... It all started with a note I didn’t see one early Sunday morning, the week before Halloween.

Meandering around the kitchen, sipping my coffee, I sorted through the stack of papers from my son’s backpack. A PTA contest. Pumpkin storybook characters. Students were to portray their favorite character in a book, on a pumpkin, and no carving allowed. I have to say, I panicked. What in the world would we do in such short notice? No carving allowed? I’m not much a 3-D design artist either. Give me some paper though, I can draw, I used to paint a bit—paint! That’s what we’d do. So we carried on as usual, church, chores, and naptime. After nap, we hustled out to the closest grocery store and each kiddo picked out their pumpkin. Big and orange for my son, and white and bitty for my daughter. We dashed off to Michaels, a craft store nearby, and one of the kind associates pointed me to the right paint and fixatives. Thank goodness.

The first photo to the right shows our painting efforts. The wee one had to get every ounce of her white pumpkin from the core to the tip of the stem, bright pink.

You’ll see in the next picture, the finished product. We went with Spiderman. It was easy. I found a great picture on google, and sometimes no matter what your doing, superheros are just plain fun, and I love talking to my kids about seeing possibility in the impossible.

So here are the finished pumpkins and the finished costumes. My daughter as spider girl, with a headband of spiders I glued together myself. :0) My son? Gill Grunt, the latest and greatest action figure Skylander character.

My point for this post today, is to share with you my Monday fuel, great times and great moments.

So today, Monday, live your day as best as you can. Laugh because it feels good. Find your smile and use it. I won’t lie. I adore the weekends and the time I get to spend with my babies, but the love I fill up on, helps keep my own fire burning strong.

Happy Monday!