Surprise 50th Vintage Birthday Party pt. 2

Welcome to part 2 of the surprise birthday party,
which I shall dub "The Shocked Face was Worth It All."
Hahaha! I kill myself with my corny jokes.
But this is the face I'm talking about...
Here's the details...we had the partyat Adam's cousin's barn, and Adam's sister & cousin did a lot (most) of the work...we went with a "vintage" theme instead of an "over the hill"/black theme so that she wouldn't feel sad (and so we could decorate better). We told her it was a Scentsy party...which she believed entirely, and then had the barn door roll up with everyone in the room screaming surprise. But she didn't understand what we said. Haha. So Megan had to explain it was her surprise birthday party.

Here are some pictures:
We had strings of pictures of her growing up as banners...and a beautiful vintage cake and collections of vintage stuff clustered together...
The sign in area...everyone made a card with a memory of her and I made a birth to present scrapbook of her life...
We made a photobooth with old, colorful quilts hung up on a storage rack...
Like below, with a photo with the seven of us (though baby Barrett was barely even visible at this point!)
It turned out VERY cute. And she loved it.

And this concludes pt. 2, "The Shocked Face was Worth It All."
At some point in the future, I'll post the scrapbook of her life, and the memory book I made.
Enjoy your FRIDAY! :) Amber

Surprise 50th Birthday Party pt. 1

Soooo. Back around this time last year (2010), my sister in law and I concocted a plan to throw my mother-in-law a surprise 50th birthday party, for her birthday in December.

We had a game plan - thwart whatever plans she had for us to do on the Saturday following her birthday by taking her and Stephen (who has the same birthday as her, ironically) out to Chilis for her birthday and giving her very surprising and good gifts, so as to make her happy and think her birthday was really over.

Then on the next Saturday, throw a huge surprise party with all her family and friends.

This is part one, which I will call "THE THWARTING"
Haha.

Okay, so Chilis means...molten lava cake on your birthday!
Then...Adam & I gave her a Vera Bradley purse she was wanting, Megan gave her a Sorrelli necklace and Adam's dad gave her pearls.
I also made her a really cute vintage card...but it's on my computer that is currently packed away because we had TERMITES in a room of our house and said room is currently demolished...so, it will be up at some point, but not today.

And Stephen's card...
See tomorrow for part two of the surprise...

Retrospection

Please enjoy a brief (and by no means comprehensive or chronological) overview of my twenty-second year, in pictures.

It brought about the passing of the CPA exam...A house move...The Peanut Festival...see HERE.

The news that Meg & Stephen were expecting...
Throwing a surprise 50th birthday for my MIL...Adam working off and on out of town for three months!

Adam's family reunion in Orlando...Getting my first page of Tori published...Our THIRD (!!) anniversary...
Fun (and messy?) adventures with my two favorite girls...
My parents being out of town for months...

A baby shower for my sister-in-law...full post HERE
The birth of my first nephew...Cupcake adventures...Flying for the first time!!!Twenty two was a busy, decision filled year. Sometimes it's an odd feeling to realize that I'm married, working full time, managing a household, etc....sometimes I still feel like I just graduated high school...yesterday. Then, there are other times when I feel so old, and accomplished...like we've been married forever...like it's been ages since I was in school. Either way...time keeps flying by.

Goodbye, 22.
And..hello, 23.

Off to celebrate my birthday with those I love so dearly!
:) Hope you have a great weekend with those you love too!
Amber

Peanut Festival 2010

So, very belatedly, here is a recap of the Peanut Festival "weekend adventure" for 2010...Taylor spent the night with us at Adam's parents house...oh the sweet little bed hair!
Immediately upon waking, it was requested that I paint Tay's nails with GLITTER nail polish...
Excited?
There was tree bouncing...
(And subsequent pictures)
And pecan scouting...Taylor reminds me so much of myself - whatever she puts her mind to, she is a little overachiever. Find pecans? Yes, let's not stop until we find them ALL!
Seriously, we found quite a few.
Oh and another thing, we like to pose and take lots of cute pictures and then look at them together.
Then Princess Taylor got a four-wheeler ride with Uncle Adam - who didn't want to take cute pictures...but, notice who did...
But then Uncle Adam snagged this cutey picture to make Auntie Amber happy...
Up close on the glitter nails.
Then Taylor decided to try this pose (on her own!) to show off her nails...hahaha! Adorable!
She also realized how cute she is with Auntie Amber's giant pink flower headband on her head...aw!
Case in point...
There was also a lot of playing with Meg's old teddy bears...and perhaps a picture with every single one of them?
Oh, and lots of giggling.
Then...the Peanut Festival! She has Uncle Adam wrapped around her finger...

For example: Cotton Candy? Sure, darlin'!
Want to ride on my shoulders so you can see everything? Hop up!
Want a ride on the fun slide? Ask Auntie Amber who is scared of heights because that will be funny. (Ha! Not. But I did it anyways.)
This is my that-was-sort-of-fun-but-I'll-never-admit-it-to-Adam face (below). Ha. Also, notice my death grip on Taylor. You know, for safety purposes.
But even after all that fun with Auntie Amber, who did she want? That's right...Uncle Adam.
So the next scary ride was all his! The ferris wheel!
She loved this little pony and cart and took a million pictures on it.
All of which were so crazy cute.
They have these interactive farm exhibits where you can play free games and do fun versions of "farm chores."
The three of us!
And a shot of Uncle Adam playing a throwing game...he only plays two games (he can hardly stand to spend the money on those two) and this is one of them.
Then, we went home. Taylor was so tired and kept waking up disoriented, so I rode in the back with her to keep her company.

What else? Oh I put some scrapbooking layouts in and won several prizes, but due to a policy change regarding pickup, I probably won't be putting any in this year.

There was a lot more, but I quit taking pictures. Which is weird...but I guess once Taylor started getting tired, I was holding her a lot more and couldn't.

Wow. I've had some wordy picture posts, lately. :)
Oh well, I'm sure Melissa and my mom appreciate them..haha!
Amber