Continuing the birthday list with my mother-in-law!

April is a birthday-heavy month around here.  It's also a happy month.  Today we celebrate the birth of my mother-in-law, Sarita.  She is a gifted and giving woman and we're all proud to be part of her family.

Sarita grew up in Chandler, a suburb of Tyler, Texas.  Her brother and his wife still live in the family house, which is called the farm, though we're not sure what they grow.  

East Texas was her stomping ground through college.  She met Stan Boyette in college and they were later married.  They moved to DFW and raised one son (Adam) and twin daughters.

Sarita taught special education at MacArthur high school for about 30 years.  She retired when I was pregnant with Claire.  She and Stan spend their days tinkering around the house and playing with their dogs, Britches and Pockets.  Sarita is a talented scrapbooker and handmade card creator.  Our home is adorned with both.  She's completed at least five scrapbooks for each of my children.

Sarita is both resourceful and thoughtful.  She always has her thinking cap on trying to find a way to reuse or recycle everything that comes in her house.  

You know you are a favorite of Sarita when you are elevated to bag status.  That means every time she sees you, she gives you a bag of random items you will find useful.  (Not to brag, but I usually get two bags.)  Inside your bag, you will find all sorts of surprises from canned goods to Campbell's soup labels, to pocket packs of kleenex, or a bag of dog treats she got free in the mail.  Every time she goes to Sonic she saves the mints to send to my kids.  She cuts the front of all her greeting cards off to use in scrapbooks or to give to the kids for art projects.  Calendars are treated the same way.

Sarita and I are both passionate coupon cutters, so when we cut the coupons out of our newspaper insert, we save them to swap.  She is also well-versed in the free giveaways on the web, so she often sends us something random and useful she won online.

I was surprised when I started dating Adam and realized that in his family, all the pets are taught to speak.  They always introduce themselves before speaking, and it is often Sarita who helps.  A conversation with the family dog often goes like this:

"This is Pockets.  I am madder than hell that Wesley Eugene got blessed at church and I had to stay here in Grapevine with these old folks.  I am sick of that dog trying to say I am condemned to hell.  How can I get baptized if these old folks never leave their house?  This is Pockets and I am furious!"

Or

"This is Britches.  That Pockets has overstepped his boundaries one too many times.  I was the first dog in this house and now everyone is all, 'Pockets, Pockets, Pockets.'  I am fed up and as soon as I can find a suitcase in this messy house, I am hitting the road.  Plus, I am sick of this dog food they make me eat!  Where's the Porterhouse steak?  This is Grapevine, and word on the street is that it's supposed to be hoity-toity."

The dogs are usually angry about something.  Sometimes they even send each other letters in the mail.

In honor of Sarita's birthday, our dogs Wesley Eugene and Cpt. Midnight Sugar Dot Express have something to say:

"Happy birthday to you, old woman!  This is Wesley Eugene and Sugar Dot.  Don't even come into the Fort Worth city limits today unless you come bearing treats for us!  Oh, and happy birthday."