Surprise!

Early last week, Mate was notified that the book he's been working on for two years was finally finished and his copy was in the mail.  Just days later, he came home from work with a letter that said he was receiving the first Junior Faculty Award from the college where he teaches.  Needless to say, I was pretty proud of both accomplishments and wanted to do something special for him.  I decided to have our immediate family gather at a restaurant for a little surprise celebration: 

Hot off the presses

I told him we were meeting my mom for dinner on Saturday.

She was there, so it wasn't a complete lie

When we arrived, he spotted his dad's car and immediately knew something was up. 

He wasn't expecting to see all these people

Mate would never make a big deal out of his accomplishments, but that doesn't mean we can't.

Before the evening was over, I thanked everyone for coming and then turned to Mate.  Unexpectedly, the second I looked at him, I began to cry.  I didn't cry when we got married or when our children were born, but there I was, barely able to get a word out.  Luckily, I pulled it together enough to tell him how much it means to me that he goes to work each day so that I can stay home with our girls and how proud I am off all he has accomplished.

The four of us are very thankful for our guy. . . yes, this was our best attempt at a group picture