It took 2 months of planning and alot of improvisation (lies), but we pulled it off! A surprise 50th birthday party for my mom!! 1 month ago, I purchased plane tickets for the 4th of July weekend (moms bday is July 5), but told mom I wasn't going to be able to come to StL until early August. She would have to wait for 6 weeks to see Eli again. That made her so sad! But little did she know when I left last time, that she would be seeing us again in about 3 weeks.
So here is how it all went down. On Friday, I told her I was going to Lubbock with Cory for a date (even texted her a picture of Eli in "kohls" when we were really in the Dallas airport). I had told her all my 4th of July plans for the weekend: going to Quitaque, Red white and Moo...). On Friday, I hopped on a plane and of course got delayed in Dallas. I arrived in STL around 1130. My dad has an app on his phone called "fake phonecall" and he left his phone in the living room with my mom while he went to work in his office. The fake phonecall was set to go off (like an alarm) and my mom had to bring the phone to my dad. On the screen it said "answering service" which is the night-time emergency people at my dads work. He told her he had to go down to work to meet one of the on call guys due to an emergency and since she had seen the phone call "from work," she believed him. Off he went to work, or rather, the airport. When we got home, Dad walked in and put Eli's carseat in the kitchen. I was hiding behind the corner. He acted like he couldn't find one of thier dogs and asked mom if she left the pup outside. Mom got up to go to the back door and as she walked into the kitchen, I heard her say "oooooooh, baby!!!!!!! YAY!!! did you fly up here all by yourself?!?!" I peeked around the corner and my mom was just so dang happy!!!
Saturday came around and I was "going to hang out with my best friend for the afternoon" while in reality, I was frantically running to Hobby Lobby, Sams and picking up the cake! I got back and shared some of the stories I was "supposedly told" and just sounded completely natural. I told her details as if everything that came out of my mouth was the truth. It was awesome!Sunday. Its the day of the party and I leave church to "go meet another friend for lunch." Dad gets mom out of church (finally!) and people start to arrive to help get it together.The theme was "Fun, Foxy and fifty!" The colors were black, pink and white. SOOOOO CUTE! It was originally going to be outside but it was deathly hot so we moved it inside the church. It was so great because everyone helped and got it all set up just in time! One of our pastors, Owen, had reserved the pavillion for a Lifeline Group party weeks ago through my mom (She is the church administrator). Owen invited her and dad to come by. So she thought she was going to his Lifeline group bbq! Bwhahaa! Thank you Owen for your sneakiness! Here she is coming in...Surprise! There were some tears. It was awesome!
Here is the cake, which I must add, I designed! It turned out perfect and I love Sarah's bakery in Chesterfield!!!!!!!!!! When I was calling various bakerys, the first question I asked "can you make Cake Boss worthy cakes?" Sarah's Bakery can!!!
Here is her adorable table :) The box is for birthday cards with a few presents in front. The wine glass from her mom says "50-ish" which she really appreciated! The zebra scrapbook is for photos from the party and her birthday cards, a 50's birthday memory book. The opened book is a smaller scrapbook. It is her "50 reasons we love you" book and all the guests wrote a few reasons that they love her. I decorated each page with scrapbook stickers to match the theme and it turned out adorable!! She gets to read these on her actual birthday, July 5th.
Here is my precious momma with her 50 tiara, which she had to wear the entire time!
Mom turned to me and said "I hope thats it! No more surprises!" Well, we had one more surprise up our sleeves...her
bestest-bestest- soulmate -bestest friend, whom she talks to often, but hadn't seen for a couple years. I have never heard my mom squeal, squeak and scream all at the same time! It was a precious moment as they embraced and cried! It was a magical moment!
It was such a special day for my mom! I want to thank all of you who helped and made it possible! Thanks to Grandma and Dad for helping host it! Thanks to Aunt Shell for keeping tabs on Eli! Thanks Uncle Dan and Uncle Tim for grilling out in that horrible horrible heat! Thanks to all those that helped set up!
Happy 50th birthday Mom! You are so special to us and you mean the world to me! Love you sooo much!
