Schemes and Surprises

Almost two weeks ago, we had a surprise anniversary party for Mom and Dad. A party which we kids had been planning since last July.  I hope you're prepared for a long post... 

Mom and Dad's 25th anniversary was actually July 1, as I have mentioned before.  We planned the party to be in PA on July 18th, since we are almost always up there at that time.  It took much scheming on our part to get everything by Mom and Dad. We had quite a bit of help from a pastor friend getting them up in PA at the right time.  It was a little funny but quite scary as we waited for Dad to decide when to travel up! (There was one point where Dad thought that maybe we just wouldn't go this year! Of all years! But we did...)  We encountered vehicle problems on the trip about half an hour from the house and had to turn around and go back. Mom actually suggested that she stay home so that the rest of us would be able to fit in the car! Nate and I were silently freaking out!! We wouldn't want to leave Mom behind anyway, but in this case it was imperative that she go! Nathan offered to take his truck as well, so we changed all the luggage over to the truck and car and finally got on our way.

Dad and Mom stayed at a church to work on their fellowship building while we kids were about an hour away at our grandparents, preparing for our parent's party while they thought we were just hanging out with Gram and Pap. =)  Melinda had sent the invitations several months earlier:

  That Friday morning, we kids and some friends from our grandparent's church headed to the fire hall to set up. We also had a lot of help from both sides of the family...

We put Daniel and lil' Andrew to
sharpening pencils, which would
be put at each seat for the
guest quiz.

They had a little too much fun... =D

Aunt Jane helped with much of the table decor

LOL... 

Cassie putting silver sprinkles down the center of the table

This quiz was at each seat and the guests completed them throughout
the evening. The answers were given at the end and
Mom's sister, Jane, got the most questions correct.

{Answers}

1) 18

2) 27

3) Pastor Bob Maurer

4) Daughter

5) North Carolina

6) Belleville, PA

7) Gingerbread Houses

8) Two

9) Spark

10) Popcorn

11) Pink and Gray

12) 10

13) Work; painting, roofing,.. you name it  =D

14) bible Truth Institute

15) Blue

16) Horse

17) Steer

18) Apple Pie

Scrapbook/Gift  Table
{I brought these scrapbooks from home by sneaking them into my suitcase =)}

Andrew, our sound man, getting the mics and slide projector ready

Four of Dad's sisters came, brought some of the food and drinks and helped us prepare the meat and cheese trays and cut up vegetables:

The Cake... is a story all to itself. 

Melinda decided that we girls would just make the cakes. We wouldn't have to buy them or saddle anyone else with the responsibility. And it would be fun. I guess she didn't realize that, though Mom has decorated many cakes for parties and graduations, she never really taught Beth and I how to make flowers and shelling  with icing. 

We found out that Dad's sister, Mary Lou, was the family cake-maker and had all the cake pans and necessary equipment. So Thursday, the day before the party, we girls got our ingredients and headed to Aunt Mary's house. She wasn't there the whole time, which was probably a good thing since we had powder sugar flying everywhere and cake batter spilling on the floor! But by the end of the day, she knew we were crazy anyway! She helped a lot though with advice and making flowers. It would've been a flop without her.  We decided to just freeze the cakes until Friday and decorate them at the fire hall. We made up the flowers ahead of time and froze them as well.  

We decided to use marshmellow fondant instead of icing to cover the cakes, that way we didn't have to worry about ironing the tops smooth. But none of us, not even Aunt Mary, had ever actually made or used fondant before. Yes, it probably was rather stupid of us, but we did it anyway, and it worked! 

Decorating the cakes at the fire hall

We made two sheet cakes, one chocolate and one butter golden, and a four-tiered hexagon-shaped marble cake. 

We let Aunt Mary do most of the icing writing =)

The fondant was really neat

Mary was so good at adding the needed touches, stuff we would've
never thought about. She did a beautiful job

We loved it!

The cake topper is a piece of history. Mom's parents used it for their wedding cake, Mom and Dad used it, both Mom's siblings used it, and Mom's parents used it in their 25th anniversary. =)

We very carefully carried the cake to the table... Bethany pretended
to be that lady from Sheffey who "helped" the men carry the organ. LOL

The final products!!

The cake crew

People began to arrive a little before six. Gram and Pap Maurer were responsible for getting Mom and Dad to the party at 6:10.  Mom and Dad thought they were coming to a family friend's birthday party. Pap didn't really tell them that exactly, but well, that's what they were led to believe. =)

They arrived on time, but when Pap opened the door, Mom caught sight of her uncle and froze. {They were supposed to come in the door so we could see their expressions!! =D} She turned to Dad and said, "This is not what I think it is."

We all shouted "Surprise" and finally got them to come in!

The surprise was complete. We kids had been afraid that Dad, the suspicious one, was on to us, but we got them both!

Mom cried for the next fifteen minutes as they greeted people, some of whom they hadn't seen in twenty years!

These two older couples came from Canada - CANADA -  to
come to this party! They became good friends when we lived up
there, and we've only seen them a couple times since.  We kids
hadn't even known that they were coming, so that surprised all of us!

It was also really neat to meet people that some of us kids had only heard Mom and Dad talk about.

We projected a video on the wall of pictures of Mom and Dad from before they were married till present day. I'll post it later since this post is long enough as it is!

Nathan was the MC and directed the evening.  We didn't plan much
since we knew most would want to fellowship, but we had a few
things 

 We made Mom and Dad play the "newlywed game"  with a slight twist for our own purposes =)

I have the whole thing on video, which I'll post later with the slide show.

It was quite funny 

We kids sang

Pastor Leatherman, who has known Mom and Dad since
before they were married, spoke for a few minutes

this was Mom's face when she first noticed the cake =D

serving the cake and ice cream

  It was really a fun party, and worth all the work and stress. We had around 150 people. Many guests commented on how much they enjoyed the evening.

We already have ideas for Mom and Dad's fiftieth . . .  just a private family party! LOL