Mother of The Year! (Take 2)

OK, I didn't make these; but aren't they adorable?

These were at the Halloween party Mr. C and I crashed today.


Oh, alright, we didn't really crash it: we were invited by a friend of the host.  But the other way sounds more exciting.

Here's what we contributed to the shindig:

I am very sad to report that, although I stubbornly used fresh pumpkin in the dip, I believe the creamier, crappier, canned version would have been better.  Still, the cookies were quite good.

And that was basically lunch.  Well, that and some leftover pizza.

But let me show you dinner:

Yes, that would be homemade manicotti.  No, not made by me.

But I did make this:

French bread

 And it turned out relatively well.  I wanted the crust to be a little crunchier, but the rest of the Four Families loved it (or at least pretended to).  I got the recipe here.

It tasted good with Dee's homemade roasted eggplant and tomato tapenade:

You know what else tasted good?  Her homemade cheesecake, which was made with a blend of cream cheese and ricotta and was good and creamy.  No, I don't have a picture for you, because we ate it all.

I hope the patriarch of the Four Families appreciated his home-grown birthday.  Not only was the meal completely homemade, but I sacrificed a jar of (Bee's) jalapeno pickles and a jar of my peaches for his present.  Mr. C contributed a card, in the form of one of his new paintings (everyone was impressed with the artwork; apparently Paint 'N Swirls weren't around when any of them had kids).

And now we are home, where Mr. C is making more paintings.

And now I need to get him to bed.  Not because he's tired (having had a 2 hour nap this afternoon), but because I want to watch a movie.  Alone.

By myself.

In peace.

And I don't want to share my Reese's peanut butter cups.

Oh, yeah: I'm that kind of mom.