In my family, we don't just celebrate ... we decorate.

My mom turned 60 this week, and I wanted to do something special for her. You see, growing up, she always made birthdays extra special for us. She'd sneak into our rooms while we slept and decorate them — always something new — so we'd wake up to a magical birthday morning, complete with a small present waiting on our breakfast plate.

Yeah, I had that mom. The one that makes all other mothers want to shoot themselves. And this was long, long, loooonnnggg before the age of Pinterest.

That's what I have to live up to. Sigh.

In any case, I wanted to do something similar for my Momma, and the surprisingly thoughtful little brother piped up and said, "Why don't you decorate her kitchen with bees?" (I should also probably mention my mother's obsession with bees — both real and decorative.)

Brilliant!

So I got to work, sourcing tons of decorative bees. Then I convinced my oh-so-wonderful hubby to string them all for me while I attended my weekly data analytics class.

He wasn't too excited about it.

But he's a trooper, and tied them all for me to take over and hang the next morning (at 6:30 a.m. — am I dedicated or what!?!). Dad helped me, and we had them all hung and her present set out with her breakfast (donuts and mimosas ftw!) long before she woke up.

But that's just the beginning. Because her sisters had been planning the actual birthday party for that weekend, complete with a blues band playing in my parents' backyard. Oh, and food.

Lots and lots of food.

Happy birthday to the Queen Bee!

Bonus: Video of my adorable parents dancing to the band at the end of the night. Seriously, if David and I are half this happy together after nearly 38 years of marriage, I'll call it a win. ;)