Happy 10th Birthday Hannah Faith!

Today (7/5) was Hannah's 10th birthday! She has been counting down to this day for quite awhile. Partially because birthdays are a big deal, the other reason is because she was finally turning double digits!!!

Hannah originally wanted her free birthday smorgasbord meal for supper, but a little before 8am she decided she wanted her free meal for breakfast. So I quickly changed out of my gardening clothes (right before I was headed out), and away we went, just mommy & Hannah for our breakfast together. See, Kevin started a tradition with the kids several years ago. He normally takes the birthday kiddo out for their meal, just him & them. But she picked me to take her out this year.

We had a nice breakfast. How can't you at Shady Maple Smorgasbord! Tons of food to chose from. She ended her meal with half a filled iced long john (ok, so she convinced me to eat a half too!) Here she is with her long john & hot chocolate!

After we were done eating, we have a tradition of going down to the gift shop & letting them spend about $5 because they get a 20% off coupon to use. She found an inexpensive necklace that had the initial "N". She wanted to get that in Noah's memory. They had names for the necklaces but no boys names, so she settled for the "N".

Afterwards, we buzzed over to the store to get a few things & say hi to daddy.

Once we left there, she wanted to head to church to go visit Noah so he could be a part of her special day. I admit, this was hard for me to do. I was wishing she had picked Kevin at this point to take her. But it was her day & I was willing to do whatever she wanted. So we got there & walked down to Noah's grave. No sooner than we were there, she broke down crying, clutching his lamb she had brought with us. :( Of course, this made me cry. How unfair it was for her on her birthday to have to go to a grave just to include one of her brothers in her birthday. As we stood there arm in arm, I reminded her that Noah is celebrating her birthday in Heaven. I said in fact, he might've went running to Jesus all excited & told him that today was one of his big sisters birthday! She perked up at that.

With tears in her little red eyes, she asked if I would take pictures for her of her and "Noah" for her birthday with the camera she brought along. As I choked back tears, she posed on her little brothers grave with his lamb, braving a smile.

After we left, I had a surprise for her & the rest of the kids. We headed out to pick up a dear friend of the girls to spend the day/overnight with them!!! They had no idea I had made plans for this & were overjoyed at having Heidi over to hang out with.

They had a blast! They did so many things from playing games, playing with squirt guns & other stuff outside, sitting in the hot tub, watch us light fireworks at night, did their own mani's & pedi's, build a tent to sleep in, cook their own chocolate chip pancakes, etc. I am so thankful for the friendship they have with this sweet girl!! It definitely made Hannah's birthday a better day. Before she went to bed, she had came up to us & said she had such a fun day. She said though her most favorite part of the day was visiting Noah. Then she broke down crying again saying she wished he was here this year for her birthday. :( Last year I was still pregnant with him on her birthday & she felt him respond to her when she talked to him.

The kids playing cards out on the trampoline in the evening.

Here's a picture of Hannah's birthday cake she designed this year. She picked the picture, colors & wanted balloons! Oh Noah, how loved & missed you are!!!