Hubby's Surprise: Part 2

 As I said before, Hubby's 40th birthday surprise had several parts, so I'll be sharing the photos in several batches.

The Friday and Saturday parts of the surprise was posted here.

So, leading up to Sunday, Hubby had been talking about going bear hunting with his Dad and brother.  I had to MAKE SURE they DID NOT agree to bear hunting.  Hubby knew that I had a "PEO Family Cookout" planned for Sunday afternoon.  I had this "PEO Family Cookout" on the calendar for about six weeks, and I even emailed my PEO sisters and told them about the surprise so they would cover for me and keep up the rouse in the days and weeks leading up to Labor Day in case they ran into Chris.

Chris was still believing the PEO cookout was happening right up until Sunday morning.  He knew that his brother and family were in town, and he knew that his parents were in town... but he told me later, he was really still thinking that I had a PEO event that day that just happened to coincide with his family coming.

Hubby went to breakfast with his dad and brother, but they promised me to have Hubby home between 10-10:30.  My parents and my brother and his girlfriend arrived at 10:15.  Chris was outside in the front yard when they arrived and even then he didn't realize the PEO cookout was not happening.  The kiddos were SO surprised and excited to see Grammie and Papa and Uncle Trent and Miss Jenn.

Finally, when I asked Hubby to help me with the "PEO SLIDESHOW" I had created, and he saw a slideshow filled with pictures of HIM, he laughed and realized there was no PEO Family Cookout.

We spent some time with the family visiting, and then right about noon, I gathered everyone in the family room to watch the kid's perform the birthday surprise song they had learned for their daddy.  The timing was chosen because the kiddos were excited to do it, and they weren't too over-stimulated or exhausted yet which they would be later in the day.

I called the kiddos outside for a few minutes to give them a pep talk before the show... which was good, and was to re-assure them of how great they would do... but it was also because I knew Chris' sister and her family here literally minutes away from arriving and I was trying to stall a few minutes so they didn't walk in in the middle of the kid's song.

As I ended the huddle with the kids outside, I literally saw the head of Uncle Daniel behind one of the cars in the driveway.  So I gathered the kids back in the house and had them get in their spots for the song... and then the front door opened and Chris' sister and brother-in-law, and their four kids, and their niece walked in.

Honestly, due to Friend Finder on iphone, Chris was not fully surprised by the arrival of his brother, my parents, or my brother (he knew all along his parents were coming).  But the arrival of Becky and Daniel and their crew shocked him!

Also, the timing was absolutely perfect because everyone was in the family room all gathered for the song -- and the kids were right there where they could see their cousins arrive, and it really was perfect.

Then, before I totally lost the kids to their cousins arriving, they performed their song for Daddy.

Then, the rest of the day was a fun cookout with lots of water play for the kids outside.  It was about 90* and gorgeous, so the kids had a ball outside with the trampoline, and the hose, and the water bounce house, and the adults spent time inside and outside enjoying the weather and everyone's company.  The slideshow of pictures of Hubby played on our television all day and included photos from his entire life, and included some photos with almost everyone who was in attendance.

One last surprise I had planned for the day was a Hubby's birthday dessert for the party.  He likes pie or cheesecake -- not birthday cake.  So, I wanted to do a birthday cake that he actually wanted, but I also wanted to be careful about germs in the time of COVID.  So, I was able to hire a local caterer to make one regular-sized cheesecake for Hubby.  Then, she also provided 3-dozen cupcake-sized individual cupcakes for our guests.  They were all plain cheesecakes, with different toppings to choose from.

Hubby's big cheesecake was blackberry flavored.  The topping flavors were strawberry, cherry, chocolate, and basil-berry.

All our family stayed close to Rifle that night because we were going to get together Monday for brunch, but still only Nick and Mandy and their kids were at our house.

Here are pictures from Sunday: