mom's bday

our fall birthday bonanza continued with mom's birthday on the 25th.

we were going to go to dinner and campo di bocce and maybe play bocce ball, but we got there and it was closed for a private party! oh no! so then we decided to try a restaurant in downtown pleasanton called haps. we were all so happy that the other place was closed. yum! it was delicious and despite the fact that it was mom's birthday, she still spent most of the dinner helping with shelby. 'cause she's awesome.

the friday before her birthday, me, shelby, trevor, richard, and brett all went to stoneridge mall, had dinner, and went shopping for presents. it was so fun! we went to williams sonoma and see's candy and then they boys reached their shopping limit. :)

we always get mom a custom box of her favorite chocolates.

she eats them for breakfast the next day. a good birthday tradition don't you think?

shelby was an excellent helper with grandma's presents which were: a panini press, a panini cookbook, and williams sonoma's special hot chocolate mix made from chocolate shavings not powder. sounds intense! we were a little worried about getting her a panini press even though she had told me she wanted one. we thought the gift was kind of like "here mom, happy birthday, make us a sandwich." but when we bought it brett especially thought it would be fun to use on sundays after church and when mom opened the box that was exactly what she said! i sighed with relief for sure.

guess who ate this frosting. nope not shelby. it was my dad!

mom loves getting people extra big cakes so we made sure to get her a huge, delicious chocolate cake. last year we got a nice one from whole foods, but it was a little too vegan for us. so this year we got one from safeway and it was moist and perfect.

shelby and i thought it needed something more, so we added the sugar spiders and bats for grandma.

mom turned 55, and she's not afraid to say it. i put 2 nice lines of 5 each, but then grandma let shelby put in all the rest of the candles too. hey, it was her birthday after all.

it's always dad's job to light the candles. and to get mom carnations, which i personally think are a super ugly flowers and only one step above baby's breath. but it's their tradition and they aren't my flowers!

okay this time the frosting thief was shelby.

oh man, here we go!

happy 55th mom! we love you!

ready

set

(shelby put some pants on!)

go!

great job grandma and granddaughter!

we always try to make mom's birthday special, since she makes every day special for the rest of us. but we always fail, since she has a hard time letting people do things for her. hopefully she knows that we love her and appreciate her and are so grateful that she was born! and that she knows she is a smokin' hot 55 year old! yay mom!