Saturday morning, Mandy and I went to a rummage sale to find some gifts for the "unbirthday party." We dropped Stephen off at the factory outlet to do some clothes shopping and then went treasure hunting. We were looking for ugly gifts and found plenty to choose from! I also found a couple of real treasures: a pretty teapot for a quarter and a Strongs (in pretty good shape) for a dollar. Then we picked up Stephen and Dennis and met up with the girls for bbq for lunch.
Sheila's unbirthday party started at 5:00 at the Browns' house. I had the cake and some decorations, so we headed over a little early. Everyone was required to wear a hat to the party. Stacey was the most original, of course. She had designed a "cereal killer" hat! Thiess was a close second with his pilot's helmet.
We began the party with a gag gift exchange...done in a dirty Santa format. Of course, Stacey had to take the prize for bringing the most original gift...a live mouse! It was actually stolen a couple of times, with Jessica being the "lucky" winner. Dennis ended up with the worst gift...a disposable urinal bag! He tried to forget it at the Browns' house, but (unfortunately) Spencer saw it and brought it home to him!
After a tasty supper and a rousing game of "Off With Their Head!" (our version of the card game, Killer) we headed to the cow pasture for giant croquet. Our course was specially designed and built by Thiess. We split up into four teams and had to hit beach balls with baseball bats through the course. We began just before dark, which definitely added to the excitement of the game. Of course there were the natural hazards to avoid, such as cows, dogs and fresh cowpatties...which got increasingly difficult the darker it got! It was a total success with much laughter, friendly rivalry, and just the right amount of aggression!
