Papa Turns 60!

Papa turned the big "6-0" this past weekend, so we had to celebrate big!  We decided to do a surprise party for him over Christmas, so January was spent planning, crafting and scheming up a storm :)

Sammi was the "designer" behind all of the printed materials, and did and AWEsome job.  Like, really.  Amazing.  Paige handled food, I did all of the decorations and interactions, and Nani handled the guest list and drinks and the rest of the food.  We held conference calls and sent more e-mails than I could count, just to make sure Papa's day was perfect.

We decided on a Rock-N-Roll theme, and more specifically, ZZ Top.  You just can't get any better than that, and we knew he would love it.  I kept finding more and more ideas for decorations, and Sammi just created them - it was a match made in heaven :)

 

Our covert scheme actually started on Friday night, before the party.  The idea was to take dad out to dinner and have Andre', Sammi and family show up and tell Dad THAT was his surprise for the weekend.  They ended up getting stuck in traffic, but came later that night and Dad was thrilled.  We all have so much fun together that they couldn't miss it!  The guys told Dad that they had to get up really early the next morning, because they got to kidnap him for the morning.

 

Little did Dad know, we were all trying to hang calmly around the house until the left...the shooting range was just a distraction to get.them.out of the house!  They finally left around 8:30, and it was on!  The amount of stuff we did in the short 4 hours before the party was unbelievable.  We had food, chairs, tables, and décor hidden under porches, in closets, and in cars - all over the place!

 

We scrambled and ran around like crazy people, but got it all done.  The guys showed back up just in time - most of Dad's friends and family had already arrived, so he had a great welcome when he got home!

 

Nolan couldn't wait for him to get home!

 

Some of Dad's old "ball buddies" came...it was so special!

 

We let it all sink in and then gave Dad the tour.  Everyone had "VIP Backstage Passes" to wear - Dad got his special one.  Everyone signed in when they arrived and got their pass.  We made a welcome sign, and it was perfect!  

 



 

The living room was the "Main Stage."  I really wanted to do a photo booth, and set out to make it look as real as possible.  We found a picture of a perfect ZZ Top car, I had fake beards, hats and sunglasses to complete the look.  Each hat was bedazzled like crazy, and I found a picture of three actual ZZ Top guitars that I tried to recreate.  I think they came out okay, and the photo booth was a huge hit!

 

Who knew they had a white FURRY guitar?!  Michael's craft store is my best friend...

 The Main Stage, aka the living room - ha!

Dad and Uncle Phil...the beards were hilarious!

Dad really got into character...you can tell he played air guitar a LOT!

 

Perhaps the best ZZ Top impersonator of the night :)

 

Next up in the kitchen we had the sign in table with a big sign for Dad to keep and the VIP Passes (which I completely forgot to photograph!)  The kitchen buffet held his birthday banner plus some signs that contained ZZ Top lyrics - we had those stationed all over the house.

 

His party favors were rock candy, and Sammi made labels that said, "Sixty Rocks."

 

Paige's restaurant catered the food, and we had pulled pork BBQ, Mac N Cheese, Slaw, Collard Greens and salad.  The Mac N Cheese was the best I have ever had!

60 and Still Sexy...you got it, Papa!

 

A sweet friend of mine at work is awesome at making iced sugar cookies, so I asked her to make these guitars.  They turned out so well, and tasted great too!  I think Dad was really surprised at all of the little details.  I think he was also surprised that we did ALL of it without him knowing!

 

 

It was just such a special night and I am so thankful we were able to do something truly special for Dad.  He is the most humble, loving, patient and kind person I have ever known, and he truly deserved even more than we could have done.  I am so happy he had a great time, and that his 60th year started off super memorable.  We love you Daddy/Papa!  xoxox







A Snow/Ice Day (or three)

We had our first "snow/ice event" this past weekend, and boy was it EVENTFUL!  It started out being a bit of a downer because we didn't get near the amount of snow we expected (big surprise), but we didn't realize that there was quite a bit of sleet that was going to fall during the day, making the roads pretty awful.

On top of that, the temperatures were as cold as I can ever remember them being here in NC (think ZERO degrees), so whatever came down was going to stay.  I made sure to stock up the fridge, so we were all set to go!

Turns out, it was a lot of fun, considering the neighbors we have now :)  It was basically a big party the whole weekend, with bits of drama thrown in for good measure.

The COLDEST day ever...you couldn't be out more than 10 minutes.

 

Thank goodness for neighbors that have sleds!

He had about 120 layers of clothing on underneath this, but was SO excited to go outside that he was still smiling...hah.

 

 

Christmas 2016: Part Three

We had too much fun to cram all of my pictures into one post, so this year Christmas deserves three posts!

After Church we came back home for some lobster/clam chowder and birthday cake (for me and Baby Jesus!)  We celebrated my birthday as well, which was nice.

Nolan was happy he got to blow out the candles.  He also ate the green foot :)

 



 

After we were all too stuffed to move, we headed into the living room so that Papa could continue his tradition of reading "Twas the Night Before Christmas."  You could tell Nolan had just eaten cake (because he could NOT sit still), but we still enjoyed hearing it anyway!  We even checked out the chimney to make sure it was all clear for Santa!

 

We stayed up late hoping it would give him time to calm down and maybe sleep past 5:00 a.m. :)  Instead of cookies, we figured we had plenty of birthday cake to go around, so this year Santa got cake.  

The aftermath of the cake Christmas morning...still sprinkles every.where!

 

Thankfully, he didn't quite realize that all of his goodies from Santa were downstairs in the basement, so we were able to get up at a normal time and not the crack of dawn :)  He needed a quick power breakfast before opening all of his gifts and then it was time to rock and roll!

 

 

Santa hooked him up with a great table for crafting, lots of Super Hero costumes, some arts and crafts stuff and several new games.  He was THRILLED to finally have his own scissors, that he insisted on helping everyone else open their gifts :)  This included cutting each ribbon into a million pieces before you were allowed to open your gift - ha!

 

Intent at work...

 

 

Titi Paige thought it would be HILARIOUS to give Anthony a true megaphone.  Like his loud self needs one!  Nolan has thoroughly enjoyed and (and I have a constant ringing in my ears now!)

 



 

The aftermath...ha!

 

It was such a wonderful Christmas, and I am so glad we were able to have some fun and experience lots of joy in between missing our loved ones and praying for those that were hurting.  The Reason for the Season is truly where it's at :)