Someone turned 40 over the weekend. And that someone is pretty special to the rest of us here at the Shoe!
The kids and I had started plans for a surprise birthday bash for Lowell about a month ago. We had so much fun thinking what to get him and how we would surprise him! I will have to say that we are surrounded by some pretty awesome people who helped out the kids and I in ordering the gift, providing a safe place to keep all the party supplies, going in with us on the gift, and in general just keeping it hush-hush.
The day we got to wrap up the gift – a softball bat – we had fun holding it and swinging it around. Too late, I realized there was a little 3-year-old who was all eyes and ears! I tried to tell him this was a surprise and we couldn’t tell Daddy.
Wouldn’t you know that one of the first things he told Daddy when he got home was that he had seen his bat. Thankfully, he tried telling it in a 3-year-old way and didn’t actually use the word “bat” – so Daddy didn’t catch on as to what was going on. Whew. That was a close call! The rest of the kids and I were rather nervous after that.
Instead of asking people to bring a gag gift like 40th parties are known for, we thought it would be fun to simply have them write a note to Lowell at the party! Here is my cutting crew – slicing up cardstock.
And here is my gel pen testing crew. We used black cardstock paper so not all gel pens were very visible on black.
This one just mostly wanted to feel as important as the rest of them!
And it was finally ready to go into its safe hiding place until the party!
Lowell’s birthday was the Friday of our annual church campout. But since we don’t officially eat a meal together until Saturday evening, I planned the party for that time.
However, we weren’t entirely sure how to get Lowell away from the supper gathering for a few minutes to whisk out his cake and decorations. Some wonderful ladies came up with an idea! They planted some bags of ice in Sarah Byler’s freezer up the road . . . so about 15 minutes before supper they asked Lowell to go get that ice for us. As soon as he split out of there, we quickly set up all the decorations and cake – which someone else had kindly brought there for me.
Seriously, this was hard to keep all the planning a secret! Secrets – even like this – do not work well for long. I usually end up spilling something.
When Lowell came back, the kids ran out with silly string and we all yelled “surprise!”
We actually pulled it off! He was definitely surprised – so that made it all worth it!
As you can see, he had more help than he needed to light his 40 candles.
Happy birthday to my man!
A few days later, we took the kids to the ball diamond to break in his new softball bat. We all got a turn trying it and had so much fun!
This is our church group. And I love each one of them – they are so special to us! Matt Chupp had a drone that he used to take a few pictures and video of this entire group. I’m sure it was a challenge since there are around 250 of us there!
Enjoy your summer – we sure are!
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Mabel Chupp says
Is that Matt Chupp related to us? Your blogs are so much fun to read. Church camp out sure sounds like fun! we are a small fellowship. 8 families. Anywhere from 1 family member to 9 family members. So we are not too big of a fellowship.
Kendra says
Small churches are good, too! As for the Chupps, I don’t think you would be related to them. They come originally from South Carolina – a Mennonite church there. However, I could be surprised! 😉
Grandma G says
This was great! I can imagine all the work & zipped lips this took to pull off the surprise. Go you 🙂
To Mabel Chupp: Matt Chupp’s father is Darrell, who was born in Virginia Beach to Roman & Ada Chupp. The Chupp family has roots in Holmes County, Ohio. Our family had good times with Roman’s family, growing up!
Kendra says
Thanks, Mom, for helping the Chupp question! 🙂 And yes, the zipped lips was hard….I was afraid one of us was going to spill something. But I am so glad Lowell was respectful and didn’t pester us with too many questions! I could tell he got more curious the closer his birthday was, but he still knew we wanted to surprise him somewhere, sometime, somehow.
Mabel Chupp says
I am going to have to dig to find the box that has my Chupp directory in it to see if he is in the book also. I love finding relatives in the far parts of the world! HA! Thanks Donna for that info!
Mabel Chupp says
Oh, I justrealised that this is not Donna but Lowell’s Mom and we can not pull your name out of our hat!! This is bugging me and I just made a quick look for the Chupp book and I can not find it. So it will be in the back of my mind all day until I find it. We just finished moving boxes Thursday night so the box has to be somewhere in this house!
Kendra says
😉 I have moments like that too!
Regina S says
Looks like you all had a great time of fellowship. A happy belated birthday to Lowell!
Kendra says
Thank you Regina!
lauraofharvestlane says
Oh! I’m so happy for you all. What a wonderful celebration of 40 years! I remember the day my Lowell, yes amazing isn’t it, turned 40. My teenager made signs about him turning 40 and put them on telephone poles all the way to church! It was Sunday. By the time we got there, everyone knew it was his birthday!
Be blessed,
Laura of Harvest Lane Cottage
harvestlanecottage.com
Kendra says
What an awesome idea!! Birthdays can be so fun!