Weekend Wrap-Up // Version 04.04.17 // Mom’s Birthday at Deep Creek Lake

We kind of played a mean trick on my Mom this past weekend.

But let me back-up: on Thursday was my Mom’s birthday. It was a pretty big milestone birthday, so Derrick & I invited everyone over to our house for dinner & cake on Friday night. In total we had 15 people squished around out table plus two card tables. It was a tight fit! If this family grows any larger, we’re going to have to figure out a new seating solution!

So, everyone came over & we celebrated my Mom. Lasagna, my Grandma’s macaroni salad, garlic bread, and salad made up the menu for the evening – plus a homemade 3-tier carrot cake (that my sister Ruby helped make – she decorated it!) & a gluten free boston creme pie! We had enough food to feed an army!

We surprised my Mom by all chipping in to buy her a new laptop! Her desktop computer died a pretty sudden death a few months ago and she’s been limping along without a computer ever since.

After the party though was when the real surprise started.

See, a few weeks ago, my sisters & I were all talking about what we should do for Mom’s birthday. We talked about a big surprise party, a big party without the surprise, giving her & Dad a getaway – but the more we talked about it the more we kept saying, “All Mom would really want for her birthday is for us ALL to be together somewhere.” Ideally, we would have booked a cruise (no cooking or cleaning required + a vacation), but since we are all a little too poor for that, we conspired with my Dad to get us all down to the Lake House on Deep Creek Lake, MD for the weekend.

We really wanted it to be a surprise though, so we worked out a plan:
Dad & Mom would head down to the Lake House to open everything up (we don’t go down over the winter, so the house is winterized & everything is shut off). Us kids would all already have plans for the weekend and we made up stories to even keep Ruby & Stephen home with us, so it would just be Mom & Dad going to the lake. Then, we’d all show up around lunch time – SURPRISE! And further, we’d take care of all the cooking & cleaning for the weekend so Mom could just enjoy & relax.

We almost pulled it off without a hitch. Mom & Dad were planning to drive down on Saturday to open up the house. However, in Mom’s mind, Emma, Stephen, and Ruby were coming too. We siblings wanted to all show up together, so we arranged for Ruby to spend the night here at our house, Amy was going to wake up early & take Stephen to breakfast, and Emma was going to get “called into work”. We set the plan in motion on Friday night with Ruby spending the night here.

This is where things started to get a little off track: my Mom connected the dots that if Ruby stayed here for the night, she wouldn’t be coming to the Lake House. She was so surprised by that & upset by it, that she almost started crying here at my house after her party. Uh oh. Ruby is the baby of the family, so it was literally breaking my Mom’s heart to leave her home!

We tried to keep a straight face while convincing Mom that it was okay & that we needed her to stay here with us for the weekend. Well, apparently, my Mom didn’t take it quite so well.

Furthermore, on Saturday morning, Emma went to give my Mom the “news” that she’d been called into work & she needed to stay home – further crushing my poor Mother. Then, when Amy went to take Stephen to breakfast – my Dad stepped in. He was afraid that if Stephen disappeared, my Mom would change her mind & simply refuse to go. So, deciding that it was best to just keep at least a little peace, we let Stephen go to the lake with my parents.

About 2 hours later, we packed up the van and made the trek down to the lake. The best part was: when we pulled in, Mom was in the back, cleaning one of the bedrooms – so she didn’t hear or see us pull up! We all snuck out of the van, into the house, down the hallway, and then sent Braelynn into the bedroom to say “Hi” to Grandma.

Needless to say: Mom was a little surprised.

We spent the rest of the weekend helping to get the house opened up, enjoying each other’s company, eating, playing games, taking walks, watching movies, and celebrating.

AND! Since Sunday was Ellen’s birthday – we celebrated as a dual birthday weekend!

The newlyweds! Aren’t they adorable?!

The other birthday girl – celebrating her big day at her favorite place on earth!

This one was enjoying her ice cream just a little bit too much!

And, because no Eichelberger family photo is complete without something hilarious happening (last year it was Derrick splitting his pants) – here’s Buster pooping right in front of everyone while we all got set up!