Tommy Turns 40

Tommy turned 40 (finally!) on March 8th, and we have been celebrating his milestone birthday for 40 days. When I was trying to decide what I should do for his birthday, I knew that he would be touched if I surprised him by having his brother Brian cook for a group of our friends. Tommy is incredibly proud of Brian and loves to showcase his food, so thus began my plan...

Brian's daughter, our niece Emery, shares a birthday with Tommy, so I knew the party needed to be before Tommy's actual birthday. As I started looking at dates, I decided to throw a "40 Days Before 40" party to catch Tommy off-guard. It took months of planning, but I am pretty confident that Tommy had no clue he was walking into his own surprise party on January 26th. What was supposed to be a small intimate group turned out to be 45 people (God Bless Brian). The venue was super cool, the food was amazing, and my man was beyond surprised.

We celebrated with Tommy's parents and the kids again on March 8th. The kids and I took Tommy to breakfast (and the kids were thrilled that they got to go to school late), Tommy's parents took him to lunch, and then we all went to dinner at Duke's. The next day, Tommy and I went wine tasting in Woodinville and then spent the night at the Willow's Lodge. There has been plenty of celebrating and Tommy still has a fun boys' weekend in Florida at the end of the month. I hope he's felt special this year because we love him so!

View from the venue of Tommy's party - Beecher's Loft

Nametags - yes, I am a dork. There were lots of friends from all walks of life attending this party, so I wanted to provide some sort of reference for everyone. :)

Prepping for the party.

Moments after Tommy walked in.

Brian hard at work.

Tommy's high school buddies and wives - Jake, Kiki, Meghan, Milo & Erin

Tommy's colleagues - Fred and Curt (and wives)

Kristen announced at this party that she and Brian are expecting a baby girl in July!

Look at this spread!

Delicious! Brian hand made EVERYTHING you see here.

Bible study girls - Ali, Annie, Katie & Denise

Newcastle guys - Jeff, Jeff, Adam, Tommy, Ryan & Rob

Newcastle gals - Mary, Elysa, Debbie, Ali, Kelly, Ashley, Marci & Elise

Sam & Jeff - dear friends from Newcastle

Family photo opp before Mimi, Baba, and Uncle Ryan took the kids home.

Best friends since grade school - with a picture to prove it.

The backdrop provided lots of photo opportunities... in the rain!

And last, but not least, two special pictures from Tommy's actual birthday

Elaine and Tommy at the exact time he was born 40 years earlier.