Surprise!

How pathetic is it that I don't have a picture of the two of us from the party?  This is the best I have!

You can probably count on one hand how many times you've been REALLY surprised.  I'm not talking about opening some gift or learning someone is pregnant or something like that.  I mean a surprise like an event.  Well, they got me, they got me good this past Saturday night.

Duncan and I had been anticipating a Christmas party at the Bergherms house.  Jennifer had mentioned offhandedly a couple of weeks ago that it was going to be an "adults only" party...all the better!  Ron and Elaine graciously agreed to come over to babysit yet again and they showed up right on time and said they were going to take the kids to Chipotle for supper.  Duncan and I got dressed (it was to be a little bit of a dressier party since no kids) and Allen and Tangie arrived to pick us up and we were on our way.  A few minutes into the ride, Allen hits his hand off his forehead and says that he forgot the games (I already knew he was in charge of those).  So turn around we did and with a quick call to Jennifer to let her know our now late status for the 7:00 pm festivities, we headed back for the Isidros.   We got into our community and Allen abruptly stops the car in the middle of the road and starts talking to us in a serious nature.  Duncan and I could hardly contain our giggles in the backseat during his confession of spending some extra time with Jennifer lately.  But then he had the last laugh when he pulls out a party invitation for our 10th wedding anniversary party at our neighborhood clubhouse.  This is what he and Jennifer had been working on. We zipped over to the clubhouse and sure enough, the place was completely decked out and a bunch of friends were there...just for us!  We were completely shocked!

I tell you, there is no better time of year to get married than Christmas.  I just love Christmas so much and then you throw in a wedding and you get perfection as far as the beauty...the white lights, the poinsettias,  the Christmas trees, the red and gold and silver.  The place was stunning but what did you expect from Jennifer? She is amazing!

The tree had tons of black and white photos from our wedding and subsequent family moments.

As we walked in, some of the first people we saw were Ron and Elaine who were now dressed in completely different outfits and more importantly, did not have any children with them! Not to worry. Jennifer had lined up a couple of babysitters at Allen and Tangie's and the kids were all over there.  This was the first Brady had ever been babysat by a non-relative but everything went very well.

The meal was one of lasagna and salad which people all contributed, including myself since we thought it was a real party.  The food was great and then of course, there were tons of goodies including a red velvet cake and cookies with Duncan and my pictures on them.  Kind of weird eating your own body but they were delicious!

Allen, naturally, was the emcee of the event and, no surprise here, he was great.  He did some games and then he got the guys to come up and lip sync a song which was supposed to be similar to how my male cousins and brothers all sang at our reception (except for real).  Allen pretty much ended being a one man show with the lip syncing but he's a natural!

We had to answer questions by holding up either our own shoe or the other person's shoe to indicate our self  or the other.  Apparently we answered more differently than the same.

I had to try and pick Duncan out by feeling the face and head of different men.  Bingo!

Okay, so we had the surprise of the event which totally surprised me but that wasn't even the biggest surprise of the evening.  We had just finished eating and I noticed some commotion outside the door.  I look over and who are walking in but my parents!  I could not get over the surprise of that.  My dad hasn't been here since Brady was born and it's no secret that he doesn't like Florida so it was especially surprising and exciting to see him. My mom said she was afraid the secret would get ruined and she wanted to make it clear the night before when we talked that they were up in Maine (which they were) so I wouldn't be suspicious.  But as I said to her, "How in the world would I get suspicious that you were coming to Florida for an anniversary party that I had no clue about?"  I mean, I had NO idea on any of it.

My parents were the cap to the end of a perfect evening. I've said it before and I'll say it again.  We have awesome friends!  This evening was a lot of work to put together and was a rousing success.  We are so blessed to have Jennifer, Allen, and all the others that helped and attended in our lives.  Allen even put together a slideshow for us which you can see by clicking here.

This lady is amazing. And Jennifer isn't so bad either.

Not to be overlooked is my wonderful husband of (almost) ten years who this evening would not have happened without.  Fourteen and a half years ago if you said we would be married with three kids, I would have laughed in your face.  But God works in mysterious ways sometimes and there a lot of little things and big things that happened for us to even meet in the first place and I'm so thankful to Him.  I'll wait until our actual anniversary on December 22 to comment on on these past years.

Calleigh and Brady were still awake when we went with my parents over to the Isidros to pick them up around 10:00.  Aubree was sawing logs on the couch.  Ron and Elaine had already told them that my folks were there so they weren't surprised like we were but they were still quite happy.

We had been planning to go to Busch Gardens on Sunday but that was quickly tabled with my parents arrival.  They were only going to be here until Monday, a mere two days, so we wanted to enjoy the time as best we could. My dad wanted to visit with his sisters and brother and there's also the fact that he is still recovering from a broken ankle so it wasn't ideal to be traipsing around a theme park.  Over the two days we went to First Watch, Lake Lily, Ron & Elaine's for supper, Winter Garden Village, downtime Winter Garden, and then lastly the Mall at Millenia for supper on the way to the airport.  The airport sendoff was a very tearful event for Calleigh, in particular, but the good thing is that we're going to see them again by the end of next week!

Sharing some pineapple juice at the Farmer's Market at Lake Lily.

Showing off for Papa

Checking out Papa's bad ankle.

Of course, we had to go to by the Apple store at the mall.  Brady got his own pad this time.

Papa and Gigi treated us to pizza and smoothies.

Since they've left we've been busy with errands and some fun too.  Been to Costo a couple of times working on a Christmas gift there, story time on Wednesday with Allen and the twins, and even a mid-week evening trip to the outlets.

Picking up our cash for Christmas presents at the Credit Union. Aubree wanted to carry it out.  Ahhh, no!

Outlet shopping

Last stop Gymboree and a welcome distraction.

Today was a tiring but fun day at Legoland.  We got in again with a homeschool group in which we were able to go at vastly reduced prices.  I wised up from last year when it was just me and kids meeting up with everyone and this time brought Ron and Elaine along for support.  It's tough because a lot of the rides require kids under 48 inches (Calleigh is only around 45- 46) to ride with someone either over 48 inches or more commonly, 52. So you really need to almost have one adult per kid...which we did and it worked out perfectly.  It was a beautiful day.  Almost 80 but not unbearably warm.  There was a whole big crew of people we know that went but we mainly walked around with Jennifer and her boys, Karis and his boys, and Ashley and her crew of five (I will not complain about my being there last year with three and no support because there was Ashely with five including 14-month old triplets.  Major props to her!).  We did almost all the rides since the lines were at most five minutes long.  Aubree was very excited to go on a roller coaster with me but when we got off she had somewhat of a solemn face and said that it "hurt my ankles."  Not the first thing that usually bothers you about being on a roller coaster but I guess it was her way of saying she didn't want to go again.  It was a little rough for a three year old, I will admit.    

Tough to be little and can only watch the rides through the fence.

Calleigh and Zachary

Aubree before the roller coaster ride...back when her ankles were still in good shape.

Love Elaine's face in this one!

Love the tongue sticking out!

Right before she abruptly turned, hit the wall, and burst into tears.

More tongue.

Elaine said this reminded her of Ron. He even snored.

Parting shot.

Brady was a nut.  He didn't sleep one bit and we were there from 10:00 - 5:00.  He got a little drowsy in the afternoon but something kept perking him up.  Eventually we got to some play areas and rides that he could do and he had the time of his life.  He was a happy little boy.  And he doesn't even know the joy of Legos yet on this, the eve of his turning 18 months.  Just you wait.  

The funniest thing of the day was when I went on a ride with the girls.  It was a ride where you sit and the ride takes you straight up and then drops you down a little at a time. It definitely gives you that little feeling in the pit of your stomach:

Me:  "Wow!  Aubree, did you feel that?  It's giving my butterflies in my belly!"
Aubree: "I have ladybugs."

As expected, as soon as we hit the car, Brady was fast asleep.  I didn't even get the car on yet. Aubree lasted about 10 minutes, and then Calleigh fell asleep about 10 minutes after her.  However, when we got home, Calleigh insisted that she hadn't slept. I really don't know if she just doesn't want to admit she slept or if she honestly doesn't think she did.  But she says it a lot when she sleeps in the car.

Some updates from last week...Duncan's vision is doing great.  No problems at all.  I'm fine. No repercussions from my mystery incident last Friday night.  It was funny because little did I know that everyone was freaking out that it would it would turn into something bigger and ruin the party. Thankfully it did not.

Also last week I forgot to mention that we signed our refinancing paperwork. It's amazing how much better Quicken is at doing refinances. They had two people come out to our house at 7:00 pm and after spending about ten minutes signing paperwork, we were done.  This was the refinance of our original rental property which is in Casselberry.  The interest rate is so much better that we did a 15-year note (which effectively cuts  the years from 24 to 15) and we're paying less than $100 more per month.  Now if the housing prices would just continue to go up...I don't mind saying that now that we're done buying.

A few random pictures before I close:

Painting some letters to hang in our kitchen.  Not sure why we want to hang Estimated Time of Arrival but whatever!

Brady trying on some of his cold weather clothes for our trip to Boston.

Have a Happy Sabbath!