I am the Editorial Assistant for The Fort Scott Tribune, where I have been employed since March of 2008. I live in the country near Mapleton, Kan., with my husband and our two children. I graduated from Uniontown High School, Uniontown, Kan., but before attending Uniontown, I moved around several times during my childhood. I love to take photos, write, read and spend time with my family. I am also a member of our local fire department and enjoy attending church with my family and appreciate everything a small town has to offer. I look forward to watching my children grow and spending time with my husband and family while living in the country.

Happy Halloween

Posted Thursday, October 30, 2008, at 11:52 PM

This will be the first time that my son really trick or treats. Last year, we dressed him up as a lion and took him around, but at 8 months, he didn't really get the point.

I'm not sure if he gets the point this year, but he is excited about all the candy, which I'm not so excited about, and he did pick out his own costume. It's western and looks like he's riding a horse. My daughter, not that she will really care, is going to be a cow. So I will have a western cowboy, riding a horse, and a cow. A very cute cow I might add.

Today I spent the day getting ready for Halloween, I made some cookies and white chocolate pretzels. My son awoke from his nap just in time to help decorate the pretzels. This is my first time to let him really "help" with the cooking, it went pretty good, but I think he had a sugar rush by the time it was over and my kitchen counter is still covered in sprinkles and chocolate. At least now that I have kids, I have a real excuse for not keeping my house clean!

We also bought candy and decorated, I'm not sure if people trick or treat in the country, but if they do, my house is ready for them. What will probably really happen is no one will show up at our house, my son will eat all the candy and my dog will eat the decorations, but I'm really excited about our first Halloween in our new house, so I'm going to do it anyway.

I'm all about trying to pass on traditions to my kids, so I'm really putting emphasis on the holidays and making things for them. When I was a kid, my mom made a lot of our costumes for us, and I thought about doing it for my kids, but in the end, the store bought costume just seemed so much easier and my son of course loves anything to do with horses. I'm also not very good at sewing, in fact the idea of me sewing anything is really funny... if I made it, I guarantee it would be scary, but no one would have any clue what it was supposed to be.

Hopefully though, the weather will be decent and I can take my kids trick or treating and help make the kind of memories for them that I have. Every year we went trick or treating as a family, my parents let me drag them to every house around (Just one more house...please?!?!) and thinking about it all, just makes me smile. I hope my children will have them someday too.

To all of our readers, I wish you all a safe and Happy Halloween. For those of you who will be doing something special, I'd love to hear about it.