just jillian: Project 6.0

Today is my mom's birthday! We are planning to go out to dinner and celebrate...

But last weekend, we threw them a surprise party and it turned out better than I expected. There were some flaws in the initial plan. The twins are very stubborn and controlling! Ha! Our initial idea was to have my uncle suggest that the 4 of them go out to dinner. They turned that down because they said that they didn't want "a big party." We had to move on to plan B (or C). My aunt thought that my uncle had brought her to Memphis for a nice dinner just the 2 of them and my mom thought she was going to dinner with me and my dad. The one hitch in our plan: it was the weekend of Music Fest so traffic/parking downtown was crazy!

The "kids" all met at my house and ubered down. We had a private room reserved. Everyone stayed in the room to set up the table and place pictures and I went outside to wait and act as the decoy. My aunt and uncle arrived first. At first my aunt thought it was just a coincidence that I was down there. Then when she realized we were all together, I acted like it was just going to be the 5 of us. "You don't mind if I join in on a couples dinner, do you?"

When my parents showed up, my mom and aunt went and got drinks at the bar while my dad parked the car. I anxiously waited for my dad to park, while keeping an eye on my mom and aunt to make sure they didn't wander too much. Then I sent my cousin a text that we were walking in and the hostess took us in. I wish I had a picture of their reaction to the surprise. You could literally see every emotion pass over their faces. They smiled, laughed, and ultimately cried. They were both so surprised! And shocked that everyone was in town. My mom cried the hardest when she saw my brother. She had no idea he was in town from Seattle. It was even better when we told her that he had been in town for days and even spent the night at her house one night without her knowing!

There were plenty of hugs and some pictures before we finally sat down. There was a set menu for the dinner with a few select options for each course. Everything was incredible!

We spent dinner listening to stories about the twins growing up and hearing about how they met and started dating my dad and uncle. We were all laughing so hard we were crying. I'm pretty sure our waiter was a little bit scared of us!

Then between the entrees and dessert, all the kids stood up to share how much the twins meant to us and what we had learned growing up with what felt like 2 moms. There were some laughs at some of the memories, but overall these were pretty sentimental and I'm pretty sure I cried through every single one of them! When the prepared speeches were finished, the spouses and husbands said some impromptu words. Super sweet!