Christmas 2010

*Christmas Eve with the Bronkema fam*

*Christmas Day with the Thede fam*

Oh, how we 'heart' our families!!!

"We Wish You a Merry Christmas..."

Merry CHRISTmas to all of our loved ones!

We are so blessed to be surrounded by loved ones this Christmas!

May that baby in the manger be the Lord of our lives!

Happy Early Birthday

Happy (almost) 10th Birthday, Anna!!!

Go Uncle Cory! He's a climbing machine!


Moses and Aunt Kris at the indoor water park. He wasn't sure about the water at first, but Aunt Kris convinced him it was a good time!

Crazy cousins...

This week we were able to celebrate our niece Anna's 10th Birthday (two months early). They will be heading back to Haiti in the beginning of January, so this was a lot of fun... especially because it was a SURPRISE!

Grandpa and Grandma's lap-FULL

The grandkids 2010

Little Man Moses

The older four kids got "school pictures" so we were left needing

photos of our 2 year old little man. (2.75 really)

This little heart-throb is not lacking for expression...

Ahhhh, Fall.

Pics from this Fall...

Our Hershey's, basketball player, cookie monster & kitty

candy gathering crew.
Lyric with her Cross Country coaches
who she would like to take with her to highschool next year.
She has officially hung up her running shoes
for a bit and is spending some time with her goggles and swim cap.


My sticky project...

The day Anna mastered rollerblades

and Lyric mastered the pogo stick!

Cuddly Fradies and cuddly Moses.

I remember when Gavin was "cuddly." =)

Not so much anymore!

Lyric's baptism

On Nov. 7, Lyric took the next step in her journey

of following Jesus.

It was a great day...one of my favorites yet.

(This is a short video clip taken from my shaking hands)

October, where did you go?

I do believe, I entirely missed the month of October on here!

So, going back to October 1, for a second...

Dan's birthday!

We were able to spend the day at Art Prize in Grand Rapids for a

"daytime" date.

A real date.

This was outside on the deck of the B.O.B. for lunch....got hot in the sun...that is really saying something for Michigan in October!

Drum Roll Please...

They're Back!!!

On Oct. 5, Cory, Kris, Eli & Anna got to Michigan from being in Haiti for the past 16 months!

We get to keep them for Christmas, and everything!

We celebrated Eli's 13th birthday the first weekend they were back.

Gavin was pulling Moses behind the tractor.
Not an easy job...nice brother.



Happy Birthday to our (tall) nephew!!!
Two teens in the family now!

another summer flashback

Uncle Tim and John
Cole and Gavin and the never-ending love of climbing.

Grandpa T. taught Lyric to ski this summer.

It's amazing what a little fishing boat can do with a big enough motor!

Baby Jacob and Moses

Gavin on the disk my dad made "a few years" ago!

That chuck of wood has given a lot of entertainment over the years.

Somewhere I have a picture of my dad doing a headstand on it.

If I find it, I'm scanning it and putting it on here.

I'm embracing Fall as much as possible...even though I'm a hard-core summer fan.

However, I was just looking at some pictures of summer and of some time we were able to spend with my brother Tim, sista'-in-law Mindy, and da boyz. So I need to post a few of those pics! Next up, my bother, Cory and his fam will be here next week from Haiti!!!

Good times ahead!

couch treasures

What do you find when you vacuum under your couch cushions?

Money?

Not mine. (I'm not that lucky!)

As I tossed the toys out from the cushions, I felt it was worthy of a picture =)

hummingbird

Yesterday morning I kept hearing this consistent high pitched "chirp" in my house. I could not figure out where it was coming from! I was literally unplugging things and finally convinced myself that a toy must be losing it's battery power somewhere in the house. I gave up on it, determined to ignore the sound. After another twenty minutes of this "chirping" sound, I went to make a phone call. As I reached for the phone, this little hummingbird is what my eyes landed on!

She must have flown in while the kids had the door open the night before. (The bird and about 20 flies!!!) I slid the paper under her and relocated her to our hanging basket. I didn't know if she would live because hummingbirds have to eat so often. She kept up her "call" from the basket and several times in the next hour I saw her little male friend buzzing around our house. The story has a happy ending because after some sugar water and some time, she took off.

PS...we have one LAZY cat. Lucky for the hummingbird.

You can see her drinking from the dropper in this video! It was pretty cool.

Tim and John

Uncle Tim and cousin, John, having some tube fun at the cottage! I had to put this on here for you guys. I'm guessing this was John's first tubing experience...slow, but it still counts ;-)

flashback

Grand Rapids Mud Run, held on our church grounds.

Too crazy fun. Dan, Lyric, Gavin and I ran as a team.

We can't wait to do it again next year!

Our awesome supporters!

Amy gave up her day to sleep in to come watch the youngest 3 Bronkemas so the rest of us could get muddy! ...and she brought donuts!

And then...

Almost a week ago... The first day of school.

These three were so excited. So far, with one week complete, everyone is happy and back in the school year groove.

Lyric was not convinced going back to school was a good thing.

I think deep-down she's liking it now!