Kennagirl is TEN

Oh Kenna girl, how can it be?!  10!! 

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!!!

Alex is SIX

Oh sweet boy, you really need to stop growing up so quickly.  I just re-read your 5 year old birthday post and it has me all teary eyed.  You've grown up SO much in this past year and I just know 6 is going to go by just as quickly as 5 did.  

Look at how much you've grown just from the beginning of summer until now!?!  

And yes, here you are with the sweet bonus poppy that bloomed JUST in time for your birthday!

You, sweet boy, are still such a delight.  You are silly, funny, compassionate, charming, adorable, loving and cute.  

Last year I had a hunch this baseball thing was going to be big with you and holy moly, it sure is.  You are OBSESSED with all things baseball.  From the moment you wake up until the time you go to bed, its all things baseball.  

Your current favorite past times are "pitching" the ball against the front door and then announcing the play by play as the ball bounces back to you and you throw the ball around the living room to get all the runners "out".  

You could literally do it for HOURS.  Daddy tells me he used to do the same thing when he was little - you really are turning into a miniature version of him.  Lol.  

This summer, you played Little League for the first time and did great.  Daddy helped coach you once again and is SO excited that you share his passion for the sport. 

It's amazing how good you've gotten over the past year - you have quite the cannon on you and you are no longer afraid to catch the ball.  God's going to use those skills in BIG ways, buddy.  I just know it.  Not only do you have great skills, but you're an awesome teammate.  You get equally excited for the amazing plays your teammates make on the field as when you make a big play.  The last game of fall ball this year, your first baseman made a great snag to get the force out at first and you were so excited for him you jumped up and down and ran over and gave him a big high five as he ran off the field.  The baseball field is definitely your happy place.  Every time you came up to bat this season, you would put on your helmet, grab your bat and skip excitedly to home plate.  I hope and pray that you always find this much joy in the sport and that you'd never feel the pressure to do anything more than try your best and have fun.  

Your highlight of the summer was our trip to the Louisville Slugger bat factory.  As we walked up, you told me you could actually feel your heart racing in your chest.  You had a blast on the museum tour and learning all about how bats are made.  You were SUPER excited to learn they had a batting cage there only to find out they wouldn't let you use the "big people" one because you weren't 6 yet.  After throwing an EPIC fit in the tball cage, you composed yourself and learned a few very important lessons:  1)  It's ok to ask big people what you want as long as you are calm and polite and 2) Your looks and charm will pay dividends.  

After an initial rejection, the second lady working was determined to make your day a special one.  Not only did she let you bat, but she let you bat for free.  You, sweet boy, were in heaven.  Crisis averted;)  

I always thought someone might pay big money some day for that stellar swing of yours.  Unfortunately, that someone turned out to be me as you soon learned that the Louisville slugger souvenir bats can be a "little" slippery.  Combination of that + your stellar swing did end up getting daddy a nice upgrade on his TV this summer.....  Oops.  Another lesson learned.

This year you started FULL day 5k and boy, were you ready.  In January this year, you knew enough sight words to qualify for an advanced reading specialist in 4k and she had you reading in just a few weeks.  You had been telling me your goal for 4k was to learn to read and wow, did you ever.  By the end of 4k you were reading just about anything you could get your hands on.  Reading opened up a whole new world to you.  This summer you were sitting downstairs reading when daddy came down to head out to work.  When he asked what you were reading, he saw you had the Brewers media guide in your hand and you responded - "oh, just how the Brewers acquired Manny Pina".  Ha!  Daddy was so proud.  

You are super interested in writing, but we get glimpses every now and then.  Last Easter, you wrote this all on your own while I was in the shower:

I got goose bumps when I read what you wrote.  So true, buddy.  So true.  

I can't wait for you to start bringing home more of your writing from school this year.  I just love to hear what you have to say I can't even imagine how much fun it is going to be reading what you write.

You watched a LOT of Makenna's softball games this year and had a blast doing it.  You always made the parents around you smile with your commentary and your enthusiasm for every play.  Your whole body would get into every pitch, hit and play in the field.  You were such a great encourager to your sister at each game.  

You also spent a TON of time in the driveway this summer shooting hoops.  You're getting pretty good and I LOVE playing with you.

 We made it to quite a few Brewer games this year, and you LOVED them. 

 You preferred staying in your seat to playing in the play area and you would have stayed up WAY past your bedtime to stay for the end of each game if we'd have let you.  I think you watched at least a part of just about all the games on TV this year, too.  You always know what time the games are at, what channel and even what time zone the game is in.    

You also developed a love for the Bucks this past year and had a blast following them in the playoffs.  We talk often about the game I let you stay up for the end of - even when it went into double OT.  Daddy's looking forward to watching LOTS of Bucks games with you again as the season gets started in the next few weeks.  

Daddy is getting you into all out Badger Football mode as well.  You went to your first game a few weeks ago and despite the rain, you had a great time. 

And you may have gotten just a few head turns and smiles from the college girls as you waltzed around campus in this getup.  

 You've discovered a good Saturday is spent on the couch with a remote in hand and your finger on the "last" button so you can watch all the games.  I'm afraid he's created a monster.

This summer we got some caterpillars and we had such a fun time watching them all grow into butterflies.  You were my little helper and did a great job helping me feed Bob, Junior, Lilly, Maria, Makenna, Alex and Anna-Jesus.  I can't wait to do it with you again next year!

You, sweet boy, are a HOME BODY.  You LOVE to be at home and when given the option, will almost always pick staying home over going just about anywhere that doesn't involve baseball.  You HATE running errands and you prefer to stay home and read, play baseball or play a pretend baseball game.  And if there is any sort of sports on, your favorite place to be is snuggling daddy on the couch.

You are still an early riser.  You're up at 6:30 sharp every morning and ready for your "mama" time. 

I got you a new devotional at Momcon this year and you are absolutely loving reading that with me every morning.  Your reading is so good that you can read most of it to me.  And you are getting really good at looking up all the bible verses that go along with it, too!  I hope and pray that you'll always be this excited to dig into God's Word to start your day.  It's been such a good tool to be able to talk about the stuff we learn throughout the day, too.  You have such a big heart, buddy and I can't wait to see how God is going to use you.  

Your current favorite foods are:  peanut butter and jelly, salad (this is new - we'll see if it sticks!), orange chicken, burgers, brats and hibachi chicken.  

You have a love/hate relationship with your sister.  Most times, you love her like crazy.  But when she makes you mad, watch out!

I'm sure it's normal, but I could do without the hate part most days.  This is the one and only year you guys go to the same school and I'm loving that part.  

You get on the bus together in the morning and after school for the first time ever, you take the bus home after school and don't have to go to Ycare.  It took us a few weeks to get used to the new routine, but I'm loving having you both home after school and you're loving being able to pick up that baseball and start pitching as soon as you come in the door.  

This year you were lucky enough to get Mr. Dargatz for Kindergarten which means you get to spend a LOT of time on the Woodside Trail learning about and loving on nature.  It's been great for you and so fun to watch you learn and grow.  

You love exploring the trail and any bug, "calepittar", frog or creepy crawly you can find. 

Happy 6th birthday, buddy.  We had so much fun celebrating with the neighbor crew and your buddies at Thirsty Duck last weekend.  

We had a BUSY actual birthday for you with all your favorites

"Mama" Time

Morning birthday balloons

Presents

Pancakes

A fun day at school, with a surprise from mommy at lunch

Soccer practice

 and then a SUPER fun Alex/Daddy night while Makenna and Mommy headed out to her audition.  

I'm looking forward to even more fun this weekend as we celebrate with the family!