Doughnut Party 2017

This year we decided to go 80s for the doughnut party theme. It turned out to be really fun! I hoped that our guests would figure it out from the invite, and not just think I had outdated design tastes.

As per usual we had 3 games for the evening. The first was name That 80's Pop Icon. It was medium-hard.

Then we had Name that 80s TV Show Theme Song - which was interactive! We played 15 seconds of a song and people had to write down the name of the show.

You can play along here! It was pretty hard.

And then there was the 80s Music Challenge, where you had to fill the blanks of song lyrics, song names, and the band/artist.

As you can see, it was HARD. But I that's because last year people made fun of how easy my quizzes were. That's what you get, you dang born-in-the-80s-or-later-guests! Harrumph.

We had the classic 80s laser background you could take your picture in front of.

For decorations I cut out a bunch of 80s slang terms in 80s fonts, made 80s themed garland, and made little posters like these. I thought it was pretty funny.

Last fall I found a bunch of Halloween sprinkles on clearance, so we got to have those on the doughnuts this year. (We also got to have them all over the house, but that was expected...) Kids love sprinkles!

This year Lance and I actually dressed up! I got an 80s accessories kit online for $8.99 - a steal! And Lance went preppy with a pink polo and blue sweater. Don't we look AWESOME?!?

Leg warmers are rad.

We had a big and HUNGRY crowd this year. I made 3 full batches of doughnuts - that's 30 cups of flour, for reference. And the doughnuts were entirely gone by 8:00! 

Our 2 new elders in the ward were pretty impressed! (Homemade doughnuts? Something to write home about.)

Dad and Susie were here to help with the frying - I'm so thankful! They did an AMAZING job!

A few other ladies got in on the 80s action as well.

An empty doughnut table is a sad doughnut table. (The whiteish one on the plate is dairy free - one of my friends makes her own and brings them for us to fry.)

I probably think this every year, but every year we get more and more little kids. They're so cute and it's fun to see them stuff themselves with doughnuts. As shown yesterday, poor Bennett did NOT want to leave! (That's the sign of a good party. Fortunately, we've never had to deal with this reaction with adults!)

Apparently I have a hard time taking pictures. Dang it. Also, I took off my leg warmers by this time and forgot to put them on for pictures.

Good heavens, we're attractive.

After all the guests had gone I found the kitchen window sill covered in sprinkles. There were also lots of chocolatey handprints and smudges throughout the house.

But it's totally worth it. I like seeing my friends and chatting with people I don't get to see much (especially since I've been in primary so long - I feel like I never see anyone at church!). And the kids LOVE this party and Spencer is starting to invite his friends, which is fun to see. (Note to self - make even MORE doughnuts next year if more teenage boys are coming!) All the prep work and clean up is a small price to pay for such a fun night!

Doughnut Party Spoilers

Tonight was our annual doughnut party, but I have neither the time nor the energy to blog about it tonight. I will, however, say that it was an amazing party! I made 3 batches of doughnuts and every last bit was eaten within 2 hours of the party. The quizzes were extra hard this year. The doughnuts extra yummy. Heck, the party was so good that Mr. Bennett (of Easton family fame) fell apart at the thought of leaving.

A full run-down tomorrow.

Mom Clean vs. Kid Clean

Today is the first day of fall break for the kids. So of course I tortured them with haircuts and flu shots.

I'm the worst.

Then I mostly ignored them as I cleaned and cleaned and decorated for the doughnut party tomorrow. They were perfectly happy with this.

Then I made the mistake of making them do a few random chores. HOW DARE I?!

Spencer needed to clean his room because Dad and Susie are coming tonight. So I sent him to work.

He declared he was done and I went in to check things out and found this.

Kid clean is very different from mom clean.

Unfortunately for my kids, my house needs to be mom clean when guests are coming. I put him back to work and then I got back to work.

It's been a long day.

Mom Clean vs. Kid Clean

Today is the first day of fall break for the kids. So of course I tortured them with haircuts and flu shots.

I'm the worst.

Then I mostly ignored them as I cleaned and cleaned and decorated for the doughnut party tomorrow. They were perfectly happy with this.

Then I made the mistake of making them do a few random chores. HOW DARE I?!

Spencer needed to clean his room because Dad and Susie are coming tonight. So I sent him to work.

He declared he was done and I went in to check things out and found this.

Kid clean is very different from mom clean.

Unfortunately for my kids, my house needs to be mom clean when guests are coming. I put him back to work and then I got back to work.

It's been a long day.

Connor Prairie Headless Horseman Festival

I'm not a fan of blogging on my phone, but since my laptop isn't nearly as portable this'll have to do. Unfortunately, Blogger gets really mad when I try to upload more than a few photos for a post, so this'll have to do as well.

A membership to Connor Prairie has been a great investment this year; it has more than paid for itself in just admission alone. Along with an awesome interactive museum they also have fun festivals and activities throughout the year that members get into for free. For fall it's the Headless Horseman festival.

When we left this afternoon I was reconsidering the whole idea of going - the kids were all being grouchy, especially Josh, who had a literal TANTRUM on the front lawn this afternoon over I still don't know what. But, despite the grouchiness and traffic we made it.

Our first tickets wouldn't get us into the hayride until 9:45, but fortunately we were able to trade them for 9:00 instead. (Which was good because it was only 6:20 when we go there!) This kids still seemed skeptical about the whole thing until we started doing the activities and playing the midway games. There was a corn maze and big slides on the hill, carnival games with tickets to win, and even scary-oke. Tess and I "sang" "For the first time in forever" and we all sang Stevie Wonder's "Superstitious".  We totally rocked it. Compared to others.

We bought some yummy kettle corn and a pretzel for $9 total, which was a little painful, but since that was the only money we spent all evening it wasn't that bad!

It was finally time for the hayride. First we had to wait in a long and kinda spooky line through the Indian village. Josh and Cole were obnoxious; Tess was nervous. We finally got into our wagon with a bunch of FFA kids here for the convention. The hayride was fun! Lots of spooks and the headless horseman (really without a head and on a real horse) chased us a couple of times, as did a few other scary guys.

We left, happy and tired, and now we're on our way home. It's late but the kids don't have school tomorrow. And Josh just thanked us for taking him tonight and the kids all agreed it was worth going.

Fall is upon us, Connor Prairie comes through again, and life is good.

Trunk-or-Treat

Tonight was our ward trunk-or-treat. It was as wild and as crazy as usual. (The decorations were pretty great this year, though!) These activities are always rough for me because they're just so dang crowded. That's just not my favorite thing, no matter how much I like our ward. But the kids love it, so we go.

Lance and I decided to go a different route for decorations this year. Adult terrors are way more scary (and easy to make) than the usual Halloween fare.

My favorite sign is "Your children repeating in public what you say in private". Hah! 

Welcome Gnome

Sorry ladies - he's all mine!

(The awesome husband who left this note for me last night, not the gnome.)

(I added the thank you. For Lance, not my children, who were quite noisy and woke me up despite Lance's best efforts!)