Okay, firstly let me say that this past year has been quite trying... several familial health issues, and the passing of one beloved member of our family, have all taken me out of the leisure and pleasure of spending time on dA.  I had also been invited to, and joined, Pinterest which totally sucks up alot of my time now.  I am such a habitué.  

Anyhoo, the latest in our lives, as we've re-surfaced, has been an Unexpected Party!

Our seven-going-on-eight grandson is a Lord of the Rings and Hobbit fan.  He has seen the extended versions of all the movies - several times.  He loves loves loves Middle Earth!  He has the whole collection of the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit Legos.  He was a hobbit for Hallowe'en.... need I say more...
So he requested a Hobbit Party at Yeh-Yeh and Nai-Nai's (his grandparents - us) house...
Yup.
We hung canvas, fabric, and plastic table cloths to cover all the shelving in the garage, arranged a bunch of furniture to look like a "cozy" hobbit hole, and even created Bilbo's desk, complete with Tolkien's pipe, one of Bilbo's buttons, Sting, and a couple of Horns that somebody might have blown on in Middle Earth... ha
So after weeks of labor during evenings and weekends on this thing (we hosted it in our garage) we blew it out yesterday!
His daddy made up games for the kids. One was a Riddle game. Sweet.  One was shooting arrows at spiders to rescue the dwarves (big drawings) that were stuck in the tree , and chasing an Elf to get the ribbons off his belt - hm.
We served Hobbity dishes like crackers with cheese (some with blue streaks -  you know, gone bad), smashed potatoes topped with ground sausage and cheese, stuffed mushrooms, fish sticks (a nod to Gollem), apples, carrots, berries, a hobbit-hole cake, cupcakes topped with mallorn leaves, and stripey jello , with Sparkling Apple Cider, Root Beer, and Fresh Bottled Water to wash it all down.

Please enjoy the pics I am posting.  I do have a few drawings to post at some point, as well...