Surprise!

Well, we did it. Almost! He seemed genuinely surprised. But he said later that his friend Wesley kind of gave it away at the last minute.

Here's how it went down.

Tomorrow is Dawson's 13th birthday. Kyndal insisted that we have a surprise party for him, because we had one for her 13th.

I had it all planned out. We were going to have the party here. I was going to take Dawson and some of his friends to an indoor skateboard park in a neighboring town, then come back to our house for the surprise.

All was in place.

And then I found out the skateboard park was going to be closed today.

Ugh!!

So, his best bud, Antonio, took him to the lake with him and his family on Thursday and Friday, which gave me time to get all of the food bought and cupcakes made. They came home this morning. I cleaned house all day and at about 3:30 Rick took the boys to Tulsa to buy custom skateboards.

The guests arrived.

Rick, Dawson and Antonio were later than expected.

So, we waited.

But they finally showed up and his 20+ guests hid behind the bar to yell, "Surprise!" when he walked in the door.

When he opened the laundry room door he caught a glimpse of something that clued him in and he backed up into the laundry room. I told him to come on in and we all jumped out!

He was surprised .. and a little embarrassed, I think.

But, we did it.

He told me later that he suspected we might be having a party because he was texting Wesley today and when he asked Wesley what he was doing, Wesley said he was taking a shower and then heading to his party. Dawson said, "dude, it's been rescheduled." But, he wondered ....

The kids just ran around outside, ate cupcakes and chips and "hung out". That's just what kids his age do.

We had a really great time. He was really happy to see his family from Missouri. That definitely was a surprise!

Later in the evening he said, "Mom, thanks for doing all of this."

Antonio was a huge help in pulling all of this off! He is truly his best friend!

And then Antonio and Wesley stayed the night.

Tomorrow is Dawson's actual birthday. We have some fun things planned.

Whew! I'm glad I don't have to do another 13th surprise party for 7 years!