nolan’s donut shop party

On Saturday, we threw Nolan a third birthday party to remember! A while back, I decided that the theme was going to be DONUTS—and we ran with that. It was SO much fun!


Our little guy was ready to serve some donuts! He did a great job at saying “Welcome to my donut party!” to all who walked in the door. :) 

We used this tassel tutorial (they’re weather-proof and meant to last!)

 
I created the invite, and loved how it turned out! I used the same style donut images throughout the party to tie everything together.

We built a donut hole cake using a styrofoam cone and toothpicks. We bought two boxes of donut holes thinking that would be plenty, but we actually returned to the store for two more boxes! (It took 110 donut holes!)


M&Ms are always at our parties :)

 

Our Wal-Mart did an AWESOME job at making the donuts!!! I specified that I would like blue, green, white, and chocolate-frosted, and mentioned that I loved their glittery fleck sprinkles. Not only were they beautiful, they were absolutely delicious. We bought five dozen, and had more than enough left over (for about 40 people). They were a steal at only $4/a dozen!

 
I printed most of the signs on cardstock at Staples. The “Nolan’s Donut Shop” banner was printed there as well (on engineering paper).

My mom was in charge of the sugar cookies, and they looked and tasted amazing!




As for activities. . . We had coloring sheets for the kids,

a donut-on-a-string eating challenge on the front porch,
 
and Steve and I made a ring toss game with felt donuts.
We started by cutting donut shapes out of cardboard (a diaper box) with an X-acto knife, then we cut light brown and other colored felt and glued it onto the cardboard in layers. To finish, we glued colorful Perler beads to the felt as sprinkles.
 
Nolan loved the photo display of some favorites throughout his three years :)

For take-home gifts for the kids, Nolan gave out Play-Doh, crayons, and fruits snacks.


We didn’t just feast on donuts—we had some real food as well.



  
I’m going to do a second post later this week with all of the photos of the fun people who joined us—but I’ll throw in a photo of the four of us at the end of the party :)

Thank you so much to those of you who joined us and made the day so special! And as for out-of-town family and friends—we sure missed you!!   Xoxo.

If you plan on throwing a donut party in the future, let me know if you have any questions! :)

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friday favorites

F R I D A Y   F A V O R I T E S

I usually write about five things on Fridays—but I’m writing this at 11pm on Thursday, and I am pretty scatter-brained right now, so I may not make it to five :)

Tonight, I’m focused on Nolan’s donut party on Saturday—gluing felt donuts, working on the signs, writing lists for the grocery store. I’m excited to make a big deal about my little man turning three!


This really amazing thing happened in my garden. My raspberries started producing a second time this season! I had read that this was a possibility, but my bushes looked quite done for a couple of weeks, so I was not expecting to find red berries and plenty of new little buds popping out! In other news, I’ve been picking an average of 75 green beans a day! Local friends, let me know if you want some!

On Wednesday, we went on an excursion to Target, Applebee’s, and the university’s creamery. It takes about two hours round-trip to get to the town, but it’s most definitely worth it! The ice cream at the creamery is so fresh that only about four days elapse between the cow and the cone. Yum!
  Ephraim has seemingly grown so much in the past week! He crawled to me for the first time on my birthday on Sunday. Now that he can move, I am continually picking him up and redirecting him away from cords, the dog, and Nolan’s train track. I wish I could show ya’ll how sweet he is. I can’t get enough!

Linking up for Friday Favorites with Andrea, Erika, & Narci.

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what i wore wednesday

Yesterday, I posted a couple photos (below) from my birthday, and a few of you complimented my dress, so I figured I’d throw together a “What I Wore” post featuring the dress :) I bought it for only $17 on Groopdealz a few weeks ago, and I saved it to wear on Sunday. I thought that the top of the dress was white when I ordered it, so I was surprised to find it was actually pale pink when I opened up the package. I really like it though! The material is super soft to the touch, and the high waist is different from every other dress I own.

Dress: Lucy and Lyla, purchased through Groopdealz
Sandals: Crocs Sexi Flip in Espresso

 
This little guy has to be in the middle of everything Steve and I do—so he insisted on getting his photo taken as well :) He did the elbow pop all on his own. Just imitating Mommy!

Hope you have an awesome Wednesday!

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Linking up with Lindsey, Alison, and Shanna.

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my birthday

I had a fantastic birthday on Sunday. We woke up to a rainy and dark morning, and got Nolan ready for his very first Sunday School class. He LOVED it! After church, we went to my in-laws for some always-good Subway sandwiches and a strawberry cheesecake made by Alice. My buddy helped me blow out the candles to practice for his upcoming big birthday :) We headed home to relax and (attempt to) nap. Steve outdid himself again with creative and sweet gifts for me :) Before dinner, we went for a drive through the hill country. There was a nice pause in the rain while we posed for a few pictures with the amazing landscape. Later, my mom and Don grilled out for us at their house. My mom made some bright and beautiful milk chocolate cupcakes for me, and before we knew it, the daylight was gone, and it was time to go home and get the boys to bed. Twenty-seven, I’m grateful to see you, and I’m pretty excited for all that’s in store this year :)

I kept listening to Sanctus Real’s song “Lay It Down”, over and over this weekend, and it’s full of wisdom that I’m taking with me into this year.

”But if you smile in face of trivial things,
and you learn to pray when you want to complain,
stand up straight when the earth is shaking,
and just keep breathing when you feel afraid.
Don’t you know
those problems you're worried about?
They can't keep you from living now,
when you shake them off and lay them down
at the cross where your freedom's found.”

our project list

Steve and I seem to always have a long list of projects that need to be done around the house. He has learned so much about remodeling, woodwork, electricity, and even plumbing in recent years, so when I come up with some kind of idea or dream, he responds by “I can do that!” So we’re definitely the couple that starts a million projects, and we get overwhelmed after a while because we can’t always finish them quickly :)

A year ago for my birthday, Steve ordered me a copy of “Young House Love,” but it got lost in the mail :( We got over it after a while and I forgot about it. But yesterday I unwrapped this copy (thanks, Steve!) and I’m super excited because I’m sure it will inspire many upcoming projects!

Last week, I mentioned that we stopped by a 1900 mansion that is being torn down soon. We had the option to buy some inexpensive, beautiful oak flooring for our kitchen and nearby bathroom—so we wanted to find out if there was hardwood underneath the red linoleum before we went out and purchased wood. We were really excited to find some nice wood underneath the bathroom and hallway area! Yay! Unfortunately, we are pretty certain there is no hardwood underneath the kitchen :(

 
Steve pulled up the linoleum (there ended up being three layers of old flooring to pull up) and scraped/sanded down the old glue mess.

There’s a lot of floor left to sand and then refinish. Since the toilet has leaked and caused water damage to the floor, he’s going to pull it out and fix the issue. The sink will eventually be replaced for a smaller size or corner sink so that everything fits better into the tiny bathroom. Lastly, we’ll update the paint and mirror/vanity.

 

This is the red floor of the kitchen that we would eventually replace with new wood.


This is our front entryway. I took down an old, dusty lace curtain from the middle window with the promise that I would make a new, more modern curtain. I hope to replace the two side curtains as well. The floor pattern is a bit outdated (as well as peeling in places) and there is (most likely) wood underneath to sand and refinish, of course :)

  
Another project on our list is to repaint my dresser in our bedroom. It was once my grandma and grandpa’s when they were young, and has been painted many colors in the past. Right now it’s a dark purple that I chose when I was in high school. I’d like it to be something lighter, that would match our bedroom better. :)  PS My dad wrote the “I Love You” for my mom.
 
A couple of months ago, we started work on updating the attic. Steve and Josh painted it a nice gray color with white trim (it still needs some paint touchups). Steve is also planning on replacing all the door and window trim with “proper” trim—what is there now is hastily cut pieces of wooden paneling. Then we’ll decide how best to use the space!


It’s been a huge goal of mine to organize my craft desk. It is a mess and I can’t wait for some morning when I have a couple of hours to dedicate to the job. I inherited a lot of fabrics recently that will be really fun to sew with someday. :)


Our main bathroom has been under construction since we moved in thirteen months ago. We were able to do a lot of initial work refinishing the floors, tearing out horrible lighting, putting up drywall, painting, etc. Steve recently made and installed most of the trim and base moulding to match the rest of the house. As you can see, there is still some work to be done, and I need to sew a new curtain because it’s just a bath towel hanging in the window right now, haha.


My grandma and grandpa gave me this print a few weeks ago and I can’t wait to get it framed and hung up in our bedroom. Steve knows how to matte paintings and build frames, so we’ll wait until he has time to do it. He bought me a lot of little prints by the same artist for my birthday yesterday and we’ll have to find a place for those because they are wonderful!

Usually I just show you when a room is finished, so I hope you enjoyed this little peek into all that still undone! You’ll find Steve and me praying for more time between work and childcare so we can finish what we’ve started. :)

Linking up with Andrea for her “What’s On” series.