In the middle of August we celebrated Leah's 9th(!) birthday.  

After a few ideas, we went with Leah's latest favorite thing:  Soul Surfer.  

She really admires Bethany Hamilton and has seen the movie and read the book based on her testimony of overcoming a shark attack to become a professional surfer.  She's also been learning to surf, so this was the perfect theme.  

We had all her friends dress up as surfer girls:

And after they got to know each other a bit, they cuddled up on our wonderful host's couch (a sweet, hospitable family who has a wonderful space and a big, cozy L shaped couch perfect for movie-watching) to view the show.  (Forgot to take a picture of that.)

We decided to have a gourmet popcorn bar with toppings such as chocolate chips, chocolate covered blueberries, dried cranberries, cinnamon/sugar almonds, and sweet coconut chips.  And Grandy provided some great beachy decorations.  

I saved myself some time and ordered gluten-free chocolate cupcakes from our local Crush Cakes cupcakery.  The girls decorated them with "Hawaiian" flowers from the yard.

We also did a fun craft of creating an ocean in a bottle to round out the evening.

 

 As I continue to observe Leah grow and mature, I am just in awe of what a gift she is to our family.  

We love her so much and look forward to knowing her more as the years go by.

Happy Birthday, Sweet Leah!