Halloween: The Before’s, The Durings, The Afters
Grandma’s Halloween Party:
Abbey is a flapper…we found that dress for 4 dollars and she altered it herself to make it fit better. 
3 best friend girl cousins…all born the same year. 
Jeff is “Country Club Man”. He stayed in character the whole night. No, not annoying at all. 
Grandma vacuuming up the aftermath of the donut game. She has parties like this…20 grandkids plus adults…all the time. And I’ve NEVER her seen her stressed. EVER. She has never raised her voice to a child or spoke impatiently to any of them. She has never had that “mean party look” that says “get out of my way I have a lot to do”. She has never batted an eye when a kid spills all over carpet, furniture, floors. I have never seen her tired. Seriously. She made (not bought!) chili, vegetable soup and tortilla soup and set up the house so cute. And laughed and enjoyed the party the entire time.
What the secret?
Don’t ask me. I am NOT the person to ask. I’ll ask her sometime….there’s my next Celebrity Interview. If she’ll agree. Don’t you want her to? 
Crazy Uncle Tom. He dresses like that at every party. Weird. 
Aunt Tiffany was voted “best candy hander-outer”…really long sticks of gum…used for sword fights of course. Here you can see her reprimanding a thiefing nephew for taking two instead of one. (Isaac.) Also, she’s pregnant with her 6th child. And she was the one who made that spider cake you saw above. And her nails are done. And she has a super cute outfit on. Let’s hit her with really long gum sticks!
Halloween Night:
Isaac is missing because he went to his cousin’s house. He is 15 after all. Sniff sniff.
Abbey and friend Maddie…dressed warm.
We leave our candy out on the porch…so we both can go out with the kids. When we come back home it is only 1/2 way gone. I love our neighborhood. LOVE. 
A chicken stuck in a pile of leaves. 
I love when adults take Halloween seriously. I plan to my whole life.
Isn’t it weird that Patrick has only said Mama and Dada his whole entire life, but suddenly on Halloween night he can say Trick or Treat and Thank You loud and clear because he knows he’ll get candy? I feel sort of betrayed.
See that house in the background? That is one of my favorite houses in my neighborhood. It is PERFECTION. I met the owner and she laughed when I told her that and said, “Well the outside looks better than the inside.” But I doubt that. (I kind of snuck a few nosy peeks before she came to the door. It is divine.)
Later That Night
Abbey and her friend Maddie assessing the situation.
Matt comes home with the goods. 
Andrew invents the “Trick or Treat” feedbag. 
The End.
(You don’t want me to take pictures of the Day After do you? Argghhh.)
Loving all of the pics!! It looks like they had such fun. They are so cute!
We passed out candy since my babies are 15 and 20. The little ones are so adorable. I asked my hubby if I could borrow just one of the little bumble bees that comes to my door. He said no, their parents might not appreciate it. Party pooper.
Adorable!! I love Patrick's chicken costume. Went to get one for next year and they were all sold out. What size is P's costume? I'd love to buy it from you for Ellie.
Great photos! It looks like everyone had so much fun. Great job Abbey on the alterations! Hooray for Grandma that has so much patience! I want to know her secret, too.
Your mom sounds like my Nanna- She hosts a birthday lunch each month for our whole family (3 kids, 12 grandkids + their spouses and 19 great grandkids) and gets on to us about wanting to help her with the dishes! Oh- and she's 84!
Wish I had her patience and grace!
Love all your pictures. I am a Nonny, and I'll tell you Grandma's secret before you ever ask her. (Let's see if I am correct). It's called *We love you and we want you to keep coming back so we do all we can to keep the family together even if it means cooking and cleaning and smiling because we want you to always have your parties here did I mention we love you?*
Great documentary :o) Looks like everyone had a blast!
looks awesomely fun!
awesome pictures…love them. and i love the new banner…how did you get the little circles on the side of clover lane?
Oh that chicken! What fun to see the trick or treating! I think he's going to be an efficiency expert – will just do what he needs to do. Love that he now knows 'trick or treat' and 'thank you'!
Love all the photos.
Sarah, I can relate re: Isaac. My Alex did the same thing; first change he got, he escaped to his cousin's house. Even spent the night. However, when I picked him up this morning he admitted that he missed us a lot and prolly would have liked it better had he tagged along with us. 🙂 Warmed my heart, but glad he got to experience another experience. 🙂
Too cute! At least Patrick said anything at all…mine just took the candy, waved bye bye and then ran off. So much for manners! I love it when adults take Halloween seriously too…it's the one time of year when you're allowed to dress up funny and be silly. And seriously, I want to BE your grandma, she sounds like such an amazing woman! Happy Halloween…and good luck with the sugar crash aftermath :o)
Wonderful photos…the party looks like so much fun. 🙂 We took our girls Trick or Treating for the first time last night, and had a blast. Glad you had fun!
The pictures are great. The chicken outfit just makes me smile every time I see it. Savour every moment it is such a precious happy time.
Looks like we are missing a picture of a key memeber of the family….. Veddy suspicious.
Also – Calvin looked at these with me and right away said, "Hey! That boy has the same shirt as me!" (Re: Andrew's grey/green sports shirt.)
Can't wait to hear from Grammy….
Please interview Grandma. I really, really, really need to know the secret. It was a party of 50 at my house on Friday, half of them children. Somehow, all the children ended up in our large basement without any adults. Except me. We did the donut swing. I was still the only adult. I'm not sure if they ran out of ice upstairs. I never tasted the chili I made, or the mac n cheese. Downstairs, we spilled root beer and emptied the game cupboard and the contents of all games all over the floor. Do you think anyone noticed that my smile was FAKE?
I need to read that interview, quick!
Fantastic photos!
You are such a talented photographer (yes, I've said that pretty much every post ever!)
Glad you had a great time…and please ask how Grandma stays so calm and cool during parties! I need to know! 🙂
please interview grandma, i'd like to know how she does it!! it looks like a great party! love the pictures of it all.
my 2 year old, gracie fell in love with your son's chicken costume. we went on a frantic search for one saturday & found something similar. she was very happy & it made her halloween.
I'd love to find out how your mom throws the perfect party and also enjoys herself without being tired – oh my I'm getting tired just thinking about all she does
Great Pics- I got some good ideas on costumes for next year !
1. I finally made a banner for my Blog – thank you for the tutorial.
2. I ordered 2 sweatshirts from Kohls –
Love them !
3. I love that your son used a pillow case for his candy !!!
I am so coming to your place next year for Halloween! You do it right!
Me? Not so much.
What a great time!
Amazing pictures – thanks so much for sharing them! The closeup of your son in the cowboy hat is priceless!
What an awesome grandma your kids have!
Great photos! It looks like you guys really know how to do Halloween. So fun!
What great pictures… great ideas for costumes for next year. "Country Club Guy" my husband could work that in a big way. Your daughter's cousin with the drawn on facial hair and glasses. THat is hilarious. what a great time.
Wow, what a party! All your kids looked great this year… few…it's over, ahhhh.
Ahhh! It's the spider cake from the cover of Country Living! I really wanted to make this cake, but the babe wanted to make Halloween cookies instead. I'm glad someone got to make it…she did a great job!
These were WONDERFUL!
You have a beautiful family, but I must say that daughter of yours has the most gorgeous eyes.
Your neighborhood sounds just perfect!
You take the most wonderful pictures! I wish I would have been blogging when my kids where young enough to let me take cute pictures (they just glare or make dumb faces now). I especially love the close up donut pictures. Looks like you had fun. And I agree – that house is PERFECTION. We used to live in Pennsylvania and it looked just like that – woods everywhere, with all of these fallen leaves. *sigh* Now we live in a desert – NOT EVEN the same feel in the Fall.
-Kara
I could've sworn that picture of Aunt Tiffany was you! Which leads me to ask why there were no pictures of you??? Did you dress up?
What a FABULOUS post — your photos are AWESOME! Looks like you guys had a great Halloween — Grandma's party looked like so much fun. Please interview her! 🙂 ALL of the costumes were so great — that chicken one is SO cute!!!
Cherish Grandma. I pray, literally pray, that I'm like that as a Grandma. Could use a little of that patience now with my own. I do get stressed at times. It's a gift and you are lucky to have her in your life. Please interview her. I know I could learn a lot. I think teaching by example is the best way and you've just reminded me I'm an example for three who are always watching and learning. Thanks.
Please tell Grandma that she MUST do a celebrity interview. We all need her help!
Love all your Halloween pictures. Your kids looked so cute and it looks like they had lots of fun!
Just came back for a second looksy 'cause I didn't have much time yesterday and wanted to say your life looks grand! Showed my girls the flapper costume and I think I got buy-in for next year.
Love all the pics, especially the chicken!