Aaron’s Surprise Party

Aaron turned the big Three Oh this year, so I figured I needed to throw him a killer party. I was completely inspired by the blog Hostess with the Mostess to throw a carnival-themed party. I had paper lanterns, pom poms, balloons, themed food, bouncy castle, you name it. And then the wind started. And it never stopped. And the deep fryer (which was Aaron’s present) for the corn dogs didn’t have a cord. But that’s okay. It still turned out great. My friend Sacha took some amazing pictures for me so I could play hostess instead of photographer. Here’s the birthday boy. And he says he was completely surprised, even though Paul in his prayer the night before started saying, “And we thank thee we could go to the party store and have licorice and have cupcakes…” I had to shush him in the middle of his prayer, and he completely didn’t get it. Luckily I’m a convincing liar "(Right, Aaron? Right?) and he was completely fooled. Or Aaron’s the convincing one. And apparently I had a good time surprising him (this was taken just when he came home). Or else I was just glad that my new dress fit (I didn’t try it on until 40 minutes before the party) and that it looked super cute with my red shoes. Lando had a GREAT time. I can’t tell you how many times I heard, “Mom!! Lando stole my cupcake!” He refused to come in for at least an hour after everyone left because he was busy scrounging. We loved being surrounded by friends. A party is only as good as the people attending. My vision of oodles of balloons all around the backyard didn’t happen because of the wind. But I was determined to have the balloons in spite of the weather. Luckily I have no problems delegating, and the DeMosses were my designated balloon inflators. Unfortunately the balloons kept popping on the ceiling. But they looked good while they lasted. We had quite the spread. Sacha (the photographer) made the most adorable (and delicious!) popcorn cupcakes. They were so cute that people were worried about eating them…almost. (And yes, Lando did eventually steal Makenna’s cupcake.) More photos of the spread: By my friend Melissa. Isn’t this vegetable bouquet incredible? The popcorn machine was a hit. Yummy wings and corndogs for something more substantial. The kids had a blast playing together. There were millions of them, which scared some of Aaron’s friends from work, but we’re used to the chaos. I made little props for people to use for pictures in a photo booth. Couldn’t do the booth because of the wind, but Sacha still got some great photos: Happy birthday to the love of my life! I can’t wait to see what the next 30 years bring!