And our weekend......completely insane...but filled with good things.
I've been dying to blog about what we are doing today but I've had to hold back because it's a surprise for one of our closest friends. (And she reads my posts!)
Our dear friend, Kim, is celebrating her 50th birthday next week and we are throwing her a surprise party. The theme is Chocolate Bliss!
Sarah and I did lots of baking yesterday! I couldn't have gotten so much done if it hadn't been for both of my girls...Sarah helped in the kitchen and Ellie helped a little in the kitchen and a lot with keeping Kate and Luke entertained!
We made 2 cheesecakes, several dozen chocolate and vanilla mini cupcakes, dozens of chocolate chip cookies, chocolate cherry brownies, and homemade chocolate cups that we will fill with mousse this morning....and my sister-in-law made chocolate covered strawberries and pretzels! A lot of work but a lot of fun, too.
My mother-in-law and Sarah made chocolate lollipops to use as favors and 2 vases filled with flowers from her yard for the tables...so pretty!
So today will be filled with cleaning and set up and last minute details that will hopefully make tonight very special for a very special person. It's something I've thought about doing for months and I'm so glad we were able to get it together.
Here's the birthday girl with her two beautiful daughters.(The oldest is our godchild:)
So that's today.
Tomorrow will be filled with all the packing I haven't done for our trip to Hershey, PA! We leave Monday morning at 4am so it's crunch time! Planning and prepping for the party has taken up lots of time so, other than a master list that I keep adding to and Hershey Park tickets that I bought through AAA on Thursday, I've got a ton to do!
And, two of my sons agreed to compete in a triathlon leg on Sunday morning with my sister's friends daughter, at the suggestion of my sister, without discussing it with me! Ugh....so now some people have to go the Mass tonight at 4(prime party prep time!). Plus, my last experience at a race(read here) was less than pleasant and that is stressing me out a little, too. Especially since Mike is doing the swimming leg and he has no experience swimming in a race!
So they will be gone most of tomorrow morning! Andrew's response..."Mom, it takes me like 5 minutes to pack." Yeah, good for him! Between making food for Peter, supervising the older kids' packing, packing for the little kids, doing all the laundry, looking up all the last minute details, nursing Kate, etc., etc....it will be a full day of packing for me!
We are excited for our trip. I can't believe it's here. We've wanted to go on a family vacation for a while but didn't think it would happen again this year for financial reasons. A few months ago, a friend gave us an incredible gift...so here we are planning a special getaway! We are looking forward to making some special family memories. Our expectations are still low because a 7 hour car ride + 10 people in a van + 10 people in 2 hotel rooms + 2 children that wake up in the night= a whole lot of opportunities for
So we will set our eyes on our focal point....Hershey's INCREDIBLE chocolate milk shakes!
