My Birthday Weekend

Oh My Gosh y'all! My birthday weekend was so fabulous!! It was one surprise after another. I really had no idea what was going to be happening. All I knew was that I was supposed to be at Stephanie's on Friday night at 5:30. That's when it all began.

Everyone was in town--except Victoria. We made the decision that we did not want to worry about her traveling in snow on the way home, so we told her not to come. We're supposed to get 7 or 8 inches on Sunday early morning. 

Even Jordan came in from Los Angeles. 

When we got to Steph and Nicky's, they started with giving me a crown and a sash celebrating 70 years. 

Then we started taking pictures with the balloon arch.

I was so happy that Jordan came in from L.A. She was only able to stay 24 hours as she works on Sunday. Her days off are Friday and Saturday. It thrilled me that she made the effort. 

My "Boys": Greg, me, Nicky and Justin.

With Elizabeth--my baby grand--I am officially the shortest in the family!

Actually, I think Sandy and I might be the same heighth. 

Mindy and me.

Stephanie and me. The party was at her house.

I had pictures taken with everybody including Mitchell and his girlfriend, Emily. She's really sweet and seems to have fit in right away with our gang.

The cake was a delicious strawberry with a cream cheese frosting from "Baked on Eighth." Mindy was in charge of party favors (everybody has a job)---this family is over the top--always--and must have party favors. 

There's a Burts Bees lip balm that says--if you look real close you can barely see it--"Barb has been the bees knees for 70 years!" And then there's a personalized Oreo. I don't know how they can do the pictures and make them edible. The whole thing is so cute.

After the photos with the balloon arch, we watched a slideshow of pictures. Stephanie had enlisted the help of family and friends with the pictures. There were so many that I had never seen before. I'm very happy to have them.

My pictures are having a mind of their own again. For the life of me, I cannot get this picture to be with the rest above. Oh well, at least I got it! Morgan and me.

There was a lot going on. The doorbell rang, and in came a woman hauling tons of food. The girls had the party catered by "Moe's." It was a Mexican fiesta! I couldn't believe how much food there was. Way too much.

These are about the fanciest disposable plates and flatware I've ever seen. And those napkins---so darn cute!! Morgan handled all of this and the decorations.

Stephanie coordinated all of the food, organized everything and assigned jobs.

Next, the doorbell rang and a woman delivered flowers. There was no card, so we didn't know who they came from.

I was still enthralled by the photo slideshow when all of a sudden, the door opens and 3 of my sisters walked in!! I couldn't believe it!! I started crying right away. I had no idea they were coming to surprise me. I just couldn't believe that they came all that way to celebrate with us! Turns out, the flowers were from them!

Next to me is Janice, Sharon and Janet. I love these girls so much!! I still can't believe they came for me--especially since it was Janice's actual birthday! I had texted her and Jennifer early in the day to wish them a happy birthday. Janice never answered which I thought was odd. I found out later that Jennifer told her not to respond because she would give away the surprise!

We had dinner and then the games began--Sandy was in charge of games. She started with a quiz about me--"How well do you know the birthday girl?" That was a lot of fun. Heck, who doesn't like a game that's all about themselves? 

I opened gifts after that--Sandy was in charge of that too. I got so many nice things---I might not remember them all. First of all, Mindy described my main gift---and then Justin jumped in to talk about his experience. It's called Storyworth. Every Monday, I'll be getting a writing prompt. It's sort of like telling my life story. At the end of the year, the stories will be bound in to a book. Justin talked about how special the one he got from his mother is to him. She passed away last year, so that book means so much to him. I told him that I'd like to read it some time to learn more about her. This gift is right up my alley. I love to write. Telling my story is going to be so much fun.

All of the gifts were from the whole family. There were Russell Stover chocolates, cute earrings and an unusual party for 2 at the beach. This company comes and sets up a charcuterie on the beach complete with a floral arrangement. They gave me a bottle of wine to go with it. 

From my sisters, I got a Cheesecake Factory gift card, Starbucks gift card and a HUGE box of Russell Stover chocolates, besides the flowers. Everyone knows I love Russell Stovers!!

We took a break so they could all sing "happy birthday." We had cake and moved on to the next activity. It was a "favorite things" auction! Sandy passed out envelopes with play money. Then she lead the auction by showing one item at a time. I bought 2 bottles of cherry merlot hand soap and matching candle. Butch got double 15 dominoes. I had no idea you could get a set of double 15's. Other auction items were, a bottle of Jack Daniels with a pair of glasses, Ulta Gift card, fun hand towels, spices and seasonings, hot sauces, sunglasses, Girl Scout cookies and lots of other goodies. We had done this another time at Christmas and loved it. This was the perfect time to do it again.

That about wrapped it up for Friday night. 

On Saturday, everybody came over about 10:30 a.m. We started with a lunch from Corky's BBQ and ALL the sides. Again, so much food! Sandy made her delicious mascarpone cupcakes. Butch had made Chex mix to add to the mix. 

Butch was in charge of this whole day. We drew for partners and played an assortment of games in a competition to determine the overall winners. Mitchell and I were paired up and ultimately won! We played electronic darts, pool, Boggle and washers. We were tied with Butch and Sandy so played another game of washers to break the tie. Mitchell and I won! The prizes were lottery tickets. I gave mine to Mitchell. He scratched off to win $60!

After the team games, the grands wanted to play Scattergories. 

Mitchell has always been outnumbered with all the girls. His girlfriend may have been overwhelmed because she (and all the guys--except Butch) were taking naps! I don't really know how they could nap as it was so loud and crazy. Oh, and the sisters went back to their hotel to nap too. For sure, Janice was overwhelmed. She has a very quiet life on the farm--well, I guess except for all the chickens and dogs.

There were 16 of us for the weekend, so you can imagine the noise level. 

We went to the club for dinner. Butch had reserved a private room. The food, as always, was delicious--but way too much. One really touching thing was that the girls had everyone tell their favorite stories about me. That was so much fun--reliving fun memories. I was surprised to learn how much fun I am! No, I wasn't really surprised. I am fun!

It was almost 9 p.m. when we finished dinner. The family went to Steph and Nicky's to watch football. My sisters went back to their hotel and Butch and I headed home for some rest!! 

The final activity for the weekend is going to be a brunch today. It's supposed to be around 10 a.m. before everyone heads home. It is contingent on the weather. Remember the snow I mentioned? We'll see if we get it. 

All in all, the weekend was so much fun and zoomed by. My family is so special to me AND, apparently, I am special to them!!! I am truly blessed!