Busy Busy Bees

What have we been up to lately? Gosh...what HAVEN'T we been up to lately? Between finalizing wedding plans, getting our new house ready, packing, party planning, working, and only sharing one common day a week off of work, Todd and I have been in overdrive. I had to laugh out loud this past Saturday afternoon as we were running from a bank meeting, to brunch with his family, to home depot, to party city, to my Gramma's 80th Birthday Surprise Party, when Todd looked at me with a completely innocent face and said "soo...next Saturday the movers come -- and then the Saturday after that...do we have anything going on?" I said "I don't think so...why?" and he said "I'm just really looking forward to sitting down. :) Poor guy.

Anyway, a re-cap of the past week or so...

March 27th -- My brother, (soon-to-be) sister-in-law, Todd, Dad, Gramma & Grampa and I arranged a little surprise party for my mom's birthday. Dad took mom out to dinner that Friday evening. While they were at dinner, we set up some decorations, a few snacks, and cake, and all hid in the dark until they got home. Dad faked a stomach ache during dinner, and convinced mom they should hurry home. As they were walking in the door, mom was almost completely turned around asking my dad if he was going to be sick all over the floor, when she hit the light switch and we all jumped out and yelled "surprise!" Needless to say she wasn't expecting it, and she was very happy :) All of us "kids" had pitched in and bought her a new digital camera, since her's had recently died, and she was thrilled. We're all thrilled that now when she takes pictures, we won't have to stand in one spot for 30 seconds while waiting for the flash to go off!

March 28th/29th -- My previous post was about that weekend. (Alterations, etc.)

April 2nd -- We had an evening meeting with a possible wedding Celebrant named Diane. She was very sweet and very organized. She has been performing marriage ceremonies ever since she retired from the Fairfax County Circuit Court and has since married over 1300 couples! Amazing!! We really liked her and may very well end up using her services for our Ceremony. We have one other meeting lined up, and then we'll make the official decision.

April 3rd -- Todd and I had a nice date night complete with visiting Merrifield Garden Center, Macaroni Grille, and Wal-Mart. We felt like an old couple that had been married for 25 years...Gardening, Wal-Mart, old folks pasta dinner...but it was cute and we had a great time regardless :)

April 4th -- My Gramma -- the most amazing woman I know -- turned 80 years old on April 1st. Our whole family organized a surprise party (see how much we love surprise parties? 3 within 2 months!! ha) on Saturday the 4th. My brother and Marissa convinced Gramma & Grampa to come to their house to have Grampa help my brother with something...and told them they'd take them to dinner (at Denny's none-the-less!) afterwards. Boy was Gramma surprised when she walked in the front door and all of her favorite people (her family, of course) were standing in the dining room waiting to surprise her! Her face was priceless! The whole evening from the beautiful decorations, including pictures my mom printed out of my Gramma from the time she was a little girl, up until now -- to the fantastic food Marissa prepared (I know she liked it better than eggs & potatoes at Denny's!) -- to the sweet game board my Aunt made (we played how well do you know Ardith Ann/Gramma and answered questions about her life, which was an awesome way to find out things I never knew about her!) -- everything was perfect, and we could tell Gramma was touched. My most favorite part of the evening was the gift "presentation". Before we all gave Gramma our gifts, my dad read a letter to my Gramma. It was a letter that her father had written her on her 19th birthday. It was the most beautiful piece of writing I have ever seen/listened to. Needless to say, I was blubbering like a baby. All I could think about was how I hoped that when I turned 80 years old, that someone would read me a letter that my father had written me when I was younger. Any true daddy's girl would have agreed with me. Marissa was in tears, too. ;) It was the perfect evening, and my Gramma ended it by telling us all that she was going to share the evening as her blessing of family in church on Monday evening. But to have Gramma in our lives makes all of us the truly blessed ones.

So...the past few evenings have been spent elbows deep in baseboard grime (a totally different story in and of itself...but let's just say my baseboards will never get as dirty as they were on Sunday evening...blech...), house repairs, furniture building -- Todd built me a baker's rack for the dining room...I absolutely love it! Picture here:

and tons and tons of packing (SHEESH I have so much junk it's ridiculous, but I am planning a free-for-all for my friends after my bridal shower. Dishes, kitchenware, STUFF, all for free...up for grabs to whoever wants to take it away -- not to mention the 5 bags of clothing I'm donating to the Salvation Army...) If anyone is interested in helping me pack over the course of the next 4 evenings, come knock on my door -- Apartment 411. I'll buy you pizza.

Next post will be a delightful recap of the move, hopefully with pictures!

AND ONE BIG SHOUT OUT TO MY BROTHER MATT -- HAPPY 29TH BIRTHDAY, YOU OLD MAN YOU! I'll host a party for you in the stinkerdome...But Cooper is not invited unless you supply the gas-masks. LOVE YOU, BRO! :)