A Night to Remember!!!

If you know me, you know I LOVE a good party! And, if you've hung around with me, you might know that I tend to love a good Karaoke night :)  On Saturday night my amazing family combined both and threw me one incredible surprise 40th birthday party!!!

I should back up just a little bit.  I probably had one of the toughest weeks of my life last week.  Without going into great detail, I had A LOT weighing on my mind and I was not in a good place with a lot of decisions ahead of me.  Aaron and Zach had "plans to go to their hunt club on Saturday" so my amazing girlfriends planned a girls day out, and just to make sure I was dressed for the occasion they said we were all getting dressed up and having a "Sex in the City" kind of girls day out.  We started the day with an amazing lunch and followed that up with a lot of shopping.  And I was HAPPY!   Tabitha was working overnight so we had plans that evening to go out to dinner with the husbands.  I had texted Aaron towards the end of our day out and asked if they were home yet and laid out the dinner plans.  He said that was fine, but that there had been a fundraiser that day at the FOP (Fraternal Order of Police) lodge that he's a member of  and that he had was responsible for locking up so he would be home by 7.  About 45 minutes later he called me and said that I needed to come to the lodge because he was moving a heavy cooler and it had dropped on his foot and he thought he broke his foot and that Zach was freaking out.  So we dropped everything we had in our hands and started driving to the FOP to go get him - only I didn't know where the FOP was!  So he was trying to give me directions and Leslie, who was driving, was PRETENDING she thought she knew where it was, even though she had been there earlier that day!  The whole time we were driving there I was getting so anxious, planning on where we would go for x-rays, how was I going to get him in his truck - and making comments like, great, whose going to carry Alex up and down the stairs if he has a broken foot???  Whose going to bathe her, how am I going to take care of him AND Alex, etc!   We pulled up and the only car that was in the parking lot was Aaron's.  Zach met me at the door and was walking me in and I said "Where is Daddy???"   And.....SURPRISE!!!!!!!!!!!!  The DJ started blaring music, people were blowing horns and yelling SURPRISE and all I could do was burst out in tears and run out of the room!!!  I was SO surprised!   My birthday isn't for another two weeks so I wasn't expecting anything AND honestly, I DID not think Aaron had it in him to plan a party!   I know now he had a lot of help, but they have been planning this since March - AND Zach has known the WHOLE time - and NO ONE acted any different!  I told Aaron I was now second guessing our whole marriage because he's apparently a VERY good liar!!!!! 

To see everyone that I hold SO dear to me in one room that came out to celebrate me was such an incredible feeling.  I really wish I could adequately put into words how special everyone made me feel.  It was perhaps one of the best nights of my life and I am still smiling every time I think about it days later. 

I have to say a HUGE thank you to my parents, my in-laws, my sister and her husband, my brother and sister-in-law, and my husband.  You all worked so hard and put SO much effort into ensuring I had a fabulous night and I can't thank you all enough.  You all love me so unconditionally and I'm incredibly blessed to be part of such of a loving family.  And to all of my friends that came to celebrate with me, you all have such a special place in my heart and I'm such a better person for having all of you in my life.  To say thank you just doesn't seem to say enough.  Please know that you all are so special to me and I'm the person I am because of all of you.  This was definitely a night that will remain one of my happiest memories for a lifetime.

Now for the pictures... (I didn't have my camera so a big thank you to my mother in-law for taking all of the pictures)

The decorations my parents and sister put so much time and effort into....on each table there was a different picture of me throughout my life, and I KNOW everyone got a great big kick out of some of them!

 

My dad hard at work stirring his famous sauce!

Here's a picture of my mom, me and my sister watching a DVD my sister any my brother-in-law put together commemorating my 40 years....probably the best gift ever.

The three co-conspirators that kept me busy all day...Leslie, Mesa and Dana.

My two favorite men...

My sweet girl who was trying to figure out what was going on!

My in-laws, Zach, Tabitha and Alex

Family pictures....

My sister, me and my brother

Aaron, my sister Dana, my sister in-law Rebecca, my brother in-law Shane, me and my brother Danny

My in-laws John and Joan who drove hours to be here and were a big part of the planning all the way from Rochester, NY.

My parents and my in-laws

Me and my love

Me, my favorite Jonah and my Best Friend Dana

The Dancing...

Mom and Dad...

I love this picture

Alex "dancing" with her Daddy...

 Part of our Conga line....where my son informed me "It's all in the hips Mom!"

No party is complete without the Electric Slide!

This was only one of the rows we had going!

Mmm, Dunno what dance this was!

Or this one, but I suppose this counts as dancing!

My friends...

Some of my special Moms...Shelby, Jen, Dara and Shannon - an amazing group of women!!

My girls Leslie and Mesa

 My other girls Nicole and Rhonda

Scott and Leslie

Our BFF's Dara and Jerry!

 

And last but not least my new friend Nick...if you ever need a DJ, I highly recommend you contact me for his info!

And now on to the Karaoke pictures...!!

I think I will refrain from commenting on any of these!!
Take my word for it it was SO much fun and quite the show!

 Ok, I do have to comment on this one, yes not ONLY did my husband actually sing, but he put on quite the air guitar show to go with it!

The boys were only there for a bit in the beginning, but they made sure they sang before they left! 

Again, perhaps one of the best nights of my life - THANK YOU to everyone who had a hand in it - as I'm blogging I have still have a big smile on my face :)

Updates

So let's see, since my last post....Zach broke his finger, my cat got a raging infection in his face, Alex's spine is not any better, worse in fact, Aaron worked ALLLLL weekend long, he's worked nights the last two nights, Alex is scheduled for dental surgery, oh, and I've lost my sanity! :) Maybe, not really, ok, maybe just a little bit!! :)

Zachary was playing basketball with his friend and fell and broke his finger.  Nothing we can do but splint it.  It's the same finger he broke when he fell off the pogo stick.  Looking a little crooked, but again, nothing we can do about right now.

Last Monday my cat, Max, who was supposed to be an inside cat -  especially after being declawed, and has been an outside cat for the last five years came home with his face all messed up.  He's always been "the" cat in the neighborhood - walks the kids to school every morning - knows to stop at the top of the block before crossing the street, all of the neighbors know him and he's always been outside without a problem, until last week when he apparently met his match.  I will honor my mother's request and not post pictures to show what his face looks like.  Believe me when I say it was DISGUSTING...he had to spend two days at the animal hospital and cost me a whole paycheck, but he's worth it.  The BIG problem has been trying to keep him inside while he's healing - it's NOT been an easy task. 

Alex has been dealing with her back pain and she's been progressively worse.  When she is laying on the floor for a diaper change, or if we dont have her back brace on her she is MISERABLE.  So we were supposed to go back next Wednesday for a follow-up appointment but it was clear it was getting worse.  I called to get an appointment sooner with her doctor and they told me he was out for a few days - I explained that she was in a lot more pain and I didn't want to wait another week to see her doctor so they scheduled her to see one of the other partners.  We had gone for a blood draw earlier that day for her liver checks for her upcoming neurology appointment and she was miserable.  We got to the orthopedic appointment and while we were waiting she was miserable.  The whole time we were waiting for the doctor she was miserable.  The new doctor came in and started asking us questions about her pain and how she's been and Alex opted at that time to be a TOTAL FLIRT with the him.  I went on describing how miserable she's been and the whole time he was examining her she was looking at him all googly eyed and flirty.  He manipulated her a few different ways and she kept batting her eyes at him at smiling.  UGGGGH!  He said she appeared fine and I felt so defensive when I had to explain that I'm NOT a knee jerk reaction parent and I SWEARED she's been miserable.  Uggg, that girl!!!  At one point in the exam he looked at me and said "she really is flirting with me, isn't she?"  Really Alex, you're going to choose this moment to be typical and make me look crazy?!?  By the end of the appointment she was fussy again and the Dr. decided the best course of action was to have her scheduled for a sedated MRI of her spine.  He voiced his concerns of having her sedated, but defaulted to my concerns that it would be in her best interest to have it done.

A few weeks ago we had to go to the dentist.  Turns out Zach has a cavity and is going to need a crown - on a baby tooth no less.  Seemed odd to me that they would crown a baby tooth, but apparently it's not that uncommon.   Alex is an aspiration risk so cleaning her teeth has always been a challenge.  Her teeth have a lot of tartar build up now which is attributed to her blenderized diet and her not chewing, in addition to the constant drool.   She also needs to have three teeth pulled, sealants and x-rays.  The dentist at Children's Hospital filled out paperwork for our pediatrician to fill out for her to have dental surgery, which requires she go under anesthesia.  The anesthesiologist at Children's got the paperwork back and said that she was too much of a high risk to have the procedure done at Children's and that she needed to have it done in a hospital setting (Richmond's Children's is not a full functioning Children's Hospital like most cities).  So we met with a new dentist this week and she is scheduled to go in for that on May 30th....BUT.............with her needing the MRI now, there is no way I can put her under twice in one month so we're going to have to hold off on all of the dental stuff until we figure out what's going with her spine after the MRI.

It's taken me 5 days to write this post....Alex and I are both sick.  Yesterday I went from my bed to the couch back to bed.  Alex started with a cold on Saturday and I just got a phone call from school that she needs to go home because she's got 101 fever.  I'm not sure if it's because she started getting sick but she had a seizure Saturday morning around 4AM and despite our best efforts, her toes are once again all scraped up.  She was supposed to see her neurologist this afternoon but now that's been rescheduled to the end of May. 

Have I ever mentioned that it's NEVER A DULL?!?