A Difficult Tradition Worth Keeping

As previously mentioned, my mom's birthday is on Halloween. As soon as my sisters and I each had one child, we started a tradition of getting the grand kids together for a group picture...in their Halloween costumes...as a birthday gift for my mom.

This tradition has always been a love-hate event for us sisters. As our individual families have grown, we all have incredibly busy schedules, which makes the process of scheduling the picture date next to impossible. And then, once we fiiiiiinally select/compromise on a date, the time spent taking the photograph is COMPLETELY CHAOTIC!!! One child (and it always varies on who that "one child" is) has a melt-down, which may or may-not lead to that one child taking a few siblings or cousins down with them to the dark side. One child is always looking in the opposite direction...one child always has a finger up his/her nose...one child has his/her eyes closed...one child is giving us the evil-eye...one child has the head-piece of their costume falling down their face...one child is yelling "he/she's touching me!!!"...and some times, we have MORE THAN one child eager to please, sitting just the way they were posed, with a perfect smile plastered on their face.

Despite the frustration, and ALL THE BRIBING...this is a tradition that should NEVER stop!!!

(I apologize in advance for picture quality...or lack there of...some of these are pictures of pictures.)

The year/photo that started it all! :0)...2005...(Left to Right: Brady, Trevor, Wyatt & Jackson)...

 

2006...Same four-some!...Anna's 3rd son, Nathan, was born less than a week before Halloween 2006, but this picture was taken while she was still pregnant with him. (Left to Right: Jackson, Brady, Trevor & Wyatt)...

 

2007...two kiddos were added to this picture!!!...(Left to Right: Zachary, Wyatt, Brady, Nathan, Trevor & Jackson)...

 

2008...I can't remember if they all didn't have their Halloween costumes yet, or if the decision to not-do-costumes was purposeful (???), but this year, we apparently/obviously didn't have the kids wearing their costumes...OH!, and after 6 straight boys in the family...a girl was added this year!!!...my Beatrice!...(Back row: Nathan, Trevor & Zachary...Front row: Brady, Jackson, Beatrice & Wyatt)...

 

Anna's kids weren't able to make it to my mom's Halloween party in 2008, so her littles are not in the photo below, but to make up for the lack of costumes in the photo above, here is a photo of the other 4 kids in 2008 in their costumes...

 

In 2009 we went back to having the kids wearing their costumes, but for whatever reason we decided against taking the kids to the photo studio. We thought it would be easier to take the picture our self...(Back Row: Brady, Wyatt & Trevor...Front Row: Jackson, Zachary, Beatrice & Nathan)...

 

In 2010 we decided that taking the picture our self was too hard the year before, and the photo studio still didn't sound appealing, so we asked Grammy Barb, a great photographer, to take a picture of the kids in their costume...aaaaand, we had our 8th and final (????) addition to our picture!...Little Miss Samantha!!!...(Back Row: Beatrice & Nathan...Middle Row: Brady, Jackson & Wyatt...Front Row: Trevor, Samantha & Zachary)...

 

In 2011, the grand kid picture ALMOST didn't happen! And technically, an October/Halloween picture did NOT happen. The sisters just couldn't agree-on/find a date that worked for everyone. But some of us were determined to carry on the "Fall Tradition," and so a Thanksgiving picture was born!...(Back Row: Trevor & Samantha...Middle Row: Jackson, Wyatt, Zachary & Brady...Front Row: Beatrice & Nathan)...

 

But for the purpose of documenting their annual costumes (lol), in 2011, here are some pictures of some of the grand kids in their costumes at Grammy's Halloween Party...

 

 

 

In 2012, even though the picture location was greatly debated, and even though we had to reschedule the picture date 3.different.times (!!!)...we pulled ourselves together...we went old-school...meaning: Halloween costumes...AND back to the photo studio!!! For 20 minutes, (but what seemed like 2 hours!), and 200 clicks of the camera, the youngest, Samantha, decided she wanted NO PART of this experience!...she remained face-planted the whole time!!! No consoling or bribing had any positive effect on the situation, LOL!...

 

But all of a sudden, just like turning on a light switch, she decided all on her own to cooperate (!?!?) and so we took one final photograph...(Back Row: Jackson & Zachary...Top-Middle Row: Nathan...Bottom Middle Row: Brady & Beatrice...Bottom Row: Samantha, Trevor & Wyatt)...

 

Aaaaaahhhhh...goooooood tiiiiiimes...sigh.

Three things:

1. As you can see, it really IS worth the effort!

2. Cutest kid in costume (IMO) goes to...(drum roll)...Zachary as Donald Duck...SOOOO stinkin' cute!!! (Although, Nathan as a Hot Dog, and Wyatt as Superman were CLOSE 2nd's!)

3. Brady!!!...SERIOUSLY!!!...Spiderman 3 TIMES!?!?!?

(For all of our other Halloween fun in 2012, see the blog post just before this one.)