Surprise!!!!

Finally, the secret is out. Brett's letter with his results (PASS!) for his oral exam came. They came on March 27th - 11 days sooner than he was expecting. As he finished his testing (Feb 10th), his instructors told him he would get his results in 55 days (April 6th). I was very surprised to see the letter. I opened it to see the results and was so happy/relieved to see he had passed. It was OVER!!!! (It was hard to get excited about it all by myself - I realized that until Brett knew as well, my "excitement" was kind of on hold.) So the waiting was over, but the planning was just beginning......

I decided a long time ago that when Brett was finally done we were going to have a big party. Too bad I couldn't have just plannedthe party and had faith he would pass. I could have had at least a couple months to plan it. Oh well. Most of you already know the licensing process, but I'll spell it out here again. After you work professionally for 3 years with an architectural firm, you are then eligible to begin taking your written exams. There are 9 written exams that cover all the things that you are responsible for as an architect. And a lot of info you are NOT responsible for (engineers would actually be the ones "responsible" in real life, but you still have to know it for the tests) So back in 2003 Brett started the process. He'd study for a few months pretty rigorously, then take a test. Then we'd have a baby and things would slow down in the studying department, then he'd start on another exam. Then he'd have a huge deadline at work (always around holidays, of course!) and studying would be out the window.

Brett finished his 9th and last written exam exactly 5 years and 18 days after his 1st exam. Then he had to wait almost a year (10 months and 10 days, to be exact) to get an "appointment" for his oral exam. Then over 2 months longer to hear that he passed! (Okay, really 1 month and 3 weeks!)

So five years, and five kids later - he is done. Not too shabby, husband! Some of the principals at his office just barely became licensed themselves. He is definitely the envy of several of his workermates. If only they could understand that BK (before kids), heck even for some of them, BW (before wife) is a MUCH better time to study!! :)

Okay, back to the story - I checked with his boss, one of the principals (Glen) to find out if Dahlin Group would be informed of his passing/licensing - and if so, would they please not pass on that information to Brett. His boss was very excited/willing to be in on the planning. So were his workmates. His boss even arranged for one of the other principals to leave a message for Brett that the results were delayed and he wouldn't be hearing until the end of April. However, as I later found out, that didn't stop Brett from pestering the architect board. He can be SO nosey sometimes....... The funny thing is Brett would never even imagine/or be suspicious that I would be emailing his friends/bosses at work.

I finally rounded up the emails I needed for his work friends and then sent out the evite:

Come celebrate a day we never thought would actually arrive! Brett has just passed his 10th and final architectural exam! This has been a long 4 1/2 years, but it really is over now and we want to celebrate!

We will be celebrating with food (some of Brett's favorites), fun and friends.

Unfortunately, this MUST be kept a surprise. Please remember not to "congratulate" our man until the appropriate hour! Brett does NOT know that he passed. He has been successfully tricked into thinking the results won't come out until the end of April. (Thanks Glen!)

Brett will arrive after everyone is already here.

If you can make it, please respond to this invite or call me on my CELL phone only (925)784-7312 or email me at my Yahoo address liverbaileys@yahoo.com (not my liverbaileys@gmail.com address)

And try to remember - NO CONGRATS until the party! Our children don't even know as they cannot keep secrets!

Parking for this event will be in the courtyard just east of our court (it is an empty court at the end of El Dorado).

Hope you can come and sorry for the late notice! Please let me know the number of guests you will be bringing and whether they are an adult or child. Thanks!

P.S. - To out-of- towners and far-away-family, I just included you to put you in the loop. We'll miss you of course :)

I next started to try and make our yard presentable (without being TOO presentable and thus making Brett wonder why I was so concerned about the yard). I even edged it for the first time in my life. I asked our neighbor Jim to hint to Brett that our yard needed mowing (you know, embarrass him into action), and he was only too glad to do that, "Hey Brett, now that I am retired, I have more time on my hands. It looks like everyone else keeps up on their yards, so I thought you might want some help. I'll do your lawn for $5 a week. I could use some cash" or something like that. Brett did not take the hint, just said, "That's okay. I'm sure you have plenty to keep you busy. I'll get to it." Not the right response. I needed it mowed by Friday! Jim ended up mowing it for me Friday morning :) What a great neighbor! The funniest part was that Jim's story got more and more exaggerated every time it was told at the party. "I told him his yard was really bad and something needed to be done so I'd be happy to help for $5 a week and then Brett just stormed off!" (That sounds SO like Brett! haha!)

I never did so much weeding in my life - the whole garden area was covered with weeds along with the side yard and every other visible dirt area. There were tons of other odd things that needed to be taken care of as well so Brett wouldn't be totally embarrassed of our home when his work friends came over. Nothing major, but kind of hard to do along with 5 little ones who have no worries about making messes in every area that I have just cleaned up! I made my list of daily "to dos" -nail holes to fill in, menu planning (kids and adults), how to set up, what to use for his "architecture" display to embarrass him....... I actually forgot the best thing of all - his huge model that we have been storing for 9+ years in the garage because we can't throw it out because he worked so hard on it. It is broken in some places. THAT would have been hilarious to have on display...........




....ordering the cake and finding "architectural" decorations? (Long, fruitless hour in Michael's with my sister Courtenay on the phone giving me ideas. Why doesn't Michael's have a section of architectural doodads for cakes?)
.................ordering balloons (never have done that before - not sure why. It was easy! Just getting them into the car was a little troublesome. Joshua has become my official and eager balloon blower upper on birthdays!)



..............touch up painting, floor mopping, bathroom scrubbing head to toe (that chore I'd leave till Friday a.m. - then LOCK my kids out until the guests came!) couches to clean (just to be presentable and so people wouldn't be afraid to sit on them), just keeping the whole house clean at one given moment was very hard! Food to shop for and then hide at different friends homes, food to prepare without little ones mentioning to dad that "Mom made 2 huge bowls of coos coos today" or "We made 50 cupcakes today!" - and have dad respond, "Really? all that cooking and yet no dinner for me?" "Why so much coos coos, dear wife? and where is it?" Me: "Ummm.... in our neighbors fridge?" I digress. I also thought it was "important" to finish the bed skirt for Joshua's room (so you can't see the storage bins under his bed) - which did get done, I made it to match the wave on his wall :) and also "important" to make bedspreads for Claire and Eliza's beds (that one didn't get done!). I also wanted to do some hi-lites or something with my hair, but that got lost on my list.

Windows to clean at the last moment, fridge to clean out (less neighbors/friends see how we REALLY live), and most of all NOT talk to Brett about any of it. Not even complain to Brett about how my back was killing me from making 5 lbs of fallafels over the hot stove and so on! None of it was very hard - just hard to do with my kids around and secretly . I couldn't tell the kids anything because they would not be able to not say, "Oh, dad! I wish I could tell you something that is so exciting, but mom told me not to tell you!" Friday morning I finally told Anna and Josh on the way to school so they could be excited about it for at least one day. They were!

Thursday morning right after Brett left for work I got a call from the AIA (Architect Board) asking for Brett. I said he had left for work, and asked what this was about? I said, "Is there a problem with the results? Did he not pass now?" He said he was just calling because Brett had called him and emailed him wondering where the results were. I told him that we DID get the results, but could he please not tell Brett because we were having a party tomorrow night for him. He said he couldn't lie, but added that I was such a nice wife :), but said he would just not respond to Brett's calls. I thanked him. Then about 30 minutes later I get an email from Brett showing correspondence between Brett and the AIA. The part from the AIA said that Brett's results were returned in the mail because the numbers in his address were transposed and that they would be mailing them off again today and he should get them by Saturday. (I thought it was so funny about the "transposing" of our address numbers: 1101 - how many ways can you transpose 1101 and still get it right?!!! ) Brett had then asked them if they could just tell him if he passed or not (Back off Bailey!!!) and the man responded that it was against policy!

So he DID lie for me! I was so grateful. Shortly after I saw that, I got a call from the same guy telling me that he had just sent off an email to Brett "throwing him off!" It was great!

Anytime Brett emailed me something about this, I would forward it to his workmates who were getting a big kick out of tricking Brett. One of them emailed me back saying "no more emails" because he just had a close call. Brett had just been looking at his (Mario's)computer screen a second before and almost saw my email come up, but Mario said he was "as quick as a ninja and averted that disaster!" That is Mario 2nd from right below. Doesn't he look like a ninja?!




My friend Ann came over to help me figure out and set up the eating tables at 2:00

My friend Donna took my 3 youngest to her house at 3:00. That was a lifesaver. I forgot to pick them up at 5:30 I was so busy. Here come the kids! (Claire in green and Eliza on far right)

My friend Julie showed up at 5:00 to plant flowers in our planter box that never has flowers, cook food and help me spread last minute bark over some dirt patches! (I was about to fall over from exhaustion from carrying all the bags of bark!)

Then we moved into the kitchen for making the sausage wraps and stuffed mushrooms, frosting cupcakes, putting all the last minute things out. I realized I had left WAY too much stuff for the last minute. Ooops. But somehow, thanks to my friends we made it!

Brett called on his way home and I asked him to stop off at Costco and then pick up our babysitter, Emma, at her house. He thought we were going out that night. He called again when he got to Emma's house saying that she didn't know she was babysitting. (Oops! She was not supposed to be there - she was supposed to be at a track meet! Then Brett would call and I'd say, "Oh, her dad just dropped her off here. So come on home!") I was caught off guard for a moment, then I "cleverly" pulled through and said, "Oh! Sorry, her sister is already here. Her dad dropped her off."

So he came home. He slowly brought his groceries in (Come IN, already! Are you going to change the tire too?!) and then walked into the kitchen and saw where everyone was hiding (in family room and hallway). SURPRISE!!

Then Eliza and Claire ran up to him and said, "You passed! You passed!"

He then saw his boss and people from work, his brother Allan and wife Buffy, neighbors and friends so it started clicking for him. Then when Beth and her kids showed up, it was very clear indeed.

He later said he couldn't believe all these people were there(around 60 people!) just because he passed his final test. (But didn't they come for the cake?!) Somebody asked his boss what it means now that he has his license. Kind of funny as they have just finished with another round of lay-offs at work. Brett is lucky to have a job, let alone any kind of perk for getting licensed. I said it might mean that his boss thinks it is a good time for him to leave and start his own company (haha). His boss also said, "Congratulations! Now you can get sued!" Pretty funny indeed.

THE FOOD (choices based on some of Brett's current favorites))
Israeli Coos Coos salad (with pine nuts, shallots etc)
Fallafels w/ a yogurt cucumber sause in pita bread
Garlic Stuffed Mushrooms
Chips/Artichoke Dip
Crackers/Cheese/Fruit/Vegetables
Enchiladas/Vegetable (made by Charlotte, our neigbor,best I have ever tasted!)
Homemade pizza (super good! brought by Tamara and Glen, Brett's boss)
Sausage wraps (for the kids main fare)
Costco cake and homemade cupcakes (I couldn't get fancy with desserts - not enough practice!)

No nice tablecloth/dishes for the kids - they eat outside:

Brett was worried about people driving out so far, but later said that since the food was good maybe it made it worth it for them. He also later said he noticed all the "little repairs" that I had done around the house/yard that most people never would have noticed, but he did because he sees them every day. He also said the yard looked great (for us!) so I was happy that the labor was not wasted! He realized then why I was trying to get him to get the garden boxes done quickly (didn't get done, but oh well!) He said he also noticed that the "ducks were standing up for once" (instead of strewn all over the yard!)

So, the secret is out, (thank goodness!) Brett is happy (not mad at me for having a party) and now we move on. No more late night studying. It is over! (Wish I had more pics of people/party.......)

And here we were relaxed and poised at the end of the evening:

Actually, we ate so much it was more like this:

And who says I never post pictures of myself ?????