About a month ago, a letter was sent home in Maddie's school bag, typed by what looked like an actual typewriter, by one of the girls in Maddie's class. It seems she had found out that the teacher 's (Mrs. K.'s) birthday was in March, and she wanted to throw the teacher a surprise party! She and a few other girls asked that parents send back the note telling what snacks they could send in.
So, I sent the note back, via Maddie saying, "Whatever you need, let me know!"
Last week, I found the note still in the bottom of Maddie's backpack, but she assured me that she had told the girls we could help out in any way.
The day before the party we got another letter from the party planner reminding us of the party, and could we please send in our snacks to the office? Feeling very guilty that I wasn't contributing, I asked Maddie to call the pint-sized Party Planner, who told Maddie I could bring in cheese curls, and by the way, the party was right after lunch, if I wanted to attend.
Running late as always, Jack and I jumped in the car around 11:40 (lunch is at 11:45). We raced to Weis, passing my friend Kris on the way. Kris, whose own daughter is in the same class, called me about 10 seconds later, asking where we were headed. When I explained she said, "Oh, I made the mistake of saying 'Whatever you need, let me know!' [whew, did I dodge a bullet!] I had to make a cake, and send in carrots, celery, dip, grapes, and plates!" We had a good laugh at the cute little party planners. I continued on to Weis and got my Cheese Curls.
When Jack and I arrived at school, the school secretary, with a desperate look in her eye, said, "Are you the mom in charge of the party?!?!" I replied that I wasn't. I was just dropping off the very nutritious cheese curls. She then continued to explain that none of the mothers of the girls planning the party were staying. No one was staying! There would be no adult supervision in the classroom while the girls set up the party! I was happy to stay, and just as I said that, in came a posse of kids fresh from the cafeteria. We loaded them up with grocery bags. "What should we do with our cafeteria trays?" asked one.
We unloaded the bags and sent them back to the cafeteria to put their trays back.
This time MORE came back, and the air was sparkling with excitement! Someone had spotted Mrs. K in the hall! She wasn't in the faculty room, what do we do? The secretary called down to her room, and the coast was clear. We headed down a different hallway, hoping not to run into the birthday girl!
When we got to the room (whew, we made it!), we began to clear off a table and set out the goodies. There was Kris's adorable pig cake (Mrs. K. is a pig fanatic), a bakery box of cupcakes arranged in a pig shape, my cheese curls, someone elses's cheese curls, Kris's healthy items and plates, and about 50 more plates sent in from someone else. There was also a huge bucket of penny candy. No drinks, no cups, no forks. Just lots of baked goods, cheese curls, and plates. (Betcha no one ate the healthy stuff, but kudos to them for thinking of it!)
Maddie designated herself "Security" and remained at the door. Her code word was "Dippity-Do" (I kid you not) and she warned us that if we heard her say that phrase, Mrs. K was on her way! Every 30 seconds Maddie would look in the door and give us a solid thumbs up--the coast was clear...for now.
Unfortunately, the fun ended for me right about then, because in walked a teacher. The secretary had found someone who had a little free time and enlisted her to take over for me. It
was time for me to take Jack to preschool, but how I hated to miss the big SURPRISE! Maddie said Mrs. K. was very surprised, and they partied the rest of the afternoon!
To the party planners, I say, Well Done! Such get-up-and-go is admirable, and I enjoyed having a few personal giggles at their excitement and greenness at party throwing. Hooray!
