Thursday, November 1, 2012
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Quotable - 5 Kids
Tonight while I was tucking Abby into bed she announced she was going to have five kids when she grows up. I asked her where they were all going to sleep she said in one big bed. I said what are their names going to be and she had quite the list. Noah, Jonah, Moses, Andrea and Minnie Mouse. Yes, she attends a baptist daycare.
Then I asked who their daddy is going to be. She said, "Kai!" Then she hid under the covers, because it was a secret.
Oh child of mine.
Then I asked who their daddy is going to be. She said, "Kai!" Then she hid under the covers, because it was a secret.
Oh child of mine.
Sunday, October 21, 2012
Peggy's 30th Birthday Party Surprise!
It's a miracle I'm still alive...
The story all starts in the beginning of summer. Peggy told me that her 30th birthday was this year. I pretended like this was new information to me and I hadn't even thought of it (a theme that carried through the next five months). Unbeknownst to her, I was already starting to think of ideas. She told me she wanted a big party with all of her friends. I played it off as though I didn't care and wasn't really listening.
Then the planning began. I started contacting and talking to a few people over the summer, but didn't get into too much detail.
Every few weeks over the summer, Peggy reminded me that her birthday was coming up. She kept asking if she should just plan something. My reply was always "no, I'll figure something out."
Then came the start of the school year. Between teaching and STUCO, it's always a busy time for me. Peggy mostly stopped bringing up her birthday. In August is when the planning really began. I set up an entire new email account that Peggy didn't know about to plan for the party. I made sure that I only used it when she wasn't around (although near the end there were a few times I was writing emails from that account with her sitting just a few feet away!)
I contacted some good friends to help me out. I'm not exactly the party planning type. Nicole stepped in and offered to do the decorations and get Peggy out of the house. With Kai's suggestion, we decided on an 80's theme. Linda offered to make cookies and come over early to setup the decorations.
A month before, I sent out invitations, and did the final planning.
Two weeks before her birthday, Peggy said something about having a party again. I told her that I thought she just wanted to have a small thing with just our family. She was sad. No, scratch that, she was MAD. She cried. It was really hard to keep the secret. She made me feel REALLY bad. I told her how sorry I was and that I just didn't know she wanted it to be such a big deal. I told her I would try to get everyone together. She said that it was probably too late and not to worry about it. I told her that I would plan something with our family. I felt really bad (ok, so at the same time I was laughing inside), but knew I had two big surprises for her. I had known for a few months that Tom was coming in town to surprise Peggy. And also the party.
Nicole and I were talking back and forth to figure out how to make sure Peggy didn't suspect anything. I decided to email her a "fake" email from my normal email account. It basically said "I screwed up, would you mind taking Peggy out the Saturday after her birthday?" Nicole and I emailed back and forth a few times about it. I left my email intentionally left open on the computer so Peggy would see it. Although she didn't fess up until the day of the party, Peggy did see the emails. Hook, line, and sinker!
So finally the big day came. On Thursday, I put in for a Friday sub. Tom was flying in Friday morning. Throughout the day Thursday, I kept thinking of this as my friday. On the way home I realized how easy it would be to slip and accidentally tell Peggy that I was off tomorrow. We went to the circus that night. I really had to watch what I said, and almost slipped a couple of times.
Friday morning, I got up and got ready for work. Yeah, it's not easy getting up at 5:30 when you really aren't going to work that day. But, it was all part of the plan. I left before the kids and Peggy got up (which I was very happy about for fear I would make a mistake). I even packed a fake lunch.
I left on time and didn't really have anywhere to go. I had over three hours to kill before his flight got in. I went to wal mart just to bum around. Yeah, seriously. After that got old, I drove up to the airport and waited in the cell phone lot for a couple hours. I brought a book along, so it wasn't bad.
Tom showed up and we drove home. We didn't really have a plan for surprising Peggy. Of course, I didn't know where she was in the house. So, we parked down the street and walked up to the front door. She saw us out the front window and met us at the door.
Peggy was insanely happy. I told her how happy I was that I can finally not have to keep a secret from her anymore (to make it sound like that was the only surprise that weekend).
On Saturday morning, we had baby mania and Abby's soccer game. Nicole agreed to pick Peggy up at 2:00 and keep her out of the house until 4:30. Peggy asked Tom if it was still ok for her to go out. He did his best to convince her. She asked me too. I told her that it was her birthday and she should go out with her friend.
When Nicole picked her up, I told her that Peggy knew about the email (the fake one). She didn't understand and thought Peggy found out about the party. As they drove away, she almost gave away the entire plan! But, she didn't luckily.
So then the marathon of cleaning began. I really thought over 2 hours would be enough, but it almost wasn't. Sally and Tom went out to pick up the sandwiches for me. I sprinted around the house to get it cleaned up (I was slowly cleaning throughout the weekend, but didn't want to do too much for fear of Peggy getting suspicious).
All too fast, the time came. The plan was to have everyone here by 4:00 and park up the street. Peggy and Nicole were supposed to show up at 4:30. And they were right on time. Peggy thought we were going out somewhere as a family that night. She wasn't expecting this....
Again, Peggy was shocked. It was so much fun to see her reaction.
The 80's theme was awesome, and some people had great costumes. I had worked for months on an 80's playlist. It was great. Nicole had set up a photo "booth" complete with wigs and props.
Linda's 80's themed cookies.
My one "creative" contribution to the decorations.
Kai probably won in the costume department. He had a fanny pack filled with 80's stuff....bubble tape, slap bracelet, red ribbon, etc.
There was lots of candy. I think people got more "drunk" off of candy than the beer. This was Abby's first Pixy Stick. Needless to say, she was a fan.
"Nerds" Shots. We may have done this a few times throughout the night...
All in all, everyone seemed to have a great time. Happy 30th Birthday Peggy!
The story all starts in the beginning of summer. Peggy told me that her 30th birthday was this year. I pretended like this was new information to me and I hadn't even thought of it (a theme that carried through the next five months). Unbeknownst to her, I was already starting to think of ideas. She told me she wanted a big party with all of her friends. I played it off as though I didn't care and wasn't really listening.
Then the planning began. I started contacting and talking to a few people over the summer, but didn't get into too much detail.
Every few weeks over the summer, Peggy reminded me that her birthday was coming up. She kept asking if she should just plan something. My reply was always "no, I'll figure something out."
Then came the start of the school year. Between teaching and STUCO, it's always a busy time for me. Peggy mostly stopped bringing up her birthday. In August is when the planning really began. I set up an entire new email account that Peggy didn't know about to plan for the party. I made sure that I only used it when she wasn't around (although near the end there were a few times I was writing emails from that account with her sitting just a few feet away!)
I contacted some good friends to help me out. I'm not exactly the party planning type. Nicole stepped in and offered to do the decorations and get Peggy out of the house. With Kai's suggestion, we decided on an 80's theme. Linda offered to make cookies and come over early to setup the decorations.
A month before, I sent out invitations, and did the final planning.
Two weeks before her birthday, Peggy said something about having a party again. I told her that I thought she just wanted to have a small thing with just our family. She was sad. No, scratch that, she was MAD. She cried. It was really hard to keep the secret. She made me feel REALLY bad. I told her how sorry I was and that I just didn't know she wanted it to be such a big deal. I told her I would try to get everyone together. She said that it was probably too late and not to worry about it. I told her that I would plan something with our family. I felt really bad (ok, so at the same time I was laughing inside), but knew I had two big surprises for her. I had known for a few months that Tom was coming in town to surprise Peggy. And also the party.
Nicole and I were talking back and forth to figure out how to make sure Peggy didn't suspect anything. I decided to email her a "fake" email from my normal email account. It basically said "I screwed up, would you mind taking Peggy out the Saturday after her birthday?" Nicole and I emailed back and forth a few times about it. I left my email intentionally left open on the computer so Peggy would see it. Although she didn't fess up until the day of the party, Peggy did see the emails. Hook, line, and sinker!
So finally the big day came. On Thursday, I put in for a Friday sub. Tom was flying in Friday morning. Throughout the day Thursday, I kept thinking of this as my friday. On the way home I realized how easy it would be to slip and accidentally tell Peggy that I was off tomorrow. We went to the circus that night. I really had to watch what I said, and almost slipped a couple of times.
Friday morning, I got up and got ready for work. Yeah, it's not easy getting up at 5:30 when you really aren't going to work that day. But, it was all part of the plan. I left before the kids and Peggy got up (which I was very happy about for fear I would make a mistake). I even packed a fake lunch.
I left on time and didn't really have anywhere to go. I had over three hours to kill before his flight got in. I went to wal mart just to bum around. Yeah, seriously. After that got old, I drove up to the airport and waited in the cell phone lot for a couple hours. I brought a book along, so it wasn't bad.
Tom showed up and we drove home. We didn't really have a plan for surprising Peggy. Of course, I didn't know where she was in the house. So, we parked down the street and walked up to the front door. She saw us out the front window and met us at the door.
Peggy was insanely happy. I told her how happy I was that I can finally not have to keep a secret from her anymore (to make it sound like that was the only surprise that weekend).
On Saturday morning, we had baby mania and Abby's soccer game. Nicole agreed to pick Peggy up at 2:00 and keep her out of the house until 4:30. Peggy asked Tom if it was still ok for her to go out. He did his best to convince her. She asked me too. I told her that it was her birthday and she should go out with her friend.
When Nicole picked her up, I told her that Peggy knew about the email (the fake one). She didn't understand and thought Peggy found out about the party. As they drove away, she almost gave away the entire plan! But, she didn't luckily.
So then the marathon of cleaning began. I really thought over 2 hours would be enough, but it almost wasn't. Sally and Tom went out to pick up the sandwiches for me. I sprinted around the house to get it cleaned up (I was slowly cleaning throughout the weekend, but didn't want to do too much for fear of Peggy getting suspicious).
All too fast, the time came. The plan was to have everyone here by 4:00 and park up the street. Peggy and Nicole were supposed to show up at 4:30. And they were right on time. Peggy thought we were going out somewhere as a family that night. She wasn't expecting this....
Again, Peggy was shocked. It was so much fun to see her reaction.
The 80's theme was awesome, and some people had great costumes. I had worked for months on an 80's playlist. It was great. Nicole had set up a photo "booth" complete with wigs and props.
Linda's 80's themed cookies.
My one "creative" contribution to the decorations.
Kai probably won in the costume department. He had a fanny pack filled with 80's stuff....bubble tape, slap bracelet, red ribbon, etc.
There was lots of candy. I think people got more "drunk" off of candy than the beer. This was Abby's first Pixy Stick. Needless to say, she was a fan.
"Nerds" Shots. We may have done this a few times throughout the night...
All in all, everyone seemed to have a great time. Happy 30th Birthday Peggy!
Saturday, October 20, 2012
Noah Saying "No"
This was from a month or so ago. Noah has known how to say "no" for a while. But, apparently this night he was in a particularly fond of the word.
Sunday, October 7, 2012
Fall Family Photos
For almost four years our dear friend Kai has been taking our family photos... this is the first one four years ago at the end of November. Yep, Abby was that little at one point - but look her mouth was open and I'm sure she was telling us a story even at a day old. For those of you who don't know - Dave, Kai and I meet while working at The Picture People, a family photography studio, while in college.
Today Kai was back at our house for the annual photo session. This year we decided to take the pictures at our house. We've got a great yard and lots of options for photos and it was less stressful to run inside as needed.
She did this on her own - she's been doing this for too long.
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