Stockton Halloween Fest

This year we were invited to my sister-in-law's mom's famous Halloween party - and boy, it is famous for a reason! Their house is gorgeous to begin with, and every square inch of the inside was decorated to fit the theme, complete with two 10-foot black Halloween trees and giant stuffed tarantulas all over the place. (One of the things I really appreciated about the party was that none of the decorations or activities were scary or gross at all - everything was silly and in good taste for a kids' party.)

After driving the outdoor race cars, jumping in the bouncy houses, getting temporary air-brush tattoos, and sitting in the photo booth, it was time for the candy hunt. The boys were pretty excited:
Across their expansive lawn, they had scattered hundreds of tiny plastic pumpkins, each of which had candy inside. There were lots of kids there, and it was so cute seeing them in their costumes picking up candy like it was the greatest treasure on earth (which, of course, it is to a 2 year old).
Dinner was pizza and ribs, dessert was cupcakes. I mean - how much more perfect can a party get? It was a wonderful time with wonderful people.

Oh, and yes, Moses is a scarecrow this year, by his own request. I spent an entire morning sewing real hay into a pair of overalls and flannel shirt that I bought at the thrift store. Of course, this meant neglecting Titus, who was happy to throw the extra hay all throughout the house while I sewed. Titus is a cowboy - I made him a pair of chaps from some cords (also from the thrift store) but we forgot to bring them to the party. Hopefully I'll have a better picture of them after "real Halloween," because I'm pretty happy with how they turned out. This was my first year making costumes, an activity that has never appealed much to me. But I actually had fun doing this and am proud of the results. How about you - do you make your kids' costumes?

Another Manly Post...

Can you even tell what this is? I spent about a half hour trying to take a good picture of this and then realized "I just took 45 pictures of candy." So I gave up. :)

This is what the party favors look like for an important upcoming event. My husband and his best friend since childhood are turning 30 within the same month, so us wives are throwing them a joint birthday bash. The theme: Delta Force. If you don't know these guys, that will mean nothing to you other than the fact that it is the title of a low-budget action film that came out in the early 80's. But that movie was the theme of my husband's entire childhood (who are we kidding - he's still living the dream), and there is a box of weapons under my bed to prove it.

So until this Thursday night, all I will be able to focus on is military-inspired table decorations, what shape the cake should be, and how to keep 50 bags of gummi army men from melting in my car. It's actually been pretty fun - good thing I have 3 brothers!

And the cake... takes the cake.

This weekend my friend Deborah and I hosted a bridal shower for our friend Rebecca at my mother-in-law's house. It was a small shower - only 9 people- but it was so much fun! I don't know if you've ever been to a small bridal shower (I hadn't), but I found it to be really relaxing and intimate. And something about the familiar atmosphere made everyone go ALL OUT on the games we had planned - everyone was so crazy and competitive! It was a blast to see some of our "older" friends act like the teenagers they feel like inside.

Look at this cake Deborah had made - it is from Flower Flour in Willow Glen and was so gorgeous I had to take about 20 pictures of it. That is real white chocolate, not frosting, on the outside. ( !!! ) I think we may have talked more about this cake than we did about Rebecca's wedding plans.