feeling sneaky

(I thought I'd posted this long ago, but found it saved as a draft. I think I was waiting to get the pictures off of my camera. So here it is.)

As you know, it was Peter's 30th birthday on the 8th of March. It was a Sunday and pretty low-key since he was studying for his big exams that Tuesday. We had a nice dinner and I made a cake, but that was about it.

Or so he thought.

(Here's where the sneaky comes in.)

Since I'd recently signed up for Facebook (yeah, yeah, I know, Facebook is SO last year. Everyone Twitters now...), I took advantage of their event planning application to send out an invitation for a surprise party for March 14th. All week long, I planned and plotted using detailed lists and Excel worksheets to satisfy my neurosis stay organized. Several times each day I found myself biting my tongue to keep from seeking his advice on food and drinks, etc. Since I couldn't ask his opinion, I talked to myself a lot that week... or a lot more than normal.

Most Saturdays I take advantage of Peter being home and let him get up with the boys while I sleep in. That weekend though, I was up right at 7am when Simon and Liam first stirred. THAT ALONE should've tipped Peter off to something being amiss! Before he was even out of bed, I had three loaves of bread baking, laundry going, the boys fed, and the playroom cleaned up and vacuumed.

I told him that I was doing spring cleaning.

The sucker fell for it.

Since Liam had been invited to a birthday party of a classmate that morning, I sent Peter -grumbling- to drop him off and run some errands. While he was gone, I prepared food like a mad woman and hid it in the laundry room. When I heard him pull up, I quickly sat down at the computer and opened my blog reader so he wouldn't be suspicious. I also insisted that he be the one to go pick Liam up. While he was gone, I made his cake.

Part of the plan was that I'd told him I'd arranged for a babysitter for the night so that he and I could go out on a date to celebrate not only his birthday, but also his fabulous exam results (He got an 'E' on both of them (!) meaning he's exempt from having to re-take those exams for as long as he's employed by the federal government. This is a HUGE deal and we're all VERY proud of him.)

We'd arranged to pick her up at 6pm. So I waited until about 5:30pm to say that I had to shower before we left and HE'D have to pick her up. He really put up a fight about this, but I managed to convince him to go. As soon as he left, people started to show up. The babysitter's family did a good job of keeping him there extra long (by tempting him with cake, which he predictably accepted) to give everyone the chance to arrive before him.

I'd called him ahead of time to say that Simon had made a huge mess at the back door so he'd have to come in the front. Everyone was gathered in the living room to shout "Surprise!".


I'd say that my first surprise party was a success. Hopefully everyone got enough to eat and had as much fun as we did. We were up til 2am cleaning up, but it was so worth it. Turning 30 is a big deal.

Isn't this the year that Christ started his ministry? NO PRESSURE, PETER.

Just remember that someone else will be celebrating an equally important 30th birthday this year... ME.