Birthday girl

Yesterday we celebrated Rayna's 9th birthday, and true to form, she thought everything was AWESOME!

She loved her gifts:

She loved the breakfast Strider helped make for her-- French toast sticks.

She loved that we sang one of her favorite songs at church ("Oh no, you never let go!")

She loved getting all the phone messages from cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents and great-grandmother, and cards from relatives and friends!

She loved her playtime at Monkey Joe's:

She loved her cake:

(It was supposed to resemble a sunflower... but per usual, my creations never quite come out right.  I was on the phone with a good friend while I was making it, so that's my excuse.)

And, she loved having friends over!

Our friends now have 4 kids almost exactly our kids' ages, so it a lot of fun playing with them.  Plus, I get a kick out of our name-overlaps... They have an Aimee and a Rayna in their family, too!

Here are 2 Amy's, 2 Rayna's, and a Molly:

All in all, I'd say it was a perfect day for our sweet Rayna!

(And Milo thought the cake was pretty good, too)