handsful

Abbey’s 17th birthday was on February 9th.

Her party was last night.

Don’t judge me, people.  Once she figured out what she wanted to do for her birthday, it was decided we should wait till the weather warmed up a bit.  Hence, the delay.

Itinerary?

Arrive, 6:00ish

The “Picture Scavenger Hunt” began at 7:30, with three teams of 5 kids (plus an adult driver) scrambling to their respective cars, lists of things to find in hand.  Randy had the whole thing planned out, with a long list of things like “police car” (1 pt), bald guy (2pts), urinal (ask Payton about that one…) (3 pts), and shoes on a power line (5pts).  I was a driver for one team, and it was SO. MUCH. FUN.  There’s nothing quite as freeing as running madly through Wal*art with a bunch of teenagers, looking for a guy with facial hair.  We had to have at least 1 team member in each picture, we weren’t allowed to use photos of things, and we had to be back by 9:45 or we’d be penalized.

person getting a haircut

traffic cone

silo

sandwich artist…he invited them behind the counter, made a sandwich, and gave it to them!

Christmas lights…lit up

yellow truck…SO hard to find.  And, creativity in the photos gave extra points!

My team

After tallying points and having the usual birthday dinner of pizza, it was time for the next game.

“Property Puzzle Hunt” began around 11:30.  Randy took 16 gallon size bags, and put 3 identical pictures in each one.  He hid the bags all around our property, and when the teams found a bag, they were told to take 1 picture out.  After they found all 16, they were to come back to the house to try and match up the pictures to make words.  (i.e. picture of a robin, guy in a hoodie = Robin Hood).  Once all the photos were matched, they had to figure out the overall theme of all of the words.  Each team had 1 flashlight!  In the end, each team found about 12-13 pics, and with a little guidance and hints, they all came up with the correct theme of “Archery”.

Tallying all the points across both games, and it was MY team that won first place :)

The special Unbirthday Girl

The rest of the sleepless night was filled with lots of snacking, birthday cake, a movie, Wii games, and an impromptu dance party in the Shop.  I went to bed at 1:45, leaving Randy to take the night shift.  He stayed up mostly, dozing a little during the movie.  I got up at 7:30, and sent Randy to bed at 8:00.  Almost all the kids were still up, so I popped the baked french toast in the oven and did a little cleaning up.  Eventually, everyone was picked up and the house was quiet(er).

It’s now 9:22 pm Saturday night, and I realize that the amount of sleep I got last night wasn’t nearly enough.  And, when we should have rested, we didn’t.  We ran errands and then spent a good part of the day doing yard stuff.  It became clear I should just push through and stay busy, or I would do what ALL the kids did at some point during the day…sit down too long and fall dead asleep.  I have to wonder how the wake up for church is going to go tomorrow!

But, it was all worth it.  The party was a huge hit, the games were a ton of fun, and one of the guests said it was the best. party. ever.  Success.

Can’t believe that Abbey’s next party will be her 18th.

Goodnight, all…