you only have your first halloween once.

violet's first halloween meant trying to pack in all the celebrations we possibly could. that way she would know everything there was to know about the holiday.

so for starters, we had the geertsen halloween party. for a visual recap on that, you'd have to watch the video from a few posts ago. for a written recap, wait no more. the party was great. lindsey and jon had fabulous food and the decor made the party all the more spooky. with 26 grandkids, you would think it would be hard to keep them all entertained and happy but l&j had it all figured out and the kids were happy clams. even violet loved crawling around and watching them all play.

next up, we enjoyed a pumpkin carving party with the ross fam and some friends. jen had a yummy chili that we quickly devoured before we got right into carving. we learned that this crowd is pretty skilled when it comes to carving... they make their own templates and the projects usually take a few days. we kept ours pretty simple:

we have the jack skelington pumpkin in the middle and the swirly curly pumpkin on the far right.
and for a group picture...

next up was more carving at grammy's house. all the cousins dug right in and the results were great!


the best shot we could manage of all four grandbabies in costume...

violet enjoying her new legs... she loves to stand.


and finally, when the big day came we all gathered at our house for some good eats, great chatter and some trick or treating.



if you haven't figured out cade's costume, he is brian wilson from the giants. he had to find some way to work in that beautiful beard to a costume.


happy halloween!!