Heather and Ashleigh set up a plan to take mom to dinner the night before her birthday. By this time all of my siblings had gathered and joined me at Ashleighs house except for Heather who was bringing mom over. We were throwing mom a party in the Clubhouse of Ashleighs neighborhood and so during the day we had gone over and decorated and got our party stuff set up. I ordered the food from Raisin' Cane's which is one of Mom's favorite places and Stephanie and Jeremy went with me to pick it up. We took it to the clubhouse, dropped it off and then ran back to Ashleighs to get there before Mom arrived. As they got closer Heather told Ashleigh they were almost there and she told them she needed a little bit more time because Andrew Brown was not home yet so to park and then come in. parking is pretty limited around Ashleighs neighborhood and it took them a while to find a spot but finally they did and Mom and Heather were able to come inside. All of us siblings lined up and were waiting for Mom to come in and when she did she was pretty surprised. When she saw me her one comment was "But you went home", hahaha no I did not. It was a good surprise and after she got over her shock we headed over to the clubhouse where we had grandkids and her closest friends waiting.
Ashleigh worked hard all day making a delicious lemon cake for Mom's birthday. I got to eat the caramelized bits that she cut off and sample the lemon filling and frosting. It was really good and looked super cute as well. She also made confetti cupcakes for those who might not like Lemon. Erin put together a Candy Bar and filled it was yummy candy and chocolate and peanut butter dipped pretzels she got from Trader Joes that were so good. I loved those a lot!
I got a small piñata because what's a party without a piñata, Ashleigh picked me up some fun sized packs of skittles while she was at the store to put inside and I also got permission from her kids to put in some of their way leftover Halloween candy. I was able to talk them into it by letting them know as the only little kids at the party they were the ones that would be getting the candy so they would just get their candy back anyway. Mom got a couple of sacks at the piñata and then Atticus and Abigail were able to hit it. We did not have a way to hang it so Andrew volunteered to hold it and he did not get hit which was good, hahaha.
Mom loves Hot Dogs and Heather got her a hat from Weinerschnizels that said.. "not a party 'til the weiners come out" She wore it for a couple of minutes before taking it off for good, hahaha
After gifts, food, cake and lots of conversations we took some pictures.
Elizabeth and Ashleigh
Elizabeth, Joshua, Ashleigh, Stephanie and Heather
Erin, Jeremy, Elizabeth, Mom , Andrew, Stephanie, Jeremy, Ashleigh, Emily and Heather
Jeremy Jr, Erin, Alec, Jaylynn, Elizabeth, Jeremy, Mom, Andrew, Joshua, Stephanie, Atticus, Abigail, Ashleigh, Emily, Dillon, Andrew Brown, Heather and Anita
Connie, Mom and MaryBeth
Elizabeth and Jeremy
Elizabeth and Anita
Erin, Emily, Stephanie, Anita, Elizabeth, Ashleigh and Heather
It was a great party and Mom was really surprised and happy. She said that her sister Jeri called her a week ago and in the conversation told her she was sorry she wouldn't be able to make it to her party. Mom was confused and said she didn't have a party planned and I think at that point maybe Jeri realized she wasn't supposed to say anything and she said well your kids will probably do something for your 80th but Mom said no she didn't think so. Mom told us that she would have thought more on it and suspected we had something planned because of the conversation with Jeri but when I "left to fly home" she realized we did not have anything happening. That was a big part of my plan to throw her off, why would I go home if we had something planned for her birthday. Moms 80th was a super success!
