Norah recently.

It's been too long, so it's high time for another update! We are so proud of all three of our beautiful daughters and thankful for who they are growing up to be. What a precious blessing to be parents! Norah is going to be in middle school soon! She is a bit nervous about it, but she will do great and are so thankful Jesus is always with her and guiding her!

We last left off at about Thanksgiving, so we have some catching up to do! We celebrated Christmas at Thanksgiving with the Schut side in Des Moines, and loved meeting new cousin Stuart! We were at home over Christmas break and celebrated as our own family of five and with the De Jong side. We went to Des Moines for a few days too just for fun. All the girls were in the Christmas program at church and played a piano song for that too. Norah played Angels We Have Heard On High and did great! This was her last Christmas program as an elementary student- wild! For New Years, we celebrated with our friend party/trivia contest, and we stayed overnight at a hotel in Sioux City as a family that had a bowling alley and pool in it, and enjoyed tubing too at the snow hill. Much to be thankful for!

Second semester went really well. For the most part, Norah enjoys school and had great friends and teachers this year. We are so thankful she feels safe at school and learning well and kind in the classroom. I volunteered in her room once a week and it was special to be able to see what she was doing and help out! Great teachers are remarkable and so grateful for those sweet souls investing in our girls! Norah got good remarks on her report card and encouraging words from her teachers. She finished up 5th grade Sunday School and had a great year with an amazing teacher who made lessons really meaningful. It's been so sweet to watch Norah start to take notes during Sunday School and church. Norah took piano lessons all year again and it's fun to hear the growth- she is definitely advancing and playing harder music! While practicing wouldn't be her favorite thing, she does a pretty good job of just persevering and getting it done! She also did another semester of band and choir and did so well! For the most part, I think she enjoyed both of them. She started off not loving choir, but I think it grew on her. She learned some really neat songs in choir and learned a lot on the clarinet in one year! She had a music concert in January and a band/choir concert at the end of the year in May, and did amazing!

Norah finished up her lyrical and jazz dance class and had a “night at the movies” themed dance recital. A new fun thing Norah got to do was AAU volleyball. Wow, what a difference that is to what she has done in the past- so fun and grown up! It ran from January-March, with practices one day a week after school and seven Saturday tournaments. Norah was on the Dutch Spikers team. She enjoyed and it was really fun to watch! Kley and I also got to get in there with learning different ref positions. Norah also enjoyed spring rec soccer and did wonderfully!

We celebrated Lucy and Ellory turning 9 in February! We got to celebrate at Ice Castles in Minneapolis, bowling in Le Mars, and a family outing to Culver's, Tilt indoor arcade, and ice skating. March was so fun because we got to go to Orlando with De Jongs! It was the best week and we all had a wonderful time. The hotel was great and had such a fun pool area with the biggest lazy river we'd ever seen! They also had special huge water slides and a water obstacle course that we got to do one afternoon. We went to Sea World, Legoland, American Girl store, Magic Kingdom, and Universal. We loved it and are so glad we could go! We celebrated Easter in Des Moines and had fun doing egg hunts and Easter baskets with cousins, and also got to celebrate with De Jongs with a fun scavenger hunt when we got back. Thankful for the best reason to celebrate- His death and resurrection! Tulip Festival was a bit of a disappointment because we had sickness in the house. Lucy got it the worst and had a fever and was coming out of both ends for days, and Kley, Norah, and Ellory got it too but not quite as bad as Lucy. We were still able to do a decent amount for Tulip Festival, but people weren't feeling amazing for it. Glad we were still able to do what we did, get a few photos, and enjoy part of it! Overall we had a very healthy winter thankfully. At the end of the year, Norah had her overnight field trip to Hidden Acres and tour the capital building in Des Moines and it was great! I got to go along as a chaperone. We enjoyed the capital tour and lots of fun nature stations!

A huge highlight to the end of spring was meeting new cousin Miller! He was born on March 24 at 21” and 8 lbs. 1 oz. We finally were able to meet him at the end of May and we were all so thrilled to hold him! Welcome to the family, Miller! So fun to add two cousins within six months of each other. Norah felt the end of the school year was bittersweet, which is great because I'm grateful she loves both school and summer! Norah is really into listening to music, writing stories, crafting, building lego cities, and playing elaborate games of house. It's so fun to continue to watch her grow and see what she loves and where the Lord is leading her. We love you so much, Norah! Being your parents is a deep blessing!

Norah recently.

Norah is in 5^th grade! It's wild that she will be in middle school next year. Norah is doing very well with school this year. She is switching to five different teachers and they are doing a great job of preparing for the future with teaching how to manage planners, studying, tests, responsibility, etc. We recently had conferences and are so thankful for our beautiful, smart, kind girl- her teacher had many wonderful things to say about Norah! School also recently did the “growth and development” presentation and invited the moms to come- she's really growing up!

Norah enjoyed a great summer. This was the first summer she didn't do softball and wanted to do some other things instead. She finished and passed her last level of swimming lessons- which included diving for bricks in the deep end, treading for ten minutes, and practicing saving someone! Norah was old enough to help at the library at the children's desk for the summer reading program and did a great job and loved it. She did VBS for the last time with a few friends at a local church. She did summer piano lessons in June/July, Outdoor Connections where they did different things like bike riding and fishing, and flag with a fun performance at the end. Norah did a few shorter term activities too that were just for a few days, like soccer camp, nature camp, golf camp, and volleyball camp. A couple fun summer activities were visiting the Sioux County Youth Fair, hosting our annual 4^th of July fireworks party, and picking strawberries at Getting's Gardens. We went to Des Moines a couple times and enjoyed parks, Living History Farms, Groen's pool, zoo, Science Center, and family staycation fun. We hosted 19 tenters in our backyard when Ragbrai started in our town this year. An unfortunate summer happening was getting hit by a huge derecho and suffering a lot of yard/house damage, but thankfully we were all okay and able to get it fixed up. We also got to take a trip to Rapid City to visit Gigi and Taylor, and we got to stop at the Badlands National Park on the way to use Norah's free 4^th grade pass- so neat!

Norah did volleyball this fall and enjoyed it! She is in Sunday School and piano lessons (we had to find a new teacher because Ms. Heidi stopped teaching, but we thankfully found a great one from church!). She is in a jazz and lyrical dance class with Ellory this year- fun they can go together! She is doing band (clarinet) and choir at school and is handling both well. I think she likes band better than choir. Norah is great at helping all the younger kids each week at our life group. She is loving art club, a once a week extra art hour after school just for 5^th graders that she had to apply for and got accepted, yay!

We celebrated Norah turning 11 this fall! We were able to celebrate with both sides of the family and she had a few friends over for some treats and crafts (beads and canvas painting) and was pink themed. She chose to celebrate her family party at home because it was right after Kley's ACL/meniscus surgery, so we carved pumpkins, ate pizza, painted, opened presents, and watched Annie. We have enjoyed fall favorite activities like Fields of Fun, Scarecrow Farm, and Morning on the Green. Norah is wearing size 5 shoe and is teetering on the edge of children and adult size clothing. She is mostly wearing an XL in girls clothes, but is starting to branch into the small adult size sometimes. She dressed up as a princess for Halloween. At her 11 year wellness check, Norah was 4'10” (65%) and got two shots. Her teeth are falling out fast- top left 1^st bicuspid on 6/5/25, bottom left 2^nd bicuspid on 9/29/25, bottom right 2^nd bicuspid 10/31/25, and top right 1^st bicuspid on 11/20/25. We got to go to Des Moines in the fall too to celebrate Aunt Kayla's birthday and to cheer her on in her half marathon, she did amazing! Norah gained a new cousin, Stuart Herald, on 10/17/25 at 8 lbs. 10 oz and 22 in. We are looking forward to meeting him at Thanksgiving!

Norah loves to listen to music, write stories, and read. She loves to make crafts, especially beads, build lego cities, play with figurines, play school, and is getting more into things like painting her nails and curling her hair. We love you so much, Norah! You are a joy and we love being your parents!

Norah's 11th birthday- friend party.

Norah had some friends over for a craft party for her birthday! She wanted a pink/gold theme for this year and we did bead bracelet/key chains and floral paint by number canvases (and they ended up doing a giant team hide and seek game too). We have a friend in town who has a fun business and Norah wanted to use her for her party, so we got a fun balloon arch, cake pops, and cookies from her for the party (thanks Kate's Snacks and Kate's Balloon Creations!).

Happy 11th birthday Norah! So glad you could have fun with friends!

We pray for great friendships for you now and throughout your life! Thankful for some sweet girls from church and school.

We love you Norah- happy birthday!

Norah's 11th birthday- family celebration (and Kley's surgery).

Happy 11th birthday, Norah! You are so loved! For birthdays, we let our girls choose what they want for supper and an activity and it's a fun tradition to celebrate just the five of us. This year, Kley had ACL/meniscus surgery two days before her birthday (pickup basketball injury), so we gave Norah the choice to either wait to go out and do something in a couple weeks when Kley was doing better, or we could do something at home over her birthday weekend. She chose to do something at home and we had fun together! She chose to carve pumpkins, paint by number canvases, Pizza Ranch for supper, open family presents, and watch Annie together. It was a wonderful night and glad we could celebrate one of our favorite girls! Norah, you bring us so much joy and being your parents is a true gift!

Pizza for supper.

Pumpkin carving- they did them almost entirely on their own!

Painting.

Kley right after surgery- we love you Kley and are sorry this happened! Praying for smooth and quick recovery!

Norah's 11th birthday- extended family celebrations.

We had tons of fun celebrating Norah's 11th birthday! We love you so much Norah! We are so thankful for you and you bring our family so much joy. Happy happy birthday!

We were able to celebrate with both sides of the family! It looked a little different than other years, because my brother and his family weren't able to join because they just had a baby (yay for another nephew/cousin!) and because we celebrated with Kley's side on a short weeknight before Kley's ACL/meniscus surgery, but it was still great!

Most of my side was able to come for a weekend to celebrate the fall birthdays in the family. We got to celebrate Kley's birthday too- happy birthday Kley! We all love you so much!

Norah frosted/decorated her own cake! :)

So grateful for family that could come join! 

My parents, sister Kayla, and sister Karlie and her family were able to come! 

It was special that everyone could come here too to also be able to see my grandma. She will be 90 very soon! We love you Gram!

Happy birthday, sweet Norah!

Our friend has a balloon business and Norah really wanted one of her balloon arches for her birthday!

We had the most beautiful fall morning at Fields of Fun with cousins!

My parents weren't there yet because they were watching my brother's kids while they were having sweet baby Stuart!

Norah is such a great oldest cousin!

Lucy is the only one that still wants to ride the train- love it!

Love cousin time on both sides! We got to celebrate Kley, Norah, and cousin Gerrit too for the fall birthdays! Love family time and love you Norah- happy 11th birthday!

On Norah's actual birthday, we got to go out for supper with Papa, Amma, and Great Grandma De Jong. (Unfortunately Kley had to miss because that was just two days after his ACL/meniscus surgery, but I'm glad we could still make it to celebrate Norah!)