surprise!

In some families (like mine!), aunts and nieces are closer in age than sisters!  I just happen to be the baby in my family.  My oldest sister is 13 years older than I and my middle sister is 8 years older than I am.  I just happen to be 8 years older than my niece, Cissy (daughter of the oldest sister).  A while back we received an invitation for a surprise 50th birthday for my niece.

The day of the party arrived and we drove about an hour north to the home of my great niece, Jennifer.   She and her husband, Jerry, recently built a new home and we were excited to see her home in addition to attending the surprise party.

We were all hiding in the dark as Cissy (aka Melanie to the real world) approached the house and of course everyone yelled "surprise" when she came through the door.

I have very few pictures of just the two of us together so was happy to get one that night!

I have NO idea what I'm doing here - laughing, I presume!  My oldest sister, Glenine (named after our dad - Glenn), is sitting in the recliner.  She has had some major health problems and I was glad she was able to attend the party.

Mark spent most of his time talking to Scott (striped shirt).  Scott is married to Cissy (my niece).  Scott has a day job but LOVES to cook - as in he is trained as a chef.  I've heard about his meals and I've seen pictures so I was excited to eat some of the food he prepared.  I believe that in addition to food, Mark and Scott discussed bourbon!

This is Mandy, another one of my great nieces.  She is just a few months older than my kids.  She is an EMT and has a whole bunch of other titles.  She rides in the ambulance and I can't even imagine doing that.  She has a special gift that I DO NOT have!!  Her wife, Megan, was not able to attend the party that night.

Jennifer made some beautiful and tasty cupcakes.  I ate a caramel one and it was delicious!!

The decorations were so cute - they had banners and streamers.  I told them that they need to have a top made for the pool table so they can use it as a dining room table.  The pool table (it was really fancy so maybe billiards??) was a great repository for the presents.

Here is the table in the Beverly Hillbillies - they just pulled up their chairs and called it the fancy eatin' table!

Look what I found when I was looking for the Beverly Hillbillies picture - they actually make a "fancy eatin' table" that is BOTH  a dining room table and a pool table!

Back to the birthday - I'm so happy that our great nieces included us.  It was good to be with my family for a short evening!!

Welcome to the 50's Cissy -- the water is just fine!  Happy Birthday!