Pumpkin and Chili Dinner Party

There is a farm in the metropolitan Phoenix area that hosts a Pumpkin and Chili Party every October.   You can go and pick your pumpkin out of the patch, go on carnival rides, pet farm animals and watch tractor races.  We took Spencer when he was two.  It's really far away, pretty expensive and hot.  Not exactly what I consider to be a good time. 

I decided I wanted to throw my own pumpkin and chili dinner party this year.  It was supposed to also be celebrating anniversaries for John and Maryellen (September- 16 years), Monica and Rick (October- 2 years), Brendan and Travis (November- 1 year) and me and Michael (December- 15 years), but Monica and Rick couldn't make it so that idea was over. 

We turned the AC down pretty low that day but it couldn't keep up with all the cooking, so it was still warm.  But we didn't have to travel and there were no farm animals so I still consider the night to be a success. 

Appetizers

I made three different kinds of chili- 1) Beef 2) Chicken and bell pepper 3) Pork and green chili.  Then I did three different kinds of bread- 1) Corn bread 2) Cheddar Chive Biscuits 3) Garlic Bread

Toppings.  The big bowl was pasta in case people wanted to do chili mac. 

Adults in the dining room.  Kids stayed in the kitchen and were allowed to watch cartoons.  It was great. 

I got pumpkin biscotti and salted pumpkin caramels from Trader Joe's.  I also made a toffee cheesecake, but dang it I never got a picture. 

After dinner pictures

Brendan, Maryellen and I all used to work together.  In 2005.

John thought it was HILARIOUS that Spencer can do this with his toes.  I don't even know how they discovered it. 

I call these two pictures, "The creeper creeps in".

Spencer's all about making silly faces these days.

Spencer took this of John.

I call this, "my two dads".  I told Maryellen I'm going to put it in a frame that says "family" and give it to them for Christmas. 

Ginger was pissed when everyone left.  She's a party girl. 

Next year I'll start cooling the house down two days in advance, but I think the rest of the party was a keeper.