surprise!

Hello everyone!  I have been so remiss in blogging lately!  I have just been busy working, and....I'm not even sure what else!  But I have to tell you about our fun night last night...

I am the youngest of five girls and we have not always had the best of relationships, wasting a lot of our lives arguing and being upset at each other over really stupid and petty stuff, picking up tiny offenses wherever we could and not having each others backs...It was sad.  Anyway, in the last few years we have overcome all that and really begun to get much closer and have such a good time together.

Last week I invited Connie and Jim over for dinner to celebrate an early birthday with Connie.  It was all done in pretense of a much bigger plan! Our sister Penny had decided to come, via some coaxing from Connie's best friend Judy (and hubby Sam) who offered to pick her up at the airport on the way here to the coast!  (I had mentioned to Judy that Penny was considering flying here to surprise Connie)   It was so much fun, planning this birthday thing for her!  Penny contacted Holly, Connies daughter and from there it just flew and grew.  The "kids", all of them, Connies and ours, all brought food and goodies for dinner and then, just as we were getting ready to set it out, they showed up, unbeknownst to Connie!  It was AWESOME!!!  About an hour and a half later, our mom, papa, Judy and Sam waltzed in and Judy called out, without being seen by Connie,  "I sure could use a cup of coffee"  and Connie jumped up, shouting, "I knew it!!!!"   hahahahaha!  Funny thing was, she had said earlier, "now all we need is Judy to show up!"  (where she got that I have no idea)  so we laugh and joke around and celebrate, all the while our sister Penny is hiding in the bathroom, waiting for Connie to get over there and discover her.  I am standing there thinking, "oh my goodness, I have no idea how to get her to the bathroom!"  and Judy looks at me and says, "oh Luce, I gotta pee!"  so I look at her and in total confusion say, "well, take her to the bathroom," pointing to Judy...who had no idea where the bathroom was (supposedly)....Connie took her to the bathroom with all of us watching and Penny rips open the door and says "its about damn time!"  hahahahahahahahaha!  Oh my goodness it was funny!!!!  We had a great time telling her about all the messages that had gone between all of us, the scheming and planning and just plain old tee hee'ing that we had enjoyed....too much fun!  It was a total success.  we had 29 people in our house last night.

We reclaimed Connie's birthday....

A year ago on her day, our dad passed away and her big day got overshadowed by sorrow, planning for a funeral, and other things.  We needed to take it back for her and make it what it was supposed to be and what our dad would have wanted it to be, a day to celebrate her birth!  It was really wonderful and a lot of fun.

So now I sit here all snug in a blanket that I just got from Penny from material that I had picked out for my birthday that they both purchased and Penny quilted...it is gorgeous, snuggly and really neat!  I am loving it...I am exhausted for the moment.  Penny will be here for a few more days which will be so nice...how sweet it is to have sisters, to HAVE my sisters, far and near, who are awesome, funny, amazing people!!!!

Happy Birthday Connie!!!!!!