My Mom's 80th Birthday Party

It has taken me forever, but I'm finally posting again! We had the opportunity to go "home" to Mobile, Alabama for our Spring Break March 16th. We actually don't usually go home this time of year, but I knew our Spring Break would fall really close to my mom's birthday on the 23rd of March and this year she was turning 80. We did tell her we were making the trip home, but we wanted to surprise her with a party at the end of our week on Saturday. Indeed, she was truly SURPRISED!!! Usually when we make a trip home she will try to gather our family together, but this time my sister convinced her that she would get everyone together that she could out at her house for lunch. Mama was NOT convinced that everyone with their differing schedules would make it! She was quite worrisome about it all week when we would visit with her. I would just smile and say, "Well it's OK, Mom. We certainly understand!" ("Hee Heeing" under my breath the whole time!) Also, I must say here that I am very proud of Graham. He kept asking me all week if we could tell her our secret yet? And, of course my reply was always, "not yet!" He did indeed keep it a secret ALL week! When Mama drove up to Gracie's house she was quite surprised to see so many cars, but just thought maybe Gracie and Calvin had invited some of their friends, too. As she got out and walked up to the patio, though, she began to realize that all the vehicles WERE family! It has been quite a while since we've had so many together all at one gathering! She was so thrilled...and even a bit overwhelmed that we had done all this for her! She loved her cake with her High School graduation portrait and she received bunches of really nice presents! Her favorite gift of all, though, was having our family all together! I so appreciate my family for ALL they did to make it happen! I love them all so much and count it such a blessing that we are so close even though we cannot get together as often as we would like! Enjoy the slide show of my pictures!