pumpkin carving party

We hosted several of our Walter Reed friends for a pumpkin carving party last night after a day full of pre-Halloween snow. To prepare for the party Friday night, we made the Pioneer Woman's caramel apples. She sure does make recipes look a whole lot easier than they are! But we had fun trying our hand at them.

caramel apple prep

the expert apple dipper

In addition to the caramel apples, we made Halloween Bark featured on a friend's blog (delicious and super easy, thanks Mollie!), a blue cheese and bacon dip, and a turkey chili and beef chili. Hearty food for a cold evening!

the spread

For some reason, our no-costume required, pumpkin carving party that started at 5:30 drew many more of our friends with children than our single or just married friends. Go figure. :)

cute babies, ranging from 5 weeks to 2 and a half years old

Jason and Richard

the Pusz's and their tiny cowboy

carving in our basement

examining the jack o'lantern's face

hard at work

the finished product

so happy to see all the pumpkins together!

how cute is little Julia? Love her and her mama Mary

We had a great time and hope to make this a yearly tradition, hopefully without the snow in the future! And with a Clemson win- it was a tough loss to GA Tech. Thought this piece by Greg Wallace, who writes for the Anderson Independent Mail, was a good read. Still proud to be a Tiger and really looking forward to being back in Clemson in just two short weeks.