the big 6-0

my mom turned 60 the last weekend.  she has 4 children and 8 grandchildren.  for her birthday, all she wanted was for her family to gather.  so we did.  but i kept feeling like it just wasn't enough.  we celebrated, had cupcakes and a happy birthday banner and balloons and cooked and sang happy birthday at a beautiful place...but it all didn't feel enough.  how do you tell someone who means so much how much you love them.  how can you ever say how much you value their life?  because isn't that what birthdays are all about?  telling someone they are of such great value and worth and the day they entered the world a great plan of God's unfolded.  that's the case with my mom.  so much steadfastness and diligence and grace.  so when it came to one silly day of singing the happy birthday song or one simple gift.  it just didn't feel enough.
unfortunately, i forgot my real camera, so all i was able to capture was a few iphone pics.

my mom as a child, teenager, and then young mom (with me:))  one of her gifts from her children was a book of old pictures like these, combined with encouraging notes from many friends and family.  we used artifact uprising & i just really love their products

my mom, chatting and playing with some of her grandchildren

party decor

we have apparently done a good job of instilling the love and excitement for birthdays into hazel.  she gets fired up about them.  she made up a song for my mom, planned out details of gifts for her (all crafts she handmade) and...

she worked for a very long time on this card that included a hand-colored rendition of my mom, stamps, and a cupcake, of course.

anders card to her was what he said was the silliest.  

one of her gifts from all her children was this great lakes quilt & we had the name of our cottage, "ten gables" custom embroidered on the place on the map. 

my mom doesn't eat wheat and very little sugar, but when you turn 60, you gotta eat a cupcake!!

it was a great (and wild with all those kiddos!) weekend celebrating our great mom!