My mom turned 60 on Saturday, and we hosted the party at our house. Much has changed since her 59th birthday celebration. Last year she celebrated without us at my parents' home in California. This year?

Well.

This year, we celebrated with her in our new home. Which is just a handful of miles away from their new house. My parents moved to North Carolina right before Lachlan's second surgery! Even though we are both still getting used to our new surroundings and unpacking this and that ... even though we are far from our beloved California mountains ... even though life is not always peaches and cream ... we are together. With Mima and Papa close by, we are all happier. We eat berries and cream together. And chocolate cake (a yummy recipe from A Homemade Life .) 

For Mima's big birthday, we were excited to welcome my aunt and her partner from up north, and we were all surprised when my other aunt from California showed up as well! Much laughter ensued, and we all learned a bit about campfire cooking as we tried out our pie irons for the first time, christening our new backyard fire pit. Homemade bread, fresh tomatoes, sundried tomatoes, mozzarella, basil, and some butter makes some delish pie iron paninis. 

I'm thinking I could eat that for every meal for the duration of tomato season.

Here's to my own love-filled Mama. My boys are lucky boys indeed, to have their Mima's presence warm their days.

P.S. More on the shelf (it's actually our old bookcase) and the kitchen soon. I'm still too shy to show it off in its unfinished state quite yet!