The Edward

I know this post is a little late since Halloween was 12 days ago, but we just barely got the pictures, and this post would be nothing without them...

Halloween this year started on Friday night. We had my work's annual pumpkin carving party, which also turned out to be a surprise baby shower for me!! They pooled their money and bought us a lot of wonderful gifts...definitely more than I ever would've expected (not that I expected them to give me a gift). Anyway, my manager had a whole room at the party decorated in brown and green (to match the nursery) and a cute green cupcake cake in the shape of a teddy bear. Mixed in with the shower, was the regular Halloween festivities. Only a few pumpkins were carved, and because of timing, there was no official winner, but I think we did a pretty good job:

We spent the whole morning and afternoon of Halloween (from 9-3:30 to be exact) at our accelerated birthing class (entitled "Intensive Birthing Basics") at the hospital. Because I wasn't sure I'd be able to make it to all three 3-hour weekly classes with my work, we opted for the condensed Saturday version. It ended up being quite informative and the nurse that taught it mixed in enough humor that it was easy for her to talk about difficult or awkward subjects. A lot of my questions that were stressing me out were answered.

I digress... After our educational morning, we hurried home to change our clothes, get our pumpkin, and find our secret weapon for the Hatch family party: the BEST pumpkin carving design ever... When Shane heard that the family party would include a pumpkin carving competition, he started scouting the web for the best template he could find. I must say, I was a little skeptical...and I got a little annoyed at all the little details...and maybe I did stress out a time or two about not finishing in time to be part of the final judging (performed by Shane's parents, who were inside making dinner during the carving to remain impartial)... but once the candles were lit, I knew we had it in the bag...

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you...the Edward:


I'm sad we don't have a better picture, but we didn't have our camera so I had to rely on the images of others. But you get the gist. Even Shane's dad knew who it was!! And in the end, we most definitely won...but here's a shot of most of the other entries.


The rest of the party included a fishing pond, where everyone in the family caught a special fish (mine was extra special--with a $20 bill attached--because I was declared the favorite...but I think that's mostly due to the manchild inside of me), a yummy dinner, trick or treating for the kids, a birthday party for Chance, and carmel popcorn balls! Sadly, by 6:30 I felt like it was 10 PM so I wasn't much fun after that... Shane and I came home around 9:30 and crashed on the couch. All in all, it was a fun Halloween...even though we didn't dress up :) Click here for Amy's recap of the night (and more pictures, but not of us)...