Surprise!

And no, I am not pregnant, thankyouverymuch. That was Shelly's guess on the surprise.

A few weeks ago Alecia sent out an email that she'd like to kidnap Shelly for a day'O'fun. We checked calendars and coordinated and debated. We finally came up with today as a viable option. Alecia got with Dave, and they got everything squared away. Alecia got with Kt to babysit (can you tell who the mastermind is?) and we were set. 

I have to admit that it wasn't easy. Between all of us we have a lot of kids, schools, schedules. I wasn't sure it would work. But it did, and I am reminded again why I love this group of moms I am blessed to call my friends. 

Everyone came over before Shelly at 9. I had sent an email the week before that said I was watching Sarah's girls and did anyone else want a day off (I like to combine babysitting days, it's not much more work, and then more people get a break). Shelly was like "yes! Then I can go to the kids school for a picnic." A little more finessing ("Shelly, leave the baby with me! She'll be fine!") and she was on board. She showed up at 9:15 and Delaney was like "Good morning! Good morning! Good morning!" To everyone. She's such a little blabber mouth talk show host. 

We all kind of stood around a minute and finally Laura said "who's gonna tell her?!" So then Alecia told her she was being kidnapped for a girls day. 

Alecia thought of everything, right down to a note from Charlie explaining that he knew she wouldn't be at his picnic and it was ok because Dave went. It was so sweet. She cried, I cried. People will never cry alone as long as I'm around.

We each gave our list of instructions to kt and we were off to Annapolis. We stopped by bed, bath, and beyond and then hit a really cool Amish market. We walked all around, tried the best homemade corndog ever, and then hit the mall.
Oh pottery barn, you are so pretty.

6 moms, 2 babies, 21 kids at home.

After some window shopping, we did lunch at Cheesecake Factory. It was the perfect lunch. We got 3 appetizers, 3 entrees, and 2 desserts and shared everything. It was all soooo good!

We leisurely ate and had just the best time. Even the babies got in on this picture, they were so good the whole day!

After lunch we made a quick Yankee candle stop and then headed home. We'd planned to be home by 4, but didn't get home till almost 5:30. Time flies when you're having fun! Like, literally flies. I blinked and the day was gone. 

Everyone at home survived and was happy. Kt was in one piece, so that's always good. I did feel bad about one thing. I always turn the air conditioner up to 80° when I go to bed, since it's only for the first floor and basement, and Chris down in the basement is always comfy. This morning was cool, so I never turned the temp back down before we left. It was 90° today and it was so hot when we got home! Oopsie. 

I said hi/bye to Matt again, and headed out for teacher gifts. Frankies last day is tomorrow, so I had to get it done. I would have done it sooner, but people donated money up until Wednesday, so I didn't know how much I could spend. Walmart, Ross, target, old navy, Kmart, chicfila, red robin, and bed, bath, and beyond (again) and I was finally done with gifts and gift cards. Now just to put it all together. So worth it when you have such wonderful teachers!