Surprise Surprise

 From day one, every thing about Olivia has been a surprise.  You would think by the time you get to your sixth kid, you would know what to expect, but this girl has pulled the unexpected on us at every turn.  So it only seemed fitting that for her ninth birthday pary, we throw a few suprises her way.

We started talking about her birthday in January.  I was very adamant that we would not be having a big birthday party this year.  She has had huge blowout birthday parties for the past five years, and it seemed like a good year for a nice quiet little celebration. Olivia agreed, and all she really wanted was a family party with her cousins. Sounded perfect to me.

Then complications started setting in.  Dan had to work that day.  So we opted to have cousins come up on Sunday.  But that left us with all of Saturday, which was her actual birthday.  It seemed like such a waste to have a birthday on a Saturday and not have something fun going on.  When I asked Olivia what she wanted to do, she said she wanted to have a double play date with some of her friends.  Then the wheels of my mind started cranking.  Dan was planning on taking her out to breakfast that morning before he went to work.  It seemed like the perfect set up for a surprise party.

Then it became a theme,  and we planned a few more surprises for her along the way.

First off, when she opened her bedroom door on her birthday morning, she was hit with an avalanche of balloons that were taped to her door and rigged to fall down when the door opened.  She got up too early for us to catch the moment, but this is what we did catch:

The Before:

 

And the After:

 Then, at breakfast, she was stood on a chair and serenaded by the cutest waiter ever, who got all of Denney's to sing to her.  She was not too thrilled with this at the moment, but came to grips with it later on and decided it was pretty cool.

When she got home from her birthday breakfast, she was so surprised and happy to find all of her friends jumping out to yell surprise at her.  She was so sweet and happy, and has been talking about it ever since.  One of the best parties we have ever had, one of the easiest and one of the cheapest.  I didn't have a lot planned, but it turned into an all day play date with her favorite friends.

My cake creation.  Olivia has been wanting to make one of these rainbow cakes for a long time. It was surprisingly easy, and fun, and turned out great, only a little crooked.

Later on, Grandma and Grandpa came over for yet more party.  Olivia got a tea set for her birthday, and Grandma and Audrey joined her on the floor for an impromptu tea party.

Audrey must have lovely breath.  Her parakeet was fasinated with the inside of her mouth, and darn near hopped right in.


The next day, Grandma Linda, Melissa, Clint and kids came up for more yet more partying.  Audrey made cupcakes, and as usual, created a masterpiece with them before they were devoured.  The twelve of us managed to make 48 cupcakes disappear in one evening.

 Originally, all Olivia wanted to do for her birthday was a have a party with cousins.  It's  nice when you get all your heart desires. But next year, I MEAN it.  NO PARTIES.