Jeff is turning 30 this Wednesday and I wanted to do something special for him. I decided to throw him a surprise birthday party. I had to do it before his actual birthday, since he doesn't get home until late on weekdays, and there was no way I was going to be able to get him out of the house this coming Saturday (due to March Madness :). So we planned the party for the 14th. Our friends Ashleigh and Mike were very nice and offered me to use their backyard for the party (thanks a lot!). And though plans were almost foiled a few times, it all worked out in the end and Jeff was truly surprised.
On Saturday at about 3 pm I asked Jeff if he wanted to go to Target with me, and usually he gladly would do it, but this time he was resisting a bit, but when I told him I needed to get some supplies for the house he reluctantly agreed. After we were done at Target, I told Jeff I needed to drop by Ashleigh's to give her the check for the stuff she got for me, as she lives right by Target. This is where I was almost at the point of just telling him what was going on, as it seemed almost impossible to get him to go inside her house. This is how our conversation went:
On Saturday at about 3 pm I asked Jeff if he wanted to go to Target with me, and usually he gladly would do it, but this time he was resisting a bit, but when I told him I needed to get some supplies for the house he reluctantly agreed. After we were done at Target, I told Jeff I needed to drop by Ashleigh's to give her the check for the stuff she got for me, as she lives right by Target. This is where I was almost at the point of just telling him what was going on, as it seemed almost impossible to get him to go inside her house. This is how our conversation went:
Me: "Honey, can we drop by by Ashleigh's, so I can drop off the check and chat for a little bit?"
Jeff: "You have a minute and a half, and if you don't return then, I am going to drive off."
Me: "I'm not going to take that long. How about we all go in and the kids can play with their dogs?"
Jeff: "No, I am not going in. I am hungry and I want to go home and get something to eat. Besides, I don't want to waste my Saturday, once we go in there, we will be in there for at least an hour and a half!"
Me: "Honey, I promise you - ten minutes, that's all!"
Jeff: "It is not going to be 10 minutes. Or if it is, you will make a big deal out of it and tell them that it's because of me we have to leave. I am not going in!"
Me: "Jeff, I promise you - ten minutes! Look, it's 4:10 pm right now, we will be out at 4:20 pm!"
Jeff: "You have a minute and a half, and if you don't return then, I am going to drive off."
Me: "I'm not going to take that long. How about we all go in and the kids can play with their dogs?"
Jeff: "No, I am not going in. I am hungry and I want to go home and get something to eat. Besides, I don't want to waste my Saturday, once we go in there, we will be in there for at least an hour and a half!"
Me: "Honey, I promise you - ten minutes, that's all!"
Jeff: "It is not going to be 10 minutes. Or if it is, you will make a big deal out of it and tell them that it's because of me we have to leave. I am not going in!"
Me: "Jeff, I promise you - ten minutes! Look, it's 4:10 pm right now, we will be out at 4:20 pm!"
At this point we pulled up to their house and I pretty much jumped out of the car and grabbed Harper as fast as I could, so the argument would end. Jeff once again reluctantly got out of the car, took Andre out of his car seat and followed me in. Everyone was waiting for him in the backyard - so under the pretense that we were going to find the dog for Andre in the backyard, we went straight there. The expression on Jeff's face was priceless. After everyone yelled "surprise!", he looked confused for a second, taking it all in, and then said - "Is this for me?".
We had a wonderful party, Jeff enjoyed spending time with his friend's (thanks to everyone who came out, you truly made this party special), kids loved playing with each other, the food was good - all in all it was a success.
We had a wonderful party, Jeff enjoyed spending time with his friend's (thanks to everyone who came out, you truly made this party special), kids loved playing with each other, the food was good - all in all it was a success.
Everyone, but me :)
Jon enjoying his ice cream cone
Brandon (I don't have any pictures of the rest of his family - sorry Lucy, Felipe and Samuel)
Kevin, Marisol and their 2 week old Isabella and...
... Monica 
Mike with Violet
Birthday boy
Michiko, Brandon and little Cossette
Mary with Emily and Carson in the background
Andre's favorite treat - ice cream cone
This is my masterpiece - I stayed up until 4:30 am, but it was well worth it. I made a chocolate cake with seedless raspberry jam and whipped ganache frosting -yum! (thanks for advice, Stacey). This was my first time making and dealing with fondant, and I think I did pretty well for the first-timer.
Jeff with his cake
6 comments:
Happy Birthday! Glad to see you are still alive and well at your advanced age.
Masha, the cake looks great! How in the world did you do the bird thing? What about the letters? Happy Birthday Jeff! What a fun party!
holy cow that cake! You did a fantastic job on it. I am not sure I love my husband enough to stay up until 4 am making a cake, but I am glad you do! The party looked totally fun. Good job!
Stacey - the jayhawk and the letters I cut out with exacto knife. I printed the parts out, cut them out of paper and then just put them on top of the fondant and traced them with exacto knife. It's tedious, but worth it.
So you apologize to Lucy and her kids for not having pics of them... what about myself and Jacob?? :-)
Wow, masha everything you create is professional!!! I can't believe how awesome that cake is. It's too perfect to even eat, I was sad that it got eaten & sadder that I didn't get to try it :)
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