Monday, April 7, 2014

That Time My Kids Planned a Surprise Party For Me...

Hi! It's Jilly. Last week it was my birthday. I'm not one to make a huge deal about it being my birthday. I knew it would be especially low-key this year because Hubby was out of town for work.

A few days before my birthday the kids found out it was coming up and said we should do something. They ran to their bedroom and started whispering excitedly. The next day Katelynn told me she was planning a party for "a friend from church who asked me to plan a party for her." Okay...

They wanted to raid my card stash so they could write out invitations for this party. They handed out the invitations at a church activity the next morning. They told me that the friend the party was for was not at the activity. Curious...

They worked hard putting together games and crafts for the kids at the party. Katelynn made up a "pin the head on the shirt" game, where the kids would decorate faces, then try to pin them on a shirt she made out of cardstock. There was also a bowling-type game involving a ball and stacked cups.



She asked people to bring treats for the party, and asked me if I would make lemonade for it. Sure!




The day of the party the kids went downstairs and set everything up in our community room, including decorations!


Oh oh! When we were at Dollar Tree the day before the party I saw these scarves and said, "Oh, those are kinda cute!" Later in the store Katelynn said, "Can I buy one of these as a present for the girl I'm planning the party for? Which color of these do you like the best?" Ha ha! Then, the next morning she picked out my clothes for the day and gave me the present she'd wrapped up. I said, "I thought this present was for the person you're planning the party for? I don't want to mess things up!" She said, "Oh, I think that planning the party is probably enough, and it's your birthday so you should get something.."

Back to the party... I went downstairs 5 minutes before the party was supposed to start to make the lemonade and that was it! Everything was done! I was seriously impressed by all the kids' hard work and how much they were able to accomplish. I mean, they pulled off a party for about 25 people in 3 days. They're eight years old!

After the party started I said to Katelynn, "Where's the birthday girl? Has she arrived yet?!" She started laughing and said, "The party is for you!" Then she made everyone sing to me. It was so sweet. The day before she was telling me about the party and said that the person she was planning the party for was "her best friend. The best, most important person in the world." That really touched my heart, because Katelynn and I kind of butt heads a lot and I always feel like I'm doing the wrong thing with her. To hear her say that really blew me away.



Side note: I don't know what I'm doing in this picture, but there aren't very many pics from the party, so...yeah.

Oh, another thing! In the morning Emma made me breakfast in bed. She was so proud of herself! When she brought in the tray Katelynn said to her, "You weren't supposed to make breakfast! It's Fast Sunday!" I could see Emma was deflated, so I said, "You know what? You wanted to do something special and worked hard on this. You are important to me, so I will break my fast now and eat what you made for me." Emma's eyes lit up again. It was so sweet. She did a really good job, too! She made scrambled eggs and a piece of bread, because she "didn't have time to make toast." Ha ha! Well, the eggs were the bomb.

It was probably one of my best birthdays ever. Even though Hubby wasn't there, the kids took good care of me.

What was your best birthday ever?

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