A Special Birthday Week

 Princess is was blessed to share her birthday week with Our Lady...And lots of cousins!

I am feeling guilty for posting this so late....Just been a little crazy around here. I always try to write up a little tribute to each child for their birthday since this blog also serves as my scrap memory book.  Lord knows I need this to keep my memory alive...It's just about gone:)

Well, this little lady was God's gift to us, 9 years ago, being our first daughter to join the family:)  We especially felt God's grace as she was born after a very sad loss of a baby, through miscarriage.  Even with another scare during my pregnancy with Princess, God provided His love and care, as He always does.  Princess was welcomed into this world with open arms and tears of joy.  I will never forget how quickly she stopped crying after the c-section and was placed into my arms.  There is no other love like that silent gaze of new, baby-bundle, life. God's grace, indeed.

This year, Princess got to spend her actual birthday with our faraway cousins who just happened to be visiting for Labor Day weekend.  It was a semi-family reunion with all of my siblings.  We are very rarely all together.

This is a photo of 12 cousins all together on my side of the family, with my 4 siblings, their spouses, and my Mom and Dad:) Yep, I'm the oldest!

Our cousins who live the farthest joined us at the park on the last day of their stay.  It was a special treat for Princess on her actual birthday!  

They did the 6  cousin pile-up on the slide:)

And enjoyed some climbing fun!

Cousins flew home and Dad was deployed to a fire all week... SOoooo we made the best birthday celebration as possible, without Daddy.

It's a tradition that we find fun and creative (inexpensive) ways to decorate for the birthday person...including bedrooms and bathroom mirrors:)  

(I deleted her actual name in this photo for her protection)

Ice Cream Sundaes were the interim dessert, saving" the cake" for Daddy's return!

Celebrating Mama Mary's Birthday is always a blessing to follow Princess's birthday...

It was a joyful celebration!

Daddy made it home so we had more dessert at the end of the week!

Princess has a strong interest in soccer right now so she picked out this soccer ball ice cream cake...

(Nope, I definitely did not make it)!

She chose to take a couple of friends to a local State College Women's Soccer game...

Dad (gotta love him:) made a special call to tell them about Princess's wish to meet some of the players.

Lo and behold, we got invited to the locker room after the game!  

After the game, they had us wait outside until the players got settled.  When they opened the door, all of the players were sitting lined up around the room and burst into Happy Birthday song for Princess!  Can you believe it?  We were just amazed at such a kind gesture.  In fact, we were so shocked that we were fumbling over our camera phones and barely snapped a picture to capture the moment.  Here it is!

On top of that, she got all of their autographs and this special photo with her favorite player!

One of the players shared that she had been homeschooled...A neat connection!

  They were all so incredibly nice and sweet to Princess and her friends.

Princess was beyond thrilled!

~This will surely be an unforgettable 9th Birthday~

!Go Warriors!