Mom's Surprise Birthday Party

Surprise parties are THE best!!  The insane amount of planning and organizing (and lying) that goes into it can be daunting, but the end result is SO much fun!! After much debate and discussion, we ultimately decided to attempt a double surprise party weekend for Mom.  Our first surprise involved just our immediate family.  McKinley invited Mom and Dad over for a game night with him and his roommate, JK.  This is a fairly common occurrence so certainly no red flags there.  What Mom didn't know is that Jordan and his crew along with Chris and I would be hiding in the kitchen waiting to jump out and surprise her upon arrival.  Worked like a charm!

Mom was no doubt surprised...especially since she had called me just a few minutes before while I casually pretended to be enjoying a relaxing weekend at our apartment in NY.  I'm good, friends! Put me on the surprise squad ANY day! :)  That Saturday afternoon all the siblings just hung out and entertained the kids.  I worked with Brinley and Landon on being quiet as a mouse when we surprised Grandma and Grandpa.  They did awesome while we waited to spring the surprise!

It was a lot of fun to play games and just hang out that night.  We told Mom we were planning to go to church with her and take her out for a family lunch the next day.  Surprisingly, she didn't ask a ton of questions.  We all thought we were in the clear.  She didn't suspect a thing.

And we were right!!  Church was great.  Mom was extremely happy to have us all there together - a rarity these days!  We got some fun family shots outside the church before the rain began.  At that point, we headed over to Old Hickory for our second surprise.

The hostess group was a little lacking on the subtleties and nearly gave us away, but the New Yorker in me took over and just barged through to the banquet room.  Mom said she thought we might have invited her sister to join us, but she never expected to see a whole room full of family and friends.  Since I was in the group that arrived with her, I didn't get a look at her facial expression.  The pictures say it all though.  Mom was absolutely thrilled to be able to visit with so many wonderful people for the afternoon.  We were all relieved we managed to pull it off - a feat we had doubts about from the beginning!

Have you ever planned a surprise party?  How did it go? 

Andrea :)

My Favorite Princess is FOUR!

Chris and I made a trip to Kentucky this past weekend to surprise my mom for her 60th Birthday.  There is a post to come with all those fun and exciting details, but one of the secondary events that occurred while we were in town happened to be a little impromptu birthday party for my niece!

 
I can't hardly believe that little Brinley is now a big four year old!  She is definitely one of a kind - such a smart, independent, and funny little gal.  I loved having some time to play and interact with her in person this weekend.  Our time together is never long enough, but it sure was fun to hang out with the little lady that made me an aunt!  Fortunately, it won't be long before we see her again!  Can't wait til next time!
 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my favorite PRINCESS of them all!!  

I love you, Brinley!!

Andrea :)

Our April Date Nights

It would have been impossible to fit one more event into our April calendar.  Lesson learned as we proceed with caution with summer approaching!  We did have TONS of fun during our insanely busy month though!  We hosted my parents for a few days, hit up a slew of movies at the Tribeca Film Festival, and saw a thought-provoking show with friends who were visiting the city.  In the midst of all the fun, our date nights prevailed!  I set up a double date with friends of ours while Chris planned a surprise weekend getaway for us!

Back in April of 2010, Christopher and I had our first date at Brother Jimmy's on Lexington and 31st so it was only fitting that I booked our double date at that location.  We had fun rehashing the story of that night with Rachel and Lionel as well as chatting about a whole array of things from Survivor to FitBit Mania to sports/books.  It was a great night together with friends we have both spent the past few years getting to know individually.  We all met at a Bible Study group about three years ago.  As it turned out, Chris and Lionel worked in the same area and meet for lunch from time to time. And Rachel and I ended up in a book club together!  It's rare that we spend time with couples that we both know equally well so that made for an extra fun night.

Chris did an amazing job of putting together a fun weekend trip to Mystic, Connecticut.  Click HERE to see all the fun we had at the aquarium, Olde Mistick Village, and walking around the historic downtown area.  We had a fantastic weekend away, but Chris really blew me away with the ultimate adventure date during this trip.  He planned a penguin encounter for us at the Mystic Aquarium.  We were able to spend an hour learning all about the African penguins that are on exhibit there as well as pet and play with our own little penguin friend!  I wrote all about the experience HERE.  It was such a thoughtful and fun-filled date!

What is your ultimate date night?

Andrea :)