Well, our party Saturday night was tons of fun! I still can’t get over how much work we put into it…wish we’d had a few more people, but there were probably at least 30. A half dozen of whom were little girls who squealed in the spooky torture chamber. (One actually told me I’d better get a rag because she’d just wet her pants…lol!)
Poor Bruce worked SO hard. He’d been zombie building on weekends for several weeks. Then took off last Thursday and Friday and spent those two days, plus all day Saturday, getting ready. So much so that he NEVER got a costume for himself!!! Just ran out of time! My girls decided they were going to come up with something…and here’s what they did…
First, they took careful measurements…
Lots of precision cutting…
Just the right props and…voila! (He walked around saying, “I got a rock.” Please somebody tell me you get this reference!)
And after a short time, he took off the sheet, yet managed to remain in character…
As for the zombies you’ve been hearing about, here are a few befores…
And the way our front-yard-turned-cemetery looked afterward: 
It’s easier to see in the daylight
Middle daughter was sooooo scared of the zombies! (she’s the actress) 
Even Cassie got into the spirit of the holiday. 
I had fun being a very mean Cruella… 
Inside the torture chamber, the newest prop, the electric chair guy, was a HUGE hit. Bruce wired it up so he could flip the switch when somebody got really close and the whole thing started rattling and shaking like it was on fire. That got quite a few shrieks.
Bruce was in charge of the torture chamber…I handled the more “eerie” haunted parlor. The scene of a wake that never quite ended…
Here are a few more stills…
All in all, quite a fun night. But, as you can imagine, a ton of work and loads of clean-up, which we still haven’t finished. At least the props & decorations are still appropriate to leave up until after Wednesday!
And lest anyone fear that we are just the worst parents in the world for all this gross and gory Halloween stuff, the next day, we went out to a local farm, rode on a hay ride out to the pumpkin patch and picked our very own pumpkin. 
What a wonderful weekend spent with my favorite four people…and one favorite canine…in the world!
Leslie Kelly used to say she wanted to be a doctor when she grew up, but then she discovered Nancy Drew books. Being a flashlight-under-the-covers-nose-in-book reader throughout her childhood, she couldn’t think of anything else she’d rather do as an adult than continue to lose herself in fictional stories. Her real life marriage of 20 years to the man of her dreams is a constant reinforcement that happily-ever-afters really can happen…and that they’re worth writing about. Living in Maryland, Leslie spends her non-writing time laughing a lot with the above-mentioned romance hero and their three daughters. Though an author of more than thirty sexy, contemporary comedies, she has recently branched out to write dark romantic suspense under the pseudonym Leslie Parrish.
Destiny
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Once Upon A Valentine
Through The Night
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:ghost:Amazing, just amazing. You guys really do go all out. I love it!
And of course I get the reference! I love the “Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown”. I dressed up like him one year – as the ghost, I mean. :ghost:
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Good morning Plotmonkeys!
Wow! That’s a LOT of work. It looks like it was quite a party.
Have a good day everyone,
Cher
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Looks and sounds like a great party.
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Leslie,
What an awesome Halloween setting! :ghost:
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That’s amazing, Les! :bat:
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You guys did an amazing job. How cool to be able to do this with your family. :ghost: :pumpkin:
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WOW!! You and your lovely family are incredible!! It sounds like a fine time was had by all
Happy Halloween to you! :pumpkin:
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WOW! :yikes: You guys are amazing!!
Bruce your are so talented and creative, and I love the “I got a rock” costume :happy2:
But best of all was the memory you have created for your girls, which makes it all worth while. :heart1:
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Leslie, Wow! Especially, loved the family picture with Bruce & family.
Patricia A
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OMG! THat is amazing….one of our neighbors used to have a life sized noose (yes, you read that correctly) in their front yard. That freaked me out, I actually went in a different direction for the month of October.
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:arrr:Totally cool pics!Glad you had such fun. Yes, I got the Peanuts Charlie Brown reference. You raised your kids right!
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You guys should be filmed for the HGTV Halloween House! Did you by any chance see it? That looks like a family that has a lot of fun for Halloween! :ghost: I hope it was lots of fun & the guests loved it!
That’s for the Charlie Brown costume!!! :pumpkin: :pumpkin: :pumpkin: :pumpkin:
The family pictures are great, thanks for sharing them with us. :thumbsup :pumpkin: :ghost:
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I just loved everything!
What a great holiday celebration.
Back to work here.
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Wish we could have been there!!!!
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Thanks guys, I’m glad you liked it. It’s a lot of work but it really is worth it for the memories the girls will have. Plus it gives me a creative outlet. I could get so much more done if only work didn’t get in the way. Next time the props will be animated. I always enjoy the looks I get from the neighbors all week leading up to Halloween while I’m building coffins and zombies in the driveway. The best was the little kid on his bike on Saturday morning while I was setting things up on the lawn. I asked him what he thought and he said “that’s REALLY scary mister”. Ahh, my work here is done.
Julie, we wish you could’ve been here too! The door is always open for ya. There may not be ghouls in the yard but there will always be booze in the blender.
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Great pics.
Love the doggies costume.
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Leslie, that was cool…I can only imagine what it looked like in the dark? You must have had a blast…probably had really scary music playing too…it all looks great…some of those zombies are really scary looking in the daylight…can’t imagine what they must look like at night…
I hope that you have a wonderful Halloween tomorrow with lots of trick or treaters…I can see them huddled up down the block trying to guess who will have the guts to go up to ring your door bell at night…
Thanks for the pics and the update…btw…I didn’t know what you were referring to in regards to Bruce’s costume and the rock…I found out from one of the other jungle bunnies’ post…yeah, I should have gotten it…
Peace and love,
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Sounds like you had a blast Leslie!
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so cool and gross leslie, love the new cover by the way,cant wait to read it
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Cassie,
I think you look sassy!
Zoey
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Great job Leslie!!!
I am going as a gypsy. Well, not going anywhere, but dressing up for the trick or treaters. Or maybe a witch, depends on my mood when I get home from work.
Isis, our doxie, is going to be a :arrr:. I am going to try and get Charlie, our lab, dressed as her wench. We shall see how that goes.
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Hi, late checking in. I didn’t have time to read all the posts, so someone else might have suggested this, but next year if you don’t want to have to stand there with the switch you can rig up a trip mat that will do the same thing.
When I worked at a professional haunted house we did that and I saw grown men pee their pants! We had a trip mat just before the exit so that people could see the light coming through the exit doorway and they’d think they were done. Then they’d hit that trip mat and a truck horn would blare (18 wheeler truck horn) and 18 wheeler lights would be coming straigh at them. I stood for hours outside that exit door laughing at people as they’d come flying out of there!
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Jodie…you worked in a haunted house? WAY COOL!
And Zoey what are you going to be for Halloween your cute little thing?
Ev, a lab as a lusty doxie’s wench…I want to see pictures.
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Thanks Kim! I haven’t even gotten around to updating my site and putting the One Wild Wedding Night cover on the front page (it’s on the upcoming one) Gotta get an excerpt up too!
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Awesome party, Leslie. Halloween looks like a blast at your house.
My coworker HATES Halloween. We work with 4- and 5-year-olds, and I think she’s just had her fill of Halloween over the years. I think it’s fun to see the kids all dressed up in their cute costumes.
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:banana: Cool decorations Leslie. You all looked like you had fun at the pumpkin patch too. :banana:
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Your party looked fabulous. I can’t wait for my son to get a little older so we can have some big bashes. He already enjoys putting up the decorations. Have you seen the wall murals? They are removable stickers for an entire wall. I’ve seen crypts and haunted castles. I may try to find one for next year. I’ve got the perfect wall!
One year, a friend was going to wear the Charlie Brown ghost but was afraid he would actually get rocks from people who got the joke. :-)
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You know something, Leslie…when it was a year round job it just wasn’t that great. We set up in mall parking lots, it took the entire month of September to set up and we were open the entire month of October. We were in Phoenix, Tucson, Atlanta (2), Las Vegas, Miami and Dorney Park in Allentown, PA.
It was a year round, full time thing and it took me years of not doing that before I enjoyed doing it at my house. Oh it was fun to stand in the back and watch people come out screaming their heads off (or with wet pants) but to actually do all the work…not fun!
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Very, very COOL! Thanks for sharing the pictures!
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Love all the pictures!!! Y’all did an awesome job!!! :arrr: :pumpkin: :vampire: :ghost:
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A little late but I didn’t take my pc home for the day off.
Here’s how it went little Zoey hair teased to look like a lion in one arm big pumpkin bowl balancing on the other.
To the door comes a little maybe 3 year old dressed as a lion.
I say,”Wow a lion you look scarey. the kid growls at me and Zoey growled right back. It was very funny but maybe you had to be there.