Halloween

I'll have it known that this post is going up less than one month after the event in question. Progress!

The ward missionary committee was in charge of the Halloween party this year (again, why did we get rid of activities committees? In wards that are spread thin, it just means no more activities ever, and in wards that aren't, it just means too many visiting teaching supervisors and super random committees being assigned to plan parties. Sigh.). I was in charge of planning games to entertain the kids.

I made a witch hat ring toss (with glow necklaces and bracelets to toss):

Mummy bowling:

Pin the wart on the witch:

The blindfolds and warts:

and a fishpond. The fish had paperclips on them, and the fishing pole had a little magnet on the end.

Also, I thought of cute little rhymes for the directions ("Grab a wart and a blindfold, and a friend to challenge if you dare. Don't just put that wart anywhere!") and matching prizes (Lifesaver rings for the ring toss, Tootsie Rolls for rolling the ball for mummy bowling...it was cute!). It was kind of frustrating to make, because I was full of awesome ideas but not full of free time. Seriously, why can't we have an activities committee and let all the people with tons of free time be on it??

Anyway. Our part turned out cute and the kids apparently really liked it since most of it was torn to shreds by the end of the party (that sounds cranky but that's not how I meant it; I really was glad that kids obviously enjoyed playing with the stuff).

We also managed to stay under budget by having a Halloween treat contest for the snacks. There was quite the spread--we filled up four long tables for our little ward with like 80 people in it. Pretty awesome. I made white chocolate pumpkin pie bites:

Not so pretty, but really, really tasty. They really tasted just like pumpkin pie. Michael and I both ate a lot of them.

As for our costumes, I just Googled "last-minute costumes" and this is what I came up with:

We're on "The Price Is Right!" Spending 15 minutes and $0 on our costumes was the right "price" for me.

Pumpkin Show!

A few weekends ago, we went to the Circleville Pumpkin Show. It's a big annual event in a little town about 45 minutes south of Columbus. It was actually surprisingly crowded (the lone Circleville highway exit was completely overwhelmed, with a huge, backed-up line). Still, though, I thought it was really cute and fun.

The world's biggest pumpkin pie! Compare it with the little girl through the window to get an idea of how big it was. Also, now that I'm posting the picture, I'm just now noticing all the little fingerprints in the near edge...charming.

Pumpkin doughnut (easily the most delicious thing we ate that day, in my opinion)

Pumpkin fudge

Pumpkin ice cream (Michael says it's not his fault he wasn't smiling since I didn't tell him when I was actually taking the picture)

They churned said ice cream using a really noisy tractor motor. You can see the wooden buckets where it got churned on the right.

Pumpkin waffles

Pumpkin burger

Pumpkin dumpling (with some more pumpkin ice cream). Yeah, I know we seem like huge gluttons after all these food pictures. It was awesome, though.

The giant pumpkins! I think it's so funny when they get all slumpy. They look like giant water balloons.

The prettiest pumpkin. It's a third smaller than the biggest ones, but it is very orange and lovely. Look how bloopy the one next to it is! I know it's weird that I find amusement in the bloopiness of giant pumpkins.

An artiste, carving a scene into a giant pumpkin

Endless pumpkins and gourds...

If you grow pumpkins inside a metal mold, they'll take on that shape and get super freaky looking.

The tables of all the pumpkins and gourds went on forever.

I think these were supposed to be the most beautiful pumpkins? A bunch of them had ribbons and the one on top has a crown.

Anyway, it was really fun and I look forward to doing it again next year (although preferably on a weekday when things would be a bit less crowded).