I'm sitting at the Dormont park right now while my 4-year-old son (who today is going by Batman) is running around in the wooden castles, making new friends with each new kid who arrives. I’d totally be playing with him if he let me, but he’s discovering his independence and exploring new relationships. It’s kinda his thing. He’ll actually say, can we please go to the park, so I can make some new friends? God bless his little heart.
In front of me is a cheerful mom playing with her two little girls. To my right is a younger (I’m assuming dad) pushing his little boy endlessly in circles on the tire swing, singing to him and quizzing him on the planets and the solar system. I hear them talking about our surroundings and the dad describing everything to him. It makes my heart so happy to see so much love and goodness around us.
Sammy J’s new friend took a fall and I see him reach out a hand (in a total lack of social distance) and ask him if he’s ok. He helps him up, gives him a hug and I smile. I hope the other parent would smile too. It’s tough knowing how to navigate these COVID times but if my kid wants to break the rules for a hug, I’m gonna let him.
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As I’m sitting on the cool ground, covered with leaves and the wind blowing around me, I’m realizing we only have a few more weeks left to do all of this outdoor stuff. Sammy J and I have been outside every day catching bugs and working on our Fall Home Maintenance Checklist (get your free printable HERE). We went to a Pumpkin Patch last week but I feel like we have so many more things to do yet before Halloween. My family hosts a massive Chili Cook-Off every year but this year it was cancelled because you know, 2020. However, my mom did make a small crock of chili and had all of us kids over on Sunday for a small get together. Guess what happened that day?!?!?!
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MY LITTLE SISTER GOT ENGAGED!!!! I am so happy for her and excited!!!! Start spamming me with everything wedding! Woot woot! It all worked out perfectly because we had our Fall Mini photos session scheduled that day and my sister was able to get some engagement photos taken. Soooooooo after the Boo’s, our Pumpkin Carving Party, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and 2020 are over, bring on the wedding planning!!!! Woot woot!!
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Last week we went live on Facebook after filling over 150 BOO buckets and bags to be distributed throughout the South Hills. My mom and sister spent the entire day with me as we filled them to the brim with goodies from our sponsors, candy, drinks, snacks, Halloween goodness and more. At the time I am writing this, we only have about 10 left to go out (5 of which are being picked up on Friday) and our 5 MEGA Boo Baskets (winners will be chosen for those the week before Halloween - you can still enter to win HERE). Over the past two weeks, I have had dozens of “BOO Ambassador’s” coming to my house to pick up buckets and bags to help us with spreading the love. Even though I’ve been leaving the Boo Bags outside for contactless pick-up, I’ve had the pleasure of meeting and talking to some of our volunteers. In each brief interaction, I learned something new, met someone amazing, reaffirmed that not only is there real goodness in the South Hills community but this parenting thing most DEFINITELY takes a village.
WE ARE SO GRATEFUL FOR OUR BOO AMBASSADORS!
We seriously couldn’t have done it without the help of our readers and BOO Ambassador volunteers. Thank you. If you haven’t been BOO’d yet, you can get in on the fun by using our free printable here and starting the trend in your neigh-boo-hood (see what I did there ;) Let’s BOO every house in the South Hills before Halloween!! If you capture a photo or video of the booing be sure to use #mkboobag for your chance to win a Mega Boo (pictured below)! I love all the photos and videos you have been sending :)
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What makes a basket a Mega Boo basket? Aside from having extra goodies IN the basket, each basket will come with a few handcrafted items made by some really talented local artists. I’d like to thank the following artists for their donations and encourage our MK community to check out their pages for locally made goodies!
Heather Elliott Creations
Strikingly Cute Handmades
TEddy’s Crafts
Quilters Depot
CECES CUSTOM CREATIONS
Knotty Mama Studios
Topaz Thimble
Our Macaroni Kid family, village, is made up of some incredible people with stories to tell, advice to be given, ideas to share, talents to display, and over the next few months I plan on rolling out some ideas that will provide more opportunities for you to have a voice on our publication. In the meantime, if you have anything you’d like to share with me or the rest of our Macaroni Kid family, you can email me at emilyp@macaronikid.com. I will be “out of the office” for the rest of the week as I am getting ready for Macaroni Kid Meet Up which will be held virtually this year. My swag box has arrived, the Keynote speakers have been announced (I’m going to be on a Zoom call with Dominique Dawes 😱) and I’m ready to meet up with my Macaroni publisher family from all over the US and Canada, along with our new CertifiKid family! My supportive husband has been helping me prepare and my kids are going with my family starting today so that I can be fully present for this experience. I’m super pumped about it and will be sure to share the deets! I'm wishing you all a wonderful week!!!
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