This past weekend we all went to my mom and stepdad’s house for a surprise 60th birthday party for my mom. She’s probably cringing right now after reading how I just revealed her age (hi, mom!), but I’m positive that as soon as you take 1 look at the pictures of her below, you will think I’m lying about her being 60 years old.
Things didn’t start off quite as planned, however, since this area of the country suffered a nasty winter storm Friday night complete with heavy snow, rush hour Chicago traffic, and 10 mph highway speeds. That is not an understatement. What is usually an hour and 45 minute trip took us 5 solid hours. 6 if you count the full hour it took R to get from his office, pick up D from daycare, then get down to pick me up at my office so we could finally hit the road that afternoon.
All of the guests were supposed to have congregated at their house by 6:45, as my mom, stepdad, and the couple with whom they were having dinner were planning on taking the train back to the suburbs from downtown Chicago and arriving home themselves by 7:15. Har! Yeah right. We didn’t get there until 9:00. And some people weren’t even able to come that night and had to miss the surprise and come down the next morning instead.
Fortunately they were a couple hours delayed themselves, and thanks to the horrendous traffic and some strategic texts from my sister, we were able to sneak in the door not 10 minutes before they walked in the house. Whew! The surprise was safe!
It was so much fun. I think the pictures speak for themselves…
Although he wanted none of the spotlight, we made it into a joint surprise birthday party for my mom and retirement party for my stepdad. Friday was his last day!
Please note that D assumed this position on my mom’s hip as soon as she walked in the door Friday night and remained perched there the entire weekend until we left very early Monday morning. I think she may even have snuck out of her crib during the nights to sleep there, too.
We were excited to get D on the toboggan on Saturday, but she wasn’t too thrilled with the snow. I refuse to believe that the fact she had gloves on her feet since I hadn’t taken her boots and her legs were wrapped in a blanket covered by a garbage bag to keep the snow out had anything to do with that… Ahem.
Many an hour has been spent at this table (and many a beer drunk, as you can see) playing board game after board game during family get-togethers. Can’t you just feel the concentration?
And it never fails – you try to get my sisters and I together for a picture and it usually ends up something like this…
Happy Birthday, Mom!! We love you more than words, and you will never look a day over 25!