When the summer began winding down I thought it would be fun to have an end of the summer party at our home. We’d invite some of our dear friends for grilled food, swimming, and time to soak in the final days of warmth before fall hit. Well…life got busy, deadlines with work approached, and we had to table the idea for an end of summer party. But then, we got the great idea of have a Halloween party at our house. We’d invite some of our dearest friends over for costumes, candy, and spooky Halloween fun. Well…life got crazy, the weather was uncooperative, and we have to cancel the Halloween party. But then, we decided to just have regular costume party. And it ended up being just right.

We invited over some of our dear friends over for costumes and games around a warm bonfire. It was a wonderful time sharing moments with a handful of the people who have been a part of our lives in meaningful ways.

I’m sharing some photos of our time together. I hope this is a tradition we’re able to keep for the years to come.

In addition to this costume party, we revisited some of our favorite traditions from this time of year.

• We closed out Emet’s soccer season.

• Our dear friend Abigail came to one of Emet’s last games and joined us for our yearly trip out to Huber’s for pumpkins (and their bags of marshmallows of course). It was the first day of fall, so there was live music - which meant dance party for the boys.

• We walked the Jack-o-lantern Spectacular with the boys. This year the theme was the history of television.

• This year we all dressed up as our favorite Marvel characters (Abner - Spider-Man, Emet - Iron Man, Calvin - Ant-Man, me - Scarlet Witch).

• Last year neighborhood activities were canceled because of COVID, but the block party returned to normal.

• Halloween was closed out with our annual grilled cheese and tomato soup. We watched the Braves in the World Series while we cooked dinner.

Thank you for sharing in these moments with us.

Enjoy!

| Credits: Author - Jacintha Payne; Photography - Calvin & Jacintha Payne |