Gary's Halloween Eve Poker Party

When Gary found out Maggie was having (gasp!) teenagers over on Halloween Eve, he saw an opportunity and promptly invited his friends over for a poker party. I think it was to escape having chaperone duties, personally. But, I love his Friday night poker buddies so I didn't complain. They're a lot of fun, and I really can't blame him for wanting to do something else. (Note to self: Though, next time, I will be busy on teen party night and let Gary handle it all by himself.)

I made Gary (and Mags) go to Walmart with me to buy the supplies for the dualing Halloween parties on Thursday night. Then, Gary defrosted some venison (which he brought back from his pheasant hunting trip to SD) and cooked it with some sausage, chopped onions and garlic. Maggie worked on pumpkin cheesecake bars, and I made a soy milk banana cream pie for one of Maggie's vegan friends.

Friday morning, I threw the meat into the crockpot with some beans, tomatoes, green chilies and spices to make venison chili.

Gary threatened to add some Scottish Dorset Naga pepper into the crockpot, but I don't think he carried through with it. Ray Lane had grown these peppers and brought some to the hot pepper aficionados.

Below, Duke tries the chili. Mmmmm, mmmm...good!



Jack looks like he's up to something, doesn't he?



I think I caught Dennis in the act. You can tell by the look on his face, he's plotting.



You know George is up to no good...most of the time.



Allen is a good sport.



OK, it was really Gary who was into mischief. He tried to goad everyone into trying the Scottish peppers. He finally convinced Duke.



Poor Duke happened to wipe his eye after touching the pepper. You should have heard Gary and the boys cackle.

Gary is just mean...plain mean!

Halloween Eve Pumpkin Carving

Mags decided at the last minute to have some friends over on the eve of Halloween to eat pizza and watch scary movies. We decided to add pumpkin carving. Do you know how many kids have never carved a pumpkin?

It's quite entertaining to watch them clean the pumpkins out. Ewwww....gross...ick...it's slimy!

Below, Max starts. Wait! He's smiling...he's not grossed out. What's up with that?



Hey, Ryan seems to enjoy it, too. Maybe it's just the girls that think pumpkin guts are gross?



Hmmm...yeah. That's got to be it.



Well...Nick doesn't seem too crazy about it, either.



Priya was game. Maybe it's that Carroll Medical Academy dissection thing...



Ryan got really fancy cutting out the top of the pumpkin. It was a booger to line back up, though, I have to tell you.



Max is still cleaning out his pumpkin.



Uh, oh...I smell a pumpkin gut war coming on. Watch out, everybody!



Whew! Crisis averted.



Or...is it???



No, Mags! I do not want pumpkin guts slung on me. Ewww...guh-ross!!!



Poor Jake...never knew what hit him.



Next year, there will be no pumpkin carving unless the carvers clean up their own mess. Lesson learned.

Want to know what we did with the pumpkins since the kids didn't take them home? The Great Pumpkin put them out in our neighbor's yard to surprise their three little kids. Marc said that the kids were so surprised and happy to see them that they ran from pumpkin to pumpkin for 20 minutes trying to figure out who put them there.

Don't you just love little kids?