Sorpresa! Sorpresa!

 For those of you who are not multi-lingual like moi.....sorpresa means surprise in Spanish :) Tomorrow I will be 50 years old....a proud age for sure :) So when my darling Sister-in-law invited us over for lunch on Sunday under the guise of saying "thank you" to my hubby and son for installing their new heater last Saturday, I was none the wiser. We were planning to celebrate my birthday together with my daughter's birthday this coming Sunday after church. My hubby orchestrated everything. He's handsome AND clever....a good combination! I was totally caught off guard for sure. Even my mom was in on it. She comes upstairs to the nursery at church just as the service is over, almost in tears and tells me that she isn't feeling well. She's forgotten to take her heart medication and I need to take her home right away. She was supposed to get me to take her home to keep me away from my own house (where my amazing cake was secretly stored in the outside fridge) so that Kristina could scoot over there and grab the cake and take it to my brother's house before I got home. My mom was NOT supposed to freak me out by telling me that she needed her heart meds.....but that's what she came up with. Even Kristina was worried until my mom smiled at her as we were rushing out of the nursery. I'm almost 50....I dont' need this kind of excitement!

 So after I get my mom to her apartment and she goes upstairs to take her medication and comes back down to the car, she tells me that she is starting to feel better. Maybe it was anxiety over forgetting to take her pill. I tried to convince her to stay home and rest but she insists on coming because she so enjoys having all her children and grandchildren together at the same time.....
I drove back to my house to meet up with my hubby and then the 3 of us continued on to my brother's house. When we got there, I had no reason to suspect anything out of the ordinary.

 My sister-in-law did such a great job of decorating with balloons and cute decorations and was clever enough to make sure that nothing could be seen from the front door. I walked in to find everyone standing there yelling "Surprise" when I came in! I've only had one other surprise party in my life and I was 28 at the time. Many moons ago! This was a truly special day that I will remember always! My hubby even had the cake decorated to match my Etsy shop! I mean....look at those Owlies! The cake was almost too cute to eat. ( I said almost....I'm not crazy!) My daughter was in charge of ordering the cake and knows of a wonderful bakery close to her home. The cake was lemon sponge, with lemon curd and raspberry filling. OMG! I had some Sunday. I had some yesterday for breakfast, then for afternoon snack and after dinner. Thank goodness we gave some away on Sunday for people to take home, otherwise I'd need some kind of intervention for sure! I also received some of my birthday gifties. My son is making an awesome picture frame filled with silly pictures of my children and grandchildren. How cool is that? I love it that he is making me something this year. I love all the thought that goes into handmade gifts. My daughter made me the most lovely scrapbook filled with pictures and verses from Proverbs 31. (I think she loves to make me cry in public) After all is said and done, there is no greater gift for me than my family and the love we share. All the ups and downs of life have brought me to this point and I am so thankful for every day that I get to spend with these wonderful people! I can't wait to see what the next 50 years bring!