Surprise, Surprise, Surprise!

The Padilla family finally arrived at Susanne's parents house around 7:30 am. They discovered that their surprise was going to be a bit more difficult than previously planned. They usually entered in the back door, but it was locked. Susanne had a key to get into her parents house, but she had left her keys at her house in Virginia. They decided that they should just ring the doorbell and surprise them that way. Susanne rang the doorbell twice, but no one answered. Susanne then remembered a secret way to get into the house which was successful. They did not want to scare her parents so Susanne knocked on their bedroom door to announce her arrival. Both of her parents were sleeping and at first thought that she was Kerry, one of Susanne's younger sisters. They had expected Kerry's presence, but were completely shocked when they realized that it wasn't her. They were beside themselves with joy and excitement. This would give them an extra day to catch up and hang out with the Padillas. Poppy started the day off right, by cooking them a wonderful breakfast. Gigi and Poppy oggled over Paxton and could not believe how big he had gotten.

After talking and catching up for a few hours, they decided they should surprise Susanne's oldest sister Leah. Poppy called her to ask her to stop by because Gigi had some things that she needed help with in preparation for the house guests this weekend. She totally took the bait. Leah originally said she would be over in twenty minutes so Scott and Susanne scurried off to hide. The plan was for Poppy to tell her that he had some trouble putting together the Pack n' Play that she was letting Paxton borrow for the weekend. This would give her an excuse to go to the room that the Padilla family was staying in and they could surprise her. Well Scott, Susanne, Paxton, and even James were set and ready to go for quite a while. Susanne's job was to listen out for when they were coming up the stairs and Scott would turn on the video camera to catch the surprise. This sounded good in theory, but there were a lot of false alarms. Susanne kept telling him to push record and then nothing would happen. After about twenty minutes, they investigated the situation and found out that what Susanne had been hearing was Poppy talking to Leah on the phone. It was going to take Leah a little bit longer than previously expected. After waiting in the room for another twenty minutes, she finally arrived. The look on her face was priceless when she discovered the Padillas hiding in the bedroom and they got it all on video tape.

Later that day, Kerry and Nick came over to visit. Susanne was able to jump out at them as well. She even made Kerry tear up a little bit. The rest of the afternoon was spent spending time with everyone and catching up.

Leah and Susanne went to the grocery store to stock up for the weekend. Leah had to plan for Parker's birthday party tomorrow and Susanne had to plan for the Mexican fiesta that she and Scott were going to host on Sunday. Scott took a much needed nap while the ladies were gone gathering.

Paxton loved his cousins, Parker and Cole. Parker took to Paxton rather quickly and was eager to hold him and teach him things. Parker even read Paxton a book about trucks which was his favorite thing in the whole world. He was very gentle and sweet to baby Paxton. It was so touching to see the innate qualities he possessed.

Later that night, Gigi prepared the appetizer and Susanne prepared dinner for everyone. They all gathered around the dinner table, which was one of their favorite things to do as a family. It was a very traditional part of their visits because they spent so much of their time around the dinner table growing up. It was a mandatory thing every night, at least during the week, for them to sit down as a family. Susanne and Scott hoped they could continue this for their children.

Victoria, Susanne's youngest sister, showed up at the end of the meal. She was only going to be able to stay until tomorrow night, but any time with her would be well worth it. She was getting married in October so there was lots to talk about. Susanne wanted all of the most recent details about the wedding planning. Susanne loved to plan parties and events. It was something both her and Victoria were good at because they were so detail oriented. So far, it sounded like Victoris had everything under control.

Things settled down pretty quickly that night because everyone was exhausted. Susanne and Scott were pleased that Paxton had adjusted so well to his new bed. He slept soundly for most of the day and night. He was so tired from the trip that he had a lot of catching up to do...just like the rest of us.