Nine Candles On Her Cake

Her day began with Emma being the first to wish her happy birthday (one of the many perks of sharing a room with your sister/best friend) and then the surprise of discovering the birthday ring in our room! I wish I could have captured her reaction when she walked in and saw it there. Totally unexpected and a lovely way to start her birthday! 

As is the tradition birthday gifts were given first thing in the morning.  We've always done this before David leaves for work so that the birthday girl (and her birthday sister) can have a whole day to enjoy the new treasures. 

Gretchen wasted no time making herself at home in the gift bag! 

This year was the first year that we went blueberry picking on Grace's birthday! The weather was simply incredible, the fields quiet (except for some chirping birds) and the blueberry bushes were absolutely dripping in berries. We even saw a few dragonflies (one of which we helped free from the blueberry netting). We didn't do our big picking today, having decided early on that we'd pick just a couple of quarts- enough for blueberry pancakes for breakfast and snacking on throughout the day. 

When we returned home Grace opened her lovely gift from Alice. She was so very surprised to have a gift from her friend, and even more surprised to see that it was a book that had taken out of the library recently and absolutely adored. Thank you, Patricia and Alice, for this most lovely gift! 

 Our lovely and dear friend Jane invited us to lunch at the tea shop today and then to her house for a walk in her labyrinth. 

While we waited for David and Emma to return with dinner (Chinese food as requested by the birthday girl) she decorated her cake. Usually we bake a cake from scratch (especially on birthdays) and we were all set to do so until Grace laid eyes on this gorgeous cake at Wegmans yesterday. She decided that the cake we were planning to make for today would be saved for her tenth birthday and that we should buy this cake instead and decorate it with sunflowers to make it just a little more festive. 

The butterfly and the nine are the new additions to the ring this year. At first glance the butterfly looks like a large colorform (remember those?!) but I can assure you that when you look closer you can see that it is indeed hand drawn. My dad truly never ceases to amaze us! With so many lovely ornaments in the set we may need to see about second ring so that we'll be able to continue to use them as the girls get older. 

Finally, it was time for the birthday ring ceremony. Such a sweet tradition and one that we all look forward to each time one of the girls is celebrating another trip around the sun. 

 And just like that she's nine. Nine trips around the sun have been completed and number ten is just getting started. It's hard to believe that this time next year we will be celebrating a decade of Grace. Happy birthday, Grace Elizabeth! We love you to the moon and stars and back and cannot wait to see what this next year brings! xo