A Successful Surprise!!!!!!!

I pulled off something on Saturday that I thought was going to be impossible ... a surprise baby shower for my friend Elizabeth! If you know her, then you know she is a reporter and great investigator. I called her on Tuesday to tell her that we were having a small cookout on Saturday before summer was over and we all had new babies.

I told her both sets of Kirk's were coming too. Well, before I had a chance to let Christy Kirk know that I had included their names in the cookout, Elizabeth had said something to Christy on Facebook about seeing them on Saturday. I immediately got a message from Christy asking if Elizabeth knew about the shower. She wasn't going to respond back to Elizabeth until she heard from me. I thought, oh Lord, that sneaky girl!

Then on Wednesday, Elizabeth sent me a text asking if we could invite the Hensarling's. I said sure and immediately sent Kerri a text to let her know that Elizabeth was going to be contacting her about a cookout and to just go with it. Elizabeth didn't know that the Hensarling's were in on helping throw the shower!

On Friday, Elizabeth's son Mason was sick with an ear infection. I thought I was going to have to tell her about the shower to get her to my house with a sick child. Travis always provides ice for get-togethers since he has a big ice machine. He sent me a text around 9:30 asking if the house was decorated yet because Elizabeth had decided to ride with him to drop off the ice. Thank goodness it was not and I just had to move a few flower arrangements to the bedroom. Mason was feeling better on Saturday so they took him fishing where he decided to eat old, molded fish food. Elizabeth was freaking out, called poison control, and so on! Another thing I thought I was going to have to break the secret about to get her to my house.

Twenty minutes before the set time for Travis to have Elizabeth at my house, I got a call from Elizabeth. I had to dash outside to answer because I had about 30 loud people in my house. She told me she's not coming unless she can bring something to share at the cookout. I had originally told her to just come eat and we were providing everything. So, we decided on fruit!

When Elizabeth finally rang the doorbell, I was sweating bullets and could not believe I had pulled it off. She walked in the door, fruit in hand, and was totally shocked to come around the corner and find her closest friends, family, and news colleagues standing on my stairs. It was priceless and totally worth the stress!




Elizabeth had no idea that her mom from Atlanta was in on it too. She even left Elizabeth's house that morning and dropped off a cupcake cake from Publix.



It was a great party and I could not have done it without the help of Travis' parents, sister, and Kerri Hensarling. Now, we just have to sit and wait for Sept 2 when sweet Avery makes her debut!