Avery's 4th Birthday

I've been sticking with a Halloween theme for Avery's birthday parties. This year I got more decorations and made more decorations. We finally painted the dining room and I filled it with fall foliage. I love the fall and Halloween, so decorating the house is a lot of fun. I spent weeks getting the house ready, but it was worth it.

Our friend Jill made us a ghost/pumpkin patch/grave yard cake. It looked and tasted great, and was a big hit with Avery and all our guests.

Eli was also inspired by the Halloween theme and made dishes like a creepy vegetable platter. He also built a monster in the fire place. It had giant plywood teeth, a forked tongue, sound/motion sensitive eyes, and a fogger to blow smoke out the mouth.

The fog and monster eyes were quite a draw for the kids. They spent a lot of time clapping their hands to set off the eyes, and then screaming and running away when it "spoke" to them. We finally had to turn it all off to get them to settle down and stop all the screaming.

The next day we had my family over for a second party. We ate pizza and leftover cake, and watched the Redskins game while the cousins destroyed Avery and Zach's bedroom. Eli and I were exhausted from cleaning the house twice in three days, but it was a labor of love.