the faintest of memories

This weekend started out really rough after Halloween on Friday. Henry really eats very little sugar in real life and when he does it's not processed,colored, chemical crap. Also, I think just the promise of more candy in his future made him unstable. He was so unhinged for most of Saturday that we hardly got anything done. Next year I am throwing a party or something. They loved the trick-or-treating and dressing up but the hangover was a bitch. In any case, I had hoped to finally clean and organize to a serious degree but we didn't get very far. We did manage to stop by a day of the dead party in the early evening and the kids behaved beautifully (the 4-year-olds roved in a pack, dressed as knights and superheroes from the host's costume stash). I chatted with friends and met some new people and felt like a social adult for the first time in as long as I can remember.

Today was better all around. The candy had been disposed of and everyone was much more even-tempered. I actually had decent energy and cleaned and organized and read books with Henry and cooked and briefly raked leaves (until it started to downpour). Jason made a great roast and we had a couple with two kids over whom we haven't seen since the middle of summer. They brought more great food and everything went off without a hitch. Totally pleasant and easy. Now the kids are asleep and my house is cleaner than it has been in a very long time. I do have to work a bit now and I'm not feeling great about the Monday morning routine ahead but I don't feel too bad about anything either. I shouldn't get ahead of myself but I am feeling more balanced and more like myself than I have in a long time. I have had many good moments intermingled with the rough ones lately but something about this feel more real, more normal, not like a swing. For that I will hold much hope.

No matter what, I always have the cuteness to keep me from going too far afield: