50th Birthday Photos

My birthday celebration with my family was on Saturday. My sisters and sister in law planned and pulled off a surprise party for me. Normally, all 5 of us sisters and one sister in law all get together and celebrate the birthday, we all put out a list of our most wanted items, we meet at Deanne's for coffee, gift opening, a muffin or coffee cake, and then we go to the city to eat brunch. Sometimes we shop all day as a group.

This year I decided to not do the birthday gatherings. I love to buy the things off each girl's list and try to get stuff that would suit their personalities. This year I felt like I was in a funk, so I decided to not join in on the sister's birthdays, and I have not been attending the birthdays of all the nieces and nephews. After the sisters did the first breakfast with all of them, I really wished I had not dropped out. Esp. since they got Deanne a digital camera, and she LOVES IT!

So, for the girls to do this for me was something I was totally not expecting.

First, my little sister Wendy, in the green, called me awhile back to set up a date to go shop for her a sofa at the Mart:

She is sitting in the restaurant with my daughter's lifelong friend, Jen. Jen crashed the party, and I am so glad she did, I enjoy her company. She is so fun and happy!

I picked a date in April for the shopping with Wendy. I have been looking forward to it since she called me. The only time I was suspicious was when she mentioned we were going to eat at Rick's Boatyard. I had wanted to go there last year and we didn't. But, she quickly explained it away, and I forgot all about it.

Wendy made up a story to drop off muffins at Deanne's because she was having Mike's sisters over for a sewing bee. (this did not make me suspicious because they do this from time to time, too.) I did ask Steve before I left if he thought they would do something like that and he said no, he would have been told, just so he could try to get me to keep my day free. Here they are, the group of sneaks, from the left, it is Deanne, Dianne (they are twins) and Michelle, the one who sings and got 2nd place:

When we pulled into town, I saw Deanne's house without cars around it and I thought, OK, you are just being weird, Cindy, nothing is going on at all. We entered her house and she visited awhile, she offered me coffee, and we said we had to go, we didn't want to interrupt her time with Mike's family. Well, she ran off to the bedroom to get a new blouse to show me. While she was gone, Wendy and I visited, and then all the girls ran out of the bedroom with a red hat and some gifts, they scared the life out of me. We all laughed, I cried, and we had a good time.

They talked about how they tried to get Karen home with the babies, but Bryan had to work. I told them how much that would have meant to me, but it was OK, I understood.

We took off to go to the restaurant. After the girls called back and forth on cell phones about 4 or 5 times about this and that, and there was a ton of weird activity in the car, we finally arrived at the restaurant to find the family all there. Karen, Bryan, Noah, Olivia, Steve and my son Isaac, you see him in the photo in the green t-shirt. I was so totally shocked, and thrilled. I cried and cried. It was so special to me.

I am so glad I have a family that celebrates birthdays. They are a special time of remembrance. I think of the birth of my own children on each of their birthdays, the time of day they were born, the labor, and the feeling I had the first time I held them. Thank you all for making my day so special to me.