Pizza Factory and Mom's Birthday

We always take the kids to eat at pizza factory. There are some arcade games there that they think are so fun to waste quarters in. We grew up eating Pizza Factory in Corcoran, so we love to go there since there is one in Fowler just 10 minutes away.

I love these next two pictures, Kylee is not shy to show when she does not like something.

 Kids are posing with their fist in grandpa style.

My mom has this little tykes dollhouse set. She has more pieces than you could possibly imagine. Even though the girls are older, they still had fun setting up their houses.

Every night there is the decision of which combination of children will sleep at which home. I was determined to set up a schedule ahead of time, but didn't set up past the first two nights, so the rest of the nights have been the type of decision-making that hurts my brain. They don't like to be separated, so overnighters are a must!

The kids have spent countless hours this week. For my mom's traditional birthday show. They put so much time and energy into the show, it blew my mind. Jordan choreographed a coordinated nearly the entire thing, and I was very impressed. All of the kids for so dedicated and worked so hard. Jordan even woke them all up at 7:30 on the last morning so they could eat breakfast and stretch to prepare for the show! She definitely learns from her awesome directors at the dance company!

Since we are lucky enough to have a closet full of dance costumes, the girls were able to look very professional. We even did full out hair and make up for the show.

Here is the view from the back of the hallway. This is sort of like the "backstage" area.

The audience was ready and waiting! This is by far my mom's most favorite thing. I think she would be happy if the show lasted the entire day. It truly was very impressive and so fun to watch.

One of the gifts we made for her was this large mounted photo of the kids hanging out by the swimming pool. I turned it black-and-white and added the lyrics from her favorite song, or one of her favorite songs, to make it look like a piece of art. It looks so pretty about the piano.

Alyson made her these homemade canvases that are perfect!

And then finally, the big present. I think I was scaring my mom because I kept telling her that it would take a long time to digest this gift. I told her it was like a party in a box. I don't think she knew what to expect! But we presented her with the book of 60 notes of love. There is a page dedicated to 60 different people from throughout her life who I asked to write her a letter. I think it is a very meaningful book, and the hours I spent compiling it were very inspiring to me. So often we are hard on ourselves, and don't feel that we measure up to what we think we should be. However, reading these 60 notes and hearing such a common theme of love and appreciation for my mom's service and enthusiasm and ideas and unconditional love for people, made me want to be a better person. I sure hope she can read those and know that they are so true. I think too often we wait until a funeral to express those kinds of loving thoughts. I wanted people to have an opportunity to express those thoughts while she is alive!