Day 211 - birthday girl

today is my sweet baby girls 9th birthday!  how did she grow up so fast?  AND how am i supposed to not see her and hug her and give her birthday love?  it has been said (i'm sure not by you!) that i like to get my way and what i want!  well, "my way" includes seeing my little girl on her birthday at camp and "i want" nothing more than for her to know how much we LOVE her!! 

we drove up to camp this evening and hid away in the welcome center while the camp was playing "braveheart" aka capture the flag.  we caught sight of both luke and lilly and many of their friends as they were running around the grounds with their faces painted.  i almost cried seeing them and how much fun they were having.  after the game lilly's counselor brought the girls into the welcome center under the pretense that they may have done something wrong/bad and were in trouble.  dave, caleb and i surprised them as they turned the corner and we yelled "happy birthday lilly".  she was shocked and it took her a few seconds to process what was going on.  then it clicked and she came running to me and lept into my arms.  she wrapped her arms and legs around me and nuzzled her head in my neck and whispered - i love you mommy.

we were only there for about 25 minutes with lilly, her cabin and luke.  it was awesome to be able to meet all the girls and of course see my two darlings! 

luke kept whispering, "i've really missed you".  i assured him, i missed him too and proceeded to ask him about all the fun he was having.  sweet boy.  i really hope we haven't made it harder on him now that he has seen us.....

happy birthday sweet lilly jane!!