7.2 - Anthony 40 - What a party!

In the morning and during the day I joined some normal avtivities with the family. Tonight there would be the surprise birthday party for Anthonys 40 years. At the table by lunchtime it was very close that the surprise would have been revealed. Anthony thought they were just gonna go to a couple of friends for the evening after their padel and that I was gonna have babysitting tonight. Céline and I acted and talked about that we could order pizzas with the children this evening.

Martin: Quoi? On va pas fêter l'anniversaire de papa? (What? Aren't we gonna celebrate dads birthday?)

Alice: Mais maintenant t'as dit la surprise! (But now you told the surprise!)

I bet Célines and my looks were very murderish in that moment. Luckily everyone wasn't at the table yet and there was pretty much noise. Anthony didn't really remark anything because he didn't know. At a moment when he wasn't in the kitchen, Céline whispered very strictly to the children about seriously paying attention to not to say anything wrong. It would have been a pity to destroy the surprise when there was only a few hours left. Then I started talking about what we were gonna do this evening.

Me: Vous voulez regarder quoi ce soir? (What do you wanna watch tonight?)

Clé: Ce soir il y a the voice, on peux le regarder s'il te plaît? (This evening there's the voice, could we watch that please?)

Me: Oui, pourquoi pas. J'ai jamais vu the voice France, seulement la version finnoise. (Yes, why not. I have never seen the voice France, only the finnish version)

Clé played very well and I think this saved the situation a bit.

In the afternoon I went with Céline to depose the girls to their gym course and then we staid there for a while to watch them. I went back home by our neighbours, Marie and Tibo, the family of Clés best friend Lili, to take the key to their garage because Céline had a lot of stuff for the surprise party this evening in their garage. 

Anthony had left with Martin to his football game in Roubaix so during the afternoon Céline had a bit more time to prepare certain things for the evening. I joined Céline to pick up the girls from the gym and then she drove Lili and Clé to a birthday party of their classmate. Meanwhile at home there weren't a lot of people, Céline made three cheese-ham cakes and I finished the gingerbread construction and then we cleaned and organised a bit. When Anthony and Martin came we acted very normal and soon the parents went to play padel with their friends and it was now when it was time to prepare the house for the party. Iara came just perfectly and the children had allowance to watch tv while Iara and I prepared everything.

Iara and I made three chocolate cakes, three yoghurt cakes, moved around some furniture, took the clio to Maries garage to pick up all the stuff and then to the bakery to get the pizzas and bread. There was Anthonys cousin, Alex, who came to fix the music- and lightsystems. Iara and I had a lot of fun preparing the party. We danced around and laughed even though it was a bit stressful to get everything done in time. I stressed a lot when there were some misfortunes but luckily Iara kept incredibly cool. I thought that I lost the key to Maries garage and then the bakery had already closed when we came because we had got the wrong information, but everything had a solution. Soon there came some friends who brought food and started preparing, Iara and I went to get the girls dressed and soon Céline came. She had left earlier from the padel. I don't know how I could have prepared everything in time without Iara and I'm very thankful that she wanted to come. What would they have done here in France without us as au pairs 😉. 

When Anthony arrived at 20.45, he was very surprised. Already the padel, with about 15 persons instead of four, was a surprise. There were around 45 guests, friends and family, and the organisation worked well. There were a lot very good food🍴, pizzas, quiches, salty cakes, chips, vegetables... and drinks for every taste 🍻🍷🍹. People amused themselves, get on well and the music was also good. Generally the atmosphere was very pleasant. The children loved the music system and Iara and I danced a lot together with them. Then we just talked with other adults and ate. Clé and Martin slept in downstairs on the sofa after 10 pm but Alice was up until 1 am, incredible.

(Martin and Clé singing karaoke)

(Céline and Anthont dancing with Alice)

After midnight it was time for the cakes and everybody sang Joyaux Anniversaire (Happy Birthday). On the chocolate cakes we put 40 candles and on the gingerbread construction sparklers. Anthony blew out the candles and then he got his present, a restaurated armchair, that he has been dreaming about for a long time.

I was very lightened when the cakes had been served, they held together and people liked them. People gave very nice response and they admired the gingerbread 40. Some took photos of it before it was broken. I loved the chocolate cake and had finally a bit too much of it. I was very happy to be able to spend the evening with a friend and hope she didn't feel too outside with all those people she didn't know. Iara and I staid in the end in my room just talking.

The last guests left after 2 am and then we quickly cleaned up a bit before heading to bed. Iara and I talked still for a long time before we finally started sleeping. Wow, what a party! 🎉