Lucy and Ellory are preschoolers!

Our babies started three-year-old preschool! While some days do feel long when you're in the thick of parenting, time really does go very fast. I so vividly remember their NICU days and many nights nursing them in our rocking chair, and now they are walking into their first school experience. It's only a few hours a week (Tuesday/Thursday mornings), but it still feels weird. We are so happy that they were ready and so excited. They were both giggling and walked right in with no tears. I'm happy that they have each other (there is only one preschool class, so there isn't even an option to split them up in our town until kindergarten) for this first experience, and I also think it really helped them seeing Norah go to preschool there too. They thought they were such big shots with their backpacks!

Lucy and Ellory, you make our lives so bright. May you share His light and kindness as you start school and grow in Him. You are deeply loved.

Labor Day 2020.

We had a fun Labor Day weekend! We spent most of it in Des Moines, where we had two (socially distanced) baby showers for my sister, Karlie. Can't wait to have a new niece or nephew soon, yay! Such fun to celebrate. I also got to see my good friend Stephanie while we were there! We grew up together, but she lives in DC, so I don't get to see her often. Also, super bonus that we got to sit and talk alone for awhile- so fun to catch up! We came back Sunday so we could have a normal day at home on Monday (we thought that would be best for Norah with the transition to kindergarten to have a day at home), and we had a fun "park parade" with the Ragsdales, our good friends here!

Pumpkin painting.

One of our favorite fall traditions is pumpkin painting! Yay for fall! So fun to watch them pick out which one they wanted and they all covered it in paint!

Fields of Fun 2020.

 Fields of Fun (our local pumpkin patch) is open and we are thrilled! This is something we look forward to all year, and it's even more special this year with many things being cancelled this year due to COVID. We went opening day and spent a couple hours there after school. It was glorious and Kley got to meet us at the end after work with a pizza picnic. Also, my sister Kayla (who goes to college in our town) got to come too! A super fun afternoon!

Fun family outings are my favorite!

The three most beautiful heads of corn I've ever seen.

Lucy and Ellory loved driving these wheelbarrows around and collecting mini pumpkins.

The corn put was a huge favorite (that also completely covered them in dust!). We had immediate baths once we got home, but it was worth it for the fun they had.

How tall this fall? Always fun to take the same yearly pictures!

Checking out the animals.

They have several different swing sets there as well, and of course we tried them all!

The weather was beautiful and we had a great time- can't wait to go again!

Check out Fields of Fun last year. Look at how little they all look two years ago at Pumpkinland! (Pumpkinlamd was the old pumpkin patch that has now closed and a few one called Fields of Fun opened at a different location; this is their second year.)

Recent reads.

The Marriage Lie by Kimberly Belle- Sometimes a good psychological thriller is very entertaining, as long as it's not too dark and twisty. This story is about Iris and Will, who seem to have the "perfect" marriage, but one day that all comes to a halt as Iris thought Will left on a business trip to Florida, but a plane crashed on it's way to Seattle and Will was (apparently) one of many casualties. Iris goes looking for answers and finds a story about her husband she never knew. The ending was crazy to me. 

Every Breath by Nicholas Sparks- I actually didn't intend to read this book, but we were going on a long car ride and I was looking for a book to read that was immediately available on our library's app (many of the super popular titles have a long wait), and stumbled upon this one. But I certainly wasn't upset- I do love me a good Nicholas Sparks book every once in a while. It was about love, of course, in the story of Hope, who is from North Carolina, and Tru, who is from Zimbabwe but meets Hope on a trip. They fell in love but were separated for a long time, and ended up coming back together again many years later. The story of how they ended up back together again is intricate and neat.

The Last Mrs. Parrish by Liv Constantine- I was very interested in this book because I had heard several people talk about it, and there was a very long wait for it on our library's app (way longer than most books), so I figured it must be good. It was very intriguing! The first part is told from the point of view of Amber, who becomes Daphne's best friend and ends up having an affair with Jackson, Daphne's husband. The second part is told from the point of view of Daphne. The different perspectives of the same situation are fascinating. 

Norah is a kindergartner!

 Our sweet Norah is in kindergarten! I can't believe it! She had a few nervous tears on several days before, but they had an open house where she could meet her teacher one on one and see the classroom, and that helped her a lot. She seemed to feel a lot better about it after seeing it. The day of she seemed a bit nervous when she woke up, but then walked into her classroom and didn't cry when we left. We prayed a lot for bravery and kept reassuring her that God goes with her wherever she goes and He would never ever leave her. A good reminder for us all! Norah, watching you go to school all day makes my mama heart sad, but it's also a joy to know you are growing up well and are ready for this step. We pray for a fabulous year for you! You are amazing!

Norah's big girl desk!

Yay for kindergarten!

Proud mommy and daddy!

The sweetest kindergartner I've ever seen.

I took these ones at open house when she met her teacher.

Her own locker!

Last day of summer family fun!

It's been an annual tradition (for the short time I've had girls in school) to try to make the last official day of summer really fun. This morning we went to two parks, and went swimming tonight! We also had a picnic outside for both lunch and supper. The girls love all of these things! Swimming was extra fun because it was at a "new" pool. There is an indoor part (where we usually go swim a couple times in the winter) and an outdoor part that they redid a couple years ago. It's in the neighboring town, and we usually just swim at the pool in our town in the summer, but it was fun to go to try something new- the girls loved it! Can't believe my babies are going to kindergarten and preschool this year!