that, my friends, is a culmination of months of planning for the husband's surprise birthday party. i haven't blogged about all the plotting and scheming and planning because i was afraid he might stumble across it. BUT, i reserved the hall in april, so you can imagine that i was about to bust by the time the actual surprise party happened. and YES, he was surprised, thanks to all of you who kept the secret.

the night was great, 9 out of 11 of his brothers and sisters and all their families came for it. there were lots of people from town, and from his work, and from the baseball team. we had a DJ and plenty of food, but the highlight of the night was definitely Cousin Eddie. the husband's sisters made him dress up like Cousin Eddie from Christmas Vacation. he was a great sport, and actually might have liked his costume a little tooo much. my stomach hurt the next day from laughing so hard. the thought crossed my mind more than once how much karen and chris would have LOVED to see the husband like this. dancing with him was a rare treat, let me tell ya.
but the look on his face when he walked in the door and realized this party was for him--that was the biggest treat of all. and totally worth it.

happy birthday, husband. you are the goods.