Surprise Surprise and 4th of July

We recently got back from surprising my mother-in-law for her 65th b-day and my Daddy for his 60th. Their birthdays are June 26 and 28, respectively. So James and I loaded up the kids and puppy (who is not really a small dog anymore) and drove to DFW for two separate surprise parties. We intruded on my sister in law and her family and crammed our family and dog into their home for two nights because my Daddy couldn't know we were in town. We had a blast screaming surprise at my mother in law who did not disappoint in her reaction of jumping up and down, screaming and clapping her hands. I swear she looked like John or Matt when they get excited! It was very cute.

Here are myself, Mother-in-law Helen, sister-in-law Christy, and niece Hannah enjoying Helen's birthday dinner at Outback Steakhouse.

More pics of the gang...


I guess James got hungry and decided to nibble on his Dad's ear...

On Sunday the 28th, we loaded up and headed to the Fort Worth Stockyards to Riskey's BBQ (our hands-down fave) to surprise my Daddy. He thought he was going there to meet my sister and her family for a B-day lunch. Little did he know that we had gotten together as a family and pitched in to fly my brother and his fiance in from Florida for the week as my Dad's gift. This was doubly cool since NONE of us had ever met Jared's fiance, Erin. Let me just say that our family hit the jackpot. Erin is the coolest, sweetest, most sincere person and we all LOVED her! We instantly clicked and I absolutely cannot wait to have her as part of this family. (Actually, we're kinda lucky she didn't back out after meeting all of us. If you've ever been so... privileged?... as to share the Wilson dinner table, then you know we are not your ordinary pastoral family. No... we are a little off-color and a little blunt. By little, of course, I mean a lot.)

Here is my Daddy's face at the precise moment of walking in and discovering all of us waiting for him. Priceless.


Since he was turning 60, it was only fitting to bestow him with unflattering, annoying over-the-hill gifts. He graciously donned this ugly purple cap that reads "60. At my age, happy hour is a nap," while my 3-year-old rattled off "OH-NO! The big 6-0!" in a sing-songy voice.

We also gave him this lovely black cone that was labled an "Acouster Booster" for the hard of hearing. Funny thing was, it really worked!!!!

And of course, no party is complete without a cake and the wait staff singing to you in a lovely off-key rendition of "Happy Birthday". Riskey's supplied the b-day cake, but unfortunately, the box of frozen cakes had been dropped upon delivery and the icing had slid off one side on all of them. Our poor waitress did her best to slather the icing back on, but our sad little cake looked a little worse for wear.

Here is a picture of the whole gang...

Here are a few shots of the party and hanging out in the Stockyards afterward. This one is of my sister, me and Erin. (Erin is wearing a gift bow because she and Jared were "the gift". Get it?)

Here is Erin enjoying her first-ever Texas rib! She was waaaaaay too dainty about the whole thing. She'll learn.

My handsome bro and me. WHAT on earth made me smile that big???

My sweet boy, Matthew, and me. Thank goodness my smile is back to normal.

The happy couple and me photo-crashing.

There are no words. I have no idea....

Uncle Jared, Matt and Mom.

After Riskey's, we went to the Ballpark at Arlington for the Ranger's game. I'm not sure if that was fun or a calamity. We were SOOOOOOO hot. It was about 600˚ outside. No lie. And no breeze to speak of. I am quite certain that if I had put on any pregnancy pounds so far, they were sweated off that night. About the 8th inning, a few of us finally gave in and retreated to the a/c to watch the rest on a monitor. Brilliant.




The next day, we had a second b-day lunch for Daddy, only Grandma got to come this time. It was good day! Grandma only peed her pants once. I had to tell her three times I was pregnant and each time, she threw her hand up in delight and squealed, "Really? You are?!?" Grandma has Alzheimer's and we have to choose to see the humor in all that.

Grandma and me...

Here are a few more highlights...

This one is of my new niece, Allie, and her uncle James. Does he not look completely natural snuggling a baby GIRL????



The following week, everybody came out to our house in Sugar Land to celebrate the Fourth. We spent the evening in Galveston, eating at The Spot on Seawall Blvd. (our family fave), and letting the kids play in the water. In retrospect, letting the kids play in the gulf, while fun and exciting, is a VERY. MESSY. ACTIVITY. Oh my. Here is a photo of my little urchins after an hour in the water and another in the sand.

Here are more pictures of our fun on the beach.






We had a great time visiting with family and getting to know our newest member. I will post pics of their visit as soon as I feel up to it.

Baby Update:
I am 7 1/2 weeks along and Baby Bubba is the size of a blueberry this week. His/her eyes, nose and mouth have started to form and the fingers and toes are developing. By the end of the week, Bubba will have webbed hands and feet. How cute! The heart is beating 160 times per minute. Amazing. I am not feeling so well these days. I had been feeling fantastic up til I hit seven weeks. Now, not so much. It's a chore to get out of bed. I won't complain, since the pregnancy appears to be healthy. My first appointment got rescheduled for the 24th. Bummer. But hopefully I will have some pictures of Bubba for you two weeks from today! (Keep thinking PINK!!!)