You, my dear, are turning into quite the AMAZING young lady right before our eyes. If I had a dollar for every time Daddy told you how beautiful you are I'd be RICH! Truth is you are beautiful on the inside and the outside. Seriously. We're in big trouble when you get to the dating years!
Where do I even start with this year's post. Gah! I'm LOVING this age - so much! I feel like you and I have really connected even more this past year and I'm so amazed by you. You're sweet. You're silly. You're gorgeous. You're kind. You're funny. You're crazy. You're conscientious. You're aware. You're observant. You're smart. You're such a joy and a delight to be around.
This year I wanted to make your birthday a little extra special. I had a handful of women that know you well write you letters of encouragement. As each of them poured in these past few weeks, each one made me beam with pride. I'm so proud of you and each of the qualities that they all laid out. So much truth. You, sweet girl, are such a joy. Your zest for life is contagious. Your energy is unmatched. God is going to do some AMAZING things with you. Heck, He's already started.
This year, your faith has gotten stronger. You're starting to ask more questions and make your faith your own which is so exciting to see. I hope and pray that in the next year your faith just continues to grow. Keep asking us the question. Keep learning and growing.
You have been a ROCKSTAR in this quarantine. You've had SO much taken from you - friends, school, your last year at Woodside, your plays, Kid Blast, Sunday School and the list goes on. But you, sweet girl, just keep on smiling and bringing joy to our family in the midst of this chaos. You wake up in the morning with a smile on your face (and beautifully perfect skin and hair - daddy is amazed by this every morning) and that joy continues throughout the day. You love life so much and you spread that joy to everyone around you.
Another one bites the dust. I'm so proud of you for trying out for Music Man even after getting a few rejections leading up to it. You gave it your all at the audition and I was so proud of you for landing a role in the ensemble. Even though you never made it to the stage (darn you COVID!), you gained so much great experience rehearsing with the cast in the initial weeks.
I think he'll still try to do this when you're 20!
You are a ROCKSTAR basketball player. I LOVED coaching you again this year! You are such a great teammate - always the biggest encourager on the bench and a great teammate on the floor. You're a STRONG player and I loved bragging on all your great moves to the hoop and your STRONG boxing out this year. You had a GREAT season & kept your cool (mostly) against some really great competitors.
You are the BEST big sister. You love Alex so much and while that love sometimes comes out more like motherly love, I know it all comes from a sweet place. There is nothing sweeter to this mama than watching the two of you work together on things - playing card games, building legos, the Tiny Talk show, making videos, playing catch - I love how much you love each other (well,most of the time).
You LOVED Kid Blast and all the dress up themed weeks. You totally rocked each one and were SUPER brave in inviting your friends to come along. I'm so proud of how you reached out to each of them in faith and invited them to come. And of course,you were always quick to makes sure they had fun too!
I'm SO thankful your softball season will go on! I know it might not look quite as planned, but I know you're going to rock it. You've been working pretty hard on that pitching and I can't wait to see you light it up on the mound this year.
I'll never forget the day I picked you up from school early for the orthodontist and you found out that you got Veruca Salt!! That squeal you couldn't wait to get out until we were safely outside the school - ahhhhh. I'm so proud of you. And although we never got to see the play come to fruition (darn you COVID), I'm certain you would have rocked it!
I have LOVED every minute of our mama-kenna time this past year. From coffee shop bible dates to movie dates to shopping dates, I really do love spending time with you.
Oh my llama crazed girl!
This year we had our first annual mama-kenna black friday extravaganza and it was SO. MUCH FUN! Oh my, I can't wait to do this every year with you. We were silly, we were crazy, gosh I love hanging out with you!
Gosh you're just so pretty!
Remember that time you lost 2 teeth in a matter of about a minute?!
You and your 4th grade girls
I fear your American Girl days may be coming to an end soon ....... I'm thankful for friends like Maddie that you can get together, get our your dollies, play dress up and just be kids.
Always such a fashionista
Wow, that one is surely going to make me cry... First day of first grade and first day of 4th grade. Gah. It's been quite the ride little girl. You've been a rockstar through it all. This year's wordle says it all:
Your teacher had all the kids in your class say one word about you. The bigger words represent multiple people using that same word to describe you. I love it.
Makenna, I love how much you love your friends. Whether we see them only once every few years
or just about every day... You are such a good friend. You can read people so well and that is such a gift. I hope and pray that God will continue to use that in such big ways.
Fly high sweet girl
Keep loving your mama the way you do!
Never give up on your dreams
Keep learning new things
And keep bringing joy to EVERY situation!
Now let's talk for a minute about this guy. Holy cow is he ever crazy about you. I know you know because he tells you 100 times a day, but gosh he loves you. He would do ANYTHING for his Kenna girl. I love watching the two of you together - from on the field, to deep talks in your gray chair, to silly moments goofing off, you two have a blast together.
I do also love that you aren't afraid to match me (yet)!
I love how you are always willing and excited to try new things! Catcher, Catcher, Kenna girl!
Ugh. We sure do miss our Brewers this year, don't we!?!
Kenna you've grown up so much this year and I've loved having a front row seat to it all. I love you more... MOST and I'm looking forward to all the amazing things 10 will bring!
Happy Birthday Kenna girl! We LOVE you!!!
