Harvey hits the big 4-0 !!!!

I did it! I did it! I pulled it off. For years, I have teased Harvey that I was going to throw a huge party for him for his 40th birthday. He claimed that he didn't want it but, what do you do. You have to work with it and make it memorable.

Harvey has had a particuarly hard time with this birthday. He is so young at heart and looks no where near 40 so the actual number has hit him like a Mack Truck. I wanted to make this birthday fun so that he would always look at this birthday with fond memories.

I started planning this party over a month ago with the help of several of my good friends. We bought party supplies a little bit at a time. I had the party "catered" meaning that I pre-ordered food and picked it up. We had signs, balloons, tons of crepe paper, the ever lasting bounce house (so glad that we bought that a few years back) and several other reminders that Harvey is getting up there. Sherrie made two of her famous sheet cakes for birthday cakes. That is the best sheet that you will ever eat.

I had sent Harvey off to a movie with his friend James. I had timed this perfectly with the length of the movie to ensure that we could pull this off flawlessly. I called the theater and found out that the movie let out 20 mintues earlier than I had anticipated and had to call Harvey and James to the store for some last minute necessities. Needing an extra 10 mintues, I called him once again and insisted that we needed socks, something that I knew he would have a hard time finding. After a few minutes of distraction, he came home and was blown away. We had pulled it off and he had had no idea.

We had several obstacles in keeping it a secret 1) Kyra caught on and had a really hard time not talking about it. 2) My mom called and left a message about the party on our home answering machine and had to quickly call me and tell me to erase it. 3) We had a family party with the Franco family last week and nearly every person asked me a question about it in front of Harvey. 4) I had stuff hidden in parts of the house that Harvey never goes into and he for some reason found all of those spots this past month. 5) I had to be super careful talking infront of other people or on the phone.

About 30 minutes into the party, a huge storm cloud come over head and absolutely poured rain. What luck is that. Not a drop of rain all summer and a huge downpour on our outdoor party. So, the party moved inside. Thank heavens that house was semi clean. Dad and Kelty rode out the storm under the tables that we had set up outside. They loved every minute of the rain. The fence suffered though. The cheap black crepe paper that we had used completely stained my fence. My brothers, my dad and James spend nearly 2 hours outside with bottles of clorox cleaning off my fence.

All in all, it was a great party. We really surprised him and he was excited to see old friends and family. Thank you to all of you for coming and fitting us into your schedule. I know that it meant a lot to Harvey and it meant the world to me. Thank you Sherrie, James, Kristin and Dave for helping me set up, take down and organize the whole thing. Dad, Derek, Dustin, James and Dave, Thanks for scrubbing our fence and making it look better than it has ever looked. We are so grateful for such great family and friends. We love you all and are blessed to know you