A special Lady

My mom is an incredibly special lady. In the production of life, she is the stage manager. Without her, there is chaos. But she chooses to let others shine in the spotlight. I picture my mom hanging around the curtains watching the stage with a smile on her face. Yes, she made it happen, and knowing she did her part is enough.

Well the other day, we were able to bring her out on to the stage. You see, it was her birthday recently, and we had a little something planned. We went out to dinner on her actual birthday and finished up the night with the final episode of Psych. We let her believe that was it, because after all, it usually is. But this was a special birthday. And my mom, like I mentioned above, is a special lady. So her sister and my sister got together to plan something for her that weekend- a surprise birthday party!  We planned to go to my cousin’s bridal shower earlier in the day. Located it Round Hill, we figured we could casually suggest that we go to Travinia for dinner, just minutes from Round Hill. We could even kill time at Charming Charlie.

We kept it quiet for a while. As the shower approached my mom got a brilliant idea. What if we all went to Travinia after the shower? We could even kill time at Charming Charlie! What an awesome idea! (But did she know something??) But now to work out the timing. We had told some of my parent’s friends and family to arrive at 5:30 and the event would start around 6pm. At 4pm, my mom was ready to leave the shower. She was getting antsy. She suggested an early dinner. Maybe 5:30? Ummm.. No, Mom, let’s talk to Aunt Francie for a little longer! 4:30 at bridal shower and we figured it was safe to leave. Well, to make a long story a little shorter, the timing worked perfectly and she was totally surprised! Leta and I were principle characters in the decoy, so unfortunately I don’t have any pictures of her being surprised, but I at least got some of the event. Take a look at one of Voila‘s finest!

Tyler made those arrangements herself! I loved how unique they were!

Pretty…

I think Tyler took this, but I’m so thankful. I love this picture so much! This might have been when I told her that I couldn’t say anything very touching, but that I could write her something that would make her cry

I LOVE my mom’s laugh

I think Tyler is better with the “words” thing than I am. She gave a great toast to our wonderful mom..

Cake time!!

I love the next two – Two sets of sisters! Both have the oldest in the middle, the middle on the left and the youngest on the right.

I also want to give a special shout out to Jimmy who got off of work in DC and STILL drove all the way to Leesburg for this! I’m so thankful that he was able to make it and that he thought it was important enough to drive 45 minutes after moving boxes and mattresses all day! And this is one of my favorite pictures of us! Even though my chin disappeared somewhere…

Mom, I hope you had a great time with friends and family at your party! We loved celebrating you and you deserve it more often! You’re the best mom ever!