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!

Strawberry picking 2024.

Picking strawberries is one of my favorite annual traditions! We all look forward to it every summer. We had asked a few friends if they wanted to join, but they unfortunately couldn't, so we just did a girls trip the four of us and it was still super fun! (It was a weekday, so Kley was working.) It was great weather and such a fun day, one where I just watched the girls and was filled with thankfulness to be able to stay home with them!

We picked a lot and brought some bowls to our neighbors, what fun!

Love the pictures by these signs every year.

The giant tube slide is always a hit!

This rolling barrel was a fun new addition this year.

Grateful for a special day together! Yay for summer!