Twelve Candles

Emma's birthday began with a trip to Cafe 641 for breakfast (a banana Nutella crepe for her) where she received her first birthday gift. 

(And it was right about now that I realized that Emma was wearing the wrong jacket! )

Sleeping Queens (from Grace). The girls played a round while waiting for breakfast to arrive). 

Emma poses with the newest addition to the birthday ring! 

A perfect way to commemorate all the letters that she and her great-grandpa have written this year (plus he turns 100 in April)! 

Next gift. Something she really needed....

new goggles! \

They are pretty fabulous!

Emma loves Dolly Parton. It's her dream to go to Dollywood one day! 

And her final birthday gift: 

Hedwig! 

Traditional pre-birthday ring picture. 

Lighting the final candle. 

Officially twelve. 

After her story was read and the candles were lit the three of us took turns bestowing wishes upon her for the coming year. 

Twelve cupcakes on her twelfth birthday! 

A sweet message from one of her most favorite people in the whole wide world! 

Last night, as Emma was heading up to bed she gave me a kiss and said "thank you for making my birthday so special! I had a wonderful day!"  It was a quiet day full of all that Emma loves best (her family, yummy food, some much wished for gifts, cards/messages/texts and phone calls from friends and family). Thank you so much to everyone who helped to make Emma's birthday so very special! David and I truly cannot believe that our baby girl is twelve! One more year and we'll have TWO teenagers in the house! EEK! 

An excerpt from Emma's birthday ring story:

Twelve candles for our sweet girl. Twelve candles for twelve years of joy that she has brought our family. Twelve candles for her sweetness, her helpfulness, her kindness, her generosity, her humor, her intelligence, and her happiness! Happy birthday, Emma Faith! May this next trip around the sun be as full of magic and wonder and joy and laughter as you are! We love you to the moon and stars and back and we can't wait to see what this next year holds! xo 

{This Moment} Emma Is Twelve

{This Moment} A Friday ritual. A single photo -no words- capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. Wishing you all a weekend full of wishes come true! xo  

On Emma's Birthday Eve

We are ready for the morning! We clearly need an inner ring to hold all the previous years pieces now there there are more candles than decorations! This year's addition honors the letters Emma writes her Great-Grandpa Bill (who turns 100 this April)! xo 

One Final Birthday Gift

  One final gift for her birthday. 

This sweet deer doll was hand made in Australia and given to her by her Grandma Joan and Grandpa Ron today when they came to visit. 

 She is the perfect compliment to the sweet fairy doll that we gave her for her birthday, and the perfect choice for our deer/woodland creature loving girl! 

Thank you, Grandma Joan and Grandpa Ron, for this beautiful doll! There is no doubt in my mind that she will be treasured for years to come! And many, many thanks to everyone who made her twelfth birthday so very special! xo 

A Wish Come True

 Yesterday while I was on the phone with my mom the girls arrived in the kitchen carrying the mail. In it was a package for Grace, sent by my mom. She had mailed it the day before since she wasn't able to make it up for the birthday lunch at Pickity Place. And while I knew it was being mailed I did not expect it to arrive the next day, much less right when I was on the phone with her! With that in mind, you'll have to forgive the fact that there are no pictures of the beautifully wrapped gift, or of Grace opening it.

This gift, was one that Grace had been wishing for for many months. Each time we were in The Paper Store, she would make a beeline to the area where this sweet kit was and there I'd find her longingly looking at its box.  You can imagine how instant and how big the smile was on her face when she caught a glimpse of what was under the pretty paper! Both girls were super excited and wasted no time getting all the items set up and choosing which sweet things they'd create first! 

Grace's first creation. 

Grace and Emma's creations. They are so sweet!

Thanks mom and dad for making this much wished for dream come true! xo 

Today At Pickity Place

When we asked Grace what she would like to do to celebrate her birthday she said she really wanted to go back to Pickity Place. And so, Grace, Emma and I made the hour long drive to Mason New Hampshire today to do just that. Originally, my mom (who celebrates her seventieth birthday this week) and my sister were supposed to come with us too, but due to a couple of unexpected circumstances they weren't able to join us. We were sad that they couldn't be there today, but we promised them we'd go together another time (soon)! 

We knew there would be a new Pickity cat (named Poppy) to meet today. The girls started looking for him as soon as we got near the house and it didn't take long before he appeared! 

And it wasn't long before they were rescuing this tiny frog from Poppy. 

 Our sweet Emma has been dreaming of her own orange cat for a few years now. Meeting Poppy only makes her want one even more now. And honestly, I cannot blame her. I love orange cats too, and this gentlemen was especially sweet! 

 Picture of Poppy taken by Emma. 

 The grounds at Pickity Place are full of nooks and crannies and lots and lots of enchantment. 

 Chilled cantaloupe soup. 

 Vegetable risotto. 

When I was choosing pictures to share I realized that I should have taken pictures of the salad portion of our meal. That red, white and blue potato salad was absolutely divine! 

 Boston Cream Pie for dessert. 

Though we were missing my mom and sister, and though it was rainy (off and on) we still had such a lovely time at Pickity Place. We are hoping we can return with my mom and sister soon, but if not I have a feeling that we'll be celebrating Grace's thirteenth birthday there next year! xo