Halloween: Poker Party and Pumpkin Carving

There were adult AND children's Halloween activities this weekend. Yesterday, Saturday, Caver and I went to Molly's Halloween Poker Party. It's her 15th annual, but I've only been to two. I've been invited to four...which tells you how much it takes to get me to a party. I think I've mentioned I don't like people.

Molly's the awesomest girlfriend anyone can ask for. When we talked for the first time (goodness, only four years ago) it was instant friendship. I love this girl. We have so much in common it's not even funny. Our birthdays are five days apart, so we've started a (2 years so far) tradition of going to Seattle for our bdays. We gab for 36 hours straight on those trips. We go to coffee or lunch every other week. She's my music-going buddy. We can always find something to discuss. She's so down to earth and accepting and amazing. It's funny....when we shop together, we will shop in different parts of the store and end up with the same items. Or, I will just show her stuff that would look cute on only someone as teeny tiny as she is. She will try it on and end up getting it. I could go on and on gushing about her, but I won't.

My family and friends have gotten to know Molly over the years, and now she's just one of us. Caver went to the party with me last year, so Molly asked her to come again.

Anyway, it's a Halloween Poker Party, played for candy. In the picture below - see the gold charts on the wall showing how much each piece of candy is worth. Below those gold charts are the bowls of candy - you start with 300 points. Things like whole Hershey bars and boxes of Peeps are high points - 25. Gum and small suckers were only 5 points. Caver cleaned out the house!! She won three bags of candy. Of course, she didn't take it home. We both gloated about it, in poor sportsmanship form, while at the poker table. When it came right down to it, though, Caver couldn't take it all home with her. Tons of people...tons. Just a blast.

Today, Sunday, Dennis earned his "S". That being S for Superdad. He baked a cake with Finn. Then, he carved a pumpkin with the boys. He did tons of laundry. Now, he's dealing with the boys' baths. Dude! He's been so tired from working his new work schedule (8 hr days, M-F, instead of 12 hour shifts intermittently), he finally had some energy and went for it. Anyway, I was a bum and slept a lot and just let him be Superdad. He had a fun time and the boys are beside themselves with glee whenever their daddy is around.

A funny aside: Finn diagramed the pumpkin face he wanted. He included two different templates for mouths with teeth (see the small photo to the right). In case the two-toothed pumpkin failed, he included a template for a one-toothed pumpkin. I don't know if that's creative and cute or OCD. Love that kid. Below is a picture of Finn describing his pumpkin diagram to Dennis.