Mostly tricks for my family tonight, unfortunately.  It wasn’t really a banner night for the Shepherd kids.

I’ve always loved Halloween.  I was bummed out that this year I’d be working during trick-or-treat hours, so I had a brilliant idea.

I would take the kids trick or treating to ONE neighbor-friend’s house at 8pm, after the 7:00 newscast.

Of course, that’s normally their bedtime, but what the heck, it’s one special night, right?

So Spiderman (Cal) and Dorothy (Clara) waited patiently in the superhero outfit and sparkly red shoes for me to get home from work.   (See new photo in the photo album!) Ian helped them answer the door and hand out candy, until finally I arrived to take them out on the trick-or-treat adventure

  Dorothy didn’t care much about the kids we were visiting, or their toys for that matter. She was jamming candy into her mouth as fast as she could shove her little hand into her bucket.

     Spidey didn’t care about the candy - he was into the other kids’ toys.  They were WAY too exciting to share - even with the kids who they belonged to.   I watched my superhero turn into a caveman before my during a tussle over a toy.

    Wow - did I wish those ruby slippers could have clicked us home right then.  

    After I made my mortified apology and quick exit, both the little darlings wailed all the way home - Cal because he wanted to keep trick-or-treating at other houses, Clara because she dropped a piece of out of her mouth into the grass,  and desperately wanted to retrieve it.

At least we got a happy picture for the photo album before the night went south. 

I hope this makes you fellow parents feel a little better if any part of your Halloween turned into a bit of a horror story.

Thanks for reading!

TS

My son Calvin swears he’s taller today.

Turning 5 must make you feel big.

He still looked awfully small to me underneath the huge sombrero at his favorite Mexican restaurant today, where he ordered his signature “smashed beans” and taco. (see new photo in my photo album)

And when he lost his temper on the playground in a squabble over a rocking horse. 

When he grinned and squealed at the sight of more presents…

and when he asked for his multi-colored teddy bear to bring to bed.

But as he climbed up into the top bunk, he told his baby sister in the next room, “Look, I’m not going to cry when it’s time for bed. I’m 5 now.”

I hope 5 is a good year.

Happy Birthday, Calvin!

TS

I think Todd and I are spending too much time side by side.

We’ve apparently started thinking alike.

Today as we both watched the governor’s news conference live during our 6pm news, we both scribbled furiously taking notes so we’d be able to not only digest the information, but recap it later if necessary.

At one point our hands both shot up to the upper right corner of our papers at the exact same moment… to jot down the same words that caught both our ears.

Later we compared our notes - and noticed another similarity:

We both have absolutely terrible handwriting.

Todd’s is actually a bit worse, according to an impartial co-worker who judged them blindly. “That’s like doctor handwriting!” Darryl observed.”

What matters is we can both read our own handwriting (at least most of the time) - and probably most importantly - we’re both detail-oriented enough to care about even the finer points of the day’s big story.

     As I expected, veteran Statehouse reporter Norman Cox did a fantastic job of covering the story from the field -  but it was reassuring for Todd and I to know we had TWO sets of very detailed, if messy, notes to go by just in case his live signal failed.

Thanks for reading!

TS

I had been looking forward to this past weekend because I promised my daughter, Kennedy, that we would bake bread. My co-worker gave me the recipe to a delicious, sweet treat called “Amish Friendship Bread.” I couldn’t wait - and neither could she. (Plus it was good daddy/daughter time, too).

Anyway, Saturday morning I got the rest of our ingredients and then Kennedy and I got to work. We cracked eggs, poured flour, measured milk and made quite the mess!!! Add a little cinnamon and sugar and it smelled absolutely delicious. I put the batter in a muffin pan and baked for 30 minutes.

They weren’t nearly as good as my cowkers’ but my daughter and I didn’t complain. We ate a couple and saved the rest for Sunday. And THIS is where the story gets interesting. I left them on the counter and my family and I went to church. Boy, I had a taste for them when we got home. I told Kennedy to get ready because we were going to dig in. Except - I couldn’t find them. The plate had nothing but crumbs. I looked in the fridge, the pantry. Certainly my wife, Valarie, didn’t throw them away. But I looked in the garbage anyway. Finally I asked her and she said “I thought you put them away.”

We both looked at one another and called our “Dog”-ter.. Soteria. Hmm. She hadn’t begged for any food. She’d been strangely quiet. “Soteria,” Valarie asked. “Did you eat that bread?” She ducked her head and gave that “I’m so sorry. Do you still love me?” look. We had to laugh. Soteria is our other baby and she has me wrapped around her paw. Punishment? Please. I tried to scold her. The attempt was laughable.

So yes. The Amish Friendship Bread was a hit!!! But who knew the one who enjoyed it the most would be on four legs.

Any of you parents want to give your take on why a child can be a holy hellion for his/her parents, and moments later do a Jeckyll/Hyde number and become completely sweet and angelic for a sitter?

   I fretted and worried about how Cal and Clara would do with a new sitter one day this week.  (My little man, especially, wasn’t in the best of moods, to put it lightly, earlier in the day.)

       When I called in for a progress report and was told they were doing “great, fine, no problems!”  I had to choke back my surprise. (Really…. are you sure he hasn’t been replaced by an alien?)

    I know there’s a psychological explanation for why kids prefer to torture their own parents, but I’m not sure that will make it any easier to accept.  

      I’m looking forward to a fun and hopefully peaceful weekend!

TS