Honoring My Mom on Her Birthday - Lights in the Sky!

It is difficult to know how to truly honor someone that has passed.  Nothing seems like enough.  But after some discussion - this is what we decided to do.
First we met and enjoyed a nice dinner with some of my mom's favorite foods:  sweet and sour spare ribs with rice, vegetables and salad with Homespun dressing.
Then we sat and shared what we missed most about my mom, shared memories and my dad read some of the quotes that she loved and had saved in her files. (I will try to post those at a later time.)  It was very emotional but also very sweet.
We then piled into the car and drove to the lake to launch 16 floating lanterns - in honor of my mother's birthday on February 16th. 
Here we are upon arrival - Brian with the crutches and wheelchair after fracturing his heel bone.

My handsome father - notice anything different?  After wearing a mustache for 40+ years...he shaved it off!

The very first lantern!

Lighting the lanterns was magical - once we got the hang of it!  If there is a next time - we will know the best way to do it and try to light several at a time.  We were pretty slow at getting them off the ground but it was still very cool!

One of my favorite pictures!

After we saw the last lantern flicker into the darkness, we went back to Papa's house to celebrate 2 more February birthdays - Sarah and Micaela.

Kip baked a chocolate layer cake with fluffy 7-minute icing - a family classic and my mom's favorite (he even made it pink!). 

So she wouldn't miss out on her lovely birthday cake, my dad took a piece of this cake up to my mom's grave the next day.  He left it for her to share with the rabbits and the deer.

Aunt Amy gave Sarah a couple of party poppers for her birthday.  Sarah loved them!

But it left quite a mess!

Addie had to take a turn.

Papa gave Sarah a little bag of toys that my mom kept in her drawer.  She always had little bags of toys ready to take in her purse whenever she was going somewhere and needed to entertain little grandchildren.  He also gave Sarah this fan that belonged to my mom (after she got sick she had a difficult time regulating her body temperature and was always very hot).  Aunt Linda - is this the fan you gave her?  

Papa also gave Micaela this lovely bracelet that belonged to my mother.  She was touched.

And as a final nod to the cheetah birthday - we gave Sarah this:

It was a bittersweet day and in some ways I am glad it has come and gone.  Happy birthday Mom!