A 10th birthday present for Norah- Anne Wilson concert!

Norah is 10, wow! What a wonderful decade of knowing Norah and being her mom. As a big birthday present to her, we got her tickets to one of her favorite Christian singers, Anne Wilson! We met up with my close friend Heidi and her two daughters there (two of Norah's close friends!), and it was special to go together. We got to meet up for supper too beforehand. It was in Minneapolis, so Norah also got to miss a bit of school to go!

She did a great job! It was super fun. So special to watch Norah enjoy it and so great to know she's learning songs about Jesus! Anne did a great job of sharing the gospel and her testimony. I'm so glad we went!

Waiting for Anne to go on!

The sign out front was so cool! Happy 10th birthday, Norah! We love you!

So thankful for sweet friends too!

Fall activities 2024.

We've had some fun fall activities this year and the girls have been doing great! Lucy is playing flag football this year for the first time. She brought it up all on her own several different times and was very eager to try it. She's the only girl but that doesn't bother her and she's so brave and determined! She's pretty good and is learning a lot about football, which I know nothing about! 

Way to go, Lucy, for bravery to try something new and trying your best!

Last Halloween Lucy was a basketball player, and this Halloween she's going to be a soccer player, so she's rotated between the two jerseys from those costumes for every game, sweatbands included. :)

Ellory is being brave this fall too and trying a jazz/tap dance class! I think she's really liking it! Way to go, Ellory!

Norah is doing a jazz/lyrical dance class this year. She moved up to a higher level and is the youngest in her class by a ways, but she's doing great and she's a good dancer!

Norah also tried youth volleyball this fall! Bravery on all three fronts- way to go, Norah, for trying something brand new! I loved volleyball, so this was so fun to me to watch! Norah also won the super passer award at the end. So proud of you, Norah!

Love cheering on our girls! Volleyball and football were 5 weeks and 6 weeks, so not super long, which is perfect to give them a good taste/introduction without committing to a whole year. That also makes it nice that our schedule isn't that busy for the entire year. Norah and Ellory's dance classes are all year. All three girls are also doing piano lessons again this year too!

Morning on the Green 2024.

Our local college celebrated homecoming weekend and we got to have fun at morning on the green! All the different dorms/departments put on a different booth and there are tons of games, events, and bounce houses for kids. It's always a fun fall day! It was funny this year to look back at all the past years and compare the weather. Today we all wore shorts, but in some years we've had jackets and hats too! It was a beautiful fall day.

Happy homecoming Northwestern! Go Raiders! (Unfortunately, my camera had accidentally gotten switched to a different setting and I didn't realize it until afterwards, so these pictures aren't super clear. Oops!)

Lots of fun games! Pop the balloon beanbag toss.

Toilet paper throw is an annual favorite!

Plinko is another favorite. Last year Ellory got extremely lucky and got two tens and all the college boys were yelling and screaming- it's still a memory she brings up sometimes- but unfortunately wasn't as lucky this year but it was still fun!

Lucy had a great roll and got a ten this year!

Limbo!

Norah is super good at limbo. How does she do it?

They had a puppy petting area and that was Ellory's first choice of what to spend her tickets on. So cute! :)

Thankful for a fun morning!

Recent reads.

Class: A Memoir of Motherhood, Hunger, and Higher Education by Stephanie Land- I really loved this book. This is her second book, and you should definitely check out Maid, her first book, if you haven't yet. It was made in to a Netflix series too that's also good. This book follows chronologically after the ending of her first book. It was a very powerful and moving read about her putting herself through college while working odd jobs and being a single mom. Wow, her work ethic and determination are incredible. This is such a moving story of what it's really like to live and work below the poverty line. There was more language than I cared for and a few sex scenes, but that also played into the story of her reality. It was an honor to read her words and to know the grit that went into writing them. I will remember this book for a long time.

Now and Not Yet: Pressing in When You're Waiting, Wanting, and Restless for More by Ruth Chou Simons- I have been listening to Ruth's podcast recently, and have really enjoyed it and love her voice. I also enjoyed this book. We could all think of a situation where we feel restless or wanting, like this is not the path we would have chosen if we were God, but this book is a beautiful reminder of trusting God when our right now isn't what we would desire and to lean into Biblical truth. 

Try Softer: A Frest Approach to Move Us out of Anxiety, Stress, and Survival Mode- and into a Life of Connection and Joy by Aundi Kolber- I really enjoyed this book. I love how she weaved personal stories with practical tips and psychology, and connected it to God too. She talks about how God designed our minds and bodies to work together to help us process.

So thankful for both of my grandpas- see you in Heaven again, my sweet Grandpa Van Etten.

Coming today to share bittersweet news that my Grandpa Van Etten, my mom's dad, passed away. It's heavy and sad from our earthly perspective, but I am so glad for him that he is rejoicing in Heaven and that we have the eternal hope of seeing him again. He entered Heaven on September 23, 2024 and he was 90 years old. He was a wonderful grandpa and we will miss him. We look forward to the glorious day of our Heavenly reunion. It was a blessing to have him for my thirty-five years of life and to know his example of loving Jesus and others well. 

We came to Rapid City for the funeral, and it was nice to see lots of extended family as well. Here is a picture from the weekend of the girls with my sweet grandma. It dawned on me in the car on the way to my aunt's house (where this picture was taken) that the next picture we took would be without grandpa. That was a hard realization, but I'm glad that my girls can still know and love Gigi (what all the great grandkids call her).

Family shot after the funeral.

Picking a flower from his beautiful arrangement before his burial. The girls handled the whole weekend really well and we had several good conversations about death, Heaven, and funerals. This was my first grandparent to pass, and Kley has one grandma still living, but his three grandparents passed when the girls were young and they don't really remember much. I'm so glad that all of Kley's grandparents lived until all our girls were born and they got to know them for awhile before they went to Heaven!

Kley was a pall bearer.

In other news, we got to visit my Grandpa Schut (who thankfully lives pretty close to us), in the hospital. He had lots of blood clots in his lungs and it was pretty scary for a bit, but thankfully he is doing better now and they are hoping he can regain more strength to go home. (And update since I first wrote this- he is home now! Glad he could go home. He is getting some help from some home health nurse visits.)

I am so thankful for all of my grandparents! I'm glad my Grandpa Schut is improving, and I'm thankful for the time celebrating and honoring my Grandpa Van Etten. We love you and will miss you, Grandpa!

Kayla's birthday and apple picking in Minneapolis.

We had a fun fall weekend in Minneapolis! My sister, Karlie, lives there so we went to visit them. My other sister, Kayla, drove up from Des Moines too so we got to be with her. It was her birthday so we got to celebrate! We had fun at an apple orchard bouncing on the jump pad, hay ride, mega playground, petting zoo, and apple picking! It was a beautiful day.

Aunt Kayla and the cousins!

My favorite four!

Twins picking away!

Brooks and Averie- such cuties!

Jump pad.

Brooks loves all trucks right now, so he was thrilled with these tractors!

The gang! My parents were originally supposed to come, but unfortunately both of my grandpas aren't doing the best right now, so my mom was with her dad and my dad was with his dad. My brother and his family went to visit both of the grandparents too, so they actually stayed at our house Friday night while we were gone. We were sad to miss them, but also felt like we shouldn't cancel this trip because it had been planned for awhile and so at least half of the family could be together and celebrate Kayla's birthday. We were originally supposed to come in August but Lucy got sick, so we came now, and it turned out great because we got to celebrate Kayla's birthday and go to the apple orchard, both of which we couldn't have done before!

Kayla had said back in July at our family vacation that she wanted to go to Rainforest Cafe for her birthday, so when we figured out we were going to Minneapolis over her birthday weekend, we said she had to come too and we needed to go! I was excited to go too because I've always loved it and I wanted to take the girls two years ago when we went to MOA as a family, but we couldn't get a reservation and the wait time was three hours. So being able to go this time was super fun!

We had a great weekend and so glad we could go!