A Day of Surprises!

Last week I got an evite from Cindy to Brittany's shower. I really wanted to go but didn't know if I could pull it off with a three and a half week old baby, 3 other kids and a 2 hour drive (with the shower starting at 10:30 am).  BUT Brittany is a dear friend, not only to me but to the girls also. They LOVE her. I didn't tell the girls or any friends I was going to try and pull it off in case I couldn't after all.

As you can see I pulled it off. Wednesday night I got everything ready and Thursday morning I woke the girls up and told them the surprise. Their faces lit up and Claire yells, "I don't have to go to school!!!" They could hardly wait to go. After feeding Julia we loaded up and took off. Julia did great in the car and only fussed for a little bit.

When we showed up at the shower everyone had to look twice. It seemed normal for us to be there! It was so fun to surprise everyone.

It was LOVELY to have company. I have been really lonely and it was wonderful to be around my friends.

When Hallie was sitting on Brittany's lap she said something that broke my heart. She said, "I didn't know if I wanted to come because I knew I would have to say goodbye." When I was telling some friends that, later that afternoon when we hung out at Cassidy's house, I started crying. I was not prepared for the emotions but they came! We have missed all of our friends so much.

The second big surprise came that evening. When Claire was going to Woodway before we moved she was going to be in a big program called BUGZ. Well, we ended up moving before the program and she was devastated. She wanted to go see the program really bad but I didn't know if I could take all 4 kids with Julia being a few weeks old. With it on the same day as the shower I was so excited to be able to surprise Claire. So in the afternoon I told Claire, "Do you want to know the other surprise?" 

I say, "Tonight is the BUGZ program!" 

Her face lights up and she yells, "Can we go?" 

I say,  "yep" and I can't even begin to tell you how thrilled she was. 

She says, "Oh I am so happy I could just hug you. Oh I will hug you!" She runs over and gives me a huge hug and kiss and just grins and squeals with delight. She thanked me over and over and over. It was so sweet.

Seeing her excitement was worth every minute that the surprise took to pull off!

We went and took a picture with her class just before the program.

The program was darling and her class and teacher were SO excited she came!

I can't believe I had all 4 kids for the program. It was too last minute to find someone to watch Audrey although I did try a few people. Luckily I had my sling and had my hands free to grab Audrey from going on stage! Julia was an angel the entire day and slept it away. I was worried she wouldn't sleep that night but she did GREAT. Apparently Cindy had a little talk with Julia before I left! ;) It worked!!!

The drive home was pretty good too! 

I had to eat packs of fruit snacks to stay awake.
It was a wonderful day of surprises and fun. Definitely a day that will be remembered.