sierra's sweet sixteen.

i've just realized how many things truly have happened since i posted last week. much of the time was spent preparing for sierra's sweet 16 ... it was a surprise, so i couldn't really talk about it on the blog. it was a huge success. she was completely surprised, and it's so rare for anyone to be completely surprised these days.

on friday and saturday my mom and i were both rushing around like crazy trying to take care of details while sierra was in school or working at the pool hall. {poor thing had to work on her birthday, but we needed her out of the house!} she was not in the best of moods. on friday night i stayed up and wished her happy birthday at midnight. her response? a very dull "yippee." my mom did the same when she got home from the pool hall that night. again a dull "i know." i felt terrible, but knew that she was going to LOVE the birthday party.

we called the hotel while sierra was at work to confirm our setup time. thankfully my mom thought to do this because when we called we found out they had cancelled our reservation. for no reason! they had booked the room for a classroom during our original set up time. my mom kept asking why they would do this and the lady never apologized! again, where is the CUSTOMER SERVICE??? the lady just said, "ma'am there's nothing we can do about it. do you want the room or not?" my mom told her that we had no option as invitations had been sent out already and it was hours before the party. we were then told that the event coordinator would be leaving and we would have to set up the room ourselves. then we got a phoene call saying that there would be no linens for the table {when booking the reservation we confirmed that there would be} as the linens had been used for another party and were now at the cleaners! again we were told that there was nothing the hotel could do and it was suggested that we "go to the dollar store and purchase something that your daughter would really like."

my mom and i rushed around to take care of last minute errands and then headed to the hotel to set up for the party. justin and lindsay were picking up the cake {which is a whole other post in and of itself} and meeting us at the hotel to help. we were beginning to think that the party was a little cursed, and i was panicking that this special day for sierra wasn't going to work out as we planned.

when we got to the hotel, the room was filled with 12 long rectangular tables {we were supppsed to have 4 round tables} and we were told that *we* could move the tables that we didn't need down the hallway to another room and then bring in round tables from another room, too. there was no way we could use the room as it was. it was set up in a classroom style and had absolutely no room for walking and mingling, much less dancing! i was about to flip out! i am usually very nice to people who are working for businesses ... but i had just about had my fill (and this was before i had seen the cake!). my mom called the event coordinator again and told her that this was not possible, we didn't have the man-power or time to move tables and that something needed to be done! i had a raised voice and was interjecting in the background. the lady *finally* began to help us. she said, "for every problem there is a solution." my mom asked if the room next to ours that was larger and already set with round tables was booked for the night. the lady said no and asked if we would like to use it. my mom said we would not pay the additional fee the larger room cost, and the lady agreed that we would not be charged.

it seemed like things were beginning to fall into place again ... then justin and lindsay arrived with the cake. their faces said it all. i knew something was wrong before i ever saw the cake. since i'm posting another blog about it, all i will say here is that it was completely and utterly wrong!

justin set to work gently removing blue icing from the cake, while my mom, lindsay, and i set up the rest of the room. we got the candy bar set up, linens and centerpieces on all of the tables, and the cake and punch table ready to go. i finished constructing the sweet 16 banner i had created to match sierra's invitations and then away we all rushed again.

i had to pick up some oversized glasses from dee for the candy bar. i rushed in and out and headed to the house. in the meantime, justin and lindsay had taken mom back to the house so she could get ready for work. lydia would be working the pool hall, but we didn't want sierra to know. my mom had to arrive at work at the same time as usual so as not to raise any suspicions. i got to the house where lindsay and justin were waiting for the glasses that i had. they swept out and i went back to find mom dressed in black and white. (did i mention it was a black, white, and pink party and all the guests were asked to dress in those colors?)

i had called travis to ask him to bring sierra home. then i realized mom didn't have a way to work. all of the vehicles except mine were in use and not at the house. i told her she had to get in the car quickly because sierra was on her way home and she couldn't see mom dressed the way she was. we jumped in the car, i dropped mom off, and flew back home to get ready.

i had called sierra earlier in the day after getting texts and calls from melissa and travis that sierra was making plans for the evening. here's how the conversation went ...

r: hey. do you have any plans tonight?
s: not really. friend "a" has asked me to stay the night. friends "b" & "c" want to come over and stay the night. friend "d" invited me to the circus. and i'm sure you guys have something up your sleeve.
r: well i don't have anything up my sleeve, but andy's in town and can get us tickets to a movie sneak peek on the riverwalk in tulsa if you want to go. i've been to one before. dane cook's good luck chuck. it was a lot of fun. they served beer and drinks. obviously you can't drink, but they just do a lot of fun things that you don't usually get to do at a movie. do you want to go?
s: how many tickets do you think she can get?
r: i don't know. i told her you, travis, me, and her. she can probably get one more for nick {we made sure that nick be available no matter what. if there was a party for sierra, nick was certain to be at it. we wanted her to see that nick was available, again to not raise any suspicions}.
s: yeah, that's all i meant. i don't need more than that.
r: okay, well call nick and tell him because you're going to have to come straight home from work and get ready.
s: okay i will.
r: you'll also have to tell him to wear something pink, black, or white.
s: okay ...
r: they won't let you in unless you're wearing those colors. it's part of the movie promotion.
s: okay, what are you going to wear?
...

and so it continued. she invited nick. i told her that it started at 8. i wanted to give her plenty of time to get ready so that she would feel comfortable at her own party, but i also knew that we didn't have a lot of time. i told her we would have to leave for tulsa at 7:15 at the latest.

... now back to where we were. travis got sierra home and she changed clothes a million times. i hated that for her. i know for something like you're own party you want a little notice, but i had given her as much notice as i possibly could.

at 730 we headed out the door and up the street to get nick. except travis noticed that the fuel gauge was completely below empty. a quick pit stop at the gas station and we were headed back to the neighborhood to get nick. who wasn't answering his cell phone. or the house phone. luckily he answered the door. while sierra was getting nick at the door i received a text from justin, "the cake is falling apart. literally."

we got in the car. i called andrea, who was waiting on standby for this moment. as soon as she answered the phone she said, "i'm not ready yet." the plan was for us to "pick andrea up at the hotel on our way to tulsa." "not ready yet??"
a: i ripped my pink tights. i have to find something else to wear. you guys can come up to my room if you want.
r: well it will have to be all of us. we have sierra's friend with us
a: i don't want you to have to wait in the car. here's my room number. just come up. you can have a drink while you wait.
r: okay.
a: don't hate me.
r: i don't hate you. i'm just afraid we're going to be so late
a: we're vip baby

travis parked and we headed inside. there was a sign in the lobby welcoming sierra and wishing her happy sweet 16. i tried to walk in front of it while nick kept her distracted by talking to her. i acted like we were going to the elevators and then walked into the room where everyone was waiting with the lights dimmed. i walked in and then sierra did. she truly didn't know what was going on until the moment she walked in the room and everyone yelled surprise. she was showered with hugs and had the biggest smile on her face. aww success.

then i saw justin and lindsay and they showed me the cake and began telling me about the front of it just falling off.

the rest of the evening was spent at the candy bar, playing chubby bunny, dancing around, and being silly.

i didn't get a single picture on my camera {even though we took a million pictures that night}. i'll have to get the images from my parents' camera and post them later.

the party was a succes and sierra had so much fun. she finished the evening spending the night with several of her girlfriends. and the rest of us came home and crashed!