Miss A tends to be a night owl and last night was no exception. She was still wide awake well past 9 o’clock while Miss C had been snoozing for at least half an hour. I kept directing her back into her room and telling her to lie down, but after much pleading from her and insisting that she could not sleep I told her I’d be right there. It’s tough to resist such cuteness.

I curled up beside her on her twin bed and put Quacky the long-legged soft duck between us.

“Mommy tell me a story. Not a story in a book but a story you tell with witches, and monstahs, and scary ghosteses.”

I wondered to myself silently what kind of scary story would pass the 3-year-old approval rating system. The fact that Hal the Christmas moose was sitting by my feet and that we were snuggled under a pink comforter with flowers and butterflies was doing nothing to help me channel my inner Stephen King. Halloween seemed so yesterday. But a scary story it would be. At this point I was willing to spin any kind of yarn to just get her to go to sleep.

“Mommy tell me a story about the scary witch on the farm that says oink oink, OK?”

I wish I had one eighth of her imagination on those days I’ve got writer’s block.

Hey, go check out my guest post today at We Just Got Back, a great online resource with travel news and deals for families. I’ve written about five of our favorite things to do here in Nashville as part of their Land of the Free series for budget conscious families.