I then took it upon myself to tell all my local pledge class sorority sisters that Aimee was coming to town for just a short trip and if they wanted to stop by my house to see her and the kids, come on Friday between the hours of 2:00pm-6:00pm. I didn't want to be rude so I didn't mention Aimee and I were going out to dinner by ourselves that night. So Keri and Grace were able to stop by and we had a fun time in the afternoon catching up and letting the kids play. Aimee and Keri got to meet the newest baby kappa, Grace's daughter (my Goddaughter!) Lily. The rest of the girls said they were going to try to make it depending upon work/traffic, but eventually texted us and said sorry that they couldn't swing it (which was understandable since it was working hours, etc.)
Aimee told me after she arrived that she already had reservations for us at a certain restaurant because she wanted to do special something for me and she already prearranged something there (made it sound like a non-dairy dessert). I told her thanks but I rather take her to a different restaurant that was a mile down the street because she's already been to the one she made reservations at and I wanted her to check out this nice local restaurant right in our town (and it would be easier for getting back at 9:15pm). She didn't put up too much of a fight and let me make reservations at the restaurant which is a mile away. So we were getting dressed getting ready to go and she told me we had to first stop by the restaurant she originally made reservations at and pick up the special something she prearranged because they wouldn't let her cancel the order (again, I was thinking non-dairy cake or something). I finally said, well that's silly if we have go all the way there anyway, we might as well stay there and not come all the way back to eat at the local restaurant. She said many times that it was completely up to me and she'd be fine with coming back to the local place. But I finally made the decision to cancel my reservations at the nearby restaurant. So we drove to the restaurant in the next town over and I was a little bummed because we took Aimee's family there the last time they visited us for a Sunday brunch so I just wanted to show her a different good restaurant. But I was trying to be polite about it, because after all, she arranged what I thought was a special dessert. She walked in first and told the hostess her name and "reservations for 2" but then I saw the hostess's eyes widen and had a weird look on her face as she said "follow me." In those 10 seconds we followed the hostess my brain was questioning if somebody else was joining us for dinner or whether Aimee arranged a special romantic table for two, haha.
And that's when I walked into the room with a large table, my sorority sisters, balloons, gifts and a beautiful banner that said "WELCOME HOME GRANT" made by another sorority sister who has a Etsy shop and lives in Ohio. I'm not a big crier, but I couldn't help but to instantly tear up as I couldn't even believe what was before my eyes.
Cecilia couldn't come until later so she's not in the picture and we forgot to take another one with her! Boo!
Perhaps in retrospect it sounds suspicious but in my mind, Aimee's trip was planned last minute, I saw half of the girls already that afternoon at my house, and Aimee didn't seem to care too much that I changed the reservations on her to another restaurant and then I was the one that made the decision to cancel those reservations right before we left. So, I really had no clue at all until I was following the hostess that made the weird face but by that time I was already standing in the room:-) They got me good. Apparently, they all had been planning it for quite some time but when things got crazy with the Maryland tragedy they decided to wait until we got our court date. And Aimee just prayed I'd say yes to her visiting on short notice:-)
All I can say is that they went above and beyond. I was so overwhelmed by the generosity of these beautiful women that have been in my life since we pledged Kappa Kappa Gamma together in 1999. They gave us wonderful matching clothes for both boys, books, toys, gift cards, etc. And then went WAY over the top and gave me a joint gift of this amazing necklace of the letters "A" and "G" for both my boys to replace the necklace they know I've been wearing every day that says "Love" in Korean with Grant's name on the back until I will take it off for good when he is finally in my arms. It is my first Tiffany & Co. piece of jewelry!
Megan gathered all the little details from my blog to have the banner match the theme and colors of Grant's room. She also created a bingo game for us to play at dinner that as you can see had lots of fun stuff about Grant and Korea with the same colors and airplane theme. Here's my winning bingo sheet!
Jeris made this adorable puzzle that we all took turns putting together. She had the help of her friend who is learning Korean right now and actually took the time to write the Hangul characters for the Korean words. She also made the adorable beach pails for the entire family with towels and goodies inside for each of us.
And Grace with her new baby Lily drove to the city to go to the well-known non-dairy bakery called Sticky Fingers and get amazing cupcakes with the letter "G" on them for dessert. All in all, it was a very emotionally overwhelming night. I'm still in awe of how much these girls spoiled me and my family and their generosity. These days, with most of us married, half of us with kids, even though we live nearby we don't see each other as much as we would like. So it was an incredibly special surprise to have all the girls there to show their love and support for our new addition to our family.
Thank you Aimee, Grace, Megan, Jeris, Keri, Kara and Cecilia! We love you! Grant is so blessed to have you girls in his life It was especially special because I never got a proper baby shower with Auden since he came the week before my shower was planned in Philly so we had to cancel it.
And thank you Cody for helping with the surprise and babysitting! I love these pictures. I took the one while Aimee and I were getting ready upstairs and the other picture is because Sydney wanted so badly to sleep with Auden so we put them in the same bed after we came home. When we checked on them later we found them like this:-)
All I can say is that they went above and beyond. I was so overwhelmed by the generosity of these beautiful women that have been in my life since we pledged Kappa Kappa Gamma together in 1999. They gave us wonderful matching clothes for both boys, books, toys, gift cards, etc. And then went WAY over the top and gave me a joint gift of this amazing necklace of the letters "A" and "G" for both my boys to replace the necklace they know I've been wearing every day that says "Love" in Korean with Grant's name on the back until I will take it off for good when he is finally in my arms. It is my first Tiffany & Co. piece of jewelry!
Megan gathered all the little details from my blog to have the banner match the theme and colors of Grant's room. She also created a bingo game for us to play at dinner that as you can see had lots of fun stuff about Grant and Korea with the same colors and airplane theme. Here's my winning bingo sheet!
Jeris made this adorable puzzle that we all took turns putting together. She had the help of her friend who is learning Korean right now and actually took the time to write the Hangul characters for the Korean words. She also made the adorable beach pails for the entire family with towels and goodies inside for each of us.
And Grace with her new baby Lily drove to the city to go to the well-known non-dairy bakery called Sticky Fingers and get amazing cupcakes with the letter "G" on them for dessert. All in all, it was a very emotionally overwhelming night. I'm still in awe of how much these girls spoiled me and my family and their generosity. These days, with most of us married, half of us with kids, even though we live nearby we don't see each other as much as we would like. So it was an incredibly special surprise to have all the girls there to show their love and support for our new addition to our family.
Thank you Aimee, Grace, Megan, Jeris, Keri, Kara and Cecilia! We love you! Grant is so blessed to have you girls in his life It was especially special because I never got a proper baby shower with Auden since he came the week before my shower was planned in Philly so we had to cancel it.
And thank you Cody for helping with the surprise and babysitting! I love these pictures. I took the one while Aimee and I were getting ready upstairs and the other picture is because Sydney wanted so badly to sleep with Auden so we put them in the same bed after we came home. When we checked on them later we found them like this:-)
We had so much fun planning the surprise and are even more thrilled that you are meeting your sweet boy so very soon. It was such a wonderful night for all of us. Love you!!
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