Wordless Wednesday: My Kid is Already More Stylish Than Me

A Christmas Flashback.

I started making a photo album this year for us of all the Christmas cards we've sent over the years. I thought it would be fun for our kids (and us!) to flip through it each year and see how much they've grown up and where we were living change. In putting the cards in, I realized we haven't been sending out cards for very long! So for some pages, especially the early years, I just put in a family picture of us. Here are the Broglis through the Christmas years!

2010

Living in Wake Forest, Kenna at 2 years old, and expecting baby brother!

2009

Moved back to Wake Forest, Kenna was 13 months old.

2008

We visited home from Asheboro, NC with 4 week old Kenna!

2007

Hard to get a good smile this year- Mom died just 10 days after Christmas. This is the photo we sent out (from right before Mom got sick), but the second one is really more how we felt at the time.

2006

The first year Pontouf joined our family pictures!

2005

We had just celebrated our 1st anniversary- newlywed days!

2004

This was in the pre-digital-camera days for us, so I really had to search for this picture- I think this was actually closer to Thanksgiving. Our first married Christmas!

A White Day-After Christmas!

It's a rare thing in North Carolina to get a white Christmas- so we definitely all got excited about the 8 inches we got on the day after Christmas this year!
This little snow bunny was barely out of bed before she was ready to hit the slopes:
So we bundled up and ventured out to go to the grocery store. Kenna was not so crazy about the fact that she couldn't walk in it very well- good thing Daddy was there to help.
Daddy taught his little girl how to make a snowman, which she has been obsessed with from seeing them in decorations in the neighborhood all month!
However, just like her Momma, Kenna is not so crazy about being in the snow for more than 30 minutes or so- after awhile we watched Daddy finish up the snowman from the warmth of just inside the porch door. Now we can see our happy little snowman whenever we want without going outside!
Then Kenna wanted to give her snow friend a bedtime kiss.
We've spent all day today being "snowed in" with snacks and movies. Happy snow day!

Merry Christmas!

Long lay the world in sin & error pining

until He appeared and the soul felt it's worth

a thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices

for yonder breaks a new and glorious morn!
fall on your knees, oh hear the angels' voices
oh night divine, oh night when Christ was born!

Wishing you all the peace and love of the Savior this Christmas.
Merry Christmas!

Christmas-y Things!

It's really fun for Kenna to be at the age she is this year at Christmas- able to recognize the big blow-up Santas and snowmen in people's yards, enjoying the twinkly lights on people's houses, able to play with the snow, and able to start truly participating in the fun things that happen around Christmas. We've been super on-the-go and busy the past few weeks, but I've gotten some really cute photos of her enjoying some of the traditional Christmas things that make this time of year magical, especially to little kids!

Daddy taught her how to catch snowflakes on her tongue during our one big snow day in early December:
Keeping Daddy's shoulders warm in the very cold almost-snow rain during our town's local Christmas parade:
Matt's parents kept her while we were at a class at church one Sunday night, and when we got home she was helping decorate the tree and Nana B. had taught her how to say "ho ho ho!" and it was pretty much the cutest thing ever:
Playing with her very own Little People Nativity, and learning about baby Jesus:
Several viewings of the Christmas classic Rudolph movie (or as she says "watch snowman show").
Licking the beater of homemade buttercream icing on the 4 dozen cookies Mommy made in one afternoon!
Mommy's little trooper on one more trip to the grocery store:

Thanksgiving 2010!

I think I was clearly focused on the eating when it came to taking pictures of our Thanksgiving this year; I thought we only had one or two. Luckily, Matt was completely on the ball and got a picture of all the highlights!

Just when you thought playing in leaves might be a cliche that no one actually does anymore, you should have seen these two 2 year olds! Imagine being allowed to shriek and throw things and not get in trouble for it... 2 year old heaven!

Especially when Nana B. joins in and you have someone to throw the leaves AT... even better! I think she enjoyed it as much as the grandkids did!
As usual, Nana B. and Granddaddy cooked an unbelievable feast with all the classics! We were way to excited about digging in to take any pictures of the turkey, food, and pies. My favorite this year was definitely the egg noodles cooked in the turkey broth fresh from the baked turkey... yum! And the mashed potatoes. Um, and the stuffing. And the pie.

A Brogli tradition: gathering around the sales ads after eating to find all the bargains- Leanne and Nana B. are on a whole new level when it comes to finding the best deal! We love to eavesdrop and secretly get ideas for Christmas presents for each other.
While the boys played "ball" (men around the pool table- another Brogli tradition!) Kenna opened some awesome birthday presents from her sweet cousins, including a pack of new underpants! Guess we really will have to start potty training after all!

We came home late in the afternoon, still totally stuffed, and started working on making Thanksgiving dinner for my family! I also slacked and took no pictures at all except for this one Matt took of me cooking in the new birthday apron he got for me at a recent craft show:

And like mother, like daughter, Kenna had to have her own apron to help with the dishes:

Such a big helper!

We are so thankful for the families God has blessed us with, and the ability to be with them on holidays. We know that is not the case for everyone, and may not even be the case for us forever. God has given us so many blessings this year, big and small, and is really teaching is to have grateful hearts in the little things and how to rely on him more and more for his perfect provision. We're especially thankful this year to be anticipating our family getting a little bigger in just a few months!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Kenna's 2nd Birthday!

The day we got back from our Grannie Camp trip in Florida was Kenna's second birthday! Matt wanted to spend the day doing all of her favorite things before he had to leave for work after lunch. Breakfast was her own little bag of doughnut holes on the way to a new park, perfect since it was an unseasonably warm day!

She had a great time exploring on the slide and trying out those bouncy animal thingys:
We decided this park was a little above her level and since it didn't have any swings (her favorite!), we went back to our old faithful- Baileywick Park. I'm convinced it's pretty much the best one in town!
Birthday Girl! She had a blast on the swings and trying out some really big kid slides for a good long time. Then we headed to get "chicken" for lunch... Chick Fil A!
Daddy spoiled this girl rotten with her very own pink strawberry milkshake for dessert!
Before he had to leave for work, Daddy also put together this toy he especially picked out for her that we were blessed to be able to get for her thanks to the awesome ministry of Bayleaf's Toy Chest! A shopping cart with a car on the front, just like the big one she rides in at Harris Teeter:
Later in the evening, Dad and Jana came over with a gift for her: a baby doll that uses the potty! Kenna was very excited to have a new baby doll to take "to the store" with her in her new "car." Thank you, Papa and Mimi!
They also took us out to Panera for dinner with Uncle Jason, Aunt Alisa, Evan and Emmie! The kids were having so much fun together that I barely got a single picture. Kenna got to open one more present from her cousins- a new tea set just like Emmie's!

It took us until that weekend to get a party together for her- we had debated on whether or not to even have one since it was so close to Thanksgiving. But I had bought a few decorations for a candy shop-themed birthday, and we got it all put together just in time! If you'd like to see lots of details about the party decorations, check out my crafty blog!

Her birthday outfit of choice: a perfectly candy-themed shirt from Nana B, her tutu from last year, and Mommy's little red boots.
Here are some of my favorite pictures of our happy birthday girl at her party:

Funny how the women and the men seem to gather in a group!

We are so thankful that some of Kenna's bestest friends are her cousins- what a blessing to live close by to them! Five kids (plus one in March!) is a built-in party any time we get together!

The only picture there was of all 5 kiddos: this is one busy bunch! (And love that Nana B. is right in the middle!)

Happy Birthday, precious little one! We love you so much!