, but
he would also give out a bunch of chocolate.
So it's like he would give you a handful of chocolate
with your toothbrush. Nice. So like that's acceptable.
Yes. Just a toothbrush, not acceptable. Yeah,
right. Yeah. Like please still make this fun
for me as a child. Yeah. We would go trick -or
-treating. I probably went trick -or -treating
like maybe every other year. I didn't go. It
wasn't like I had to go trick -or -treating.
So our neighborhood was the one that gave out
full -size candy bars. That's so fun. So we definitely
went every year. I don't know if I ever got a
full -size candy bar in all of my years of trick
-or -treating. One house was notorious for doing
king -size candy bars too. I think Costco has
full -size candy bars on sale this year. So I
think that's what we're going to try to do. Fun.
That's so fun. Like as a kid. As a kid to get
like a full Hershey's bar. That's so fun. fun
yeah it's way better i we might do that because
our neighborhood where we live it's really not
a big trick -or -treating neighborhood but we
i mean last year we got we got a few and i'm
pretty sure last year we had our dog still and
and he would just like bark it anyone who knocked
the door rang the doorbell so we just put like
a bowl yeah out and let kids grab and The bowl
was for sure empty when we went and like picked
it up the next morning. But who knows how many
kids actually came by. Like I bet it was like
five kids and they just like took all the candy.
Which honestly, fine with it. I know. I was like,
I don't really care. It's also any, this is,
or I guess this is the second year we're in this
house. And prior to this house, we've only lived
in apartments. So we've bought candy every year
and then we like maybe have one kid stop by.
And then you have a ton of candy for yourself.
Yeah. But. always way too much. And before, since
I was a student leader for so long at church,
I would just take all the extra candy and hand
it out. And then you'd always find like the one
middle school boy here, like here, take it all.
I don't want it back in my house. Just take it.
But I'm not anymore. So maybe I'll just like
give, if we have leftovers, we'll give it to
Michael to take to youth group. Yes. No, they,
those kids would love it. Okay, what can you
think of like a favorite Halloween memory? It
could be like more recent with kids or... I mean,
it is really fun like coming up with costumes
for our family. This is the first year we're
going trick -or -treating. I think last year
I had like kind of a weird moment where I had
a second of disappointment because I was like,
oh, we can't really like go to Halloween parties
on Halloween anymore. And I was like, no. we
yeah we're gonna be taking lloyd trick -or -treating
and so that was really fun to like have that
like realization and like a second of disappointment
to be like eclipsed by like this really exciting
thing if that's gonna be super fun in the future
yeah i'm excited to like see halloween through
our kids eyes and just like the fun yeah fun
trick -or -treating yeah i'm trying to think
if there's like a specific memory i have i always
remember my dad would take us trick -or -treating
and my mom would stay home okay to hand out candy
yeah and then I already talked about like the
Halloween party like not Halloween party that
we'd have growing up that was always like it
sounds super nerdy I mean it's pretty nerdy but
it was always super fun and like oh I guess one
of the things like about that specifically so
it was always potluck style both for actual food
and then for games so like every family was supposed
to bring some sort of game so like someone would
bring bobbing for apples which i don't think
anyone ever does anymore no um but one of the
the game that my parents i don't know if they
came up with or how they found it but what they
do every year is they get one of those like huge
rolls of paper and like they'd start they'd write
on it you know once upon a time and then people
could come and write just like additions to the
story and then towards the end of the night the
kids would act it out cool um so just be like
really ridiculous but it was also a very wholesome
crowd so it was like you could get away with
it yeah um i'm like i know other friends that
like in groups that like that would have gone
bad very quickly so that was like a fun thing
that we always did yeah that's a good memory
yeah we never i never like uh really did the
same thing every year i feel like especially
in high school i feel like it was kind of like
maybe we'd go trick -or -treating as high schoolers
which like We definitely stood out as like the
older kids. I was never like a partier in high
school or anything. And so we we didn't really
go to like parties to like go and get wasted
or anything like that. But I do remember this
one year we we went over to one of my friends
house. It was just like a bunch of girls and
we we all just hung out and had fun. And everyone
had like really cutesy costumes and stuff. And
because I was still kind of a tomboy, I dressed
up as a person from the insane asylum. Love it.
Yeah. I just. See, and that's my thing with Halloween
parties is you have to have a party where people
are at the same vibe as you. Yeah. Like either
is this like cutesy, like not, I mean, kind of
mean girls vibes, like not necessarily like.
mean girls in like yeah the inappropriate capacity
or whatever but just like yep oh you just wore
a t -shirt and put on ears yeah is that your
vibe are you like going full in for a costume
yeah i remember i think like my best friend was
like wonder woman or something and i legit was
wearing like i asked my stepmom who is a nurse
to get me a hospital gown and she brought me
a hospital gown and i legit wore that and like
teased my hair really big and just like I'll
have to show you a picture. We're going to have
to come up with pictures for some of these. Yeah.
This is really funny. But I just remember like
walking into this like party with my friends
and everyone's like a ballerina, like Wonder
Woman. Yeah. And I'm just like wearing a hospital
gown. So, so bad. But like. You were creative
though. I guess. Yeah. It was not. you can never
wear that costume now but no no yeah definitely
I was a weird kid but you turned out okay I maybe
I don't know I will say this is like actually
a sad memory but uh there was one year in high
school that my sister and her now husband then
boyfriend uh they were gonna throw a Halloween
party at my parents house and so I was like kind
of in on it and we actually had a group costume
the three of us but So I invited a bunch of people
and I had one friend show up. Oh, dang it. That
was not a good. Not a good. Not a good Halloween.
Not a good year. But it was. I mean, the party
was fun. I just had no friends show up. Yeah.
Oh, gosh. Halloween. I feel like Halloween is
one of those holidays where, I don't know, you're
either like really into Halloween or you're really
like it's you could take it or leave it. I feel
like now I'm kind of a take it or leave it. person
honestly like I thought it was fun dressing up
when I was younger I think it'll be fun to like
have the boys dress up um especially as they
get older and stuff but I like I mean I haven't
even really put thought into like this halloween
much yeah and i'm like it's just around the corner
um okay so what what would you say are some family
any or fun like halloween family traditions that
you either have or want to put into place so
i mean growing up we always carved pumpkins and
then my mom would bake the pumpkin seeds oh yes
so i would like to do that I mean, right now,
like the idea of carving them is not like ideal,
but I know some people like paint them with little
kids. So we might try to do something like that.
That's smart. I don't know if I want to go to
a pumpkin patch. I know that's like part of it
for some people. Yeah. That's what I put down
for us. Is going to a pumpkin patch. Yeah. I
just, and we honestly didn't do that a lot growing
up. I think that it will just be fun with little
kids to go to like Anderson Farms or something
like that. yeah so yeah i do like carving pumpkins
stewart was telling me last night that his mom
always had like she had a book of carving patterns
or whatever and that she would only let them
carve anything out of the book and so i was like
oh like Was this when you were like a little
kid? Cause I would get it for like a little kid
where you're like, I'm doing all of the carving.
So like, I'm going to limit your options because
I'm not on something too complicated. And he
was like, no, that was like until we stopped
caring about carving pumpkins. So she just stuck
with this rule forever. That's funny. That's
funny. We carved pumpkins growing up, but I always
did like the simple like triangle eyes and just
the regular mouth. I feel like as a kid, I was
really creative about it. And now every year
or the years that we have carved them in the
last few years, I just like draw a blank and
can't think of anything. Yeah. Yeah. So, but
yeah, so we'd always carved pumpkins. And then
the neighborhood I grew up in, we would do, I
think we called them boo bags, but you do like
a brown paper bag with like some treats in it
and anonymously leave it on someone's door. And
then there was always like a paper ghost that
you were supposed to put on your door once someone
like hit you or whatever. And then if you got
one, you were supposed to like do the same thing
to other neighbors. Take it to somebody else.
Which I was like, that's, that is super fun.
And then I realized almost all of our neighbors,
including us, have ring doorbells or, like, some
sort of video doorbell. Yeah. So you just, like,
can't do it. You can't do it anonymously anymore.
It's like, do you, like, buy a ski mask? Like,
how do you? Yeah, there's not really. Do I look
like I'm going to rob your house right now? Yeah.
There's not really a good way to do it anonymously
anymore because everyone has cameras and doorbells
and stuff like that. Which, again, us too, so
I'm not, like. Yeah. Yeah. I get it. Yeah. But
I just thought that was a funny like generational
thing. That is funny. Yeah. I don't think, I
don't know what traditions will really put in
place. I do wish there was like a classic trunk
or treat around here. I haven't really found
one. I'm sure I could, but yeah, we'll probably
try trick or treating this year for the first
time. We'll see how it goes. I think Colt's going
to be terrified actually of other people in costumes,
but I think we'll give it a whirl. And if it
goes bad, we hold off. Yeah. And it's only once
a year, so maybe by next year he'll be fine.
I know. If it goes bad, like, hey, we'll go to
one house and, you know, call it a night. He
doesn't really know what he's missing. I'll probably
eat all the candy anyways. Yeah, Lloyd's definitely
not going to eat all of his candy. No, absolutely
not. You can have one piece and then we'll call
it a night. Did you guys have rules for what
you could, like, eat candy after? So my siblings
and I. I think we did. I don't remember like
what it was specifically. I remember having my
Halloween candy for a long time after Halloween.
I remember that too. Like I do remember after
we would trick or treat, we'd get home and we'd
like all dump our candy and trade candy. And
that actually is one of my favorite memories
is like trading candy with my siblings. I always
wanted all of like the chocolate and I'd trade
like. all the gummy things and stuff for all
the chocolate. I was a big chocolate person.
I feel like that's such a like key part of childhood
is trading candy. Yes. And then I remember, so
I'm the youngest sibling and I just, I think
my siblings would always like short me, like
short change me. I'm the youngest in like all
the groups. Yeah. Yeah. Kids in the neighborhood,
siblings, everything. I'd always get like way
less candy. I'd end up with way less candy. But
I, then I remember we'd all like, put all of
our candy in like one of the big like gallon
Ziploc bags and then we'd write our name on it
and then we just like keep them in the kitchen
like up on the counter and then every night for
or whenever we would get dessert we'd yeah you
could either have I don't know a cookie or something
or you could have a couple pieces of Halloween
candy yeah and I think I would have mine for
like Probably months, honestly. It felt like
it for sure. I don't know if that's actually
how long it was. Yeah. Yeah, we would always
trade candy too. We would also use, did you use
pillowcases for trick -or -treating? Yes. Yep.
Definitely. classic yeah and my mom had like
a basket that we would then put all of our candy
and like my it was just my sister and i so it's
like so you trade candy with the neighborhood
kids and then we'd like put it all on the same
thing because we didn't really there was i think
there was a few things where it's like if there's
one that you like definitely like that's yours
and then it's kind of like the family candy thing
that's another thing My parents always gave out
full -size popcorn bags, which is a weird hit.
Kids get so excited. Like homemade popcorn in
a little Ziploc bag? No, just a microwave popcorn
bag, but the full -sized one instead of the mini
ones. That's funny. Which is the fact that it
was a different thing. It's different. The mini
ones are like, they always burn anyways. But
kids get, even to this day when they've done
it, kids get so excited. Was it something that
like maybe one year it was like, oh crap, we
forgot to get candy. Let's just grab what we
have in the pantry. I don't think so. I would
have to ask my mom where it started. And it might
have just been, it's something different than
what everyone else is doing. And again, I had
a full -size candy bar neighborhood. was probably
mostly that just like to stand out kind of a
little bit. Yeah. Just do something a little
bit different. And that's actually a really good
idea. And then kids loved it. So, Hey, I might
actually like take her up on that one. Yeah.
Yeah. They would just get a big Costco pack.
Yep. Yeah. And then. Maybe that was part of it
is then when there was leftovers, it's not leftover
candy. Yeah. Because like my parents eat popcorn.
We would always have popcorn for movie nights
and stuff. So maybe that was part of it is any
leftovers were stuff that they would already
eat and want in the house. Yeah, that's smart.
I love that idea. Yeah. Some of you said like
carving pumpkins with family, going to pumpkin
patches. And that was kind of like the. majority
of answers this year i don't know if it'll be
a tradition we'll see it would be i think it'd
be fun if it was stewart's brother and his family
live like 15 minutes away from us or something
like that so we might try to start like a cousin
trick -or -treating tradition So that's what
we're doing this year. Big cousin can show Lloyd
the ropes of how trick -or -treating works. Now
that I'm thinking back on trading candy and stuff
like that, that's a super fun thing to do with
cousins too. I didn't have cousins close by growing
up. That's so fun. Yeah, last year, since we
don't have any family in the area, unfortunately,
and Colton and Cruz have one. really young cousin
but the other cousins are all older but last
year I just thought of this memory Halloween
was I think it was on like either a Saturday
or Sunday or they just like said you could dress
up for church oh yeah wear your costume to church
and so we got Colt just like a spirit Halloween
costume but he was an elephant That's so cute.
It was so, so cute. The costume was like definitely
too big for him, but it had like these big old
elephant ears. It was like a little headpiece
that he wore with like big old elephant ears.
And I remember, so the classroom he was in at
church has like these tables, but they have like
seats inside the tables. So it calls it their
stadium seating. Yes, yes. And so I remember
distinctly picking up Colt from church or from
Sunday school. And we, Michael and I look in
the classroom and Colt is just like sitting in
that, the stadium seating. And he's the only
kid wearing a costume. And he's just got these
big old elephant ears. And it's just so cute.
And I mean, he was so little that like he didn't
really understand. He's like, I'm wearing a costume.
And no one else is. No one else is. But it just
was hilarious. It would be really nice to not,
to have that level of like unawareness to an
extent. Yeah. Like, I don't care. Lack of shame.
Yeah. I love it. But that was really cute. Still
don't know what the boys are going to wear this
year in a few days. So. We'll figure it out.
You know, we'll figure it out. But yeah, I feel
like Halloween, I mean, for the last few, since,
honestly, since high school, it's been kind of
like a here. Yeah. It's not a big deal. But now
I think with kids, it's going to be. Yeah. More
fun again. Yeah. Yeah. I think so many things
are so much more fun with kids. Oh, for sure.
Yeah. As much as like, I am really excited to
come up with costumes for them and like force
them to be like the like family costume that
I want or whatever. Yep. But also like looking
back at some of the things that I did. almost
all of the costumes that I listed that I did
as a kid, I came up with. So I'm excited to see
like what that is for my kids. Like I do want
to encourage them to be creative and not just
be like a normal, like do something like kind
of fun and interesting from like a book or something.
Yeah. Yeah. To see like what they're interested
in. And hopefully once we're out of like the
newborn and toddler phase. I'll have energy to
make costumes to make them. Yeah. Because that
is like definitely a core memory is my mom would
spend like months making costumes and people
would always ask her about it. Like, why would
you do that? Like that takes so much energy.
But then for us, especially like as girls, we
still play dress up quite a bit. So she was like,
they will wear them until either they don't fit
or they are falling apart. Yeah. And then half
the time they come up with. something else to
use them for once they're falling apart so like
it's turns into something else yeah so it's worth
it to spend all this energy because it's not
just a Halloween costume it's something that
they yeah it's like until they can't use it anymore
that's a cute a cute thing yeah it's fun nice
well yeah I mean you kind of told us you guys
told us some of your Halloween stories but ultimately
yeah this was just a fun fun kind of episode
to bring to the table and hopefully you guys
all have fun with your families this week for
halloween and um make some good memories some
good core memories yeah yeah yeah you want to
jump into our wins i would love to um okay so
i talked about my mom moment went to staff retreat
and so my win uh so it was a two -night retreat
the second night I slept seven hours straight.
And that was like. When was the last time that
happened? I think it was last staff retreat.
Oh, okay. That makes sense. Like a year ago.
Yeah. And so I just, I think I went to bed at
like 1130 and I woke up at 630, just like so
wide awake. Yeah. And I just was like, oh my
gosh, I just. Wow. I felt so glorious. And you
didn't have like a panic moment in the middle
of the night of like. No. I just was out. That's
so nice. Oh, was it in the mountains? Yeah. Sleeps
so much better in the mountains. And the air
was like cold and crisp. Perfect. What's funny
though is so Michael and I were not able to share
a room at staff retreat. So they like split guys
and girls. And it's funny because I remember
waking up at 630 and I like checked my phone
because I went to bed before Michael went to
bed. And he had texted me at 430 in the morning
saying that he was going to bed and that he would
not be coming to breakfast. Like, why did you
do this? Yeah. And so he then went home from
the retreat like exhausted. And you're like,
I am very well rested. I feel so good. I was
like, I just got a full night's sleep. and yeah
and he it's so funny because we like left that
next morning so we had to be out of our rooms
by like 9 15 and he said that he woke up to housekeeping
cleaning around him in his room which is also
just like a weird decision on housekeeping yeah
he said they'd already cleaned the bathroom at
that point and that they were like it was like
a bunk room for his his room And that they were
already like stripping the sheets on the other
bunks. And he was just like asleep at his bunk.
I'm like, that is so awkward. That's super awkward.
I would be so embarrassed. I'd be mortified if
I woke up and housekeeping was cleaning around.
Yeah. Oh, my gosh. But then he's like, yeah,
then I just got up really quick and like threw
everything in my bag and just got out of there.
Makes sense. I mean, that's kind of all you can
do at that point. Or help clean. I don't know.
I know. Like, hey, do you want me to strip the
sheets on my bed? that was in three seconds ago
yeah yeah but uh yeah loved a good full night's
sleep that sounds glorious yeah okay mine is
also sleep related we are weaning off nursing
to sleep okay um it like tough kind of came out
of like necessity where anytime i'd put zeta
down for a nap it would like she would nurse
forever just to go to sleep and of course it's
like you know how it is she's not actually nursing
the whole time no she's just latched on for like
an hour and anytime you move she's like wait
wait wait yeah a little bit and so it got to
the point of course with i'm working but also
i can't leave lloyd alone for that long you know
for an hour at a time yeah so it just got to
the point where i was like this isn't realistic
anymore like and that's how it was with lloyd
too i was like i nursed him to the sleep until
there came a point where it's just like this
isn't working anymore so now i still nurse her
before like naps and bedtime but It's like I
nurse her until I can tell she's like actually
done eating. Yeah. And then I set her down. And
for the most part, it's been working. That's
good. I mean, it definitely, there was like a
rough week. But most days I'm able to just like
set her down. And, you know, sometimes she's
already like drowsy and mostly asleep. But we've
had a few times when she's like wide awake and
gets herself to sleep. That is just downright
impressive. It's so nice to just not. be like
tied to that yeah yeah that's awesome that's
good i'm gonna have to take any advice because
yeah last night last night since we'd gotten
home from the retreat yesterday i was nursing
cruised to sleep and he was like for sure done
and so then i just like kind of like unlatched
him but then all of a sudden his mouth is just
like searching and he's like give me more yep
that's how zayna is yeah and then i'm like fine
usually if i can get her like up quick enough
on my shoulder then she's fine it's almost like
just being in that position and close enough
that she's like it's like it's right here obviously
yeah Let us know any more Halloween stories you
guys have. It's fun. If you liked the themed
episode, let us know. If you hated it, also let
us know. Yeah, that's fine. We're not offended.
Yeah, we're just trying different things. See
what it's like. Yep. Well, that's enough oversharing
for today. If you enjoyed hanging out with us,
hit subscribe so you don't miss the next round
of chaos. And if you're listening while hiding
in the bathroom from your kids, no judgment.
We see you. Thanks for joining us on No Manual
Momcast, where motherhood is messy. At least
we can laugh about it together.