Several weeks ago, I asked some of our good friends Stacie and Kevin if they could help me host a party for Forrest's 30th birthday. They are amazing party throwers and thoroughly enjoy hosting things at their house so I knew they would be the perfect people to ask. They were thrilled when I brought the idea to them, said yes, and from there the party planning began.
I looked into some ideas for themes and came across a "Buenas Noches" party on the blog,
Hostess with the Mostess, and decided that a Mexican theme/Fiesta would be fun and hopefully easy. On that same blog I believe, I came across a gender reveal party with a mustache and bow theme that got me thinking about how perfect the timing would be if we incorporated that into the party. Through talking with Stacie and girlfriends of mine, things all started to come together.
Trying to keep this a secret from Forrest was probably the most challenging task. Between family, friends, and co-workers, I sent out invitations to about 50-60 and just crossed my fingers that nobody would accidently spill the beans. Of course trying to buy things for the party, Forrest had lots of questions about purchases on our bank account. I just told him not to ask and for the most part, he didn't.
So as you saw on the last blog entry, we found out the gender the week of the party and in order to get him to keep this a secret from everyone, I had to devise a plan. I told him that Friday (day of the party), we were going to take his parents to a nice dinner in College Station to tell them the gender first, therefore not to tell anyone before then. Not sure if he knew something was up, but he quickly agreed to the plan.
Friday rolls around and I had a full day planned starting from early that morning- go to HEB, pick up cakes and cookies from Suzie, pick up rice and beans from OTB, pick up tequila for the margarita machine, and then to Stacie's house to set everything up and decorate. I knew it was going to be a long day. So get this. Forrest calls me around 9-10am while I am out and about and says "Bird, do you think you could pick me up from doctor today and drive me home? I have to have a procedure done where they are going to put me under anesthesia." I am like WHAT?! Remember we live 30-40 min away from CS. So not only do I not have time, I am imagining us showing up to the party, me wheeling Forrest through the front door in a wheelchair like here he is, the birthday boy barely out from anesthesia, as everyone says "SURPRISE!"
Long story short to this procedure is that Forrest while in the DR choked on a piece of meat and for several days after, felt like it was still in his throat. He called the doctor and the doctor had his nurse schedule him an endoscopy.
So now like a terrible wife, I have to tell him "No I cannot do that today, I have too much on my plate. Can you schedule this another day? I mean how bad is this possible meat in your throat situation?" Knowing me and knowing I would never say this, he was extremely suspicious of what was going on especially after I tried so hard to convince him to move it to another day. Anyways, after calling the doctor back and discussing the urgency of doing this endoscopy, he decides to hold off on doing it. I thought, phew, bullet dodged....but now he knows I have something more planned for him then just dinner tonight with his parents!
So that night he comes home from work, we get ready and head out the door with his parents. We get to CS and I tell him that I want to drive from there and hand him a blind fold. From there, it was just a matter of him guessing where I was taking him and after crossing over a cattle guard before getting to Stacie and Kevin's house, he had an idea of where we were going.
We don't know too many people that live on the country side of Bryan.
We show up and help Forrest through the front door, he takes off his mask, and everyone yells SURPRISE! He is shocked. And speechless. All he can do is look around and everyone and say to himself "all these people are here for ME?" Ha! He said he could not believe all the faces he was seeing including some from way out of town. It was such a fun moment to watch him in amazement and from there the party was a total hit. The food was great, everyone was enjoying their Mexican beers and margaritas, and having fun. It was cold outside so we were prepared with warm alcoholic drinks as a back up plan but everyone was content with their margs and beers.
For the gender reveal, we brought out a table with desserts and a basket with mustaches and pom pom hair clips in which you chose one based on your guess. I think most people were just excited to wear the mustache so it appears in the pictures that more people were guessing boy. We had a pinata to reveal the gender filled with candy and lottery tickets and one scratch off ticket that revealed GIRL on it (my good friend Elisha's idea). Of all the people, MY SISTER got the ticket. She was so excited, jumping up and down screaming when she realized she had scooped it up. When she announced, I looked around and people were smiling ear to ear and cheering. Some were even tearing up out of excitement. It was just so neat that it happened the way it did.
Anyways, I could go on and on about the night. I am so grateful for the wonderful family members and friends that took the time to come out and celebrate two special events in our life. I am so thankful to Stacie and Kevin for opening their house up for this party and putting so much into it for me. I did a lot of planning, but if it wasn't for all of them, it would not have been the party it was. We made great memories and will forever remember that night. Forrest said later that it would be his only chance for him and baby to celebrate their birthdays together, if that makes sense. But I knew what he meant and thought it was sweet.
O and of course I will quickly mention since this blog is getting really long, we are thrilled to know the gender now and to know we are having a girl. We have discussed some names and pretty much have it narrowed down. From here, it will just be a matter of praying for her to be healthy, thinking nursery set up, and of course coming across fun girl things that I cannot pass up. :)
