It is never too early for Halloween fun

 Last week James and I carved our first pumpkin together, and It actually went a lot better than I thought :) I pulled out our plastic picnic table from the shed and put it in the shade in the back yard and took all the pumpkin materials out there. James loved being able to get on the table and see what I was doing, but he could also get down and run around when I was being too boring. I didn't have to worry about the mess since we were outside and to clean up all I had to do was hose off the table and our hands. I didn't have any stencils, so I just hand drew some stars and moons on it and called it good (which worked out because James has become obsessed with the moon. If you can see it outside during the day he will tell you that it is there literally nonstop when he can see it).

We also hosted our first holiday party for friends in our house yesterday evening and it was a blast! Almost everyone dressed up and we played games, ate some delicious treats and got to catch up with each other. I was a little stressed about cleaning before hand and getting everything ready, but it was definitely worth it because we all had such a good time! I don't usually do things like this because I stress myself out so much, but I am making it a goal to be more proactive in inviting people over and not worry about silly things. How is it that you never notice or care about little cleaning details until you know a bunch of people will be in your house?!? Like they are going to be evaluating the inside of your microwave and in the track of the sliding glass door with white gloves!

James dressed up in a ninja costume and I was Hermione from Harry Potter. Fun!

 All the kids made monster cupcakes using a bunch of different candies:

 Here is a graveyard layered dip that one of our friends brought. So awesome!

 I made these apple and marshmallow mouths, which were a big hit:

 This is one of the games we played, wrap the mummy, using toilet paper:

The girls were nervous about being wrapped themselves, but when I suggested that they wrap me up they were all over it!

 This was another game we played, Pin the nose on the pumpkin:

 We also played a halloween version of twister, but I didn't get any pictures because I was playing right along with the kiddos!

Here is our ninja:

 We are doing at least a few more halloween parties/festivals this month, so there will be many more halloween posts to come! Don't you just love Halloween?