Norah recently.

Norah is growing up so much! What a beautiful young lady she is becoming, inside and out. Norah finished up second grade very well and has been doing well in third grade also, so glad for that! She had an adjustment period at the beginning and took awhile to get used to it, but glad that every year the adjustment seems to get a bit easier. Of course there are moments, but overall Norah is doing better at managing anxiety and big feelings than the really rough patch awhile back, yay! Third grade has been a jump academically too- Norah is learning cursive, multiplication, and writing stories/typing. A new change for this year is the new school building- wow, it's big and fancy! That made the adjustment tougher too with also getting used to a new space, but Norah feels more comfortable now that the routine and layout have been learned.

A massive event this summer was moving! We always said we would be sad to leave our neighborhood, and God weaved our new house so perfectly for us. It's only a couple down from our old house, so we are still in the same neighborhood and liking it a lot. We are thankful for a bit more space for hosting and for the girls to have better spaces to hang out with friends as they get older. It's been fun to have a bigger yard for hosting as well and for the girls to play in. Daddy is loving the three car garage! We are so glad for our new space and it's been a gift to our family. We had been keeping our eye out there for about a year and a half, and we bought our new house over Easter weekend and moved the beginning of June.

This summer Norah enjoyed softball, golf camp, dance camp, and swimming lessons and did very well at all of them. We took a girls trip to Rapid City to visit Papa and Gigi (with some family- Kley stayed home to work) and loved seeing sights (like Mount Rushmore for the first time) and some fun activities. Norah got to go on a weeklong trip to Branson with Grandpa and Grandma for her “it's great to be eight” trip and got to go to Silver Dollar City, Esther, Branson Showboat, and spend lots of time in the lake. What special one on one time! We also spent a week in Beaver Creek, CO with the De Jongs and a few days in Des Moines with the Schuts. We had a busy summer of travel and when we were home we were busy with house projects!

This year Norah is doing a jazz/tap dance class once a week and is really loving that. She's doing piano lessons again also and is in third grade Sunday School. She will start the six week winter rec basketball soon and soccer in the spring too. Norah celebrated her 9^th birthday in October with inviting a few friends and their families to the pool for an ocean themed swimming and pizza/ice cream cake party. We also did her family celebration at Fazoli's and Drop Zone, and got to have a celebration with both sides of the family too. What fun! Norah got a good report at her nine year wellness check and we are thankful she is healthy and growing well! Norah had a fever for about a day and a half in September, but was pretty mild and other than that she's been very healthy this year! Norah is wearing size 3 shoes and XL/12-14 clothes. She took her first communion a few months ago, which is very special! For Halloween, Norah was a gymnast/dancer. We recently had her Christmas piano recital and Christmas program at church and she did great at both! Norah played The First Noel and Joy to the World. She also had her end of the year piano recital in May and dance recital in June for her tumbling class last year and did so great! Norah and Kley played a worship song duet together at the recital with piano/guitar that was special.

Norah loves to go to the library to check out chapter books. It's been a true joy to watch reading click for Norah and to see her enjoy reading more than she used to. She loves to ride bike/scooter outside, and be in our new backyard with our new swing set, big swing, and playhouse. We are backyard neighbors with two friends from school, and she has been loving that too. She has been really into making bracelets lately, either rainbow looms or just with string. She got an electric scooter and karaoke machine that can play songs with a mic for her birthday and those have been fun gifts. She loves to listen to music and Taylor Swift is a favorite. She likes drawing, writing/typing stories, playmobil sets, dolls and accessories, Barbies, legos, and is very good with younger kids, like cousins or the younger kids in our life group. She says she wants to be a babysitter and mom when she grows up. Norah, we pray for your heart to continue to increase in love for Jesus as you get older and know deeply how much He loves you. We love you so much!