Our Adult

18 years ago, I became a mom on a Tuesday morning at 10:50am. And then I blinked and I now have an 18 year old ADULT son. Wow. 

Tate didn't really express that he wanted to do anything in particular for his bday, besides hang out with his friends. And his gift would be going to Vietnam 2 days after his actual birthday. So I decided to throw Tate a surprise bday bash with his friends on his birthday, which was a Thursday night. Thankfully there was no school on Friday, as it was a teacher work day because his birthday was the end of the 3rd quarter.

The cover for the surprise party was a family dinner out at korean bbq (where they conveniently have private rooms, which are great for a bunch of loud kids) after track practice, just us 4. Brian would have to go back in to work after dinner, so we would have to have Tate's cake the night before, on Wednesday. Tate chose a dirt cake this year, which was an elementary school fav of his back in Virginia- 

Thursday morning he woke up to a table of presents, which would be opened tonight before dinner- 

And our newest birthday decoration- 

Kristen made this banner for Brian's 50th birthday and sent it to him in Hawaii so he would have us and our friends in his hotel room with him on his birthday. It's now going to be hung for each birthday we have so all our friends are always with us celebrating!

Birthday donut cake was requested for breakfast-

I sure do hope ALL his wishes come true this year.

Our birthday wreath was TERRIBLE and needed to be revamped. So I got it done just in time for Tate's annual bday pic with it- 

I am convinced that your birthday is WAY better when more people know about it. So I mentioned it to a couple of Tate's teachers and his awesome english teacher, Ms Gooch, encouraged me to bring in cupcakes for the class to surprise him with, like I would have when he was in elementary school. She even requested a party hat for him to wear. ON IT!

Sadly, Ms Gooch had a meeting during Tate's class, so she wasn't there to orchestrate the fun. Thankfully his buddy Sebastian was totally into it and happy to take over for Ms Gooch. 

The whole class sang to Tate and they even got him to wear the party hat-

Tate (still wearing the party hat), Trey and Sebastian-

Sebastian was so great to take videos and pictures and send them to me!

Okay, now on to the surprise party prep. Lydia made these amazing Marvel cookies for the dinner dessert- 

After school, Tate went to track practice and Macy and I went to the restaurant to decorate. I'd blown up a bunch of pictures of Tate over the years to hang on the walls- 

Stupid giant backwards birthday balloons constantly looked like 81 instead of 18-

While decorating, Tate sent a text that track practice was spontaneously canceled so he was headed home and suggested we could go out to dinner earlier now. UMMMMM NO. We had 2 drivers picking up his 5 friends for  the SURPRISE!

We all rendezvoused back at the house and with the bonus time, Tate was able to open his presents. A sweet handwritten letter from Grandmommy- 

Awesome Marvel socks from the Leadbetters- 

Macy made the most thoughtful gift for Tate- packing lists for every trip he has ahead- beach trip, hiking trip, scuba trip, skiing trip, etc. She wrote them out in erasable pen, and I laminated them. Guess what? Erasable pen disappears when laminated. I was horrified and hated to tell her she had to recreate them. But she did. And she teared up when she was explaining the gift to him. She is going to miss him SO much next year. 

We walked into the restaurant and the waitress kind of gave away the surprise by acting like she knew where to take us- we didnt even greet her or tell her how many people were with us. Then as we walked towards the room- with the lights off and the door closed, which was a bit suspicious- Macy pulled out her phone to start recording. BUT, Tate said he honestly did not know anything about this surprise and was delighted to see his crew and hear them yell, surprise!

We knew Reagan wouldn't be able to make it, as she was headed to the airport for Philippines (spring break starts tomorrow) at the exact same time as the dinner started. But a real bummer was that Dashaun got grounded after school and his parents wouldn't let him come out to the party that night.   

The kids had a great dinner- no one set the meat on fire and no one ate anything raw. After dinner  Ethan's parents (who we had dinner with in the restaurant) helped us get the kids to the karaoke place, where they apparently had a blast and then took cabs home. 

A night to remember? I'd say so. 

We did it. We raised a child who is now an adult. He can vote, join the military, go to prison, win the lottery, get married, buy fireworks, get a tattoo, donate blood. Which will he do first?!?

When Tate smiles, we all smile. He’s made being his mom so easy. And I still like him. A lot! I hope his journey into adulthood is an unforgettable adventure.