Surprise Birthday

On our walk we discussed who would do what and when to arrive. Today was the day we had planned a surprise birthday party for mom's 92nd birthday and Aunt Jinnie's 95th birthday. NOTE: Aunt Jinnie had to cancel coming until next week so she missed the party but the guests still wanted to bring her cards.  This really was a family affair. John and Beth drove up from Missouri leaving at 4:00 am to make it. Amy left early from Florida so she could be here to help. Beth and Greg arrived from Gulf Shores so they could come help. That wasn't the only help. When Rhonda asked what she could do I immediately replied, "the decorations" and she immediately agreed. No one in this family wants to let me do that (I have no taste). Spark agreed to be the MC. Diane cancelled her trip to Gulf Shores and made the salad for the party then was also a server. Ruth provided the 2 cakes from Costco (Rachel also helped with that). Faith, Berlica and Mackenson came early to help then worked as servers. Joan drove mom over to the barn, I'm not sure what excuse Joan gave her for stopping at the barn but mom had no idea why. Ruth and Fedi were the door greeters. Rachel, Rhoda, Anna, Anni, Sarah R, Jessica, Molly, Tara came to help with serving but did so much more. I'm not sure who cut the cake but the sheet cake was cut while I was busy seating guests. I'm sure I'm missing some of the workers but truly we couldn't have a party without all the family pulling together. We asked the guests to arrive at 11:00 am so they could be seated and the lights turned out before mom arrived at 11:30. When the door was opened and mom was wheeled in everyone yelled, "Happy Birthday!"  Mom was shocked but you should have seen the smile on her face. 

Once mom was in her place of honor Spark welcomed everyone, had the prayer then the work commenced and in 4 minutes everyone was served a plate of food. We used Uncle Ed's way of serving at the benefit dinners. Each of the waitresses started at the beginning of the food line. Mark and I each grabbed a plate and put the individual meat loaf on it giving that plate to the first waitress. She walked a few steps held out those 2 plates and Rhonda put potatoes on them, Diane added the salad next, I think Beth served the rolls and Amy served the fruit. Then each waitress would take those 2 plates to a table. We had so many waitresses that by the time the last one had grabbed their two plates the first waitress was back. Everyone seemed to enjoy the meal. Seconds were taken Once people were done eating the girls went right back to work clearing tables. Diane brought over the candles for the cake. She had a 2 a 7 and an 8 but no 9 so decided to bring the 8 and add extra candles but dropped the 8 and it broke. So we put the 72 together and added 2 more candles one for each decade.  Mom was told we are bringing her one piece of cake but she cant eat it yet then set that whole cake in front of her. Spark looked at the 72 and even though it said Happy Birthday Rhoda Spark exclaimed, "that's MY cake."  He and mom share a birthday just 20 years apart. Of course we had to sing happy birthday to both. Each guest was given cake and a chocolate while coffee was being served. Below is a short video birthday party. She really was surprised. 

Below are a few pictures. 

Ruth sent the pictures below she was snapping as some of the guests came to wish mom a happy birthday.

Rhonda had provided a door prize for the oldest person. Spark started with 100 but we didn't have any, but Ellen Altorfer was the winner at 98 years old. When she received her prize (a nice plant) she replied, "oh no is this something I have to keep alive? I'm not very good at that."  

We are so blessed as a family to be able to host this for our mom. Almost all of us were able to be here and serve mom and 70 of her closest friends. Special thanks to all who worked so hard to make it happen. Diane, Amy and I went over to mom's deck to enjoy the sunshine with Karin, Mom was on the phone with Aunt Jinnie telling her all about it. That was relaxing but soon I needed to go back to the barn to change the washing machine. There were 2 loads of table cloths that needed washing. While waiting for the machines the game room was cleaned up. We have guests coming in on the 22nd. This evening we left for church at 6:10 pm but needed to drop off 2 more gifts and cards for mom and Aunt Jinnie. She had so many cards to go through yet. Mike Kaisner had the message tonight then we went to Culvers for a late dinner. The food was kind of slow coming tonight so we didn't get home until close to 10:00 pm. The bed felt great.