Halloween Eve 9:00 p.m.

I can’t imagine how this is possible. My sugar-hyped children have fallen asleep. Thank God.

I look around the house. Some dishes from dinner are still on the counter; we barely gobbled it down before heading out to Trick or Treat.

The table is covered in neatly sorted piles of peanut butter cups, Smarties, and Mike and Ike’s, all set out and ready for the breakfast rush.

The couch and living room are strewn with costume parts and candy wrappers.

I am wearing a red union suit, the base layer of one ridiculous clown costume. Plus, I can’t quite get the red lipstick hearts off of my cheeks. Will anyone miss this package of Twizzlers?

And I have a blog article to write. Something to do with literacy.

I push the costume parts aside and pull my computer onto my lap.

Usually, by the time I sit down to write, I have a whole post all worked out in my head. But this week, it was all I could do to get through today.

Halloween Eve 10:00 p.m.

The sugar pulsing through my brain has rendered me numb. All I can think about is how grateful I am for the public education system, which will take my exhausted but candy-fueled children off of my hands tomorrow.

I love school.

Halloween Eve 10:45 p.m.

I have sucessfully removed all of the dark chocolate from the kids’ stash and squirreled it away where only I can find it.

Halloween Eve 11:00 p.m.

Post-sugar low. A few blog post ideas considered and rejected. Halloween makes me dumb. Must…go…to…sleep.

The Day After Halloween 8:30 a.m.

They’re gone. I can’t believe it. They are finally gone.

The first word out of my six-year-old’s mouth this morning (repeated 27 times) was, “CANDY!!”

I love school.

Plus, I spilled my coffee tripping over my very own clown shoes that I left in the middle of the living room last night.

If the kids are affected the same way I am, then good luck teachers.

It looks like our nation’s children will be taking a day off from learning. I hope it doesn’t set them back as much as summer.

The Day After Halloween 8:45 a.m. 

A little more coffee and a Reese’s and I think I’m ready to wrap this up…

Conclusion: Halloween and education are not friends.

Frankly, I don’t know why we allow it.

Oh yeah. I remember.

After the daily grind of whole foods, homework, and responsibility a once-annual candy carnage is really fun!

Even if it does make us dumb. Temporarily.