Lisa's First Weekend!

We had a pretty successful first weekend with Lisa and introducing her to the USA. 

Her first corn on the cob

Visit with Aunt Liz and family

Introducing Addy to Dutch delicacies

Chocolate sprinkles on toast. Now known as Lisa toast

Sneak peek...Family Photos

And the #1 item on her bucket list...

Walmart!

 

Meet LISA!!!

About a month ago, I was approached with an opportunity to host a foreign exchange student. 

We had a family meeting and we decided to proceed! We've always heard such wonderful stories of success stories, we thought "why not?" 

We were matched with Lisa from The Netherlands. 

Lisa arrived on August 17th and we picked her up at the airport! 

We did a little welcome basket for her

First impressions were amazing! 

She is absolutely adorable and super sweet. 

Her English is amazing! She is considerate and thoughtful. 

I think this is going to be a wonderful fit! 

 

Addy Squared

Our beloved Mrs. Schober has been pregnant and we knew it was a little girl! 

We bought her gifts and wished her well. 

We kept asking if she had a name and she kept saying no. 

Well, now we know why! 

We got the special surprise that she named her Adeline aka ADDY!!

A special shout out to my girl. 

The pride my girl felt when she heard this was something I wish I could see daily. 

The tears from my eyes because what a special tribute. 

Well, we finally got to meet the sweet babe. 

Introducing Addy Squared. 

Addy lasted a whole minute holding her, so I got baby snuggles. 

I told John it was probably good we never had newborns because I would do NOTHING all day. Just hold the baby. 

We are so excited for this!

 

Just like that..she's a LICENSED DRIVER

It's the official Rite of Passage for a 16 year old. 

A driver license. 

She passed the first time. It was by the skin of her teeth but she passed. 

While I was so nervous about this, it's been a blessing. 

Fall schedules are absolutely insane so this has been a relief. 

In keeping up with big kid things, we also went to the bank and opened her very own checking account! 

We had long talks about banking and managing money. 

How are we even here?

 

Ava Kate's Sweet 16!

Our Ava Kate turned 16. 

How is this possible? 

I think I cried more on this one. 

It's times like these that I get a little bitter that I missed two years of this sweet girls life. 

But...we still celebrated the best we can! 

She had a soccer tournament on her actual birthday so we met the family that night for ice cream. 

Uncle Nate couldn't wait to give his gift! 

An Indiana Caitlin Clark jersey!

The next day our sister friends came to visit and surprised Ava with a cake! 

So sweet!

Party day finally arrived!

We had a great time celebrating our girls with amazing family and friends! 

 

795 Cup - 2024

The annual 795 Cup fell on the weekend of Ava's birthday. 

These girls played their hearts out but struggled all weekend. 

We found out later they were placed in a D1 Bracket. 

Which...then we realized that only losing by one or even the tie wasn't that bad. 

It was fierce competition but theses girls held strong and the parents couldn't be more proud! 

We even had some special guests who braved the heat and humidity. 

Thanks for coming to watch!

 

Happy Birthday, Uncle Nate!

Happy Birthday, Uncle Nate!! 

We celebrated with a yummy dinner at J. Alexanders with family and friends! 

It was a great night!

 

 

Date Night with Ava Kate

For my birthday this year, the girls kept asking and asking what I wanted. 

All I wanted was them. One on one. 

I told them each to plan a date night with me. 

Ava Kate planned the best night. She even drove!

She treated me to our favorite restaurant, Poco Piatti. 

It was so nice to have one on one conversation, no phones and just talking about life. 

It was the best night! 

 

Jamaica 2024 {Hurricane Beryl}

As you may know, we are members of Palace Elite. Which is a company with multiple resorts throughout the Caribbean. 

We had a few free nights and decided to fly to Jamaica for a week. 

We thought it was a fabulous idea! 

The resort was beautiful, the food was wonderful! 

We had a very GOOD FEW DAYS.

We swam and kayaked. We ate and slept.

We swam some more. We slept some more and ate some more. 

Then this. 

Hurricane Beryl. 

Our first ever Category 4 hurricane. 

I will say, we were very protected and safe. 

They fed us. 

But we had to spend 18 hours in a very little air conditioned room with the other guests. 

We made the most of it. 

We really did. 

I read 3 books. 

We played countless card games. 

We walked around. 

We napped.

It's unfortunate as the island never really recovered in the time we had left. 

They did the best they could. 

Limited food, limited drinks. 

Delayed flights. 

We were some of the lucky ones as we were truly only delayed about six hours coming home. Others were delayed days. 

I think it will be a long time before we go to Jamaica again.