Fall Party!

Mitchell has long wanted to have some of his friends over for a party and we finally did it!
He invited friends from daycare and preschool and we had 11 kids and 8 adults when all was said and done. A pretty good ratio! The weather was perfect and we had a lovely time.

The first activity was painting pumpkins in the garage. This went surprisingly well, in spite of a bee sting and copious amounts of paint and small children. The finished products were pretty great!

Watching their different painting styles was entertaining.

Shannon really got engrossed in her painting. It started as a pink pumpkin, then a purple layer was added with some yellow flourishes.

She spent almost an hour on it - long after the other kids had moved into the backyard and she was the lone painter in the garage. By the time she was finished, it was mostly a grey mess but she was proud.

Mitch and Harrison modeling pumpkin hats. I spent way too much time making these because the kids were  minimally interested!

Next up: cookie decorating. It's a win-win when it's outdoors!

Note to self: next time give them individual bowls of frosting! There was a lot of knife licking and double dipping.

Brooklin and Avery enjoying their treats.

Cade, master of sprinkles.

Then it was on to the pinata. Everyone had a chance to hit twice if they wished. Molly got a good smack.

Mitch connects. Nothing like a wooden bat to break things up!

Quinn finally  broke it open, much to the kids' glee. Kai watched from a safe distance.

Pandemonium!

Not surprisingly, the broken pinata pieces provided lots of entertainment after the fact. The yard is now littered with little orange paper scraps.

Hannah's hair just got wilder!

Some masterpieces

And when the sugar kicked in, they just ran and yelled, ran and yelled, ran and yelled.

Hammock play

Drying pumpkins.
We had a great time with friends!