The surprises didn't end there... (Dec 08)

For a long time my little sister had been asking me to come home for Christmas or her birthday. I knew I wouldn't be able to come home for Christmas because Joe deployed just a week after Christmas. I thought that I could possibly go home for her birthday so I looked flights. I ended up finding a precent decent price for all of us (Joe, Me, Nate and Ryan) to fly home the weekend of her birthday. But, I wanted to surprise everyone. I didn't tell her at all and in fact I told her I wouldn't be able to even come until after the new year. The only person I told about the tickets was my other young sister, Karen, my mom, and my Aunt. I had to tell my Aunt because I needed a place to stay the night I flew in and her house was right by the airport. I told my sister because we had this elaborate plan to surprise my dad (more on that in a minute). I told my mom just because she is my mom and I wanted to tell her. LOL!

So, the whole week before going to NC I was so excited! I almost put stuff on my FB status to ruin the surprise. It was SO hard to not tell anyone else! Somehow I managed to pull it off and got there without anyone knowing. My sister, Karen, was planning to go visit my dad on the Friday I flew in and invite him out to lunch. My dad had been at home for awhile because he had knee surgery and couldn't work and sometimes even walk. I knew he would sit at home in his PJs all day (without his teeth in) and I didn't want to just show up at his house and he look like that for the first time he met Joe. I figured neither one of them would have liked that very much. :-) Karen arranged to go see Dad and put the plan in motion. Here's how it played out...

I flew in Thursday night and stayed with my aunt in VA. Friday morning we drove towards NC to surprise everyone. Along the way to NC my sister and I are texted each other to make sure the plan was in motion. She tells me she has arrived at Dad's and he is still in his PJs and no teeth! LOL! She said he didn't want to go out to lunch because he would miss a call from his Disability/Workman Comp caseworker. I told her she HAD to figure out a way to get him dressed then and I would just show up at the house versus a restaurant as we planned. I told her to tell him he needed to go look at her car or something. She tried that and he didn't put on clothes, he just went outside in his PJs. Finally she just flat out told him that he needed to get dressed because she had a surprise for him. At this point he was getting a little suspicous. He got dressed and sat on the couch probably about two minutes before I arrived. Talk about cutting it close!!

I pulled up in the driveway and got all the kids out of the car. We rang the doorbell and Karen answered the door. Dad's chair was just around the corner from the front door so he curiously looked to see who it was. As she opened the door, Ryan peeped his head in and said "Papa!". Then I followed in right behind him with Joe and Nate behind me. I heard my dad gasp! He was SO surprised! He and I both starting crying and just hugged each other. It felt soooooo good! Karen was even crying!! I introduced Dad to Joe and we just sat around and chatted. He couldn't believe I was able to pull of the surprise. And, he was mad at his sister for not telling him I was at her house all along. LOL! But, the surprises didn't end there!

As I said, I wanted to surprise my little sister for her 16th birthday. At this point she still didn't know we were coming to town. My dad asked me if I was going to pick her up from school to surprise her...that was the plan all along. My dad insisted that we pick her up early because this was a special occasion. So Karen texted her and asked her if she would miss anything if she picked her up early. She is thinking that Karen is coming to get her. My dad, Joe, the boys, Karen and I all show up at the school to sign her out. The counselor is there and my dad explains the situation of the surprise. They call Brittany to the office so my dad could sign her out. As we waited for her, I stood in between Dad and Karen waiting for her to enter the office. She turned the corner and saw Dad and Karen but at first didn't recognize me. I said "surprise" and she just about passed out! She could not beleive it! Of course we all started crying again! Even the counselor was crying! It was soooooo great to surprise her like that. But, the surprises didn't end there....

My little brother, Tyler, was in the school right next to Brittany's school so we went over there to pick him up too. He wasn't nearly as dramatic as Brittany. He just said "what are you doing here?" LOL! He was more excited to be leaving school early and to play with Nate and Ryan. BOYS!! But, the surprises didn't end there....

After we picked them all up from school we drove to my step-mom's work. My dad and brother and sister went inside and told her they had a surprise for her. Meanwhile, Joe, me and the boys were hiding in the back. Anita came around the corner and Ryan saw her and went running. She was in shock! She couldn't believe we were all there! We all came out of hiding and greeted her. Her boss gave her the rest of the afternoon and the next day off so she could stay home with us. Everyone was happy! But, the surprises didn't end there...

The only "important" person left that didn't know I was in town was our older sister, Angie. Angie is horrible at keeping secrets so I knew she would have to be the last one to get surprised or everyone would know before I could surprise them. LOL! It was just about the time Angie was supposed to pick up her daughter from school so Karen called and asked her if she could come to Daddy's. Angie is very emotional and immediately thought something was wrong. Karen tried to console her but she still seemed to rush to get there. As she pulled up, a ton of cars were there. My rental, Karen's, Daddy's, Anita's, Brittany's, and Anita's parents. She thought something was wrong still. As she rang the doorbell I stood in the living room waiting for her to enter. When she first walked in I could see her face but she didn't notice me. She saw Joe sitting on the couch and everyone in the living room and had a weird look on her face. Keep in mind, she has never met Joe. The boys were hiding behind me so she didn't see them either. She didn't look towards me at first so I just said "surprise" and she then realized I was standing there. OH my word! I thought she was gonna have a heart attack. She started screaming and crying and flailing her hands around. She was probably the most dramatic of them all! It was great to be able to surprise her like that.

Yes, the surprises ended there. But, that was surely enough for one day! I was exhausted from all the emotions! We immediately started making plans to all get together and have a late Thanksgiving/early Christmas gathering the next day. We all arranged to go back to my aunt's house...since she had the biggest house...and we made it a potluck style lunch. We arranged to get to Sears for some family photos as a present to my parents for Christmas. All in all, it was a fabulous weekend!!