back to school party!

Every year since the kids have been little we have had a back to school party. Over the years we have partied with different friends and it is always so much fun!

We eat disappointing food on school lunch trays. the food always includes chicken nuggets because that is what they serve at schhol lunch at least twice a week. Maybe three. Then we have mushy peas or mushy fruit. If anyone complains I say "duh! It's suppose to be gross. It's school lunch!"

This year we partied it up with Corey's high school friends Darin and Amy. Darin helped me serve the food. He always good for interesting conversation and a laugh. (After we left I hid chicken nuggets under his pillow (his wife let me) Three days later he still hadn't noticed! ba ha,

Here we are serving the food.

The kids in line with thier trays. They MUST wait for us to serve them. It's the rule.

Bo

Josh and  Tyson

Kate and this little cutie, Aliyah

After dinner we have a little lesson on "Beeing" aware, kind, a hard worker. And then we play BINGO!!!!! We adore it. It gets loud and crazy. We don't start over every time someone gets a bingo. We just keep going until every board is full and it starts to get wild with every kid screaming Bingo like crazy.

Cheyenne, one of Justine's bffs and our play mill buddy! It is SOOOOO fun because all the big kids LOVE the bingo too. Over the years the prizes had to start including mini candy bars and some more grown up things. If anyone has trinkets (like McDonald toys) that they don't want anymore drop them my way for next year! The more the better because we love to torcher Corey with lots of prizes to hand out. 

The Bingo game is all with little back to school pictures. A notebook, pens, school crossing, things like that. I made it and just laminated it. 

The cute girl behind is on her way to Spain on her mission! Awesome. And Savannah, the cute girl in front is one of the very nicest girls around. Love her.

Corey's job is to pass out the prizes. They are all sorts of little things. 

Love these fun times with my kids!

We love Hogwarts!

I had been PROMISING my kids a Harry Potter Marathon party for YEARS.

I had bought all these HP party favors and things planning every year to have the party but never getting around to it. 

Here are a few things about me...

I LOVE to have parties with my kids. 

I LOVE to make them themey and cutesy and a bit indulgent.

As I have gotten older and more burned out my enthusiasm has waned for doing them fancy because I am tired of the stressful prep work that sometimes need to be done.

My friend said her kids wanted to have one and she felt like she should do fancy stuff but the kids were wanting to do it so she just bought some treats and went for it. To that I say BRAVO. I love that and think the kids will remember it and be just as happy because it is the point of having a "party" not all the froo froo that goes with it. And she got hers done right away and the kids didn't have to wait three years. :)

Anyway...we got er done. The one problem was.... in order to finish them all in one day we would have had to stay up until five in the morning. We talked as if we were going to and then we pooped out and it took us two more nights to finish them. But I really liked doing that with my kids. It was fun.

Here are some pictures!

Kate just wanted to help me make the pumpkin pasties so much. The kids were so excited because they love pumpkin. Bleck!

On the day of the party my mom took Kate for a while. She is a chatty gal so we shipped her off so we could watch the movies. She brought a cook book to my moms and they made these little zebra cookies together. Thanks, Mom!!!!!!!!!

 Because we are having lazy sleep n summers and I didn't get the decorations ready early enough we didn't start the party until 10:00 am.

Nathan said we needed to have a lot of pastries because they do on Harry Potter. So we had cinnamon roles and donuts.

And these yummy filled with whip cream sugary things.  (I totally bought everything off the day old rack. My kids don't care.)

The perfect table cloth was actually Nathan's top sheet from his how to train your dragon sheets. :)

The test tubes were full of frog guts of course!

Licorice wands . Justine and I found these crazy owls at the dollar store. They were a must.

Dragon Blood drink

Breakfast casserole

Rhett!

 Um....I may or may not have promised I wouldn't put this on FB if he let me take it. He was stubborn about letting me get a picture! Sheesh! I waited too long to have the party and the kids got too cool to enjoy the party favors. 

Bo was so cute. He has never read Harry Potter or seen the movies. So he was pretty interested in it all.
He sat there the whole time with his wand and his glasses on. Brody....who is my brother from another mother...has OCD just. like. me. If he sees a light (like was on the wand) he has to STARE at it and he is not with us anymore. He is just obsessed with the light. One time he BIT my camera because he was obsessed with the light it put off when you pushed the picture taker down a little.

 Of course Brody needed a lightening bolt!

During the party Justine got her first ever cell phone in the mail. She pretty much needed one for college. There are NO PHONES in the apartments anymore because everyone just has cell phones.

It was fun!!!!! Summer is almost over. WAHOO.