party and tornado warnings

We scheduled a get together with our SS class for yesterday. Everyone was to bring a pumpkin and carve it here while we had some good ole stews! 
I was so excited, it has been a very long time since we've thrown a party.... almost 2 years!!

So, everyone was supposed to show up at 5:30pm. The weather was looking gloomy, but our area hardly ever gets rain, so I thought it would just go around us....  Nope!  at 5:20pm, this alarm goes off somewhere in town. Loud alarm. We were under a tornado warning!  My first tornado warning alarm. I know one is supposed to look for shelter, but honestly, my first thought was "COOL!" Fred went out back to see if he could see a tornado coming.... yeah, we are new at this.
We watched the radar on TV and the storm flew over us in no time. Some of the folks braved the weather and showed up. 
It was a very nice time. We had 3 girls ages 9-11, 2 teens who are very sweet, along with their parents. The girls really got into the pumpkin carving, Fred manned the Ice Cream bar and made some milkshakes for those who wanted it, and great time of talking with the ladies!  
I hope we get to do more socials in the future, it was really fun!
Here are some pictures....

Eyeball cupcakes!

 (made way too many, so we took the leftovers to the youth at church on Sunday)

Rachel made caramel apples, so yummy!

I found a place that sells dry ice, so we got a cauldron full!

I read if you put a little of dish soap in the dry ice,

yu can get 'smoking' bubbles, so we tried it! 

the girls diligently working on their pumpkins! (while eating a caramel apple!)

Tom and Grace working on her 1st pumpkin

...

a kitty cat!

her 2nd one was a ghost, not bad!!

one of the other girls' creation...

the ladies hanging out in the kitchen....

 while the guys watch football in the living room

 Rachel and Grace

This may sound weird, but as much fun as it was, it was also a reminder that I miss my 'other' friends that we got together with for almost every occasion through the year.

But we are planting roots. There are some great folks in our SS class that have gone out of their way to make us feel at home. We are looking for ways to get involved in the community as much as possible. So, it's all good!!