Then came the stress. It is stressful depending on your friends and family not to ruin the surprise and spill the beans. First up on the let-me-ruin-the-surprise list is our good friend and favorite police officer. He took the cake for sure by talking about Luke’s birthday party to his son right in front of Luke! Luckily for us all, Luke was off in another world and did not hear a thing and gave no response. The Sister, police officer’s wife, gave him a look that shot right through him! I wanted to kick him in the shins, but I held back and decided to just go with giving him dirty looks.
Next up to try and ruin things is my Dad! At first I gave my Dad props for not opening up the invite when he received it while Luke was at his house –thanks Daddy. But then, he eventually opened it and left it on his desk….right beside the tape. The tape that Luke would go to get the following week while visiting his Grandpa. Oh, and did Daddy move the invite after realizing Luke probably saw it, NOPE! I later saw it still sitting at the desk, still by the tape. I moved it.
These two things alone were enough to make me realize that the surprise party was maybe not the best idea. But, there is more! Back to the police officer…..he could not try to ruin things just once, oh no, he is an over achiever and when for it TWICE! Once he received the invite for Luke’s party….btw, the invite mentioned that it was a SURPRISE party….he put it up on the refrigerator. No big deal….except for the fact that we often visit their house and Luke can READ! Thankfully, on the day I was on my way to The Sister’s house to drop off Luke for a couple of hours, her Mom was there and had the foresight to take that invite down. Thank you much!
And I will just be honest; I had a slip up too! It pains me to say it. It pained me more for my husband to tell a large group of our friends….including the police officer. I slipped up and said something about a party, but then I quickly moved on to saying a party with Mom and Dad! I’m smooth. Real smooth.
So, what we have so far are a bunch of near misses on ruining this surprise. A big thank you to our other friends and family who in no way shape or form tried to ruin things!
Then came all the questions from Luke about having a party: am I having a party; when is my party; are you inviting my cousins to my party; are you inviting friends to my party; and about a million other questions about a party…..….ugh. Over and over again I told him we were just going to do something on his actual birthday (Sunday) with us, Mom and Dad. He did not seem to mind much at first. Then, exactly five days before his party things quickly fell apart. He told me that going to lunch with us was boring and THEN, He took it upon himself to plan his own party. He said if we were not going to do it, he would. He first invited my Dad (Luke said he needed some old people there). My Dad said he was busy Sunday afternoon and could not attend. Luke was deflated. He then went on to say that he HAD to invite his cousins to his birthday. I told him that it was really short notice and I bet Uncle Ed and Aunt Collette would not be able to make it on Sunday with his cousins. (Sorry to throw you guys under the bus like that, but I really had no choice.) He was deflated more.
I was feeling so bad for him.
Then came the ride home from my Dad’s house that day. He asked if I for real did not plan anything for his birthday. I did what any good Mother would do. I said, “No Luke, I really did not plan anything on Sunday for your birthday other than we are taking you to lunch after church.” Luke’s response, the worst part of it all) -- “This is the worst birthday. EVER!”
I almost started crying and wanted to blab all to him about his surprise party and make him promise to act surprised. But I didn’t.
On Saturday morning I was so happy the wait was just about over because I could not take it anymore!
Thank you to Joshua who was up and out of the house at 7:30 am so that I could get the house ready!
Thank you to Kayla who picked up the balloons and brought them to the house, brought us breakfast, and helped me get things ready at the house.
Thank you to The Sister who come to my house that morning after working a 12 hour shift and brought these awesome cookies that she made! You rock.
Thank you to our family and friends who come over and waited for the big surprise moment.
IT WAS ALL WORTH IT!!
Luke was beyond surprised and oh so happy that in fact, his Mother and Dad did NOT forget to plan him a birthday party.
We had a wonderful day having lunch together, celebrating Luke, and having cake and ice cream.
Oh, and who can forget the presents..….thank you all for Luke’s awesome presents.
(This one caused children AND adults to say, "He's not sharing!!)
Happy SURPRISE SEVENTH Birthday Luke!! Mommy and Daddy love you much!
(And so do all your family and friends who helped to keep this a huge secret from you)
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