Our famous Halloween Party

I feel this picture describes how our nation really feels about our current President.

One of these day I am going to learn to try my costume on BEFORE the party so if there is something wrong I may be able to do something about it. This is not the first time my outfit hasn't been the most modest even if on the package it looks like it will work. Luckily someone suggested to put a black skirt underneath it. It all worked out.

The happy parents!

The Taylor cousins.

Brielle looks so old in this picture. I bought the dress with anticipation she would be walking. I am so glad it all worked out! She looked AWESOME!

For the Halloween Party this year I didn't have to work the day before the party. This allowed me to have SO much time to prepare food. I found some really fun recipes that were Halloween themed. Erin was a trooper and volunteered (really forced) to help prepare the food. We slaved away in the kitchen from early in the morning Friday until late that night and back at it Saturday. I also found out how unprepared I was because I had to go to the store a millions times for ingredients....err. We had a GREAT time together and were pretty proud of how everything turned out. However, we did have one disappointment....our shrimp skull fell apart before the party even started AND I was hoping to have everything done at least an hour before the party but once again I was working on food, and not dressed when people started to show up.

I was very surprise with how many people we did NOT have. In years past our house has been PACKED. Normally we don't have enough places for people to sit and it is a little chaotic. This year it was a smaller group and we had seats for everyone. I think our final total was around 85 people. It was amazing the difference. Almost everyone stayed and visited where in years past the party was done by 8:30ish but this time I think the last people that left was around 9:30ish. Even Matt and I were able to visit which was really nice. The weather was perfect so some people were able to visit outside. We had several adults watch the kids break the pinata this year. The Haunted House was a huge hit again this year. Matt did an amazing job and everyone complemented him on his work. It still remains the biggest hit for the kids.

Things I learned this year. I had WAY too much food which meant a lot of leftovers. I don't think I will make the fudge again because no one ate it. I don't know if I need to double the shredded pork but the meatballs were a huge hit. I also need to find a better set up with the food because i don't think people realize that all the food in the kitchen is for the party. If I am going to do carmel apples I need smaller apples. I need to set an age limit for the pinata because the older kids took all the goodies and many of the little kids were sad. I enjoyed having a smaller group and think we will try to keep the numbers down. I loved the fact that we pushed the couch over and put another table in the living room. The trash situation was better this year but I am still wondering why people don't throw their plates away. Maybe I need a bigger trash can??