It's a big milestone and I was excited about celebrating it. I wanted to do something special for him so I coordinated a surprise birthday party for him. It was my first shot at coordinating a surprise party of any kind and it was the first surprise party Erik had ever been given. I pulled it off and I think he was genuinely surprised. I was glad. It was hard for me to keep that a secret and do all the planning, telephone calling, emailing, texting, ordering food without him knowing. For that reason only, I am glad the whole thing is over. I did make one goof up and I think he was on to me some but he said he wasn't and that he really didn't know a party was in the making.
I had LOTS of help from my mom and sister in getting it all set up. I just had to show up with the birthday boy. My mom and sister did all the running to pick up food, set up, and decorating.
AND, as usual, Carl and Sabrina did his cake AND they helped coordinate putting together picture collages of Erik from his childhood. They went above and beyond as always and were a big part of making the party special. It all turned out perfect. Thank you to everyone who helped.
And, thank you to everyone who came. He was touched by all the friends and family that came to celebrate his big day.
Erik says he doesn't feel 40 which I think is awesome. He said this birthday really doesn't feel much different. He certainly makes 40 look good (if I say so myself) :)
Early in the day, Elaina and I went to get him Dunkin Donuts (his favorite) after church. She put 4 candles in his doughnut and presented it to him. All her idea. She had fun doing it.
Then, we hung out and had family time for the afternoon. We played lots of games and Erik got a nap (his all time favorite thing to do). I told him we could go see a movie of his choice and gave him some options for movies that were playing around 6:00pm that day. I told him my mom had offered to keep Elaina and was going to take her swimming (at her clubhouse, aka - the setting for the surprise party). He was so excited about the possibility of going to a movie that he wanted to see because I never go to movies to see what he wants (I am a big wimp when it comes to movies that are in any way scary, action, etc...). He doesn't want to watch what I want so we basically never go to the movies...I know - we are lame. It's just a mutual understanding that we have.
So, we packed up with movie snacks in my purse to smuggle in the movie theater (I had to play the part). Then, headed to my mom's to "drop Elaina off" with her.
When we got there, this happened:
He knew pretty much when we pulled in the parking lot (which I knew he would - he knows people by their cars and will spot them from a mile away in their cars). Then we all hung out, ate, and the kids swam. It was 1000 degrees but we all had fun.
 |
| The amazing cake. Complete with all the things Erik likes - Football, Notre Dame, Titans, Soccer, Beer. Each corner had a picture of him from each decade of his life underneath a fondant picture frame. It was perfect! |
I loved celebrating Erik - for the amazing person that he is.....husband, father, son, son-in-law, brother, and friend. He deserved to be treated special for this day and I think we accomplished that.
I need to add that Elaina kept the surprise from him well. I was worried but she didn't let the cat out of the bag. All day that day, she kept calling me to the corner of the room to "tell me secret" asking me questions about how things were going to work that day which made Erik a little suspicious but she never slipped up.
Happy Birthday Erik! We love you SO! To many more birthday celebrations!
1 comment:
Looks like it was great! I'm so glad you made it a big deal!
Post a Comment