A Gathering Of Friends

 For the last few years Grace has chosen to have her birthday celebration with her friends at the lake in town. It's always a joy to have everyone there with us and this year was surely no exception. The weather was incredible (thank you, Mother Nature!) and everything about the day was simply fabulous! 

The sunflower theme was so absolutely perfect for our summer birthday girl. It wasn't something that we had planned, but rather something that happened very organically. As soon as she decided to put a sunflower on top of her birthday cake the rest just fell into place. From there it was decided that she'd like cupcakes with sunflowers for her friend gathering, and after that we were fortunate to happen upon the final packet of sunflower seeds at the farm when we stopped by to pick a few things up for dinner. "Let's decorate little envelopes with sunflowers and put a few seeds in for each family as a thank-you gift." I suggested. She loved that ideas so much that that's just what she did. 

 Thanks to a recommendation from the girls beloved yoga teacher and our dear friend Alexandra we found an amazing cupcake shop for the cupcakes for Grace's gathering. With the renovations going on I knew that it would be best not to take on the baking and decorating of cupcakes this year, and goodness we are so very glad that we went this route! The cupcakes from CocoBeni Confections in Northborough are simply the best around! Everything about them was fabulous and if you are local to us we highly recommend them for all your cupcake needs! We were thrilled to see that they offered mini-cupcakes (as that is really what we wanted for this celebration) and just loved how gorgeous they all came out! Jess is beyond talented, and we are so very glad to have had the chance to meet her and have her decorate these sweet cupcakes for this wonderful gathering yesterday. Thank you, Jess, the cupcakes were a big hit and we'll definitely be buying cupcakes from CocoBeni for years to come! 

 A gorgeous setting to celebrate her ninth trip around the sun. 

These two have known each other since they were about three months old and have celebrated every birthday together (they are two weeks apart). Their friendship is so very sweet and it is my hope that it continues for the rest of their lives. 

 Allison painted this picture just for Grace. Such a sweet gift and as soon as the renovations are done we'll be hanging it up! 

 "Mama, look, it's a deer!" 

 You cannot go wrong with a Magic 8 Ball! We've had lots of fun with this one already! 

This year in lieu of gifts Grace asked that her friends bring donations for the animal shelter. She was so excited to see all the wonderful things that everyone selected for the dogs and cats! Thank you, friends, for helping the animals in honor of Grace's birthday! We can't wait to drop off these wonderful gifts at the shelter. We know that they will be very much appreciated!

Thank you, friends, for coming to celebrate with us! Having you all there truly was the cherry on top of the sundae that was Grace's ninth birthday! We hope you had as much fun as we did, and we look forward to many more wonderful celebrations with all of you! xo