Following the Groningers: It's A Surprise Party

Kathy's Birthday

I've been on Pinterest lately and I came across a birthday idea that I HAD to do for my momma. She was turning 50 December 3rd so with the help of Mackenzie, Madison, and Lisa we pulled it off. I rented out the Sky Box at the High Velocity Bar in the new J.W. Marriott downtown. She thought she was going to St. Elmo's. She really wanted St. Elmo's...(maybe New Years) but she was truly surprised until the very end. I wish I would have been in the car with them on the way down. Kenz was texting me updates about how she was freaking out and did not want a party...

Well she got one.

These were her special requested Chocolate cupcakes with caramel icing.

I loved her gift. (Pinterest Idea)...
I asked 50 friends and family to write mom a letter sharing their favorite memory of her. They E-mailed them to me and we put them in envelopes and numbered them 1-50. It was a really special gift. We got through 9 of them at the end of the evening. Madison's letter was #9 and after all the tears... we decided to wait till the next day to finish them. They came from old friends, new friends, coworkers, long lost relatives, Germany, and even famous people (not really... we made one up haha) They all varied from funny memories, sweet memories, loving memories, quotes, and novels. We spent most of the day reading 10 through 50. It was good. It was special just like my momma.

Mad and Drew were my helpers and did the last minute stuffing of letters, and helped me decorate the room before people started arriving. Karol and Kathy beat us there... It was the Big Ten Championship game in Indy the same night. I had a mini heart attack thinking we didn't leave early enough to get there and park... then the valet was full and that threw a kink in our plan. I'm not the best at being on time so it was going to be close. Gavin dropped us off and went to park - bad idea letting him go alone to park because he is the most directionally challenged person I've ever met, he cant remember where he parked at Walmart so you can imagine how the end of the night went- Yeah, he couldn't find the car... 15 min of up and down stairs, up and down rows of cars.. BUT he remembered seeing that empty case of Keystone light on that trash can when he walked in. Yeah... it was RIDICULOUSNESS. Anyway... We made it on time. It was kinda awesome because the bar was super packed and we had this whole room to ourselves... people were jealous and thought we were VIPs. No, not really.

The moment... SURPRISE

Mackenzie and Cameron

Me and Magellan

Happy Birthday to You, Happy Birthday to You, Happy Birthday dear momma, Happy Birthday to You.
We passed out cupcakes and turned the lights off and lit them all. It was a very happy moment.

Something was funny...

Our clay birthday cakes. She loves these things... and once again we decided to make a cake and got 3 very different interpretations of a cake. Guesses?