The REST of October!! {Part II}

COOKIE PARTY!!
Every year since we moved to our wonderful little culdesac we have hosted basically the only block party our street has.  {Well... besides when someone leaves or comes home from deployment.}  So sad... we should really be better about doing potluck stuff... especially since our kids are always running around outside together!
Anyway... every October before Halloween we host our cookie decorating party!  We invite all the kids on the entire street (and their parents if they want to come) and we have LOTS of sprinkles, hot chocolate, homemade carmel apples, homemade hot apple cider, and FUN, good COMPANY!!  This year... even though I just reorganized my garage and it looked fairly neat, I decided to cover up all our crap and make it a little more festive, hence all the plastic table cloths hanging from the ceiling!  :o)
We pass out invites a couple weeks in advance and just wait to see who will show up.  I've basically learned not to put an RSVP on an invite either here in Southern California or in Utah.  People don't get it, I guess.  ??
So, the day before I started making the 270-some for this year!  {Yes, a little more than a LATE start this year...}  And my friend, and neighbor... Theresa came over to help me.  She wasn't taking no for an answer, and just showed up with her mixer and some flour!  Haha!  She knows that if she waits for me to ask that she will never get the request!  Well... we had some DRAMA.  I had enough flour for the next year's worth of baking, BUT... it all had weevils in it.  BOO.  So we used what she had in her storage container and she went to grab another bag from her house... only to find that she had the SAME PROBLEM!!!!!!  YIKES!  Fortunately Damian was home for a few and ran to the store for us.  He got just enough to get us through the party!  ICK!  I hate when there are bugs of any kind in the kitchen.  SOOOO GROSS!!!
So, Friday the 28th came and Ella and I spent the morning and afternoon finishing making cookies and setting up for the party!  I did borrow a table from Vicky, and a crockpot from Theresa, but other than that we have it all here!
Just before our party started, 2 of my kids got a SUPER surprise!  {Lexi already knew, but had actually kept the SECRET from Braeden and Ella!  Amazing!}  Uncle Eric and Gma Pam showed up!!  Gma ended up taking over the carmel making for the apples, and I gave Eric the camera.  And despite some of the silly pictures he took, we may not have any were it not for him!!  THANK YOU, ERIC!!
Enjoy!

Braeden and Tristin just almost can't stand the wait any longer.  I wouldn't let them touch any of it BEFORE it actually started!

Cookies, more cookies, a few more cookies, and some frosting in all colors!!  There are bats and leaves, apples and acorns, ghosts and cats, and two pumpkin shapes.  Whew!

Warm milk for hot chocolate.

Take a wild guess at who I put in charge of taking pictures for me!  Haha!  And this is what I get for it!  Lovely, Eric!!  {But really, THANK YOU for manning the shutter for me... I really needed it that day!}

Oh, Ella!  Not only is the look a little evil, but she is an evil THIEF when it comes to the AMOUNT of frosting one SHOULD have on a cookie!  Haha!  (This was BEFORE they got the message that they could take the frosting to the other tables to decorate!)

Decisions, decisions!  How hard can it be to just take one or two of all the cookie shapes??  Really??  Kids crack me up!  L to R:  Alex hiding behind Vinny, Vinny, Ella, Tristin, Evan, and Braeden

Awww...  Rocky needs love AND cookies!  Haha!  ;o)  (He belongs to our teenage neighbors and our kids LOOOOVVVVE him!  Even Ella... and that's serious!  She doesn't like very many dogs.  I can only think of 3 that she likes enough to let close to her!)

I think next year we'll have a decorating contest.  The most creative wins... Hmmm??  What...??  More candy??  ;o)  Here you see my Alexa on the far end, Braeden, Evan (sort of), and the other Alexa!! 

{I don't know if I've ever written this down for remembrance, and it has NOTHING to do with the events of this post, but it's worth remembering for me and the kids!  There are two Alexa's and an Alex on our street.  All their birthdays are in April!  Crazy, huh??  :o) }

Okay... now back to party!

Cheese!  Or... I should say white CHOCOLATE!!  Getting ready to drizzle some on the carmel apples!

Alex, Vinny, and Ella!

The fun part is that the adults and teenagers come, too, and we all have a good time not only decorating cookies, but talking and then playing in the street!

Braeden and Vinny look very suspicious in this one!  Haha!

Yay!  Gma Pam emerged from the kitchen to see how the decorating was going!  {THANK YOU, Mom, for your help with the apples!!}

A super hero vampire??  I like it!  {Get it??  Superman cape plus candy corn fangs...!}

Giggle!

Scary!  Lexi and Eric

Missy on the left, and her sister, Alexa!

I love that Tristin only has ONE cookie on his plate, but has what he really wants on the other half!  Just the decor... just a pile of candy and sprinkles!

MMMMMMMMmmmmm, Yummy!

Danielle and her girls came, but she made them eat dinner before they had their dessert!  They headed straight for the football game at the high school where her husband is a defensive coach!

Don't EVEN ask if you can have one of her cookies.  I'm serious.  Alexa will NOT share her works of art.  True story!

Cute girls!  Notice that two of them are already sugared out and are eating a HEALTHY apple with NO carmel on it!  Yep... but not my Lexi!  The more sugar the BETTER!  Alexa on the left, Lexi, and Alyssa!

Behind the scenes... literally!  Lexi and Alyssa thought it would be great fun to do art behind the plastics...

Meet George!  He stayed on our porch for a few days scaring off the boogie man!  So... Ella still remembers the "Gwamma scauwes" her on the porch and leaves treats, so my mom thought she would get them REALLY good this year with this!  Haha!  She cracks me up!

I was hiding when my mom rang the doorbell and ran.  I had my camera on the WRONG setting, but after some editing I was able to get the FIRST reaction to George!  Haha!  It's such a grainy, crappy picture, but it's the only one that shows any sign of distress!

The other two just came out and started laughing.  Gma Pam says she's not going to even bother trying to scare them anymore.  I don't believe it, though... she'll do it again!

What's more funny was that they thought their "treats" would be in these icky things!  They were disappointed when they shook them and found NOTHING!!  Haha!  BUT... Gma came through and did have a little bag of treats and a Halloween shirt for them!  Greedy kids... sometimes I'm not sure about them.

This is Tristin running away from the scare he just got... and also because Lexi is chasing him around with a fake hand trying to get him to shake it and "rip the hand off!"  Poor kid!

Then we ate some more candy.  Had a cookie or two.  Downed some yummy carmel... and called it a night on a giant sugar HIGH!!  Just kidding!!  I had a roast in another crockpot.  We had that for dinner!