Happy Birthday, Aunt B

My Aunt B turned 70 this week and her children threw her a big surprise party. So for the last month or so, I have been brimming with excitement over my whole family coming to visit. But not able to blog about it! (Thanks for being a regular reader, Aunt B! You are totally worth a little blogging frustration!)

Aunt B is one of the sharpest ladies I know, so I was just sure she would know something was up, but she was truly surprised when she arrived at the restaurant to see her brother (my dad) and sister there to greet her. My sisters were a surprise, too. As well as 40 or so of her closest friends. (Everyone here knows my aunt, so the difficulty was where to draw the line so as no to invite the entire town!)


For me, the fun part of a surprise party is all of the high-jinx and close calls that precede them. This party had more than its fair share! First off, my aunt has been staying with her daughter down near the coast while Aunt B underwent some medical treatments. This was all well and good except that it made it quite difficult for Cousin S to discuss party arrangements with Cousins N and P and almost impossible for her to complete the work of art scrapbook of Aunt B's life. My cousin was staying up until midnight every night trying to complete the scrapbook while my aunt was asleep!

My other aunt, Aunt M, arrived on the Wednesday before the party. She had to hide out at Cousin N's house for three days! If everything had gone according to plan, Aunt B would have been in town, and Cousin N would have had some real juggling to do. As it turned out, Aunt B had to stay for some treatments and was not in town for Aunt M to hide from. It did, however, cause some problems on the other end!

Aunt B was supposed to come back to west Texas Friday afternoon. Cousin S was going to catch a later flight and had packed her bags waaaaay in advance and taken them to her office so that her mom wouldn't see them and get suspicious. As luck would have it, Aunt B's treatment got bumped again and she ended up on a later flight than Cousin S! My cousin had to think fast and told my aunt that she had planned to surprise her at Cousin N's baby's christening on Sunday. So she changed her flight and they flew in together.

At the same time as my sister and her husband from California! Luckily, they were on different flights, but our airport is pretty darn small. They arrived at the same time. Sister K and her hubs were walking down the hall when Cousin S caught sight of them. Luckily, Aunt B was facing the other direction and they were able to duck out of sight. My sister then panics that Aunt B is going to see Daddy out front, so starts frantically trying to get through the five layers of bank security on her Blackberry so she can call to warn him. Luckily, Bro-in-law is a quick draw with a cell phone. He got through and disaster was averted. Phew!

The party was in the atrium at a favorite Mexican food place. It was gorgeous! And HOT! The kids played in a little fountain to cool off, but the adults just had to slam copious amounts of tea. The food was great - especially the guacamole. I could have eaten the whole tray by myself! Aunt M's cakes were divine. A good time was had by all!