HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

We celebrated Halloween at our Ward Halloween Party.  It was AWESOME!

I think it was the best Ward Halloween Party we've ever been to! Not the usual stuff.  First of all, they held out outside... partly on the baseball field and partly in the parking lot adjecent to the field.  There was face painting, bean bag toss, "fishing" in the kiddy pool, a huge bounce house, a Halloween piñata, and all sorts of other games for the kids.  Of course, all the kids, and many of the adults, were dresed up in their costumes!  The adults had a chili cook-off/contest.  We had 17 different kinds of chili.  I, personally, only took one tablespoon of each kind, and I was STUFFED by the end!  There were about 4 or 5 different kinds of cornbread to go along with it, and also grilled hot dogs, apple cobbler, brownies, and other desserts.  The kids got "prizes" for all the games (that being candy) and so they got to go home and eat sweets again!  The weather was gorgeous!  Just perfect!  By the time the sun went down, we were ready to leave. So we all helped pick up, pack up, and ship out.  Tons of fun!

After the Ward Halloween Party, we came home to carve our own pumpkin! Emily was DYING to carve a real pumpkin, and since we hadn't done it in about 12 years, we decided it was time to do it. All kids deserve the experience of carving a pumpkin!  So here is Emily's first try at it!

 

Not too shabby, huh?  I helped her with the teeth, the top-right bone, and the nose area, as well as the lid and teaching her how to clean out the inside.  Bob helped her with the bottom-left bone.  But she did the rest.  It was fun!  And this was our first "fancy" carved pumpkin!  Usually we just drew our own drawings and carved them, but Emily wanted this skull and bones. Go figure!

Last weekend, we celebrated Emily's 9th birthday at Amazing Jake's. Here are some pictures from that event.

 This is the (actually yummy) food at Amazing Jake's that SAT on the table for what seemed like an eternity, while I had to run around and take care of the kids, the questions, and making sure things went ok.  I FINALLY got to eat it.  After it got cold. That tomato-basil pizza was to die for!

The birthday girl with her friends.... (and Jonathan hiding in the background!)

Riding the Merry-go-Round!

 

I think this was one of the biggest hits!  She had been wanting a "Zumbuddy" for the past 2 or 3 months! I guess it was the "toy du jour!" One of her best friends got it for her! Can you tell she's happy? (heehee!)

 

Then we came home and Emily got to open the family gifts. (No, she didn't get two yellow Zumbuddies! She just couldn't put it down! heehee!)

She had a wonderful day, and got tons of gifts which she LOVES and is crazy about!  I guess it doesn't get better than that when you're 9 years old, does it?