Pumpkin Carving Dinner Party

i love surfing the internet and getting ideas for parties, crafts, food and all kinds of fun stuff. i always save the pictures i find and some info about the project. since kyle got my sewing machine fixed for my birthday, i have worked on a couple of my sewing crafts and i used my cousin chantell's bridal shower as an excuse to make another craft.

above: the key hanger i made for chantell last month. one of the first craft things i done since i started searching them out.

some of the most exciting ideas i have collected have been themed dinner dates. some are for friends and family and others are just for my hubby and i. i came across one of these themed dinner parties that centered around fall which i loved. because halloween was just a few days after my party, i decided as an activity, we would carve pumpkins.

i planned for a set number of people and made individual servings. the main course was white bean and sausage stew served in pumpkin bowls. there were many ingredients - some of which i had never heard of or used, but it was fun to try and it turned out so good. i thought using pumpkins as bowls made the dinner much more fun, but that's just my opinion.

see the pumpkin centerpiece in the above picture? i made that too. it was my second attempt - my first was way too ugly to use as decoration so it's a dry board eraser now.

above: L to R. chantell and chad page, nathan and aleece martinez, michelle and jesse woodbury, and of course kyle and i at the end.

two of our guests brought the sides - a yummy salad and rolls while the other helped me out making some of the pumpkin bowls. kyle set the table - kyle has an eye for decorating sometimes, funny huh - and bought IBC root beer and cream soda. after we ate, we started the pumpkin carving. we had lots of laughs while we carved and ate candy. addison even came out and helped kyle and i with our pumpkin carving. she's too cute. right before everyone went home i brought out individual pumpkin pies with homemade whip cream - so good. i forgot to take pictures of the pies, but it's okay because the decorations i made out of dough and put on top of them didn't turn out. when kyle asked me what the clump of dough on top of the pies was, i told him it was suppose to look like a witch's hat and he laughed. it was that pathetic. all well, it's the taste that counts and i think it got an A+. i had so much fun doing my first themed dinner party. i'll have to think what my next one will be about - after the baby comes of course.

Trunk or Treat

yesterday i got addison ready with the "grandma brown" hairdo and let her play with my makeup brush which she loves. i put her halloween costume on and we all left to kyle's parents' ward trunk or treat party. at the first trunk we went to, addison didn't know what to do or why we were there. when the owner of the vehicle put some candy into her pumpkin, addison looked at it and excitedly pulled it right back out - asking kyle and i to open it for her. then she went back over to the trunk and put her hand in the bowl of candy and started filling up her pumpkin bowl with the goods. she was upset when we took her and walked away from that first trunk until she caught on that we were going from one trunk to the next. LOVE this face addison is making for the picture below. eating candy while walking to the next vehicle. ah, she is adorable.addy loved going around to each trunk and picking out her candy. it still took a while for her to understand that she only gets to take one piece of candy from each person and she never remembered to say " trick or treat" but she always said "da-doo" (thank you). sometimes she thought she could fish for candy in other kids' goody bags, but she was pretty good and kyle and i had so much fun showing off our angel.above: grandpa is bishop mckay and had a great costume for his ward party! below: i wanted to do a picture like last halloween with addison surrounded by her candy. this year she was more interested in the wrappers than looking into the camera.the pic below shows addison on the potty (still takes some motivation to get her to sit until she goes) after we got back to grandma and grandpa's house from the party. i took off her costume and shoes. in this picture she is checking out the bottom of her feet which had a ton of grass stick to them. if you click on the picture, you can see little bits of grass stuck between her toes. it's so funny how her tongue sticks out in concentration!

A McKay Style Hallows Eve

halloween was a blast as you can tell. we paraded addison down the same street kyle grew up trick or treating on. we loved showing her off in her cute elmo costume. she was very wide-eyed at meeting all the new people and had no idea what the pumpkin she was carrying was for, but i think she had fun too.
she didn't know what the candy was but she loved all the colorful wrapping. her favorite new candies are suckers. she loves to suck on them and then dip them in the dirt or rub them on the wall and place them back in her mouth. i caught her with one of my keys the other day thinking it was a sucker, and crawling around with it in her mouth.
this sucker was her favorite. she found it and started sucking on it with the wrapper still on. when i took it to unwrap it for her she almost had a meltdown. you wouldn't know it by looking at her, but she has become a pro at those meltdowns by the way. i set her on the floor the other day. she started to cry and threw herself down on her stomach, with her head in her hands. during another one of these episodes she was crying on her arm. she stopped crying for a second and i saw one eye peek out to look at me, then she quickly put it back and continued to cry! she was wanting to know if i was paying attention to her tantrum, how smart. i had to try not to laugh because it was so cute. i LOVE being a mom.

Pumpkin Carving

Addison enjoying a tasty piece of the pumpkin

Here I'm am creating my masterpiece. Oh the focus and the skill as I make razor sharp cuts within micrometers of the line. I should've been a surgeon.

The pumpkins shriveled up a little bit so they don't look as good, but here are the final products. Brittney's is a witch, and mine is a skull.