Samantha Jane Daynes turned 14 years old yesterday. I remember going in to be induced for her birth at Hong Kong Adventist Hospital just a few years ago, or so it seems.
So...I had the idea to have a surprise 14th birthday party for her and her good friend Holly Lesser, since their birthdays are only one day apart. I talked to Holly's mom about the idea before we left for our U.S. home leave, back in June. Danielle (Holly's mom) and I finally communicated about it again by e-mail just a couple of weeks ago. I didn't have consistent internet service at the places I was staying in San Diego so it was a little tricky planing with Danielle via e-mail every few days or so. Also, I was having some trouble getting some of Sammy's friends e-mail addresses without her wondering what I was up to. So, with two of Sammy's friends finding out about the party the day of...it all came together perfectly.
This is how the surprise went down:
Holly and her mom had tickets to attend a flute concert on the night of the party. Holly was attending a soccer camp at SAS and knew that she'd have to leave early to go home and shower, and get ready for the concert. She also knew that someone in her family would pick her up from soccer. This is where Sammy's plan came into effect; I asked Sammy around 6:00 if she'd like to go with me to pick up Holly as a favor to Holly's mom. Her mom was busy trying to get some light bulbs changed at her house (this was really true but she was trying to get them working so that the kids would be able to see at the party) and didn't want to get away to pick up Holly until she finished with the light bulb situation. This turned out to be a perfect and believable story...sometimes the banal works best!
So, Sammy and I found Holly on the soccer field. When Sammy found her Holly asked if we could wait just five more minutes while she finished the game. Then we piled in the car with Holly who was super sweaty of course from her soccer game and Sammy also unshowered...since we left the U.S. 48 or so hours earlier. Did I mention that we had just flown in from the U.S. that morning and got home about 4:30A.M.?! Somehow I found time to shower but Sammy decided she could put off her shower until that evening...
On both rides to and from SAS I saw kids walking up the hill toward the Lessers to attend the party. Thankfully Sammy and Holly didn't seem to notice them. As we pulled up to the Lessers house we saw Holly's dad getting out of his taxi. That didn't look too unusual to anyone so I told Sammy I wanted to go into the Lesser's house and see how the light bulb "activity" panned out. I asked Sammy if she wanted to come and she seemed up for it. Holly opened the door and was taking off her shoes and Sammy was looking in through the doorway, noticing the streamers that were hanging down from the Lesser's second floor and just kinda wondering what was going on. As soon as both girls stepped through the doorway all the kids yelled out their big "surprise!"
There were about 25 or so kids there, including about 10 boys. That helped increase the surprise factor a bit!
Danielle had made this yummy Mexican pulled pork to put on top of tortillas with all the trimmings for a fabulous Mexican feast! (Apparently the recipe was bootlegged by one of Danielle's sisters who worked at a Cafe Rio restaurant, who nabbed the recipe on one of her last days as an employee there.) Now I'm trying to figure out how to get this recipe from Danielle without giving away my Christmas salsa recipe. Hmm...I need to figure that out b/c that pork is so yummy and she even has the recipe for the green sauce that goes on top of it which is also...a-maz-ing!
I brought back all the paper products for the party from the U.S. in fun, bright colors, as well as those awesome M&M pretzels and peanut butter M&M's. I loved the look on Sammy's face every time I told her about something for the party that I had smuggled in our suitcases from the U.S. I want to capture that sweet look of surprise and the few minutes of "cool mom" then bottle it up and bring it out on the days when I'm "grumpy, irritated, cantankerous mom"!
After the kids got some food in them they spent the next couple of hours as typical teen-agers at a pool party. All the boys would throw their friends and the girls who were reluctant into the pool, until at last everyone was wet.
I especially love what I captured (accidentally) in this photo...notice Ashlyn Bruschke biting Parker Bates on the arm. Gotta love teen-agers!
I think that the main goal was accomplished for this party...to let Sammy (and Holly) know how much we love them. Sammy is a special girl and somehow Mike and I did something good at some point in our lives to get the gift that we were given by having Sammy as our oldest child. She is the diamond in our family.
I can hardly believe that Sammy starts HIGH SCHOOL on Monday! However, I know that she is going to have a great four years and I'm so glad that we were able to kick it off with a good head start!
Happy Birthday Sammers! We love you!
