September

September was here and gone.

It was a crazy busy month. Mainly with getting everything ready to foster and complete our training. 30 hours of training split between two weekends. 

At least I had this guy by my side. :)

So many people helped us with our kids and our house and everything in between this month. We are blessed.

 

Ice cream after school on Friday is always fun.

 And lunch at school with the kids is always fun too. 

Dressed up at a friend's birthday party. Why does she look so old here?!

football

This is the first year Joey has played football. He wanted to try it, and he has done a great job. He gives it his all, and no one would ever know he's never played before!

And he looks so cute with those shoulder pads and long legs. :)

He has been playing tight end and safety and does his job well.

He gets a lot of bruises but never complains.

 Look at that #4!

1st day of school

School has started! Summer went by so quickly, but I think we were all ready to get back into a routine. All three of the kids were excited and ready for school to start.

Joey is in 5th grade and is going to regular middle school now. He was pretty excited not to have to wear uniforms anymore...

 Kylah is in 4th grade and still at the Classical Academy for one more year. 

Look at the back of her backpack...yes, she carries these on there every day!

And Norah is in 1st grade also at the Classical Academy.

I pray for a great year for all three of these kids. We have talked a lot about being a light for Jesus at school no matter what school they are at. I pray that they are! I'm excited for a great year ahead.

the last of summer

 We had a fun last week of summer before school started.

We hit up the big Roaring River slide one more time, this time with Shannon and her girls. It happened to be quite cold (who would have guessed in August?!?!), but we still had a great time. 

Jane and Kylah have become quite good friends. They are very much alike and love to do the same things.

Joey and Marin are awesome buddies too. Thankfully Marin loves sports so they have a lot in common.

Joey ran into a few of his baseball buddies who happened to be at the slide that day too. 

I braved the cold a few times and went down with Norah.

We hit up a popular ice cream place on the way home that we've never been to. It's actually a gas station with a cafe, and they are known for their huge cones. Joey has a small and the girls have the kids' size. Crazy! 

 We hung around the house a few days. 

Simba is ready for school...

The girls love to dress up in my clothes (when I let them...) :)

Beanie Boo's are quite the thing right now with little girls. Kylah and Norah both have quite a few. They buy most of them because they aren't cheap! But they will play for hours with their beanie boos.

These are some of Kylah's collection; she had taken this picture, and I found it on my phone.

The kids have been doing a lot of chores all summer long and earning a weekly allowance. So we went shopping! They had fun spending their hard-earned money. :)

 On Saturday we went boating with the Harris'.

Again it was chilly and rainy. What happened to August this year?!

But we managed to still have a little fun. ;)

The kids took turns tubing and knee boarding.

Norah managed to sweet talk Joe into getting out there once with her. The rest of us were too cold!!

It was a fun end to summer.

Going to Nana and Grandpa's house

 The kids got to go spend a few days at Nana's and Grandpa's house. Their Philippine cousins are no longer there, so the house was much quieter. My kids said it was too quiet! :(

But thankfully they still have a few cousins in Kansas, and they love those cousins too.

Nana took them to some fun places, and some fun restaurants and even a movie!

Meanwhile back in Arkansas, Joe and I enjoyed a few QUIET kid-free days. We even got to golf a whole round on Saturday! 

We are so thankful for Joe's parents giving us this time alone every year. We love it, and our kids love spending time with their grandparents.

Last swim meet

The kids had their last swim meet of the summer on Wednesday. It was a "championship meet"...whatever that means...so there were quite a few different teams there and more competition.

It was fun seeing all three of them compete and do their best. They have all improved so much in swimming (and they are actually pretty good at it!)

 Kylah loved doing swim with her sweet friend Jane.

More fun friends including the Harris' and Adams' swam too!

Oh Norah...you just gotta love her.

What a fun new sport. And all the kids want to do it again next summer!

Nunamaker's visit!

 Greg, Amy, Olivia and Logan came to visit for a quick weekend. We packed a lot of fun in those few days though! We actually haven't seen them for a few years (never again!!), so it was fun to catch up. Our kids picked right up where they left off too!

We enjoyed a great steak dinner on the Egg, of course. :)

We visited a local swimming hole and did some floating and cliff jumping. 

These kids are getting so big!

Logan loves to bake, so he taught Joey a few things. This was breakfast...pancakes with homemade frosting and apples. It was quite delicious!

 Hard at work.

Dads versus sons in basketball.

It was great catching up with this sweet friend and hearing all about what God is doing in her and her family's lives.

We need to do this again soon!