party on

so I've been MIA for the past few days and there are good reasons which are forthcoming, but first.....a couple of (very bad quality, but all I have on this computer....) photos of some of the finished pumpkins from the Pumpkin Carving Party. This is about half of them.

I'll post the rest when I get them off my camera at home. This came from a neighbors camera....the same neighbor that is a little obsessed with Barack Obama and made his pumpkin into O'Bumpkin and has him proudly situated in the front yard on a hay bale with all of his Obama '08 political signage.......he even changed one to read O'Bumpkin '08, it's cute

I can't show all the pictures I have from the party because there are lots of people and lots of minis that don't belong to me and the parents might object to my posting photos of their minis on the interwebz......so I'll share these that the neighbor emailed and give you an outstanding description instead!

As I described before we have this Annual Pumpkin Carving Party at our house every year. This year was the 8th Annual Pumpkin Carving at the Said So House. Every year we make the invitations and Big One and the Husband ride the four wheeler around the neighborhood delivering some of them while the others get mailed to friends that don't live in the hood. In the next couple weeks we start getting out our Carving Party supplies that are stored on large shelves in big plastic containers in my garage. There are books and books and pages and pages and stacks and stacks and tons and tons (you get the idea) of patterns and buckets of carving tools, knives, scrapers, scoopers, big saws, little saws, medium saws, pokers, scissors, markers, hammers, etc. We also have a big container of paints and brushes and kid patterns for the little ones.

We then go on table roundup which involves making trips to several neighbors and my mother's house to get tables. We usually have about eight tables. One for food, one for patterns and tools and the rest to first eat on and then carve on... After we retrieve the tables we fit them with plastic tableclothes and situate them in the offset garage. One roll of paper towels per table. Next we go to the pumpkin farm that always donates our pumpkins (free pumpkins ya'll......it's for the kids......all for the kids) and pick up as many as we need, which is usually around 30 or so, bring them home and set them on the ground lining the back wall of the garage. Next, Big One and I make treat bags for all the small partygoers and put them in my cutesy little treat bag basket, well, it's not actually little, its really pretty damn big. The day of the party we prepare food (and by prepare I mean go to the grocery store and buy potato salad, macaroni salad, baked beans and cole slaw premade from the deli and potato chips, dip, drinks, juice boxes, water, buns, hot dogs, hot dog chili and condiments) and roll out the coolers full of ice and drinks into the garage. Usually several of the guests bring cookies and cupcakes so I don't have to do dessert too. Then we go inside and I outfit the minis in their cutest Halloween outfits (not costumes......outfits...you know Halloween tshirts and leggings and denim mini skirts with Halloween bows in the hair and all) and then I put on my own Halloween t-shirt over my long sleeve white Gap Favorite Tee (in size Medium Tall.....and not because I'm tall remember, but because I like them long and they do shorten after washed) and my most favorite Hudson jeans. Then we turn on the music open up the pool room (the Husband has a man-cave complete with pool table, darts, poker table, Direct-TV and surround sound with couches, billiards chairs, fridge and heat/air) above the garage......I'll post a few pictures one day and then grill the dogs and wait for the screaming minis and beer toting parents to arrive.

It is the highlight of Halloween for our neighborhood and always a big turn out. This year we had 30 pumpkins carved. There were probably easily 35 kids there including babies and all the adults that go with said children. There was a lot of adult beverage consumption, a lot of pumpkin carving, a whole lot of hide and seek, trampoline jumping and swingset swinging, a lot of eating, some more adult beverage consumption and a general good time had by all.

We do it every year.....ya'll wanna come next year?

and P.S.

I have been on hiatus because my Little One has ANOTHER ear infection......she sees the ENT next week to talk tubes....ALREADY....she's 8 months this Saturday. Poor baby. My Big One had her first set at 6 months....second set at 1 1/2 with adenoid removal and third and final set at 3....she's now 6 1/2 and has had no ear infections since the last set. I hope we aren't going down the same road with Little One.....I'd like to make a detour and go a different way if we are!

I'm thinking of running away again.......these minis are way more work than they ought to be...can't they just look cute and be happy and not be so damn demanding?