Halloween Bash. .

It's that time of year again. .

When all the spooks congregate at our house. .

With crazy costumes. .

Bringing their spooky foods. .

Ready to play silly. .

And sometimes YUCKY. .

Games!!

We missed the party last year. .

I had a conference in Boston. .

And a kid with a broken leg. .

And too many football games and extracurricular activities.

I missed it a LOT. .

But this little diva turned ruffian. .

missed it too. .

And has been incessantly asking. .

"Can we PLEASE have a Halloween party??"

I simply had to oblige. .

After all. .

Her oldest brothers were the same age that she is now. .

When we had the first party. .

ELEVEN years ago!!

MOST of the spooks. .

and siblings of the pioneer spooks. .

have grown up. .

SO we got to start off with kind of a new crowd!!

About 1/2 of the 70 plus crowd that turned out. .

were first time party goers. .

But you really couldn't tell it!!

They all jumped in with both feet. .

or paws. .

or claws. .

or hooks. .

However you want to look at it!!

And did I mention. .

How awesome the parents looked too??

That is actually a mom in the v-e-r-y back. .

sporting a green ninja suit. .

And I thought my husband looked CREEPY!!

We played a lot of our old favorite games. .

As you noticed from the pictures above. .

We played the balloon popping race. .

Cami and Devin and I stuffed candy in all those balloons and then blew them up and tied 'em off!

It was a fast and wild way to get them all started!

We bobbed for donuts. .

And used our faces (though some really little ones got to use their fingers too). .

to eat worms. .

Fear Factor food. .

is still a favorite. .

Though. .

Next year. .
I think I will go back to not-so-scary foods!

At least for a few years!!

This was after an anchovy!!

And this poor guy. .

Gagged multiple times on his prune. .

Before he spit it out.

He was trying REALLY hard. .

to make that go down!!

So we gotta give him credit for that!!

The funniest thing to me. .

Is the anticipation on the faces of the little onlookers. .

Watching how their buddies are going to handle the foods!!
Peer pressure isn't ALWAYS bad!!

And of course. .

Our party just wouldn't be the same. .

If they weren't allowed to launch something!!

Field gourds were the order of the day here. .

And you can see how many of them wanted a chance to see. .

Just HOW far. .

They could send them!!

And it is always fun. .

To see what their plates look like. .

As they walk by with 4 desserts. .

And a glass (or two) of punch. .

The party was a success. .

And lots of mom's told of their kids still talking about it several days later!!

Just a few more days. .

Until Halloween. .

Get YOUR scary on!!

Haaaaapppy Haaaalloweeeeen!

Happy Halloween today!!

Any of you that have been hanging around this lil' 'ole blog for a while. .

understands that I am I am glutton for punishment!!

Well, not really. .

But you DO know that I love Halloween. .and parties!!

I've now done so many Halloween parties, that I have simply lost count of them!

At one time, we stopped just doing ONE Halloween party. .and actually did TWO Halloween parties at the same time. .on the same day. .because the age difference in the kids was just too much for everyone to enjoy the same activities!

After I surveyed my attendees on Saturday afternoon. .

I realized, that, for the first time. .

we didn't have enough big kids to warrant separating everything. .

so we threw the schedule into the wind. .and just winged it. .

Well, after this game anyway!!

Fear Factor food. .

is never a game that the little ones want to play!

And. .

sometimes the big kids PRETEND that they don't want to play either. .

but they are ALWAYS up to the challenge. .

Take note of the horrified expressions on their faces as they get a good whiff of these. .

Oysters. .renamed "Frog brains"

and Gorgonzola cheese "decayed lizard tails"

As usual, THEY were up for the challenge. .and ate them without batting an eye (when it was their turn). .
Kristi and I. .not so good! We decided to try them out after the party. .Ick!! Jeremy LOVES them. .

. .and so did his daughter. .who ate them with a fork, right out of the container. .

Double I-C-K!!

Because I am a jerm-a-phobe. .we NEVER bob for apples. .

and it has been years since we bobbed for donuts. .

But thanks to a lot of big helpers who tied them onto the string. .

This game was the hit of the party!!!

In the past we blindfolded the kids. .this time we had them cover their eyes so they couldn't see, and it reminded them that they also couldn't use their hands when they "bobbed" for their dangling donut. .

Pathetic, right??

We finally let them use their eyes. .

and it was still hard for the little guys. .

but they had a BLAST trying to do it!!

Another new game was bobbing for marshmallows using straws!!

It was intended for big kids, but we threw some small marshmallows in our water for the younger ones. .

Almost all of the kids were able to suck out a marshmallow from the water. .

and they all enjoyed trying. The fish enjoyed the leftover marshmallows that got poured into the pond!!

Abraham Lincoln showed up at the party. .Jeremy's cousin is in town for a while as he waits on final plans to go to Germany with his family to work as a missionary. He is sooooo tall!! The kids. .and adults. .loved his costume!

There were no plans to do the punkin' launcher this year. .since we didn't have any small punkins to launch!!However. .the cousins took the go-cart Friday and picked 2 1/2 5gallon buckets of little green and yellow field gourds. .which worked fabulously!!

So Uncle Chris got to tone up his biceps helping Jeremy anchor the launcher. .

Those big boys would get that sucker as tight as they possibly could. .

in an attempt to get the gourds across the highway, about 75 yards or so away from them!!

A few of them made it!

The little ones enjoyed playing catch with balloons inside while warming up. .

The day was beautiful. .but chilly. .

about 56 degrees at the time of the party. .but not a breath of wind. .

so it was really NICE!

While the finishing touches were put on spooky foods. .

these big kids got an index card, 3 toothpicks, and 4 pieces of gum to make a sculpture. .

Here's Tyra, showing off her dude.

 I was disappointed that only a few of the kids actually chewed up their gum. .

most of them made DNA model creations! But it kept them busy for a bit!

32 little spooks and their parents enjoyed the yummy punch and spooky treats!

And everyone went home on a sugar rush. .

 high enough to carry them through. .

until the mother-lode of sugar rushes hits them tonight!!

Let the seasons of treating and eating. .

BEGIN!!

Oh, and I've found lots of cool workouts to do on youtube. .

everything from zumba to tai bo. .

 to try to maintain a trim and slim figure. .

as I snack my way into the new year!!

Happy Halloween ya'll!!

They're Pumpkins. .Incognito!!

Decorating pumpkins for the school's pumpkin contest has ALWAYS been a big thing around our house. .

There's something fun about doing an art project on the big 'ole punkins!! This year was no different; and Cami got to make one for preschool too!

Double trouble!!

I thought they turned out sooo cute.

We didn't really know what we were up to until we sat down with it.

I found some cute little sparkly foam flower stickers at Walmart last week. .which is what we eventually went with. .I saw some cute modge-podged punkins online. .but she wasn't biting. .may have to try some ALL by myself!! The sparkles won her attention!

She worked for an hour with a small paint brush and some off white paint. .

I prefer to think that I was helping her develop fine motor skills by letting her use a small paint brush (instead of prolonging the peace and quiet by making her use a small paint brush)!

We came up with lots of possibilities for Dev's pumpkin. .We ended with the idea to use candy (licorice, jelly beans, and a circus peanut nose) to make a witch on the pumpkin.

BUT. .

while searching the internet. .I came up with Mike from monster's inc. .and knew he would love that because his initial idea was to make an alien pumpkin!!

DOUBLE SCORE!!

He loved. .L-O-V-E-D the idea when he saw the photo. .

and I gotta say. .

His turned out pretty cute too!!

Other than outlining the teeth for him with permanent marker, cutting the foam hands and feet, and helping him glue the appendages on. .He did the whole thing himself. .

In fact, we had to take his picture later that evening because he burned his finger with the hot glue gun, and tragically, couldn't smile after that at all!!

Cami didn't mind though,

it gave her some one on one time with Mike!

Have you started eating Halloween candy already??

I'll NEVER tell!!