My dearest blessed mother!

Happy Birfday! Granted you told us you are turning 25, I think if you turn those numbers around Ms. Dyslexic, you have turned 52 this year. I've always been jealous of yours and Kirri's October birthdays. I would totally love a Bday in Oct. My favorite month I suppose.

Moving on......

To the dearest mother who raised four children somewhat peacefully and non-traumatically despite the child services calls the neighbors made.

To the lady who kept us kids all alive even at times when she really wished we weren't.

To the lady who hasn't learned her lesson and keeps letting her kids come BACK to live at her house.

To the Mum who lives by the spirit of the law to balance out her husbands letter of the law.

To the Mum who fed us and didn't over dose us on medication unlike her husband.

To the Mother who mastered the art of guilt (prolly got it from her Mum) to make her children do what she wanted them too.

To the mother who showed us the art of hard work and house cleaning to cure boredom, thus the boredom seemed to stop quickly....

To the mother who snoops and sneaks or otherwise asks the right questions, as us children believe in the "dont ask; dont tell" policy.

To the "do as I say; not as I do" mother. mwhaha

To the Mum who had a certain corner in the kitchen in which she would corner her children when she was angry....

To the mother who never made decisions for us and then got angry with us when we finally did make a deicision.

To the mother who somehow talks her children into doing things outside their comfort zone, mainly resulting in college education for most of us kids.

To the lady who loves pasta and tomatoes and has taught me well in that regard.

To the lady who gives and gives, taking on way to much at times, but doesn't complain.

To the lady who went through the great task of finishing college with a BA after raising her children and the odd victory of graduating the same time her oldest daughter did.

To the stubborn lady who always puts up a fight for things she believes is right, especially when it comes to family.

To the Mum who doesn't seem to know much about financial planning but yet will sacrifice any time and money to be with family.

To the Mum who works hard and sacrifices much, while maintaining a good example, who still knows how to take care of herself.

To the mother who believed in us kids, well most of the time.

To the young looking mother who has children who look so much like her we, unfortunately at times, cannot claim ourselves as adopted.

To a mother who inspired us to be the best we can be and do the best we could do.

To a mother who loves unconditionally.

To a mother I cannot thank enough just through words and only a little better through actions.

To the blessed mother that I chose in heaven and such choice I will never regret.

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Well, I hope you had a good birthday. I rounded the boys up and made them show up for your dinner on Sunday, granted Dustin was living in your house at the time, but still, it does take a bit of rounding up. Min is not here to get the ball rolling anymore as she is in CA, so here I am, remembering, giving, and forcing family in on your Bday!

I attempted to make you the homemade chicken noodle soup and salad you wanted but Dustin decided he's the chef and I dont have a clue what I'm doing so he took over my dinner plans. Which I don't mind entirely, I juss wish he didn't make me feel so stupid in the process. I thought it was a nice gesture. You know I dont cook Mum, so I thought it would mean more when I said I'd come all the way up there just to cook you a sunday dinner with the family. But that got shot down quickly. Dustin got a lil carried away with the soup and ended up making homemade noodles, cuz he's juss that good (mocking), show-off. And he also ended up making a carrot cake and icing from scratch of course, just like everything else. Of course he made the cake not knowing I had an ice cream cake waiting for you, and of course that was 'my fault' b/c I didn't 'communicate well' with the plans that I didn't think he'd even wanna be apart of!.... Oy. Its cool that he wanted to be involved but his attitude and personality through it all makes it almost not bearable for those planning yer activities Mum. And when he's not cooking he was talking. Oy.

Boys. You tell them they have to show up and they whine, and you ask them to do something to particpate and they whine some more, so you plan on doing it all yourself and then when they show up they decide to take over and then complain about the communication/plans that they weren't even interested in in the first place. *count to ten*

Moving on! You seemed to not like everything I was doing that weekend also, but we won't go into that, we'll focus on what I did do right on yer Bday weekend! I think I chose well on the Carmel Turtle ice cream cake. BTW, There seriously is no cake in a claimed "ice cream cake", its in the shape of a cake, yes, but no cake. There is lots of whipped cream on top, ice cream in middle and cookie crust on bottom, and no folks, cookie crust is NOT cake, its more like pie. Anyways! Its what you wanted and I chose well and we all liked it. Come to think of it I think thats the only thing you did praise that night regarding my efforts. Of course Dustins homemade noodles were delicious...

Then I got you and Dad a 32'' somewhat flat screen LCD TV.

Dallin got it for me and I paid him back so he was holding it at his place and he forgot to bring the remote so we couldn't set it up with your DirectTV so now you prolly juss have a giant TV of fuzz where you can't watch TV currently, but one day when the boys figger it out, it'll be a nice touch to the front room. It was a good choice until you decided you didn't want to share with Dad, that you wanted your own TV to call yer own, even tho you would still share it in a community/public room. Oy. The TV was lots of money and I wasn't gonna be there at Dad's Bday so I kinda lumped them together!

Oh mother I tried, I really did. I put in effort, communication, and money. And thats juss planning with family gatherings! I could never do bigger gatherings for other events/reasons, well, maybe its easier if its not family events....

Then after dinner they all decided to go duct tape my car back together, Dad in his chuch clothes, Dallin always questioning what I hit, and Dustin taking out my battery to get to my lightbulb that was currently falling out of its socket/place. Sigh. My car inspection didn't pass b/c my one parking light hasn't worked since I got the car. They figgered out the wiring to make it work, tried to like superglue my headlights back together (they broke in pieces) and ended up duct taping them all in and giving the hood an extra shove to get it to shut. Hey I dont care what it looks like as long as it passes inspections and still gets me places. I'd rather put money into a new car than this one.

Anyways that was a little adventure/detour on your Bday. We finally got ya'll back in the house and gave ya yer TV and Dallin took it upon himself to remove your giant, heavy CRT TV by himself. We attempted to set it up for ya and failure, then Dad left for his church stuff.

So there ya have it: a son to cook for ya, another son for heavy labor, an absent daughter who misses you very much currently from afar, and another daughter who is...just there to make the boys participate in your party.....and bring ice cream cake and pressies. You got the whole spectrum. You should be so proud. We all have our special lil contributions and we love you that much to share them with you!