Extreme Makeover -- Revealed!

It was all worth it.

3 gallons of paint, two shopping trips, five days of sneaking around, a ton of seashells -- and this is what we got...

We had a nice family swim with my mom and dad. And it was great to see that my sister, her fiance, and my two nephews came too! We swam until about 8 and then we all packed up and headed to our place for cake and coffee. We took Curtis and my nephew Nick with us while mom and dad took Renee. We needed a 15 minute head start, just to put up a few things in the room before they got there.

When everyone arrived, Renee told us she just wasn't hungry for cake. LOL! I guess not -- she was very anxious for her gift. Earlier, Curtis and I had set up a treasure hunt to lead her to the room, so we gave her the first clue and away she went:

There were 6 clues, and after the fifth, I snuck downstairs to be in the room with my camera. I wanted to capture her expression when she opened the door. This is what we saw...

She just stood there, not saying anything, for at least a minute or two. I think she might have been a bit confused. When we asked her later, she thought we were showing her someone else's room. So we asked...."well?"

She kept saying "wow!', and "this is amazing!", and "so cool!" She wandered around her room slowly and just kept looking at everything.

This was my favorite pic:

The look on her face was priceless, and was worth every minute we spent working on this room. It was worth every penny we spent, and every fib I had to tell her to keep it a secret. She told us that this was the best birthday present she ever had seen and that it was the most amazing room she had ever seen anywhere. Yes, it was all worth it!

After we pried her out of her room, we went up and had cake. But it was hard to keep her upstairs -- all she wanted was to be down in her little personal paradise. Very easy to get her to bed last night!

What a great experience! Thanks for reading, and looking, and commenting all week. Now...next time...it will be Curtis' turn. Who knows when and where...but it will be when he leats expects it!