birthday surprise

Just as our record breaking arctic blast began around here,

I threw a surprise 13th birthday party for my daughter A. on Tuesday.

13 on the 13th!

And where else do you have a birthday party in the middle of winter? At D Q of course! No fear of an ice cream cake melting in the below zero weather. I think they could have stored it on the back loading dock instead of in their freezer case.

Today the actual temperature in our town was 15 degrees below zero this morning and the high temp all day was about 1 degree!!!! The wind chill temp was negative 38 degrees at one point this morning.

At D Q they have this very fun vintage mural on the wall, which I love.

The party was a complete success. We pulled off the surprise and all 4 friends that I had invited for her were able to show up and keep the secret before hand!

I did have a scare earlier in the day when we had snow squalls and you could not see 2 car's distance in front of you. I thought, "Oh no! Parents are not going to bring their kids to a party in THIS!" But then it settled down and just was plain COLD!

Then my next scare was more of a panic when I went to photograph the birthday table set up 15 minutes before anyone arrived and guess what? My camera battery was DEAD!!!!

Off I raced as fast as I could drive (about 20MPH on the snowy, icy roads) to go buy a battery. Then I thought I was being smart by trying to put the new battery in while I drove. Guess what? The battery went in the wrong direction and got STUCK! After arriving back at the party and some muttering under my breath and wanting to say some bad words and lots of tugging and prying, it finally came out and I fixed it. Phew!

This was the set up-A. was lured away before the party to go shopping with her friend's Mom. After some shopping then the Mom said, "A., let's stop in to D Q and get some kind of treat for your birthday to take home."

When they walked in, the look on A's face was priceless!!!

She looked at one friend and then 2 then 4 and then around the room and then at me and then she just stood there not knowing what to say.

I hadn't even told her siblings about the surprise party until after A. had left to go shopping. I knew N. of all people could not keep his mouth shut.

He would have let the cat out of the bag for sure!



See her wrist watch? It is her first grown up watch, a birthday gift from her Dad and me.

The cake was very yummy. It was vanilla on one layer and chocolate on the other with crumbled cookies in between.

After she opened her gifts they played some games. Theater size boxes of candy were the prizes for the first 2 players to finish the word search, cross word puzzle, and a word scramble I had made on the computer. They also had fun just doing what young teens do. Talking and joking and laughing and having fun!!!

A's nails are plaid! She did them herself. She often locks herself in her bedroom for hours to get away from her siblings and do her nails in all sorts of creative patterns. She makes up designs using the polish on a piece of paper. Last summer I kept her in business doing my nails red with white polka dots!

I have to say she is my child for sure because I did the same thing- nails and polish were my big priority when I was young!!!! Now I wish I had the time to keep them nice all the time. She has inherited my strong fast growing nails too. Just like me when I was young, she has people often ask if her nails are fake. She hates that. So did I.