Alexandria vacation with the Schuts- part 1.

It doesn't usually happen that both of our families have vacations so close together, but it happened this year and we sure aren't complaining! We went to Okoboji, IA in June with the De Jongs, and we just went to Alexandria, MN with the Schuts. We had a great time!

I'm convinced that renting a house/condo is the way to go for vacations, especially with kids. It's so nice to have a living room/kitchen so you don't have to eat out every meal and so that everyone can hang out together in the main areas when the kids are sleeping. 

The house we stayed was great for hang out time, lots of spacious room for our girls to play and lots of outdoor space too. It had a great playground too that we spent a lot of time on! (Norah said that was her favorite part!)

Sometimes Norah is super uncooperative for pictures, and sometimes she knocks it out of the park! She loved wearing this hat that Uncle Keaton gave her.

Playing with Aunt Kayla.

We spent lots of time on the playground- our girls love to swing!

How cute are their hats? 

They love to try and swing on the big swings and their determination is so cute. 

Love this picture of Grandpa and Lucy/Ellory!

Norah and Kley golfing. We lost a few balls in the water (purposely), but they sure had fun!

Love this picture! Missing Rose, who was inside nursing Jorie, but having family time was so great. (Poor Ellory was struggling with hat problems.)

Our house had a boat too, which was fun! It went pretty slow, even on full throttle, but it was still fun for the girls and for a relaxing ride!

Ellory LOVES babies and it was so sweet to watch her with Jorie! She was enamored with her and loved to touch her, pat her hair, kiss her, etc. Lucy didn't show as much interest, but she got jealous when Kley or I held her.

Sweet Jorie! Love being an aunt!

No one paid any attention to her all week. Can't you tell? :)

Trying to get a cute picture of my girls in their matching outfits. This is how the majority turn out.

Norah loves holding Jorie and does such a great job!

Four cousins!

Norah went fishing for the first time! She was a little wild, so her pole didn't actually have a hook (don't tell her that, ha), but she caught a small one when I was helping her and she was so excited! She didn't want to go near it, let alone touch it, but she was excited to catch one.

Keaton, Karlie, Zack, and Kley headed out on the paddle boat to fish.

The girls loved filling buckets with rocks, over and over again.

Norah is such a nice sister!

Recent reads.

Sisters First: Stories from Our Wild and Wonderful Life by Jenna Bush Hager and Barbara Pierce Bush- I really enjoyed this book! I got it for Christmas from my good friend, Stephanie, who is a big George Bush fan and said she thought of me when she saw it because we have twins too. She always gives the most thoughtful gifts! They co-wrote this book and it was so neat to just learn more about their lives, which also taught us a little bit more about history since their family was/is so influential, and hear their stories. I love hearing other's stories. It was also so interesting to hear about their take on being twins and what that was like. Our girls are 17 months, so can't obviously verbalize anything about what it's like, so it was great to hear about it from their perspective. One really interesting thing was they commented on how their personalities turned out/were formed, and if that was really the way they were, or if their personalities were slowly shaped by what people kept saying about them (like one twin is more talkative and one is more quiet, for example). It was a good reminder to me to try to not compare them in describing them, but to just talk about them as their own individual person.

See Me by Nicholas Sparks- I really enjoyed this book also. I found myself thinking about it when I wasn't reading it and anxious to get back to it, so that's a great indicator of how good it was! Of course there is a love story in it between Colin and Maria (because it's Nicholas Sparks, of course), but it was also different than most of his other books I think because it was more suspenseful. Maria is a lawyer, and events from her past, specifically a specific case that went south, come back into play and cause a lot of trouble. I don't want to give plot details away, but it was an attention grabber and entertaining read!

When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty without Hurting the Poor...and Yourself by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert- This book was a very informative read. It's definitely a deep book with lots of "meat," so you really have to be in the mood to delve in when you read it, but it's very good and I learned a lot. It's hard to even summarize because there was so much good content. Basically, it's about how many North American churches and Christians do a poor job of actually helping the poor in meaningful ways. Too often people throw money or material things (relief) at a situation that really calls for rehabilitation and/or development, such as developing a relationship with people and going the long haul with them to help transform their life and make better decisions to help them get to more positive, healthy, and encouraging life situations. They talk a lot about the four foundational relationships (relationship with God, relationship with self, relationship with others, and relationship with the rest of creation) and their definition of material poverty alleviation is: working to reconcile the four foundational relationships so that people can fulfill their callings of glorifying God by working and supporting themselves and their families with the fruit of that work. It was a deep read, but good and lots of convicting, helpful, and thought-provoking information.

The in-between.

This summer has been pretty great. We became aunt/uncle for the first time and the girls got to meet their first cousin, we had a great family vacation with the De Jongs, we have one coming up with my family soon as well, and we painted our kitchen/hallway/bathroom cabinets (which wasn't the most fun at the time, but so glad it's done!). In between those things, we've had lots of fun enjoying this summer with just playing outside and going to the park. Slow mornings at the park are my favorite. I had a mom tell me that she really missed mornings at the park now because her boys are older, and I know I will miss them when my girls are older too. It's the best to watch my girls have fun and to just enjoy the weather and being together. 

I am also treasuring this summer because it's so different from last summer. Last summer, Lucy and Ellory were still quite small, definitely not sleeping as well as they are now, and on a strict feeding schedule too. It was good in it's own way because it was a formative year for our family (and newborn snuggles are great), but it was also pretty hard in lots of ways. I felt torn between Norah and Lucy/Ellory, like I could only meet one set of needs at a time, but this summer is so much fun because we can all go out and interact/play together. This really is a sweet time. It's still busy, but not hard like the first year hard. We are in a good spot and so thankful for that.

I had someone ask me last week if I was ready for summer to be over, and I'm not. I do love Fall and it will be great when it arrives, but this will also bring a marked change to our family too because Norah will be starting preschool. I know it's only two mornings a week, but it's a big deal. She is excited and we know it will be good for her, but since Norah was born, I've stayed home with her. For two years and four months exactly (until Lucy and Ellory were born), it was just me and her together during our days. To have her not be here will be an adjustment for us all. It will be good, but still an adjustment. We pass by the church building where her preschool will meet at often on our way to the park, and Norah comments excitedly that that's where she will go to preschool every time. My first baby will soon be spreading her wings and leaving the nest a little, but my mom heart is glad it's only for a short bit and then she can come right back!

I took this picture the other night when Kley was out mowing and Norah went out to ride her bike. Lucy and Ellory liked watching them out the window while I made supper, yet they also desperately wanted to be big enough to go out too. All of my girls are growing up so, yet still need Kley and I too. Norah's going to preschool soon, yet still calls out for me in the night when she wakes up to go to the bathroom. She's learning how to write her name, yet she still comes running to me when she stubs her toe. She's starting to practice riding her bike without training wheels, yet still needs me to help put her doll's shirt on because she can't quite get the arms in right. Lucy and Ellory are walking everywhere, yet still need help getting down the garage steps. They want to be independent, yet still need so much supervision. They are saying new words often, but I still love their baby babbles. 

There are many balances, but today I am resting content in the in-between. I love that my girls are growing, but so happy that they still need me so much. Thankful for this beautiful summer season. They will keep growing and never stop, but today I'm glad Norah still needs me to help buckle her helmet and that Lucy and Ellory keep wiping smeared fingerprints all over the window no matter how many times I clean it. 

Motherhood is such a gift. These are the days. 

Norah recently.

Norah is getting so grown up. Sometimes it seems like she's older than she is with her language, understanding, memory, and reasoning skills, but the occasional sassiness or tantrum keeps us in check that she is still three, and we are happy about that and content where we are! It's so much fun to be blessed with the front seat to watching her learn and develop.

Norah starts three-year-old preschool this fall two mornings a week. She is very excited about it and points out the building every time we pass it. She already picked out a dark blue backpack with rainbow colored hearts. I think she will do great and I will probably have a harder time than her! I think she will get nervous as it gets closer, but it will be good for her once she gets used to it. She knows all of her colors, shapes, knows that each letter has an uppercase and lowercase, knows some letters and a few sounds, and can name some words that start with certain letters. She loves to ask what words start with. She is practicing writing her name- she can write an individual mark for each letter, and is really good at writing an N and o. She knows her full name, is learning the difference between cities/states/countries, knows her birthday and my phone number, and so many things it's hard to write them all. Reading books with her is so much fun, as she's getting older and can read a bit longer books and can absorb more. Reading before bed with her is one of my favorite things. She sometimes prays on her own and sometimes says she doesn't want to, and her favorite things to thank God for are baby dolls and bounce houses.

Norah is a wonderful big sister. She has her moments, of course, of typical things like not wanting them to ruin her creations or being a little too rough when she forgets she's still a lot bigger than them, but for the most part they interact really positively together. Hearing them laugh together is my favorite! Norah is very protective of them, especially outside with being so sensitive about Lucy and Ellory getting too close to the road. She loves to get in their cribs with them when they wake up and frequently says that she loves them.

Norah definitely eats the least of the three of them, and her favorite food is macaroni and cheese. She also loves granola bars, snack foods like pretzels or goldfish, oreos, and chips (though we try to moderate those things!). I wouldn't say she's a picky eater, she just doesn't eat a lot. She recently likes to make her own sandwiches. Norah hasn't had an accident in a very long time, like a full year. Occasionally she still asks for help in the bathroom, but I think that's just for attention, because she's very capable of going independently and does often. She had another yeast infection a few months back and that really threw her for about a month (with lots of trips to the bathroom), but thankfully she's back to normal now. She is even sleeping through the night a lot more! (She used to wake up almost every single night at least once to go to the bathroom.) We are trying to go to bed earlier to get ready for preschool (like (9-9:30 instead of 10-10:30), but we are still a night owl family. She sometimes wants to do things independently, like get dressed or put her shoes on, but sometimes still wants help too. She's just starting to transition to not napping, but it's going well. She still sleeps most days, but even when she doesn't she still has quiet time in her room and just plays with her books/animals/babies. If she does nap, she takes awhile to fall asleep at night, but if she doesn't she falls asleep quickly. Currently she naps about 75% and doesn't 25%.

Norah loves to color and paint, play with dolls, help with cooking/baking/doing dishes, watch PBS kids on her iPad for her screen time, and play outside. She loves anything outside- walks, bike rides (on her own bike and the tandem bike with dad), sand box, chalk, park, swings, and loves to play with her neighbor friend Elizabeth. The girls got their first cousin in June and Norah loves to hold her and does so well! Norah got a short haircut a couple months ago and it's super cute. She did swim lessons this summer and did so well. She was learning beginning strokes and gained a lot of confidence in the water. She was willingly putting her head under at the end! She also went to the dentist and they did more intensive things like use the scraper/cleaner and tried to get x-rays and Norah was so brave! Norah, you bring so much love and joy to our family. We are so thankful you are ours!