Sugar, Sugar and Yes, More Sugar

I caught myself saying one of those ironic statements yesterday that once it passed my lips I had to pause and think to myself, "Did I really just say that?" Olivia's day started off with breakfast, which consisted of a waffle smothered in syrup and a glass of milk. As she lolly gagged her way through breakfast I made the fortuitous statement, "You need to finish that breakfast. You are going to be eating a lot of sugary junk today and you need to have something good in your tummy." Never mind the syrup dripping off of her plate! And so the day of sugar overload began.

Our next encounter with the sugar bug presented itself as I was putting together the treat for Livvy's classroom party. My boys were enthralled with the frosting smothered brownies and peanut butter eyeballs. "Could I just have one taste?" Mark asked a bazillion times. "No," I thought "It's a day of sugar"...but then he gave me his hurt puppy dog eyes and I ended up letting the boys lick the beaters. Every kid has to say they have licked a beater right?

As I busied myself about the kitchen I noticed on the lunch menu for the school that day the cafeteria was serving mud pudding with lunch. Hmmmm....maybe the ladies thought some of the classes weren't going to be having parties that day. Oh well! I hurried off to school with Nate, Tess and James in tow and we found ourselves at the school surrounded by Spidermen, Supermen, Scooby Doo, Princesses, Darth Vaders, Witches, Goblins and a variety of other fun characters. I had to laugh to myself remembering the note that came home a few days previous, "The children are welcome to wear their costumes to school. Please keep in mind we don't want any scary or mean costumes. Remember this is a safe place." I did see a few kids whose parents bucked the system by letting their children's meaness show through by dressing as a bloody vampire and even a wicked surgeon. Olivia's classroom was abuzz with the excitement of seeing what all the kids were dressed as for Halloween. James and I exchanged a smile as one boy asked another boy what he was (I couldn't tell either) and the incensed boy replied, "I'm a Ninja Turtle! Duh!" It's good to know conversation hasn't changed much since I was in school. 'Duh' is still a universal put down. I took the treats over to the treat table and placed it alongside the Kool Aide and boxes of treat bags made by other mothers. Wait! I thought I was in charge of the treat...Livvy walked out of class that day with a brownie and an eyeball in her tummy and 3, yes 3, treat bags full of candy. I think I sensed a glazed look come over her eyes on the way to the car. We also checked in on Mark's class party. They were quietly coloring at their tables. I asked the teacher if we had missed their party and she said, "We are having our party." Yeah! They got to color! On regular days they just get to scribble with stubby pencils.

We pushed the kids through their already going strong candy rush to the ward party later that evening. On the menu, Chili and............cinnamon rolls and...........chocolate milk! "Yeah!" my kids yelled. "Can we please have some?" I was beginning to feel overwhelmed for the little buggers. They didn't even know they were heading themselves into a diabetic coma. Even through the shakes and twitches, I can only assume from the mass amounts of sugar already pulsing through their little systems, they managed to eat their rolls and drink their milk. Children are amazing creatures.

We moved onto the trunk-or-treat where they were able to attain even more sweets to get them through to their teen years. Their buckets over flowed with candy bars, tootsie rolls, suckers, skittles, smarties, yada, yada, yada. Mark was a little bummed though because, "I got more last year!" I reminded him that there is always next year.

After letting the kids study their loot and count their booty James and I decided it was past the witching hour and time to get them to bed. After several fits on Nate's part we were able to brush their teeth and gather them into bed. Whoo! The day was over. As I sat on the couch thinking of the days events and counting the number of times the kids had a jolt of sugar I hoped they could actually get to sleep that night. "I know I will" I thought as I popped just one more miniature Baby Ruth in my mouth.