Happy 60th Birthday, Grandma JoJo!

We just had a wonderful week-long visit with my mom (and dad, but he was working for four of the days)....  It included my mother's 60th birthday, an early Cinco de Mayo celebration, a brush with croup, lots of driving around the western suburbs and arboretum to entice Sosini to nap, trying out new recipes, and plenty of other shenanigans.

Sonia was so excited to celebrate her beloved Grandma JoJo's 60th birthday with her!  I love this picture that she took of my mom.  Yes, Sonia took this picture!

My father gave my mother 60 red roses in honor of the momentous occasion.  Our house looked so fancy all week long!

Sonia and I baked a ridiculously tasty carrot cake using a surprisingly easy recipe from Cooks Illustrated.  Our budding photographer loved taking pictures during the singing of Happy Birthday.

Here's one of the pictures she took....  Not bad!!

Seriously, this cake was AWESOME.  I kinda want to make another one.

We ended the day with a fantastic dinner at Cooper's Hawk Winery & Restaurant (which is very kid-friendly!).  Happy happy happy birthday, Ma!  We love you and were very honored to get to celebrate with you.  You are a wonderful mom and grandmother, and we look forward to many more years of fun together!