S U R P R I S E !!!

It is Rob's birthday on Monday. He will be 29 years old.

Guava and Mango with cream

A while ago I decided to have a surprise birthday party for him. So I created a Facebook event and invited all our friends. I had some of them bring desserts and I made several too. I ordered a cake. (It is no ordinary cake! This is a guava mango cake, made in a dutch oven - like a potjie. It is moist and has lots of cream in it. Neither Rob nor I are really cake people, but this cake is something else and we both love it!) I got some decorations and ordered 30 helium balloons. I also organized for a friend of his to take him out from 5:30 till 6:45pm.

The dutch oven cake with edible flowers

That day was extremely stressful. Rob went to school and I dropped the boys off at Melissa Hubert's house. She and Des Belt were going to watch them for me for 3 hours. Then I rushed home and began baking and cleaning the house. It was so hard to get done what I needed to in the short time I had. I then rushed to pick up the boys, put them down for a nap and continued to bake. I had to do this all while Rob was out. I made dinner and Rob came home just in time. The treats were at my neighbor's house (the Nelsons) and the house was looking great and dinner was on the table. Marc, Rob's friend, came 30 minutes later to pick him up so that they could go work out at the gym. Rob would not be suspicious then because they had been talking for months about going to the gym. I then packed the kids in the car and we went to pick up the balloons. I then raced home (driving like I had a woman in labor in the car) and rushed the kids into the house to get them changed and the decorations up. Fortunately, Marc's wife Katie came over and helped me and Kellie, my neighbor, brought my treats over and helped me finish them. Soon all the guests began arriving. (We had about 30 people who came.) Marc texted me to tell me they were coming back from the gym and I told everyone to wait in the kitchen (our house is open plan and that place made the most sense). Soon, Rob arrived and we all shouted surprise.

Some of the guests (and me holding Stephen)

Rob and his good old friend Andy

Rob was so shocked. He couldn't believe that I had managed to keep it from him and that he had no idea. Well, he had discovered that I was planning something, but he thought it was going to be in Baltimore. While at the gym Rob was discussing with Marc how he thought I was up to something, but Marc just played it cool. He is an awesome actor!

Anyway, it was extremely fun and best of all, Rob had a good time and was so grateful.