our 'sisters weekend' this quarter fell suspiciously close to april's birthday. or...not so suspiciously. i seem to recall her announcing that our next date should be on this weekend, & that everyone should bring her a present.
instead we had a birthday dinner. a surprise one. i interviewed her husband and 4 kids about what her favorite dinner is, and they all said, seperately, unknown to eachother: cafe rio chicken salad.
you know what? that works perfect for me. the only thing worse than cooking a birthday dinner is cooking a birthday dinner for a chef.
zannie helped me get the deor & atmoshpere (said with a french dialect) prepared for her arrival. mom was the "delivery assistant" necessary for all surprise parties. we told mom we would be ready in 5 minutes, so come on over. she texted back that they were on their way.
since my parents live 1.37 miles from me, we all scurried around, turning off lights & lighting candles & finding our 'spots'.
and then we sat in the complete dark for 20 minutes. clearly our 'assistant' needs additional training.
as i'm writing this i realize 1 of 2 things has happened: 1. we never actually found out WHAT TOOK THEM SO LONG, or 2. we found out, but i don't remember. both entirely possible.
when they finally walked in, and we yelled surprise, i tried to take a picture of her at that moment. but....it was so pitch black that my camera couldn't figure out what it was supposed to do. that's what advanced photographers like myself do. we supply zero lighting and tell our camera to just 'go for it'. jump off the cliff, you'll figure it out.
once she got close enough to the candles, i could capture her on her 38th celebration of birth.
my favorite part of the "party" was these little birds. inside each was a question about april. each guest had to draw one of the birds & tell a story or answer a question. mine said, "what's your favorite characteristic of april's?" i said that she is a ready-made mom. she is 100% nuturing to anyone & anything.
and has been since we were kids. when we were super-little she would get so mad if i ever said, "i'm going to be a ______ when i grow up. what are you going to be?" i don't know if she was more mad that i was asking her an obvious question, or that i would dare to be anything except a mom. i think that's why it's my favorite characteristic of hers: because it seems so hard to me, and she does it seemingly effortlessly.
either way, it's really worked out for her. and her kids. and my kids. and....pretty much all kids she's ever met, even briefly in a grocery store line.
happy birthday ape-dog!!
Too sweet and beautiful!
Posted by: Brittney Gardineer | May 31, 2011 at 07:31 AM
You guys are amazing. I don't know what the heck I did wrong in heaven to NOT get sisters...Well, I adore you and all of yours...You are an amazing woman. She is so blessed to have you!
Posted by: sissy | May 26, 2011 at 09:25 PM
WHAT is going on with the SGs and their parties? How do you guys do it?
Posted by: Brooke Gardner | May 26, 2011 at 08:40 AM
could i please be an adopted sister the next time you guys throw a party? it always looks like such an amazing time!
Posted by: Camie | May 25, 2011 at 03:21 PM