As you can see, Caleb was the most adorable werewolf ever. Spencer was a knight. And Skyler was a corpse bride.

I’m not really sure what Keaton and Justis are. They threw these costumes together with things they found throughout the house. Justis said he was a hobo. Keaton said he is Adam Powers…Austin’s cousin. He was freaking me out with the mustache and beard and the gray hair. He really did look older. Same with Justis. If you just glanced at him he looked like he had gray hair and a full beard. It was a little freaky.

By the time we got home from trick-or-treating in our neighborhood and visiting family, the kids had full bags of candy, messy faces and upset tummies. But they had a great time.

For years I have seen the aftermath of school shootings on the news. I sat sobbing watching the kids in Columbine. I’ve shed tears hearing of other shootings all over the country. Most of these school shootings were not in places we would stereotypically expect them; the inner city schools in the poor parts of towns in major cities. Many of these shootings were in affluent schools in small towns where the citizens never would have guessed it could happen to them.

We live in the midwest. We are hours from Detroit and hours from Chicago. But today I have school shootings on my mind.

I came home from school to an email from school superintendent. It was in regards to the high school. The high school that Justis attends. It said, “Today, your high school son or daughter has received a letter detailing information regarding a series of threats that were posted at the high school in reference to a high school administrator.”

According to Justis there were three notes found in the bathroom stating the principal will die on November 2nd. I’ve watched enough TV to know, no matter where you live, threats like these cannot be ignored. And, honestly, I’m scared.

The email continued on, “We have been diligently working with local law enforcement and in the upcoming days increased law enforcement and staff presence and vigilance will be apparent in our high school. We will have school every day this week and we encourage perfect attendance, cooperation, support and patience.”

In my head I know we can’t let these hoodlums win. We can’t let them know we’re afraid. But this is my child going to this school. I never thought there would be a day that I would see police officers in a school here in my community, let alone the school my children attend. That kind of thing just doesn’t happen here.

I haven’t really decided what I’m going to do yet. I really, really want to keep Justis home from school on Thursday. But I know that’s probably not the best thing to do. Police will be on campus all week, so, most likely, nothing will happen this week. But what about next week? Or the week after?

It’s probably just some stupid kids making statements they have no intention of backing up. However, we can’t just assume that. We need to be prepared. But how do you prepare your kids for something like this? I having enough trouble preparing myself.

The schools that my kids go to are all on the same campus. Different schools, but one large campus. The middle school, where Keaton is at, is just behind the high school. The elementary school, where Skyler & Spencer are at, is next to the middle school. The preschool Caleb attends is just a parking lot away. So every day from now to the end of the school year I have to worry that my kids are safe. And I don’t like worrying about their safety. I have knots in my stomach just typing about it now.

If you have any tips on how to prepare for a situation like this, I’d like to hear them. So share your knowledge, please.

I know I loved Halloween as a child. What child doesn’t? But I can’t remember a single Halloween from my childhood. I can’t think of a single costume I wore. But I remember my first Halloween as a mom like it was yesterday.

In October 1994, Keaton was just two and a half months old. I got him two costumes that year. Yes, you heard me. Two costumes for a two and a half month old.

He wore this alligator costume to daycare during the day. He was the most handsome alligator at school with his big alligator eyes and his big alligator nose and that totally cool alligator tail.

Later that night, for trick-or-treating [we just went to my Grandma and my Aunt's house], Keaton and I dressed as cows. He was a little brown cow. And I was a big black mama cow. [It takes a confident woman to dress up like a cow. ]

Twelve years later, this is still my favorite Halloween photo of all time. To this day I still have this photo framed. It reminds me of the day Halloween started all over again for me.

As Halloween approaches, I’ve been reminiscing about past Halloweens. Honestly, Halloween is not my favorite holiday. But it is fun watching how excited the kids get. And how cute they look in their costumes.

Having twins has made that even more fun. For a while anyway. For a couple of years I was able to get Skyler & Spencer in to matching costumes for Halloween.

They were only weeks old at their very first Halloween [1999]. Skyler was a pansy and Spencer was a pea pod.

Their second Halloween [2000] we went with a Sesame Street theme. Skyler was Big Bird and Spencer was Cookie Monster.

For their third Halloween [2001] we went with a monster theme. Old Navy had these really cute monster costumes so I got them for Skyler & Spencer.

And that’s where the themed Halloween costumes ended. By the time Skyler & Spencer were three [2002], they wanted to choose their own costumes. Skyler was a Powerpuff Girl and Spencer was Bob the Builder.

Then at four years old [2003] Skyler chose to be a Princess and Spencer was a red Power Ranger.

But when they were five, I was able to talk them in to one more themed costume. Skyler was Raggedy Ann and Spencer was Raggedy Andy. Look at how absolutely adorable they looked. Don’t you think it would be cool if they’d let me dress them in matching costumes every year? Darn these kids for growing up and getting ideas of their own.

You’ll have to wait until Tuesday to find out what they all decided to be this year.