Halloween with my CRAZY family...

Having my adult children living so close is such a HUGE blessing.  We have the luxury of turning the simplest holidays into wonderful, fun-filled events.  This year, Halloween was a perfect example of the craziness that seems to happen whenever we get together.

Ron & I ordered Papa John's pizza because we knew the girls were going to take their kids Trick-or-Treating in the neighborhood.  We figured we would invite the boys as well, thinking they would just show up for dinner. They actually came prepared to dress in costume!  

Becca provided dessert;  Kitty Litter Cake and Day Old Bathwater Punch.  She recently bought a gross food cookbook and jumped at the chance to try some recipes.

 The bathwater punch would have looked cute with a rubber ducky floating in it.  Becca said it is supposed to have some after-dinner mints floating to represent bars of soap.

 Scott was Shaun of "Shaun of the Dead" and Ryan was his sidekick, Ed.  Scott had made Ryan an iron on transfer, he raided our shed for a shovel, and he was set. Unfortunately, I somehow missed him when I was taking pictures.

 Seth was the character from the movie "Scream" and his friend, Jim, was a soldier.

 Becca was a piece of candy corn.  Her hair and face are painted white.  Seth thought she was a traffic cone, so I told her to stand in a triangular pose.  I don't think it helped much.

 Maggie didn't want to dress up and was giving Leslie a hard time about it.  So, Leslie told her if she didn't dress up, she wouldn't get to go Trick-or-Treating.  She ended up going as an impromptu Minnie Mouse.

 Ron didn't dress in costume; but, he decorated the house.  The little orange discs on the ground are reflectors compliments of Time Warner (thanks, G!).  I am in the background, near the front door wearing my awesome E-Bay clown costume.

 Because Maggie opted to ditch the Rapunzel dress, Miss Sophie decided to wear it instead of her Sleeping Beauty costume.  She just wasn't wild about the hair, so she just wore her little tiara.

 We took the kids around our neighborhood, and then down onto Leslie's street.  We have a lot of older people living in both of our neighborhoods.  One of Leslie's neighbors passed out old Christmas candy; and, another one passed out Wurther's Originals.  Scott said it is typical old people's candy.

Once it got dark, the crowds started growing.  Several people were impressed with Scott & Ryan's costumes.  And, Becca got at least one compliment on her shirt. Although, we can't decide if it was sincere or rude. We enjoyed the cool weather, lively conversation, ongoing one-liners from old movies or TV shows that my kids are famous for using, and lots of laughs.

So as another Halloween comes to an end, I will admit that the candy collection was pretty impressive.  However, it wasn't nearly as sweet as the precious moments with my family.