surprise!

So Alex, one of my darling nieces, and some other friends, had a surprise party for Maddy.  (It was on my birthday - which they asked first if it was okay - which I thought was sweet and thoughtful…..It was rather  kind of lovely way to spend my birthday…. knowing Maddy was going to have the poop scared out of her, being a little bit a part of the festivities - I fried fish for fish tacos, although they were awful - and I even had 16 teenagers sing Happy Birthday to me.)

The plan was that we were "invited over for dinner" at the Giesbrechts.  I made the batter for the fish and made white sauce in secret and stuck it in the car.  When it was time to go, Alex texted and asked if we could stall a little.  So we stalled.  Then we left and dropped Lucy off at Grandma's for night.  Then Alex texted again and asked to stall more.  Thankfully we were low on gas, so we went and filled up.  Alex also texted that we needed to come a certain way to their house so that Maddy wouldn't notice all of the cars.  I didn't bother to tell her that Maddy isn't really the time to be aware of her surrounds at the best of times, so it wasn't necessary….. but we didn't take any chances.  Maddy, by the way, was getting a little frustrated with all of the delays.  Perhaps frustrated isn't the word… maybe just weirded out by her parents.  Then we drive along and Eric "forgets" to take the proper turn, so we have to take the long way around.

(everyone hiding):

 We finally get to the Giesbrecht's after delays, errands, slow driving and missed turns to perfectly have Maddy dive out of the car as fast as possible and canter in to the house to avoid the cold.  The rest of us hardly even had to delay our getting to the door.  It was quiet for a little while and then we heard the chorused "surprise" and a bit of a freak out from Maddy.  She was completely and utterly shocked.  My only regret about the whole thing is not being able to see her reaction.  Apparently it was a good one!  I think having it on my birthday was the most perfect cover up - she had absolutely no clue, even with the strange actions of her parents.

 (Maddy is in there, somewhere….):

 Alex had friends bring different foods for having tacos - that was dinner, obviously.  And some brought dessert.  They also had chocolate fondue.  They also had a bunch of tea - since Maddy is the tea fanatic.  She seems to be turning Alex into one too!

I stayed a little while after I failed fried the fish and hung out with Glenda.  But soon I crashed and left the partying to the rest of them

They are a great bunch of kids.  I've been so impressed and blessed by how they have embraced Maddy into their well established circle of friends - friends who have mostly known each other from bitty childhood and grown up together.  They have taken her in and made her "part of the family" with ease.  It makes a big difference…huge... that Alex was willing to "share" her friends.  That is not a common thing here in this very well established town - many people could learn something from these guys.  Myself included.