There are a couple of Halloween rules that I have and they have nothing to do with safety. Quite simply, my kids must go trick or treating in our own neighbourhood and they must go out together. Enforcing the rule has never been an issue – no one has ever expressed interest in sharing the night elsewhere or with other people. Sure, we meet up with friends on the street, but the team of siblings travel as a pack on this special night.

I had not really thought very much about why this was important to me until this Halloween. During the day, I met up with my sisters at our parents’ house with all the kids in costumes. We started sharing our antics of Halloweens past and it left the kids begging for more and more of our Halloween stories – some of which are downright legendary.

I am one of three sisters born inside of three years. Most people thought we were triplets and at one point growing up, my parents had a spare bedroom because the three of us insisted on sharing a room. We always went trick or treating together. Sometimes friends would join us, but they were joining us – the sisters.

As I walked the streets with my kids that night, I thought about how lucky I was to have people around me constantly reminding me of fun times and triggering great memories. I saw kids on the street trick or treating with a friend and wondered if, in 30 years, that friend would still be there laughing with them.

I suspect that for kids who don’t have siblings, that is what happens. Their friends play a greater role in the memory-making and perhaps they have closer relationships. My mom has often described how she always felt awful when another child came over to play when we were young because inevitably the three sisters would just play together. There was never an intention to exclude the other child; it just seemed to be something that happened.

My kids are forced to share so many things – their space, toys, food, clothes and pretty much everything else. Why not ensure they share memories as well? When I look at what I share with my siblings, I somehow think they’ll thank me.

My kids don’t go to private school, but they were part of a pilot project that introduced school uniforms into the regular school system. I soon realized that uniforms are a hot debate topic for parents, teachers and administrators.

So what do I think? In short, it is one of those little things that has helped me maintain a bit of sanity while raising my half dozen kids. The benefits are many for this mama of six. These are the reasons it works for me:

1) All the kids are dressed the same. I like that school does not become a fashion show and that clothes don’t define the child. I’m a big fan of level playing fields for kiddos, and I think this can help in those leveling efforts. Some parents will argue that kids should be able to express their creativity with their clothes. I feel comfortable with my kids expressing their creativity through other avenues – maybe their academic subjects and artistic interests. I’ll be dealing with tattooed goth teenagers soon enough – I don’t mind delaying that self-expression for a few more years. Oh, and when all kids are wearing the same colours, it makes for happy times in laundry land.

2) What a pleasure it is to wake up in the morning and not be required to think or discuss what is going to be worn that day. Mornings are busy enough around my hectic house and having to debate with pre-tween girls about outfits at 7:00am would bring a bad start to most days. I like to avoid morning conflict so I can focus on my task at hand – getting people out the door!

3) Many parents would argue that uniforms are expensive. While I agree I made a fairly decent original investment, I did some calculations and in the long run I can say with great confidence that I have saved a lot of money. My fifth kid is going off to JK this year in a golf shirt that has been worn by four older siblings. For smaller families who don’t reap the benefits of my spectacular hand-me-down situation, most schools have a ‘gently-worn’ used clothing sale.

Here are the biggies going off to school this year in their R.J. McCarthy school uniforms. Don’t they look dashing? What do you think about uniforms – love ‘em or hate ‘em?

As you can see, we Mabel gals take our blogging conferences VERY seriously!

Just back from BlogHer ’10 in New York City and quite frankly am feeling like I need a bit of a holiday. So much squealing and excitement on the first night left me with a nasty case of laryngitis. I spent the rest of the conference struggling to speak. But, you can imagine the energy of a conference with 2400 women bloggers all in one place. Having the opportunity to spend time with so many online friends and supporters of Mabel’s Labels was just awesome.

As a blogger, I’ve had several non-bloggers ask me many questions – from how to get started to why I like to blog. The answers are long and wordy, but a few quick points include:

1) If you’re going to blog, blog about something you love. If you are not passionate about what you do, it’s going to, well…suck.
2) Don’t go into it for the money. While bloggers often receive products to review, free diapers and diaper cream won’t pay the mortgage. The money *may* follow if you have enough readers that advertisers will pay to be on your site – but counting on that happening is probably not the best plan.
3) Know your limits. If you’re going to talk about your kids, have a big think about privacy before you get started. It’s one thing to talk about toilet training but if your tween catches wind that you’ve been blogging about her training bra, you’ll be in the doghouse faster than you can say “Justin Bieber”.
4) Blogging creates one heck of an awesome journal. I feel like my kids will have great fun in a few years looking back at their childhood through my eyes.
5) Blogging gives you a spectacular feeling of being heard. It is powerful.

So if you’ve been thinking about starting a blog, what is stopping you? I’m hoping to see you at BlogHer in San Diego next year, because there are many lessons to be learned at BlogHer. The biggest for me this time around was that even with a shocking case of laryngitis, I still have a voice.

I usually blog around this time of the week, but some of us have been chillin’ at the cottage. I’ve had no time to write – far too busy shoving smores in my gob, pulling leaches off little feet and enjoying an icy beverage from the campfire cooler.

So, all is well in dreamy cottage country. All will be shattered when I have to face the hard reality of cottage laundry – but we won’t think about that now.

Oh, and as for the title of this post – probably more accurate to say that at this point in time you can smell us from distances far and wide!

When you’ve been changing diapers for almost 11 years straight and you have been pregnant for about 250 weeks, it is fair to make claim to a bit of brain mush now and again. Sleep deprivation can make a mama foggy at times. Going to the grocery store and leaving without the item I went for is a common occurrence. Once, I was driving down the street with a van load of kids and had to pull over for a minute to think. You see, I had forgotten which child was being driven to what activity. When I looked in the rear-view mirror, I noticed one in a soccer uniform so I was able to carry on without actually having to admit anything to the kids.

But there are bigger things that I don’t remember – the things that I did before I had kids.

What did I do in the evenings? What did I start questioning at 4:00pm every day if not “What am I going to feed them?” To remove that daily dilemma from my brain space would leave quite a gap. Along with “feeding time at the zoo”, my evenings consist of organizing homework, packing school lunches and shuttling people to sports and dance classes. If not doing that, what would I be doing? I just can’t remember. Maybe I watched the 6:00pm news. Maybe I had a hobby. Whatever it was, it’s long gone from my immediate memory.

Waking up naturally because my body has had enough sleep.
Actually, I can’t even remember what it’s like to wake up to the sound of an alarm clock. I vaguely remember that sensation of a Saturday morning sleep- in, dozing in and out of lazy slumber, eventually crawling out of bed when it suited me. Yeah, vaguely.

Eating in a civilized fashion.
I can’t remember what it’s like to sit down and eat an entire plate of food without having to get up half a dozen times. What is it like to sit around a table enjoying food and chatter without springing up regularly to fetch things and cut up food on other people’s plates? I’ve been to dinner parties and left without actually having had dinner myself. And I’m told food is normally served hot. Imagine that – it’s actually HOT when served! By the time I get to my food, “hot” would not be a suitable description.

But from what all the weathered mamas tell me, these busy mama days go too quickly and before you know it, they too will become vague memories. So I think for the moment I’ll just clutch onto my cold dinners and hectic evenings for as long as I possibly can.