30th of March 2013

I had set my alarm for just after 8am this morning, and quickly had a shower and changed. It was my mother's birthday and I had a big surprise planned for her which she didn't know about. I was hoping to sneak out of the house unnoticed, but as I was getting ready she had woken up already. I had told her the previous evening that I had 'planned' to go shopping with a friend of mine today and would be back by 2pm. But at about 8:30am while mum and I was talking, the phone rang and it was my aunt wanting to wish her a happy birthday. I had hopped that I would pretend that I would forgotten that it was her birthday, but since my aunt call I couldn't pretend and come across mean that I had forgotten it, so I ended up giving her the present before I left.

She opened it up and it was a DVD of the movie 'Sky Riders.' I know it may seem like a silly little gift, but it was a DVD of a movie that she's been looking for about 15 years. Probably even more than that to be honest, it's just that I know she's told me about it at least once a year for about 15 years. She couldn't believe her eyes and also couldn't wait till she had a moment to watch it. Even the card I gave her I thought was pretty clever. It said "Mum you're just like a box of chocolates. Very sweet and also a bit nutty." I then had to take off quickly as I told her I was going to miss the bus, when in fact I was meeting up with my cousin who was visiting from Canberra who was going to take me shopping to prepare for the party at lunch.

I got to my aunt's place and a little after 9am and my cousin and I headed over to the shops. I had already bought some decorations the previous day, and had brought them with me. So while we were at Coles all we had to buy was just a few snacks and nibbles for lunch as well as the cake. We only took about an hour to buy the cake, I even decided to buy her a small box of flowers as well as I knew she loves flowers.

So when we got back to my aunts place I got s
tuck into the decorations, of blowing up the balloons and putting up the streamers. While my aunt and cousin prepared the sandwiches. Before we realised, it was almost noon and the guests would be arriving soon. Frank had taking mum shopping so she wouldn't arrive here until about 12:30pm.

A couple of my aunties arrived as well my my cousin and uncle from Malta, and as the time got closed to 12:30pm we all sat there patiently until she arrived. When she did, my aunt had closed the door so she wouldn't see the decorations and who was waiting inside, and she had a mighty shock when she walked in and everyone yelled "Surprise!" She hadn't suspected anything... not even from Wednesday when I told her I had "forgotten" something at my aunt's place. We all had a great time and the cake was awesome if I do say so myself! :-p Even my brother ended up making a guest appearance towards the end.

Slowly everyone had to leave as we all had the family farewell dinner on in the evening. Though my cousin did mention that Big W was having a big massive sale, so mum, my cousin and I decided to head over there for a quick bit. Was a good thing to, as I needed to go to the chemist and pick up some medicine for myself. We were only there for about an hour before we took off again.

Once we dropped off my cousin at my aunts place, mum and I quickly got ready for the dinner. Just about everyone within the family was meeting at Quakers Hill Inn for dinner, and what a large turnout it was. I didn't end up eating very much as I had a lot to eat during lunch, and there was still plenty of left overs. Though I guess that's how it is with a Maltese family. Enough food to feed an army!

I caught up with a lot of cousins which I hadn't seen in a while and even got to have a heart to heart chat with a couple of them. I keep joking about telling everyone that I'll be headed off to Malta shortly...and I really wish that I was sometimes.

Everyone then started to have big large group photos of all the cousins and of all the brothers and sisters (the older brothers and sisters), and we all had a good laugh and a very good time. It's a shame that not all of us could have been there, as it would have be great if everyone could have made it.

There was even a cake that was brought out for them that had said farewell uncle Leli and Nathalie. I didn't even get time to eat a piece of cake as everyone was either calling me to have a photo taken or to take a photo of what was going on! I still cannot believe that they are heading off home tomorrow... I'm really am going to miss them a lot.

Such a big day we had today, and it all went very very well. I was completely exhausted by the time I got home. So all I did when I got home was go to bed.