Happy Birthday Mom!

25 Things About My Mom

1. She dresses so cute! She has always had a great sense of style. She never showed up at my school to bring me the lunch I forgot in a pair of sweats. She always looks her best...even her P.J.'s are cute!

2. She is the one who got me addicted to Bonnie Bell Lip Smackers. It's been something she's used since she was little...I believe she said her favorite flavor was red raspberry.

3. She is an incredible musician. She plays the flute, piano, guitar and she sings like an angel. I have fond memories of listening to her play classical music on her guitar when I was little, and playing the piano after the kids were in bed.

4. She used to spend hours and hours and hours making crafts to sell at craft fairs. (She always did VERY well at those!) I have always been so amazed at the things she makes with her bare hands! My favorite Christmas presents were the ones she made us.

5. She always gets her Visiting Teaching done. Not only does she get it done, she makes these awesome treat bags or cute little knick knacks to give them every time! She's so creative!

6. I never had to wonder if my mom loved me. Even when I was absolutely horrible to her. She was always there with a hug and a tear when I needed her.

7. She is an amazing cook. Every Christmas Eve she makes this incredible feast of Chimichangas (spelling???), Posole, chili, taquitos, and all sorts of other goodies. To me, that's Christmas, right there. Christmas Eve dinner.

8. She used to make me peanut butter on bread and draw a smiley face in the peanut butter. I thought it was the coolest thing ever! And to this day I swear the sandwich didn't taste as good when I didn't get my smiley face on it.

9. She's a great movie critic. She always knows the best picks!

10. She is an incredible substitute teacher...now a secretary! I swear, claws come out when the other teachers fight over who gets her when they're going to be gone. She is one hot item in the Monte Vista school district! She's so good at what she does and the kids love her!

11. She is such an awesome grandma! Whitney, Aaron and McKayla just adore her. She has a special way of making cranky babies calm down and I wish I knew her secret! She always remembers their birthdays and knows how to make them feel special.

12. She's so funny! She's always ready with some sort of little prank to pull.

13. She used to be a nurse! I believe she was pregnant with me at the same time, too. It was very difficult for her, but she still went and did it every day. She has such neat stories about experiences she had there. And she always has good medical advice!

14. She walks miles and miles for exercise and somehow doesn't get tired! I'm ready to die after mile three, and she's like, "let's just go a few more miles." I don't know how she does it.

15. She takes good care of her family.

16. She chased down some naughty boys who stole a bunch of apples out of our apple tree. It was awesome! Those boys were sure put in their place that day, and my mom was a superhero in my eyes!

17. She used to make the coolest halloween costumes when we were little. Once she made me a paper mache trash can complete with a lid so I could be Oscar the Grouch. It looked so real! And once she sewed this HUGE snake for Josh to be some kind of a snake tamer or something. She made this cool Frankenstein hair/hat thing that was a family favorite for years. See, once again she's a crafty maniac!

18. She's really good at decorating the house. She makes our house in Monte Vista have this neat old country charm. It looks like it came out of a Better Homes and Garden magazine. It just feels like home! And it always smells so good...Yankee Candles. Mmmm.

19. Speaking of Mmmm....she makes killer brownies! Oh man, and when she makes her homemade fudge sauce to go with her brownies and ice cream, it's like heaven! Warm, oozy, chocolaty heaven.

20. She has gorgeous hair! It is so shiny and healthy and thick and I'm so jealous! She has never had a perm or dyed it or anything...so maybe that's her secret. But I've always loved her hair.

21. Whitney wants me to add that she loves it when Grandma reads her stories and sits with her on the couch. And she likes that she "shares her toys because that's a nice thing to do."

22. She makes cute kids. And she had all of us without pain killers. She's amazing! Even when she was in labor when I drove her to the hospital, she was so calm and focused...you'd never know she was in tremendous pain.

23. She is so beautiful! She always has been. She has a beautiful smile, and the prettiest brown eyes, and she has a great complexion (something else I wish I had inherited). I love my beautiful mom!

24. She always makes me feel better. She never tells me I'm crazy or to just stop whining and complaining...even when I know I am. She patiently listenes and tells me it'll be okay and usually ends up making me laugh.

25. I would never trade her for anyone else. Mary Poppins has nothing on my mom! (especially since mom never made us drink cod liver oil... magically cherry flavored or not!) I know I chose her for a reason, and every day I am reminded of why. I love you, mom! Happy Birthday!