Frustrating but Fun Surprise Party

Yesterday was my hubby's birthday. We woke up in the morning and started the day off right by praying and thanking God for his life.

I had planned a little surprise get together for him with two couples from our church. I arranged for the boys to spend the night at my dads. I made reservations
for six at The Farm House restaurant. Everything was set for a fun birthday surprise...but nothing works out that easy.

My friends were supposed to get to the restaurant before us and be waiting at the table when we walked in. However, they called and said they were running a little late, so I should stall. The problem with that is, my husband got home from work early and was hungry. He wanted to leave around 5:30 p.m. to "beat the dinner crowd". (He IS sounding old, just kidding). So, I had to tell him that I already made reservations for 6:30 p.m., we could drop the kids off at 6:00 p.m. and still make our dinner plans. He hurried the kids along, we dropped the kids off, with no dilly dallying around (did you like that word?), and we were on our way to the restaurant at 6:18 p.m. The Farm House isn't that far away and I knew we were going to be there before our guests. I went into panic mode and couldn't think of any reasonable excuse to stall, other than to drive slow. Well, this immediately raised suspicions because I NEVER drive slow! My husband said "hurry up, we are going to miss our reservation." I went a little faster. When we made it to the gravel road turn off for the Farm House, I slowed down and pretended to care about my mini-van hitting all the pot holes. Again he questioned "why are you driving so slow?" He wasn't buying my excuse.

As suspected, we made it to the restaurant before our friends. We went inside and it wasn't crowded at all...just my luck (the one time I wanted to waste time and they were ready to seat us right away). The hostess said "party of two?" My husband said "yes" and she grabbed some menus and began to walk us to a table. Everything is going WRONG! I said "no, wait!" and then I whispered to the hostess, "we had reservations" - I discretely gave her my name. Then the hostess loudly proclaimed, "Oh yes, table for six?" To which my husband replied, "SIX? Who's coming?" Now I'm really scrambling to think of something, but nothing comes to mind. He asked again and started guessing who it might be. So far, he doesn't have a clue who it is. I finally scolded him, saying "CAN'T YOU JUST ENJOY THE SURPRISE!"

They seat us at the table while we wait on his surprise guests. They walk through the door and yell "SURPRISE" as they are laughing. Okay, so it wasn't really the way I'd imagined it, but it was fun none the less. He was glad to see them. Good friends who he never suspected. We ended up laughing and having a great time. I could finally relax now that I had no more pressure. I can honestly say that I'm not a good liar, and while that makes for a really poor surprise party host, it makes for a great Christian I suppose.

So what started out as frustrating, ended up being a lot of fun. However, I don't think that I will be throwing anymore surprise parties in the future, it's just too much pressure (lol).

Here is my husband getting his "surprise" birthday pie as the waitresses sing Happy Birthday to him.


Here he is goofing off with his pie (now no one will want a bite!)


Here are our sweet (but not punctual) friends - I forgive them because they are so much fun!


And our other very good friends (who you might recognize Beth at I'm Heading Towards My Destiny ) Turns out her husband ended up knowing half the restaurant even though they had never been there before! Such a sweet & hilarious couple.


Here I am, all happy now that everyone is here & having fun.