Surprise!

No, the surprise isn't that I'm blogging again. Although that would be a logical guess. This is the busy time of year for me as we wind up the school year. I've realized that if Madigan ever looks back through old blog entries for a chronicle of her life, she's going to be disappointed every time she gets to the month of May. :) BUT, the light is shining at the end of the tunnel since the school year will be over in a week and a half!! So maybe I'll get caught up on blogs soon...or maybe I'll just lay around and do nothing for a while :)
Enough about that though. The real surprise was a weekend of partying for my mom's 50th birthday. Dad and I conspired behind her back for a while and planned a secret trip to Rusk. We arrived on Friday afternoon and that evening met up with my grandparents and great-aunt at a restaurant. My dad picked Mom up from work and brought her there where she was met with a table full of people that she had no idea were coming in for the weekend and a really obnoxious sign that said "Happy Birthday Teri! The Big 5-0!"
The pictures speaks for itself...Even though she was very pleased to see Madigan, we got this look a lot... (for those of you who don't know my mom, this is her look that says "I will get you back for this")
But, once she got over the embarrassment of the whole restaurant knowing she was 50, she started to warm up a bit. It helped when we pulled out some presents. My dad went above and beyond and got her a beautiful grandmother's ring. (I think he knew he'd better get something good so he wouldn't be sleeping on the couch!) You can see she liked it.
That was it. No big deal. And really, was all of that so bad? No, of course not. So why is she looking like this as we pulled up to their house?

Maybe because circling their large wrap-around porch were 50 plus people who had come out to help celebrate with her as she reached the 50 year milestone (aka, torment her)!

Her best friends even met her at the car to welcome her home...with a wheelchair and some black carnations. I mean, what are friends for?A lot of people brought cards and gifts...a few were even nice :)
I actually think she had a good time, although I'm not sure she would admit it. And look who's hanging out in the wings looking all innocent.
Good try Dad, but I think she knows you were involved!
Happy Birthday Mom/GeeGee! We're looking forward to the next surprise birthday party...when you turn 100.

It worked out nicely that we also got to be there for Mother's Day this year. My dad got Mom and I beautiful corsages to wear to church. This was our best attempt to get Madigan to smile normally for a girl's picture.
We did finally get a good family picture!Also on this trip (I think it was a payback to me for surprising her with the party), Gee Gee pulled out her pompoms and megaphone from high school. I'll give you one guess who enjoyed playing with those. Let the corruption begin...Other than that :), it was a great weekend and one we won't soon forget. Thanks to Dad for the planning/plotting and to Mom for not having a nervous breakdown when you discovered 50 people in your house that you didn't know were going to be there! We love you both!

Gee Gee's granddaughter

Last week, Ted was making packages to take to the post office of things he'd sold on Ebay. Madigan was helping. As Ted finished a package in the bedroom, he gave it to Madigan and she moved them into the living room. I came around the corner after a little while and found this...
All of the boxes were lined up and facing the correct way, labels turned so that you could read the names. She was quite proud of herself. Ted thought it was hilarious. I, on the other hand, had all of the characteristics of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder flashing through my head. I'm afraid we've let Gee Gee have a little too much influence on this one...

Our Garden 2009

Last weekend, we finally got around to planting our garden. Madigan was much more excited about it this year than last year. She decided what she wanted to plant and helped us find the plants at the nursery. Then we got home and her evil parents made her take a NAP before going out to plant them. The anticipation was almost too much, but she survived.

Here's the pre-planting pictures. (Plumber Pants Alert!!)

Madigan learned that gardening takes a lot of concentration.
But there's also some room for some fun. :)Thankfully, Daddy gave her a hand with the actual planting. But she decided she could take care of the watering herself.



By far, the coolest part of the experience was finding the worms...


After a long day of gardening, there was only one thing a girl could do. Relax with a big bowl of lime sherbet.
All in all, a great time. We'll keep you posted as to whether or not the plants actually produce any vegetables :)