Saturday, August 17th - Aunt Kari's Surprise 50th Birthday Party!

The kids woke up very excited on Saturday morning - it was the day of Aunt Kari's 50th Surprise Birthday Party!!  In what was retrospectively a foolish decision, I had written "Aunt Kari Surprise Party" on the calendar several weeks ago because sometimes I forget that I have readers in the house :-p  Scarlett had quizzed me on it until I gave her the details, and she then promptly filled in the other kids.  Not only did I have to spend 3-4 weeks not letting them talk on the phone to Aunt Kari, but I also had to *not invite her to Victoria's birthday party* and act like that was no big thing (it is).  But while we all like Uncle Sid (Kari's husband), it is very out of character for him to plan/throw a party at all, let alone a surprise party, and I was NOT going to be the one who blew the surprise!

We had karate first thing in the morning - the kids loved the obstacle course that they got to do this day - and then we worked on our ongoing conversion of the Play Room into the Family Room.  It's looking so much better already!  Finally, it was time to get around and drive out to Aunt Kari's to join lots of other family and friends in the surprise fun :-)  It was really great at how genuinely surprised she was, and the kids loved yelling "surprise" and singing Happy Birthday to her!  Happy Half Century, Aunt Kari!  

Headed to karate :-)

Side Note: Lincoln (left) and Waverly (right) - I can't believe how much alike these two look, especially when I look back at photos of Lincoln at this age!

Our crew driving out to Dacula.

Meredith and Waverly :-)

Trying for a group photo - the girls had Lincoln in a vice grip...

...and then Victoria was trying to eat Scarlett's hand. 

Meredith, Mindy and Gram did a great job helping Sid get everything around - especially loved the purple themed cake and punch table.

I love these two pictures of Victoria and Lincoln, milling around, casually conversing while sipping from their punch cups :-)  They look so grown up.

Me and Nana-Mom :-)

These two were so silly and funny the entire evening. I'm not trying to assign blame, but it may have had something to do with the giant containers of m&ms and jelly beans that Aunt Kari has conveniently placed at kid height around the main floor of her house...

The birthday girl!

Aunt Kari, getting ready to blow out the candles on her cake - the *one* thing forgotten for the whole party was birthday candles.  Not to fear, they dug around and found a giant "2" and "1"... so she was really just celebrating the anniversary of her 21st birthday ;-)  

The kids were all hanging off of Aunt Susie, who had driven up from Palm Coast, FL just for the big event.  They love her!

A great evening - Jim walking Lincoln out to the van once it was time to head home.  Happy Birthday, Aunt Kari!  We hope you know how much we love you and how glad we are that you are in our lives :-)