Norah's 8th birthday- family celebration.

Family birthday celebrations are one of my favorite traditions! For their birthday, they get to pick where to eat supper and the activity. Usually they only get to pick one activity, but today the timing just worked to have the perfect amount of time between the time skating was finished and supper to sneak in the movie too! We went ice skating, saw Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile (pretty cute, not the best ever but pretty good), and went to Culvers for supper. What a fun family afternoon! 

Happy birthday, our sweet Norah. Eight years with you has been a joy. You have grown up so much in the last year and are beautiful inside and out! We love you very much!

Scarecrow Farm 2022.

We had a super fun Saturday outing to Scarecrow Farm, about 50 minutes away from us by the closest bigger town. Saturdays are really fun now to have family days with no school and work! Scarecrow Farm is a fun fall tradition. It's the perfect middle ground I think- bigger than our local pumpkin patch, but not as big as one we went to in Omaha. It's the perfect size for an afternoon! We did giant slide, playgrounds, corn pit, jumping pad, hay ride, ninja course, swings, etc. Thankful for beautiful weather and time to be together!

The giant slide! Not sure how, but it was so intense this year that Norah got a hole in her shirt and Ellory got a pretty big hole in her pants!

The girls are growing up so much! I'm so happy they are growing and healthy, but I will also hold onto their littleness as long as I can too. :)

Praying your sister bond is always strong!

Love fall Saturdays and my four favorites!

Norah's 8th birthday- De Jong side (and cousin Gerrit's 1st birthday!).

The De Jong side was all together (yay!), so we had another early birthday celebration for Kley, Norah, and Gerrit. Kley turns 35 and Norah turns 8 this month! We also celebrated our nephew Gerrit's October birthday as well, who is turning one! Being all together is one of my favorite things, and throwing birthdays into the mix too? The best!

Thankful to celebrate another birthday with Kley, my most favorite blessing!

Birthday cakes for the celebrated three!

Watching kids blow out candles is the best.

Our Norah is 8! We have been commenting a lot lately about how well she is doing! She has worked so hard and so well this last year with going to school, reading, and managing big emotions- so proud of her and who she is becoming! So beautiful inside and out!

She was excited to get an American Girl bed from Papa and Amma.

Happy first birthday to cousin Gerrit, we sure do love you!

Such a sweetie.

Showing Will and Gerrit the local pumpkin patch. 

Finally got all the cousins to sit in one spot. This is the best shot, and it isn't even the best, and then later realize the camera was on a funny setting. Oops! It was a fun afternoon!

Norah's 8th birthday- Schut side.

What fun to have family in town for the weekend! My brother wasn't able to make it because they are having a new baby very soon, but my parents, sister, and sister/BIL/niece were able to come and it was so fun! Family weekends together are one of my favorite things. As people get older and more kids are added to the mix, I know it's not always easy to make getting together happen, so I love putting in the effort to make it work. 

We went to Fields of Fun, our local pumpkin patch, and loved picking pumpkins and seeing the animals. Yay for fall!

We love Aunt Kayla and cousin Averie!

The girls are so sweet to Averie and it's fun to watch them be the oldest cousins. We have two more coming in October and December (my brother's 3rd and my sister's 2nd), so exciting new additions are coming soon!

Best group shot I got. Can't win them all, but the outing was a success so that's great!

Very thankful for family who is eager to love on our girls!

My sister Kayla's birthday is in September, and Kley and Norah's birthdays are in October, so we had a birthday celebration. Norah was excited to open a few presents early and have cake! She picked a butterfly theme this year and it was very cute!

The excited face when they see the cake is my favorite. What a joy to celebrate another year with our Norah!

It was also a special weekend because we got to have "Sunday dinner" at my grandparents house in the neighboring town where they live. They have lived in this house for 38 years and are moving this month to an independent living apartment. It's a bittersweet transition! Sad to see them leave the only house I've ever known them in with so many memories, but also a good move for them for the future. Thankful for one last lunch there and for one more round of pictures on their couch! It's been so sweet to live close to them!

We've taken many a picture in this spot over the years, what a blessing!

Morning on the Green 2022.

Morning on the Green is a favorite fall tradition! It's a fun morning of games and inflatables put on for the community by the college in our town for homecoming week. The college kids run the games, and the bands and cheerleading teams are wandering around doing periodic performances. It's always a joyous morning!

Norah was excited about the limbo and she was pretty good at it.

Enjoying the games!

The girls thought it was amazing to be lifted up by the cheerleaders.

It was fun to have some family in town for it too. My niece, Averie, had a good time but was solemnly taking it all in. Though she isn't smiling, she was so excited to get her face painted! One is such a fun age!

Always love seeing Grandma and Grandpa!