Welcome to our Spooky House

I haven't posted in a while as this month has been crazy! Halloween is Mason's favorite time of year and we always try to make it fun and memorable for her. This year she wanted to throw a Halloween party and had been planning it since last Christmas! Brad  decorated the back yard like a spooky graveyard with lit up skulls and personalized tombstones. He strung caution tape along the fence and swingset and covered the trees in spiderwebs. He even built a "haunted tunnel" out of a black tarp spread over the clothesline and a fog machine. I was in charge of the inside decor, stringing cobwebs and adorning the doorways with tinsel pumpkin garland. I hung cutouts of witches and skeletons, lined the front walkway with mini ghost stakes and played a CD of seriously spooky sounds. It was a total success from the green "swamp juice" punch with floating gummy eyeballs to the pin the eye on the one eyed monster game. Although it was a little less grand than Mason had envisioned in her dreams, she was thrilled with the outcome and I was so happy that we were able to do this for her.
Raising kids with an autistic sibling presents certain problems that a typical family setting does not encounter. And although we try our hardest, I consantly feel guilty that most of what we do on a daily basis revolves around Camryn,which is why we wanted to have this party for Mason because it didn't have anything to do with Camryn or about Camryn or anything Autistic at all. And for children who deal with Autism 24-7, times like this are so, so necessary.
So we had the party, the weekend came to an end and Monday was back to reality, even though we never really left it in the first place.I was so happy to get the kids back in school because although the party turned out so well, the preparation nearly killed us,not because it was so much work, but because it was so much work to do while also taking care of Camryn. We couldn't keep her in her room all day while we set up, so we would let her out to play in the backyard while Brad was putting the tunnel together. But she wasn't out there two seconds and she was pulling skull stakes out of the ground, picking the spiderweb off the trees, just basically undoing everything he had just done. He'd send her inside and it wasn't any better. Same thing, ripping things off the wall, throwing decorations on the floor. Mason was frustrated beyond belief which made her scream at Camryn, who then responded by scratching Mason, who then responded by hitting Camryn, which I then responded by putting them both in their rooms. So then while I'm running around like a maniac trying to get everything done, Camryn is in her room screaming at the top of her lungs, biting herself, yelling out" Get-In-Your-Room-Right-Now-Honey!!!!"Things are coming flying over the gate, first small items like books and stuffed animals, then larger flying missiles like a heavy plastic magna-doodle and at one point a handmade wooden rocking chair, which thank god survived it's collision with the hardwood floor. All this time, I am stringing garland, humming to try and drown it out and laughing to myself at the sick, sick humor of the situation. In the midst of all this, sweet, snot nosed, seal coughing, under the weather Natalie walks past Camryns room to go to the bathroom and Camryn reaches out past her gate and grabs Natalie by the hair, pulling her to the ground. Naturally Nat starts screaming, which sets Cam off even more and she is trying to scratch Natalie, I am yelling at Camryn, trying to soothe Natalie, and listening to Mason wail about how the house is never going to be done in time for her party. I told her people could show up right then and would be scared out of their minds, and it would have nothing to do with the decorations! She did not see the humor. By this time we had about three hours till the party and I was at my wits end of what to do with Camryn. I called my Dad in desperation and begged him to come get Camryn and take her for a ride, which he did. Because Camryn is so unpredictable in public, my family is,shall I say "concerned" with taking her places. And rightly so! I shudder at the thought of taking her within arms reach of other kids and small animals, but I have to. So, instead of putting the locals in harms way, my Dad takes Camryn for long drives, as Camryn is all about the pressure of a taut seatbelt and the lulling vibration of a moving car. She sits up front with my Dad, makes him turn the music up loud, pulls down the visor,opens up the lighted mirror and watches herself open and close her mouth and move her tongue around while my Dad drives. They usually go for about 40 minutes or so and end up at Steak and Shake for a drive thru treat. There is not much conversation, which is no surprise, but the time is treasured by both and is worth it's weight in gold, silver and any other precious jewel or metal to me! While they were gone, I used the time to frost  ghost cupcakes and help Mason make beanbags. It wasn't long,but we all were so thankful for any reprieve of screaming and abuse.
We somehow managed to get everything in place. Mason dressed up like a witch girl, Natalie wore her Halloween shirt and Cams wore Masons zebra bodysuit from last Halloween. She liked it because it was velvety and snug. Although it was black and white striped, Camryn kept saying " I wanna wear the ba-cheetah!"
The guests arrived and there were plenty of people to help amuse Camryn while Mason took the limelight and hosted her party like a pro. The last guests left at 12:30 and by that time we were exhausted. The house we had worked so hard to clean was trashed and the food I took so much time to prepare was scattered around on skull patterned plates.
Because Cam  was up way past her bedtime and so hyped up she had a very hard time going to sleep. While Mason and Nat crashed in their beds, Cam would come to her gate screaming every two minutes, yelling "I need help". Brad or I would lay her back down, and withing minutes we would hear the crinkle of her beanfilled weighted blanket being thrown off her and feet pounding towards the door. Finally after about five tuck-in sessions she went to sleep. I felt so bad because I knew she was off her schedule and routine, but she couldn't communicate that to me in words and I couldn't communicate to her that she needed to stay in bed.
Sunday morning the kids woke up at of course 7:30! Brad and I were dead tired and looked as though we had dressed as zombies the night before and still had our makeup on. Mason was already planning her party for next year, talking non-stop about some changes she would like to make and how to improve on some things! Nat was still recovering from her cold and sat like a soft stone on the couch. And Camryn was Camryn. Grimacing, running like a five legged bull through the house,sticking her finger in the dogs wet nostrils and pinching the poor things back saying "Riley eats meat food. She wants cube-cubes". I just took a look around at the mess and the chaos and thought to myself, "I can't believe we thought we needed to decorate to make this place look scary!"