This Year on Halloween

This year on Halloween big C will be playing baseball in a travel tournament.  (Arghhh.)

This year on Halloween the kids will carve their pumpkins on their own but leave the last of the guts scraping to Dad.

This year on Halloween we will put the old baby monitor inside a scary jack o' lantern.

This year on Halloween I will not give candy out to adults posing as children.

This year on Halloween C will dress up like a black cat.

This year on Halloween the dog will go crazy over all the door bell ringing.

This year on Halloween we will explain to several people that it's okay that C goes trick-or-treating.

This year on Halloween we will eat homemade caramel apples.

This year on Halloween there will be "ghoul"-ash in the crockpot.

This year on Halloween big C will dress up like a creepy clown and really creep Mom out...(I mean I'm getting creeped out just by seeing that mask lying around the house!)

This year on Halloween we will burn honest-to-goodness REAL candles in our honest -to-goodness jack o' lanterns (come on, people!)

This year on Halloween, the boys will run ahead, not listening to directions, but C will enjoy holding Daddy's hand.

This year on Halloween the kids will beg to go trick-or-treating before it's even dark outside.

This year on Halloween, diabetes or not, a kid can have some candy.

This year on Halloween middle C will dress up as "Backwards Man" (bless this child!)

This year on Halloween the kids will pick out their favorite candies and donate the rest to Daddy's classroom.
This year on Halloween C will trade in some of her stash for a special gift.

This year on Halloween the boys will give Mom any candy she wants from their loot.

This year on Halloween diabetes will remain quiet and well-behaved in the background.

Ahhh...simple costumes!

Candy World!

Oddly, this could be a wonderful dream or a horrific nightmare for someone dealing with diabetes.

During our little vacation this summer, we kept running into (literally) these crazy, HUGE, brightly-lit candy stores! We couldn't help it. It was like a gigantic magnet pulled my kids in!

Now, some folks may be thinking, "Wait a minute, I thought your daughter has diabetes," usually spoken in hushed tones for some reason. Well, yes. Yes, she does. But this store just screamed FUN! So, how could we resist!

Call me crazy, but I let C eat certain treats. I don't allow any of the purely sugar candies. (Although, jelly bellies are beginning to be the fast-acting sugar of choice for treating lows lately!) But, then there's chocolate. Chocolate is just so perfect. It has fat in it...not just sugar. So it doesn't send her sky-rocketing, then crashing. It actually works out okay for us as long as we count the carbs correctly. On special occasions, yes, she eats candy. We don't do it every day. We count and bolus accordingly.

So, in Candy World, I was going to allow my kids some fun treats! The boys picked out the "way-over-priced-by-weight" candies and scooped them into little bags...jelly beans, gummie things and of course the gargantuan jawbreaker. I wandered around with C, in search of the perfect chocolate. The great thing was, she was more interested in all the toys and stuffed animals rather than the candies. She is fanatical about stuffed animals! I kept asking, "Are you sure you don't want anything?"

"Oh, all I really want is this cute little stuffed turtle, Mom! Look! It has a little tu-tu!"

How could I argue with that?! Here we were in Candy World. I was willing to buy my type 1 daughter candy! And all she wanted was a stuffed animal. I actually was in awe of her decision for the remainder of our day.

Candy, candy, everywhere...and C is holding a strange blue squishy thing!