Farmer's Market, end of softball, adventure camp, and Lucy's triathlon.

Softball is officially over! It was a great summer with lots of time at the ball field. The girls each improved and did really well! I'm thankful for the opportunities our girls get to be involved in many different activities here. While the many summer activities were great, it's also nice to be done! It will be nice to have the days we are home to be slower before school starts again, and we also have a few trips planned too. 

Norah's group had a swimming party on the last day and didn't do any special ending because they are older. Lucy and Ellory's age group hands out medals and watermelon on the last night, and it's a hit by all, as in they both looked forward to getting their medal at the end for weeks and talked about it. So cute. 

Go Cardinals! We love watching you girls! Ellory asked me if her medal was made of real gold- love their young little minds! :)

Another summer highlight for Lucy was participating in her first mighty kids triathlon! She did some mild training (per her own request- she was thrilled about this and begged to "train") and she did so good! Norah and Ellory weren't interested in joining, but came along to cheer. Her age group was 7-9 and it was both boys and girls, so Lucy was about the smallest and youngest one there, but her bravery was high and she gave it her all!  She had to swim a full pool lap, run half a mile, and bike a mile. They didn't keep track of times or places, but she got 5th place, go Lucy! Lucy was actually in 2nd place after the running portion, but a few kids passed her on the bike, but she also had a smaller bike than the older kids and was the youngest! She was really excited and we are proud of her determination and courage to try something new! (She told me I could share this info.)

Once a month, our farmer's market here does a kids day where kids can sell items. The girls worked really hard preparing bracelets, perler beads. and cupcakes to sell, and were very brave in talking to many customers! A few weeks ago, there was some really bad flooding in our area and many are still recovering from that. A few towns close to us got hit really hard, and several families we know had to leave their homes. So sad! The girls donated all the proceeds towards flood victims and we divided it up and mailed it to our friends who lost their homes. Norah, Lucy, and Ellory, we are so proud of you for shining His light and working hard to help others. What a beautiful way to be the hands and feet of Jesus. :)

We tried something new this summer and the girls went to adventure camp! It was two days and they went with a couple friends from church/school, and they got to do lots of fun stuff outside! They learned about animals and their tracks, whittled soap, learned how to start a fire, canoed and kayaked, and lots of nature walks. They all said they wanted to go back next year!

4th of July 2024.

Happy 4th of July! We had a fun weekend with family. We started off in Omaha visiting Kley's family (his sister and her family live there and his parents came down too), and from there we headed to Des Moines for the weekend (my parents and two of my siblings live there). My parents watched the girls overnight on Friday so Kley and I could have a long date and it was so great! We went to Cheesecake Factory, went to a few stores at the mall, saw the Sound of Hope Possum Trot movie (wow, challenging to watch but so good too and they did a great job of capturing the reality of foster care/adoption), got ice cream, and went to Target. And enjoyed a full night of sleep and a night off the bedtime routine! Thankful for that time together!

Fun times at the park and splash pad when we came back from our date. We got to see cousins too for a bit for supper Saturday night! They were gone on a trip visiting friends before that.

 Grateful to live in the USA!

Kley relaxing after his fireworks display. What a guy. :)

Ice cream cake!

Running after the parachute firework- all the kids favorite!

Kley loved and embraced doing a fireworks show for our neighborhood/friends and in Omaha for family this year!

Sparklers.

Cousin time.

Fun at the pool.

Fun fireworks show with smores at our house for our neighborhood/friends. Happy 4th everyone!

We had a sweet little love staying with us for a few days during this party through safe families. It went pretty well overall and he was very happy and easygoing!

Grandparents' 70th anniversary and cousin fun.

Our whole family came to stay with us for my grandparents' 70th anniversary party. We had a full and fun house- all 17 of us! I'm thankful for our new house in many ways, and a big one is the ability to host my whole family. I'm thankful for every opportunity to be together as the big group- family is so important and I want to be friends with my siblings and have all the cousins know each other and be friends too!

Enjoying some smores outside!

Pool time!

It is a huge blessing that all four of my grandparents are still living. My dad's parents live in the neighboring town to us and I'm so glad we get to see them regularly and that our girls get to know them. My dad's side was able to gather together to celebrate their 70th anniversary- what a gift and testament of a life well lived for Christ together!

All the cousins together- one of my favorite things!

Summer fun with foam, flag, VBS, and dance.

We went to a summer kickoff in a neighboring town and the girls loved getting airbrush tattoos and playing in the foam- they said it was the best day!

We had heard about foam parties before but never seen or done one before- it was even bigger than I expected! It kind of looked like snow but it was bubbles? But wasn't soapy like regular bubbles? It's hard to explain, but the girls thought it was awesome! What a fun afternoon! (And thankful I figured it might be pretty messy and brought towels and a change of clothes- they were covered and wet at the end!)

We went and saw Inside Out 2 one afternoon!

Lucy and Ellory went to Camptendo VBS- Mario themed and learned about the armor of God. They loved it! (We gave Norah the choice to go. She would have had to miss some softball and flag, and she chose to not go and go to those activities instead.)

All three girls went to a 2 day jazz/lyrical/musical theatre dance camp and had fun learning some routines!

Norah was excited to try out flag this summer- she did great! 

This was her final performance at the end. Way to go, Norah!

This was all the girls that did flag or baton, in the 3rd/4th and 5th/6th grade groups. 

Swimming lessons 2024.

All three girls finished swimming lessons and did great! They all passed their levels- way to go! They were excited for lessons this year and really tried their best. We've got some great swimmers on our hands! They had a different teacher this year and it worked out great- she was great with kids and so friendly. Boy, I remember when they were all really little and going to the pool with them solo felt so daunting, and look where we are now! I'm so thankful they are healthy and growing. We are proud of you, Norah, Lucy, and Ellory and we will always be there cheering you on!