A Fun Surprise

What a week.  What I haven't been able to talk about is that we have been busy the last few months planning a surprise 30th birthday party for Lissy.  Everyone helped out by making different things or getting things for the party.  I was in charge of all the paper stuff/signs and the centerpieces.  I wanted to get them done early since the couple weeks before the party were busy.  So I had to strategically plan how to use my party stuff because I was also making stuff for Tom and Mary's anniversary dinner and our back-to-school dinner at the same time.  Now it is all done and time to put it away.

Our week was busy with things like school, hair cuts, small group, and practices.  I also spent a lot of time at my parents' earlier in the week finishing up stuff for the party.  Lissy was coming into town Thursday morning and we wouldn't have a lot of time to do stuff for the party after she was here.  So we prepped what all the food tables would look like, took pictures of them, and boxed them all up so that whoever was putting that table together had everything they needed.  Some of Lissy's friends had set it up to take her out for drinks before the party, so we only had 1 1/2 hours to get everything put out.  We even put hooks up for pennant banners and marked on the banners how they were supposed to hang.  And then we were on the hunt for some Queen Anne's Lace to use in our centerpieces.  There was an empty lot in our neighborhood that had a bunch, but they mowed it down the week before the party.  But then I found some more in a lot near our neighborhood and I drove by it again Wednesday as I was getting the kids from school to make sure it was still there, and it was.  My mom came over the next morning at 8:30 and we took a walk to go get it and discovered that it had also been mowed either the night before or earlier that morning.  So we ended up just getting some Baby's Breath. 

All of my family was originally coming into town for a family weekend and to take a family picture.  I think Lissy was so preoccupied with making sure things were going to work for the picture that she didn't catch onto the fact we were planning her party.  Sara and Ryan got into town late Thursday night insteading of driving through the remnants of Hurricane Isaac the next day.  The rest of them started showing up Friday afternoon.  Anytime Lissy left, we went to work getting more stuff prepped for the party.  Sadly, it started raining Friday and didn't stop.  Lissy had everything ready to go for our family pictures that night-people to help, a photographer friend from St. Louis in town, surprises for the kids, and we were all dressed and ready to go.  So we thought we would try the next morning and that didn't work either.  We were just hoping she wouldn't try to push for Saturday night.  But there was still rain in the forecast, which wasn't the best for our party.  We had everything prepped for outside and had to change our game plan to move it inside.  I had worked on an intinerary to guide everyone through their different jobs and getting ready for the party.  So I tweaked that a bit Saturday morning.  We got Lissy out of the house for a little bit to have her get her nails done with the two pregnant girls, Amanda and Kaitlin.  We were then able to figure out how everything would fit in the house and brought all the boxes of stuff into the garage from the pool house basement.  Everything was put away when Lissy got home and then she was off again to have drinks with friends.  Then we went into high gear.  Everyone was great in getting everything ready.  My parents ended up getting a uhaul to bring in all the tables and chairs they rented.  So the guys moved all the furniture out of the family room, loaded up into the uhaul, and then set up the tables in the family room.  A couple of Molly's friends came over to help watch the kids while we were getting everything ready and Teresa and Rick also came over to help set up.  Andrew even helped put table runners and centerpieces on the tables.:-) The time we had went really fast and then we all quickly got ourselves ready and the guests started arriving.  It all ended up turning out really cute and the best part is that Lissy was really surprised.  She had no idea.  It was awesome to be able to do the party for her after all she has done for all of us.  Our theme was Pearls and Bowties-Lissy loves them both.

Our entrance had bowties for the guys and necklaces and headbands for the girls

Appetizer Table

The cupcake toppers had Lissy phrases- "Holy Crap",
"Too Stinkin' Cute", "Are You on Crack?", and "You Hooker"

Surprise!!!



Sara had crafts and games for the kids

Ellie modeling the cute headband and necklace for the girls at the party

Photo booth time



Bennett really liked the mac-n-cheese

It was a fun party, but we were all exhausted the next day.  Andrew took our kids home after the party while I helped clean up.  I got home around midnight but then was up until 1:30 getting our stuff ready for the next day.  We ended up doing the family pictures Sunday morning since it had finished raining.  Teresa, Tiffany, and Kathy were all troopers and helping out.  First we were at my parents, then the lake, and then to Edina by my Grandpa's old barn.  Lissy did all of the set up and then had her friend, Lindsey, take the pictures.  I think she ended up getting some really cute ones in the midst of many that have a kid crying or trying to get away :-).

After lunch and a little swim break, Lissy was back at it with some fun ones with the kiddos.

It was a fun, exhausting weekend.  The kids had a great time playing with each other and it was nice to see all of my siblings.  We had some good laughs and talks.  Lincoln and Bella really had fun with each other.  They liked to play make-believe together.  And before the other boys showed up, she even got him to dress up.

Amanda and Todd even threw a little birthday party for Carson.  He turned 5 on Wednesday and I was happy we were able celebrate with him since we rarely do.

Other news around the family.  Jackson won a "Caught Being Good" trophy at school.  They get tickets for doing good things around school and they all go into a bucket to draw from each week.  He was one of the winners for this week and gets to keep a trophy on his desk at school. 

Bennett is pulling up on things more and crawling more on his hands and knees.  He is also getting a little better at standing up.  Miles is a pro know at sitting up.  They are both still super cute.