Sprayground!

Earlier in the summer we made a date with Aunt Alisa, Evan and Emmie to go to the "sprayground" at Triangle Town Center mall to play in the water! Several times now we've been at the mall and have seen kids playing in it and I kept telling Kenna we would do it another day. So we did!
All three of the kids totally LOVED it. It's basically a large patio that has small openings where the water shoots up randomly. Kenna always has such a blast with Evan and Emmie- they are the perfect ages to really be able to play well together and all be interested in the same things at the same time (4 and a half, 2 and a half, and 2). Meanwhile, Alisa and I sat in the shade with Finn and chatted potty training strategies.

We got there as soon as they turned it on, and had it all to ourselves for a little while. It was so nice to see the kids run wild and scream and not have to chase after them! The best part, of course, was wondering which spot would spray when and waiting for it...
So exciting!
If there is any type of water nearby, even the tiniest little parking lot puddle, my sweet waterbug is up for it. This girl LOVES water.
What a great time! We'll definitely have to do this again before the summer is over!

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!

Look-Alikes!

I was going to use these pictures as a wordless Wednesday yesterday, but I thought they needed a little explanation. And oops, it's Thursday already! (Truth be told, I've been meaning to post these pictures for months now!)

It has been no secret since day one that Kenna has looked just like her Daddy. We've made all the jokes about it (that the Mommies do all the work and then the babies look just like their Daddies), heard people call her Matt's mini-me, etc, and it has never bothered me for a minute! I have however, also joked that I needed to start carrying some of my baby pictures around to "prove" that she's mine! Literally from one week old, she has been the spitting image of her Daddy:
So here are some pictures of me that I thought looked surprisingly like Kenna:
This one was Christmas of 1983, when I was just a few weeks old- probably not much older than Kenna was in the picture above with Matt!
Me and my grandfather on the Dean side, summer of 1984. This picture makes me smile so much because this grandfather in particular was famous for feeding his grandkids things they shouldn't eat (like chocolate chip pancakes) and I think all of the Dean grandchildren have a picture exactly like this of us on his lap, in just our diapers, eating something with him. My bet would be watermelon! I think the resemblance in this one is striking!
This is one of my all-time favorite pictures from my childhood. The back of the picture says July 1984, so I was a little younger than Kenna is now. We were swimming in my great and uncles' back yard pool in Florida, which they still had up until I was in college and they moved onto a houseboat. And yes, that cutie patootie wrangling the giant float is my brother Jason.
In this one I think I was closer to 2 years old, also one of my absolute favorites of me and my Mom. We were all at Disneyworld/land (whichever one is in Florida). It will be interesting to see if Kenna ever gets that much hair!

I'll have to see if I can get some pictures of Matt as a baby, to see if she looks like him as a baby as well. I do know he had us both beat with those gorgeous dark curls! (I'm guessing this is 1983-ish as well, 2 years old).

Happy Father's Day!

We had a great weekend this past weekend celebrating Matt's first Father's Day! We were able to spend some time at the pool and some time with each of our families. On Saturday we took Kenna to our neighborhood pool for the first time. We figured with how much she loves to kick and splash in the tub she would really love it, but we ended up getting there right around nap time so she was a little tired. The weather was perfect, warm but not immediate-sunburn-sunny, and we had a great time seeing our little water baby swim around!

Daddy and Kenna. She gets this intense little look on her face when she is kicking.

"Swimming" under Daddy's careful supervision!

Mommy and Kenna

Happy family!

Papa and Mimi went with us since they stayed with us at our house for the weekend. They were a big help getting Kenna fed and dressed Saturday morning so that we got to sleep in!

Getting dried off and warmed up!

I had a hard time thinking of what to do for Matt for Father's Day. I wanted to do something special since he had been so indulgent to me on Mother's Day. As it turned out, the best thing I could think to do was to make him breakfast in bed... and I mean "real" breakfast (sausage and eggs) not just cereal! (This is special coming from me since I am very much not a morning person, and got up early to cook it for him before Sunday school and church. He knows this is a sacrifice for me !) I decorated the plate with a few fresh strawberries and served it to him on a tray... I wanted to take a picture of it, but I was too concerned that I wouldn't get it all back upstairs before his alarm went off! We went to church together and enjoyed a great lunch with Matt's family. Later that evening, we snuggled up on the couch and watched some movies together just the three of us which is one of Matt's favorite things to do. (He's only not smiling because he's so serious about his movie-watching!)

Happy Father's Day, Daddy!

Time With Cousins!

On June 7th, 2009 our new sweet baby neice was born! Welcome to the world, Emerson Grace! Her proud Momma, Daddy, and big brother are all so happy that she's here!

I am so impressed with Alisa's birth story. Determined to experience every minute of this little one's arrival, especially since it was her second one and she had a better idea of what to expect, she had Emerson completely without any intervention or pain medication! What an accomplishment!
Baby Emm made her arrival just after midnight on the 7th! (Which made her Aunt happy, since Uncle Matt's birthday is on March 7th, and that will help me remember the right date!) She came home to a warm welcome from her big brother Evan... it's hard to believe that my own big brother now has TWO kiddos! We went to visit at the hospital, and I had to sneak Kenna up to see her... I couldn't stand to sit in the waiting room waiting for Matt to come back down! It will be so fun for Kenna to have another girl cousin, and just six months apart in age.

Kenna meeting her new cousin:

The four red-heads of the family!

This weekend, we got the opportunity to go to Matt's parents' beach house overnight with his whole family! It was a short trip, but a really fun time with all three cousins and two grand-dogs together! Nana B and Grandaddy stayed in to enjoy the kids so that we could have more time on the beach.

Kenna, 6 months, and Beckley, 8 months

Beckley is a busy boy on the move! Growing SO fast!

Ansley and Kenna... sweet girls!

Nana's girl is about to turn 5 this summer! That's hard for me to believe, especially since she was born just a few months before we got married... that means we're coming up on our 5th anniversary! Amazing!Granddaddy loves his silly girls!

Beckley enjoying a chocolate popsicle with his Mommy and Daddy... perfect beach food!
Even the grand-dogs, Bailey and Pontouf, had a great time! They know where to sit for a good chance of food scraps coming their way (it was some hotdog bun in this picture)!

The Broglis' house is RIGHT across the street from the beach. The weather was absolutely gorgeous until a late afternoon thunderstorm, and the ocean was chilly but nice and not too cold to swim! We took Kenna out on the beach to put her toes in the sand. She wasn't a huge fan of the water, but it was a little on the cold side for her. Maybe later in the summer when it is like bath water she will enjoy it more.

Ready for the beach!

A little something that made me smile today!

We are super busy around here, and have much to update about soon, but for now I had to share a little family secret... we look alike. Check out my sweet nephew and how much he looks like Kenna! I think they have a very strong family resemblance.

Evan at 2 years old:
and Kenna when she was 3 months:
I think it's even more apparent when you compare them both as babies:
Evan:
and Kenna:
I can't wait to see these two sweet kiddos growing up together! Pretty soon Kenna will have a baby girl cousin (Evan's little sister) around to play dolls and makeup and all those fun girly things with!