I had chatted and brainstormed with them in the weeks leading up to the day about how they would like to celebrate this milestone. We had lots of ideas. But when it actually came to the time.... we all agreed and settled on a nice low-key family dinner at my place. Initially some of the family weren't even going to be able to attend...LeeAnne was in Thunder Bay on a missions trip and wouldn't be back until Sunday evening. And Jon & Sheila and boys didn't think they'd be able to make the trip down. So it was going to be a lunch/dinner party for whoever it suited on Sunday after church.
The awesome thing was that EVERYONE ended up being there. Friday afternoon I received a call from Sheila saying they had decided that they were going to make a super quick trip down after all and would be there on Sunday for the dinner. And LeeAnne was able to get back early from TBay - she called me early Sunday morning to tell me that SURPRISE! She was home! So I just kept adding a bit more food to the menu and kept expanding and adding tables. :)
Now, what's a party without decorations? Boring! I had to do a few. Vanessa and I sneakily and stealthily poked around mom and dad's basement until we found their album of wedding photos. I scanned and enlarged some of the photos and framed them in an old wooden window frame that I found on my parents burn pile.
I borrowed a fun little trick/idea from my sweet and dear friend Nancy. Replace all the photos in your photo frames with photos of the guests of honour. It's not something that's noticeable and jumps out as you as a decoration immediately. But people will gradually notice the photos and it turns into a fun game to try and find them all. I scanned and printed off all kinds of photos of my parents from their wedding and honeymoon and placed them in all the photo frames scattered throughout the house...
We surprised them with a little congratulatory announcement in Saturday edition of The Record:
(Everyone brought a few items to pack into a picnic basket for mom and dad to take with them on their little Tobermory get-away that they were leaving on the next day.)
I asked mom ahead of time for her wedding dress and dad's wedding suit. They knew that both items were going to be at my house that day. But what they didn't know is that I called my Aunt Judy and was able to borrow the bridesmaid dress she wore at my parents wedding. Hot Pinkness!! Now that I have seen the actual fabric/colour of her bridesmaid dresses I am no longer curious and wondering why I had such a "hot pink" bedroom as a little girl. Or why I still gravitate toward hot pink colours in my clothing and toenail polish choices. I didn't have a chance....it's in my DNA! ;) And let me just say for the record, the photos of the bridesmaid dress don't do justice to how intensely pink this colour is. It's pretty much fluorescent. Not kidding.
For me, hosting a group of 18 adults and children for dinner is a challenge for me. Was I stressed? Yup. I cannot afford to be talking to people and making food at the same time. I will mess up. That is a certainty. (The evening before I had quickly decided to make some lime green jello rings for the kids. As I was mixing up the jello and hot water I could not figure out why it was such a light green colour and why the consistancy was so globby. Turns out I was using pistachio pudding mix. Not jello. yuck. I tend to do things like that when I'm a) tired, and b) distracted.)
Once everyone started arriving, my focus was on prepping food and hostessing and my camera was sidelined. As a result I didn't get nearly as many photos as I would have liked and the ones I did get were because I made a concious effort to remember to get specific ones and they are of the posed variety. Such is life.
As people started arriving...
They signed a card and deposited their money in an envelope for the anniversary gift. (We all contributed money to go towards their Tobermory get-away.)
The kids went out and jumped on the trampoline....
Keith grilled up a storm...
And the house just kept filling up!
MENU:
Yellow beans, whole
Green beans, sliced
New baby potatoes with fresh parsley and browned butter
Bbq marinated chicken legs (Poultry Place)
Farmers Sausage on the grill (Jutzi's in Tavistock)
Ceasar Salad
Garden Salad
Veggies & Dip
Lime green jello rings
***
Florida Dessert
Fruit Kabobs
Chocolate gooey Brownies
(Green beans and chocolate gooey brownies courtesy of Kaitlin)
(Ceasar Salad and Garden Salad courtesy of Emmalene)
(Veggies & Dip courtesy of Heather & Vanessa)
The picnic basket filled with goodies...
And let the hot pinkness begin....LeeAnne was first up...modelling the vintage bridal wear...
LeeAnne: Hot Pink Bridesmaid Dress
Vanessa: White Wedding Gown
Heather: Blue Going Away Dress
These two little stinkers were hiding behind the shed watching the fashion show...
40 years later and the two lovebirds can still fit into their wedding finery. Kind of! ;)
Unfortunately, the littlest grandson was missing in action when these pictures were taken.
Ahhh...there he was. Behind me trying to get on the trampoline. Missing half his clothes! And this is what I mean when I say I can't focus on two things at once. My mind was scatterbrained. Normally I would be looking for Sawyer so that we'd have a shot of ALL the grandchildren with mom and dad. But on this day....I did not have it together!
The one thing I was determined to do was to get a photo of everyone....individual family shots if I could manage it. And I succeeded. What I didn't think to do? Get one big huge GROUP shot of us all together. What was I thinking? I wasn't! I think because it was all so last minute that everyone was able to come....I never thought about it ahead of time and so that day when my mind was everywhere at once...it just didn't cross my mind.
So here we are...oldest to youngest.
Me and my boys....
Jonathan and clan:
LeeAnne-gela:
Chad and tribe:
Jesse and his love:
Heather catch-a-feather:
Vanessa pants:
Nessa with Tanner and Wyatt:
Max and Tanner:
(Tanner reminds me so much of Max when he was younger. See the next two pictures below. They both like posing crazy for photos when the mood strikes.)
The tramp saw plenty of jumping actiong from Tanner and Wyatt:
Max and Alex:
And the reason why we were all able to get together to celebrate:
They've had an eventful 40 years together. We're so blessed to have them happy and healthy and busy enjoying life! After the shin-dig was over at our place...most of us caravanned over to the Gerber house in Linwood and continued the party there until late. A big full day of celebrating family! :)
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