Keeping Up With The Keims: Mom's Birthday Weekend!

Mom's 70th birthday was September 5th. The weekend following it my brothers and I were all able to get home to Texarkana to celebrate it. Always love going home. The kids were excited to see Mimi and Pappaw, Uncle Wes, and Uncle Jeff.

Random picture. Saturday morning, I found Layton in the closet going through all the toys.

They all love to mess around with their uncles. Here Wes was getting clobbered.

Saturday morning Mom, Hannah, and I went shopping. I told my mom that I needed to use some Old Navy bucks that I had to get her out of the house. She didn't know it, but practically her whole side of the family came out to my parents house while we were gone to surprise her!!! My aunts and I had been scheming over this for several weeks prior. It was a bit nerve wracking for me shopping with her because I was so excited and ready to get home, but I had to kind of extend the shopping a little bit to make sure everyone was there.

This was mom's face as she walked in the back door. Everyone was there in the laundry room and screamed "SURPRISE!!" I LOVE IT!!!

This was her from Kris' angle.

She was totally surprised.

I was so glad we had pulled it off. I couldn't stop laughing!

While we were shopping, Kris, Jeff, Wes, and my aunts were all getting the food ready. We had a Mexican fiesta! This is Aunt Rosie, Kris, and Aunt Suz.

Dad said the prayer before we all ate. I couldn't resist taking mom's picture during it. She got choked up. I don't think I knew this, but she had never had a real birthday party before. I couldn't believe that.

The food was YUMMO!!!

The kids enjoyed getting to hang out with their cousins for a little while!

After we ate, we gave mom her present. I had seen the idea on Pinterest and thought it was perfect. I had everyone in the family write things that they loved about Mom or good memories they had of her. We were shooting for 70 little notes for her to read. We actually ended up with more than that! She started reading them out loud, but got so emotional she insisted she couldn't do it. I think it was hard for her to hear so many good things about herself. I don't know why. They were all so deserving!

Aunt Rosie read her note out loud. It was funny in parts and talked about admiring mom so much for who she is and remembering how beautiful she was when she was their high school homecoming queen. Loved that!

Wes' cracked us all up. One of his notes was how he remembered the face mom used to make when she'd spank him. He showed us that face as you can see in the picture. It was hilarious. But the sweet thing he said was that he wished he could see that face again. He also mentioned that he always calls mom in the mornings on his way to work because he wants to hear her sweet voice. Loved that too!

Jeff had a lot of good notes for mom. He even used the acronym SAUNDRA STANLEY and came up with a lot of qualities about her that he loved. It was great! By this time Aunt Suz was the one reading the notes out loud. We had the best time--laughing and remembering and crying! Several people said that she reminded them of Mama Cille (her mother) and it is so true. This is a huge compliment because Mama Cille was a wonderful Christian woman and so loved by her family.

I didn't get a good picture of Dad for some reason, but his notes to mom were quite humorous but also very thoughtful. I really loved hearing them. He was so funny because he told me the night before that he would be laying in bed and have to get up and come in the living room and write things down that he thought of about mom while he was trying to go to sleep. Sorry Dad, I had to tell that. :)

Some of the things I said about mom were that she was my best friend and always has been. She is a great listener and always gives good Godly advice. She also knows her bible better than anyone I know and I love and admire how she loves to read God's word and always has. I love how she sees God in everything and can relate God to every situation.

Lincoln's was so sweet. He said "Mimi, I love you because you share with me and play games with me." He also asked Mom that morning before we went shopping out of the blue, "Mimi, why are you so beautiful?" It was the sweetest thing.

Anyway, the note idea turned out to be so neat and I know mom will treasure them. I hope she realizes just how special she is to so many people!

Uncle Bobby, Uncle Dave, Wes, and Jay hanging out.

Uncle Mark was trying to play with Layt!

My kids love their uncles!!!

That night we went out to eat and then surprised mom again by taking her to the mall so she could pick out a mother's ring. We have wanted to get her one for a long time and the time just seemed perfect! She was surprised again! She picked a really nice ring with all of our birthstones in it. I can't wait to see it when it comes in!

Now I have to tell this story because I don't want to forget it. However, in a way, I wish I could. So, we were all standing around Zales with mom as she was picking out the ring. I thought that Kris had control of the kids. I would see Wes or Jeff with one every now and then too. I was focused on mom. At one point Kris asked me if I'd seen Layton. I looked around and didn't see him anywhere near. So, I took off and started looking at nearby stores. Zales was close to one of the main mall entrances so I headed that way and looked around all the stores, shouting his name. I didn't see him. I started to get the worst panicking feeling that I have ever had in my entire life. I ran back up to the middle of the mall calling his name and sort of losing it. People were starting to notice my frantic searching at this point and several stopped me and asking me what was wrong. All I could say through my tears was "My 2 year old, I can't find him!" They would ask me what he looked like and I told them that he was blond headed and what he was wearing. The mall security had gotten in on the search by this time too and one of the security guards, a lady, was trying to comfort me. I know they had radioed others about it. By this time, Jeff, Wes, and Kris were also searching. Wes said he went outside that entrance to make sure he didn't see anyone with Layt. Kris and Jeff were going up and down the mall looking. They were way calmer than I was. I was beside myself. I just knew that someone had taken my baby and I just lost it. After what seemed like eternity (but I know it was only a few minutes), Jeff had gone back down the mall again and Layton jumped out of a store about 3 or 4 stores down from Zales. When I saw Jeff with Layt bringing him back, all I could do was lay my head on my mom and weep uncontrollably. I have never been so frightened in my life. It literally took me all night to calm down. I was SO thankful to God he was ok and no one had gotten him. Mom was completely sympathetic with me because she lost me years ago in that same mall. She knew what an awful feeling it was and she also knew that that is one of my worst nightmares. It was awful!!!

Ok, back to something less depressing. After church Sunday morning we took some pictures. They turned out pretty good.