Surprise! It's Father's Day

Well, I have to write down what Gracie did to me on Father's day because it was SO FUNNY. Actually, we sort of celebrated on Saturday when my family was here. We did it partly so they could be in on it, and partly because I had hidden David's gift in the garage and he needed the garage on Saturday.

It is next to impossible to surprise David. He has ruined lots of surprises in our marriage. He's famous for downloading my credit card information into quicken 2 days before a holiday or his birthday (not on purpose, but just because he's way too efficient!) I remember one Christmas - we didn't have much money, especially to spend on each other. He had already picked out a couple of gifts and knew what they were. So, I had one tiny thing that I got at Costco that he didn't know was coming. Of course, he had to be efficient and update our finances the week before Christmas and carefully scanned the receipt to categorize it, and found my gift spelled out as plain as day. I still remember how hurt and mad I was.

So, for Father's day, I decided I should get him something he really wanted but didn't have on his immediate radar. He usually has a short list of things he really wants and that he talks about and shops for online every single day (the bike trailer being one of them.) I knew he wanted a grill and we needed one badly, but we hadn't talked about it in a long time and he hadn't thought about it either. I also usually wouldn't spend that much money on a smaller holiday, so I knew he'd never think of it . It would be a bang of a gift and I was so excited.

I took my Mom and Emily to Home Depot with me to help me pick it out and get it home. I carefully hid it in the garage and swore Grace to secrecy. He knew there was a big surprise and he knew that Grace wasn't supposed to tell. He didn't think she would either. She is usually a good secret keeper.

So Saturday morning, I went out in my jammies and started pulling out the giant box on Grace's wagon. Everyone else was waiting inside until I got it in the driveway. Grace was holding David's hand and making him close his eyes. To make a little conversation with her, he jokingly asked her "Grace what did Mommy get me?" or something like that. She looked at him, and with a huge grin on her face, she whispered "It's a gwill." I guess the lot of them bust out laughing and were having a good time watching me as I was still stealthily pulling the gift out of the garage. They knew how mad I was going to be and decided not to tell me. But a little while later, they couldn't keep it to themselves anymore and had a good time laughing at me again.

So much for surprises.