#author #emotions #elves #Christmas #Halloween #booktrailer #autism #anxiety #mentalhealth

Good evening, I hope you had a fabulous Halloween. Ours was amazing

Preparations begun the day before with every one pitching in to help, their was a few moments of anxiety when the first cut of Jakes pumpkin went wrong but he took himself off to calm down a little and i stepped in to get the difficult bit done it turned out amazing Jake coming down to help Finnish off and put some of the little details he wanted in.

Hayley was excited to join in with the pumpkin carving this year.

They did an awesome job, coped well with the sensory side of it by the end of it we had some wonderful pumpkins to put on display.

Jake’s Hayley’s Niki’s

We spent the prep day having fun decorating the house and capturing pictures too share.

The Elves not wanting to be left out got up to their own mischief they love a good selfie

Emo not being a big fan of spider’s still managed to have a smile on his face despite being caught in a spiders web.

The house began to take shape very quickly with my little helper’s. Halloween this year had a big change Niki was having 2 of her friends come to share it with us she was so excited and asked me to get some extra pumpkins for them to do when they came over for Halloween.

20+ years of collecting Halloween things to make it a special each year not only for our family but for other’s knocking on our door for their candy.

Our motion detecting witch that talks and cackles when your near, had the poor postman almost running out of our garden and had Jake in fits of giggles started Halloween morning off to a great start. I didn’t get to see it myself but Jakes interpretation of it was so funny.

Niki had her first friend arriving a little earlier then expected as she finished her appointment early. Niki come bounding in my room to wake me up and as if by miracle her bedroom was all clean and ready without me even putting one foot in the door.

Jake decided he didn’t want to dress up this year and didn’t want to take part just hover in the back ground , he isn’t used to having people he doesn’t know in his home his little safe haven but he coped well and sat at the table while we all ate together.

I had to dash to shop after Niki’s first friend arrived needed fresh bread for them to have they bacon or egg sandwiches. then it was their turn to carve their pumpkins before they changed into their outfits. One of Niki’s friends is also autistic and she didn’t want to touch the innards of the pumpkins but that was ok because i had some rubber gloves for her to use. Niki on the other hand is more of a sensory seeker even though she thinks it is gross she spent a good half an hour with her hands in pumpkin pulp.

The outfits of choice me Cat woman, because i am friendly and great to have around when your anxious.

They looked fabulous and for the first time we let Niki just go with her friends to trick or treat, I was so impressed by how they coped with that one Unfortunately the friend that was planning on staying the night felt a bad anxiety attack coming on so wanted to go home she was saying how she has been having night time panics lately, it was so great she was able to communicate what she needed. but they had a fabulous time together.

We totally understood as we have been there many times when the kids anxiety was at peak, you never know when it will happen so always best to just go with what helps you personally.

We had over 100 little visitors and I still have loads of candy left.

Niki’s friends pumpkins and the one she designed for her older brother Josh the ones with the giant nails in.

The kids that came were so very polite and looked fabulous in their outfits were so cute their may have been a few little squeals when the witch moved or the growling noise coming from under the pumpkin table but it was just a shocked squeal not a I am scarred for life one. once over the surprise they were a little intrigued to get closer. the baby’s were not affected by it and still had these beautiful little smile on their face.

The kids that came were so very polite and looked fabulous in their outfits were so cute their may have been a few little squeals when the witch moved or the growling noise coming from under the pumpkin table but it was just a shocked squeal not a I am scarred for life one. once over the surprise they were a little intrigued to get closer. The baby’s were not affected by it and still had these beautiful little smile on their face.

The moment that stood out the most for me though was this one little fearless girl that was in a group of kids with their parents she spotted our house as soon as she entered the other end of the green she waited for no one while the other slowly were walking around the to come towards our house she ran across the grass arms flying, witches outfit and long hair blowing in the wind you could tell this girl was excited and had candy on her mind. she reminded me of my Niki at that age confident sure of herself fearless. did she get a bigger handful sure that was an impressive attitude to have. A know exactly what you want a go for it.

I did have to pop out for a while though to pick Hayley up from her Christmas rehearsals and drop her home to her house, she was going out for Halloween at Karaoke. She got in the car so excited she won a prize for dressing up.

She really loves dressing up as much as our Niki does.

The evening after that was pretty cool too watched the Halloween movie with my hubby, he thought he could scare me a little but I waited till he went upstairs for a minute and snuck to the stairs and as he came down I squeaked that horn he has on the cup he got for his birthday and made him jump. The tables were turned, I have had years of him making me jump. So as not to end the night with a fright I sat with Jake and watched another good doctor show. he loves how the character portrays how autism affects someone both him and Niki really feel a conection to thius perticular characture.

So that is the End of my Halloween update and now we have officially moved Into the new month, my birthday month, it is time to take the next step forward in my book journey and share the book trailer with you all. Now I will say I am a little nervous to share it only because i prefer being behind the screen writing rather then talking, and I don’t have the best of memories for remembering lots of text at the same time so had a little help with cue cards. but I am happy with the end result and really thankful that my oldest Josh and my hubby helped me put it together.

Here is my book Trailer