Mom's NOT 60th Birthday Party

let's see if I remember how to do a post... :)

Earlier this year, my Dad turned 60. Us kids put together 60 different presents that corresponded to something that we know/love about him. It was a pretty fun surprise for him! Sometime in April my Dad approached me and said he'd been thinking about Mom's upcoming birthday in August. It's her 59th and after his surprise 60th.. he thought that she'd be expecting some kind of surprise for her 60th the following year SO why not surprise her this year instead?! Why not? Well, I can name several reasons why not this year namely.. new baby due in May! But for love of my family- I jumped right on board.
So, I spread the word to my siblings so we could come up with some kind of theme- we couldn't copy what we did for dad. Then, Dad tells me he wants me to put together a scrapbook (the online kind) of all the things my Mom has made over the years as one of her gifts. He would help with gathering/scanning the pictures and my sisters & I could upload the photos to a photo book site and put it together. No problemo I say.. Then BAM.. Dad gets a temporary assignment in a different state for the next several months... and another WHAM... baby boy is born and I'm out of commission for what seems like forever.
Not being one to fold under pressure (I just cry myself to sleep at night and/or yell at my husband), I started to sneak photo books and random pictures from my mom & dad's house and bring them home to scan onto the computer- cause this couldn't be EASY and have all the pictures all electronic- not when my Mom's been crafting since long before digital pictures came along. I think this process took 6 weeks. Six weeks of driving back and forth, snapping pictures of stuff at mom's house, having dreams and visions of things I can remember Mom making but just can't find a picture of, snapping pictures of things she's made that I have, nagging a couple of my siblings to take pictures of things they have, and trying to get the pages put together on the photo site (which wasn't just me thank goodness). So, the book was finally complete and on its way. Now, onto the party itself.
Did I mention my Mom left town to go keep Dad company? That did make a few things easier. My Sister Tiff & I made a secret pinterest board of ideas, I started to compile things that I had around the house, I made a gazillion lists... which I could never keep track of and then it all boiled down to the week before her party and she was home that whole week too.
Tiff got here just before Mom did and was staying at Mom's house with her family, but we did try to get time away from Mom to put together as much as we could before hang. The morning of the party I had a list of things for Tiff to sneak out of Mom's house for us to use... one item in particular was a clear glass cookie jar that Mom keeps on her counter. Mom was hovering around the Kitchen/Living room area, Tiff's husband was out in the car waiting for her, she was able to pick up the cookie jar but then was stuck not being able to sneak it out the door without Mom seeing. Realizing she was trapped, she just set the cookie jar on a random bucket by the kitchen and walked out the door without it (I will comment more about this later on or in a subsequent post).  While Tiff was running out the door, my hubby was busy running errands for me all morning.  Errands that my brother was supposed to run but he ended up with a really sore hip and even my Dad had one of his bad headaches that morning as well. Could it get any better than that? I was chopping, cutting, moving furniture, hanging, setting up, frosting, wrapping, taping, building all morning and into the afternoon.  I thought I was doing pretty good until we got the call from Dad that he and Mom were on their way. Say what? That was 20 minutes earlier than I had told him.. Ugh... cue running around, barking orders and building up a sweat. Then yelling at everyone to have a seat in the backyard to see Mom's face as she came through the gate and saw what it was all about! Surprise!!! Happy vintage/scrappy not 60th birthday MOM! I think we pulled it off....