celebrating 70

I love surprise parties, especially when I get to throw them and it's for someone I love. My mom just turned 70, a milestone for sure. My brother Frank and I were trying to figure out what we could do for her birthday, he lives in Panama so our first idea was to take her on a trip - just the three of us. After weeks of thought I began to imagine a small party with her closest friends and family. It would be a surprise, in seventy years she had never experienced a surprise party. What fun we had.

There were fifteen of us for dinner, we hired someone to come in to make dinner - it was Italian and it was amazing. I had never done this before but a friend suggested it, they worked with our budget and we were able to visit and not worry about what was happening on the stove. I also asked my friend Kyrani Kanavaros to come to take photos, I knew she would capture the evening for us and we could have the memories forever.

The best part of the night was that our kids were there to experience it. They had no idea what a "surprise party" was but once explained they loved it. My mom was so happy to have her three treasures with her.  Of course the biggest surprise of the night was that my brother snuck into town, the look on my mom's face when she saw him was priceless. 

When I was little my mom would throw me the greatest birthday parties. Lots of friends, cake and family. I was so happy to do this for her, to give her a night with her most loved that she will always remember. The cake was from Butter Baked Goods and it was delicious.

I had to light the candles on the cake about five times, the kids love to blow out the candles and everyone needed a try. I love this picture, I know our kids will look at this decades from now and remember this time with great happiness. xx