3, 2, 1.... SURPRISE!

What a week last week was, and it was nothing but good! As many of you saw on Facebook, we pulled off a surprise party for my mom for her 70th birthday. By way of background, my mom's birthday is on Christmas Day. Pretty special, right?  We think so, but it certainly makes celebrating her birthday challenging (let alone a milestone).  We are often opening Christmas presents and b-day presents at the same time. We wanted this birthday to be ALL about mom :)

My sisters and dad and I started talking about this last Christmas. See, I'm not the only planner in this family!   We had a place and the list complete by late summer.Two kinks happened along the way. At one point my mom nonchalantly mentioned to my dad that he better not plan a party for her...she'd rather take a trip. Oops. We just ignored that. Kink #2 was we had the party, list, decor, DJ, etc all booked up but hadn't given much thought to how we'd actually get mom to the locale!  Luckily some of her friends stepped in and the plan was flawless.

The party was HUGE. About 80 of mom's closest friends came, including her brother-in-law from Nebraska (my mom sadly lost her sister to cancer earlier this year -- this out of town guest was very special!).  Of course, we had a DJ and danced, danced, danced, for nearly four hours. Two-step, twist and shout, Boot Scootin', Cupid Shuffle, Low (FloRida...you read that right. not a typo. my parents love this song??), and even some N Sync.  We all had a blast! My sisters and I had so much fun decorating and planning this.

For your viewing pleasure, here's video of the big moment. You can see mom gets immediately mad at my dad. I also have weird, squealy voice in this. It was the adrenaline seeping out!


A few final words about Ronni Mitchell :) -- if you don't know my mom, she's the greatest.  Many of my friends call me "superwoman" trying to balance family, work, school, etc, but my mom is the original superwoman! She is constantly juggling 700 things at once and loving every single thing she's doing.  She has an amazing, fun-loving spirit; she has a level of faith that many of us will never know; and she's a true fighter.  She might look tiny and petite, but this woman packs a punch. In her mid-40s she was diagnosed and treated for breast cancer, and has been cancer-free ever since.  She's been a runner for the better part of her adult life (another inspiration for me!) and continues to do physical activities that people 10 years her junior couldn't do.  She has a fantastic sense of humor and is this first to laugh at anything (even herself). My mom has and continues to teach me things about being a mom and a woman and I'm so lucky we could celebrate HER for one night. I love you, Mom!