Really?!

So, My goal for the year was to blog more on this.   I am guessing that if there was a way to do this from my phone, where most of the photos seem to be taken anymore, maybe it would be updated more regularly!  Summer break is coming to an end very shortly and with the weather as hot as it is, I can't imagine how the first few weeks of school will go.  I am one of the lucky ones that has air conditioning in my room.  Most of the school does not. . . :(
This summer has been one of the best on the books.  At the beginning of the summer, we had 4 baby hedgehogs to find new homes for.  Ms. Pearl surprised us on April 8th with 4 little ones.  I can't believe they all survived.  We didn't know she was pregnant.  The kids are really enjoying having hedgies as pets.  At the moment we have 4.  2 males and 2 females.  2 of the baby hedgies went on to live in Omaha, one went to Ames, and the 4th is living in Tennessee with Sara and Jason.  What an experience for the kids! :)
Ian played T-Ball for his first season this spring.  He loved it!  Let the fun of baseball/softball games begin!

Maren works on her first acrylic painting. . .
Mixed media style

Nora turned 2 on June 8th.  She had a get together here where we got some swimming on and Nora got some great presents.  She had a monster cake that turned out quite awesome looking :)  Joel and Shari and the kids came over. . . along with Kevin Megan and the kids. Grandma and Grandpa Jordison, Grandpa Hoffmann and Auntie Erika :)
We went on a "camping" trip to Blackhawk lake with Grandpa Hoffmann.  The kids loved staying in Charlie the RV.  Ian and Eric got a little fishing in.  We attended a wine tasting thing, and we took the kids out in a paddle boat. . . Ian and Maren did well with that. . . Nora, not so much.
We, meaning the kids and I, have spent endless hours in the pool.  I can actually go back to school with some color this year, other than pasty white!  The kids are little fish in the pool.  Maren gave up her floaties for a small bribe (a barbie) and has done a fantastic job with her new found swimming ability.  Ian is into the flips and dives that he can do off of the deck.  Miss Nora LOVES the water.  She seems right at home in it and the other night, Eric and I even removed the floaties and let her try out swimming without them.  It went really well.  She understands what she needs to do and has been keeping her face in the water for longer amounts of time WITH the floaties on, so when she was swimming, the water in her face didn't seem to phase her. She will (with our supervision of course!) jump off of the ladder and swim back to it, climb up, and start over.  She has been great fun this summer.  Nora did, however, in this past week, hit her terrible twos.  Oh boy!  I wasn't ready for that!  She has done quite the attitude change at bedtime.  For the most part, that is when she is crabby. . .We can handle that!  She still needs to be separated from the pacifier, and potty training isn't really in full swing yet, but this year will be full of changes for her.  :)
I start back to school on the 14th of August.  On the 9th I am going in to Wolfe to get LASIK done on my eyes.  I am looking forward to it and can't wait to get rid of contacts and glasses for a long while.
Eric had the opportunity to go to the All-Star game and activities with some of his friends a few weeks ago.  He had a great time in Kansas City with the Goetz brothers!  It was a long week, the kids missed daddy and are glad to have him home. . .One plus to the Heat this summer is that I have mowed like 3 times since spring. . . our grass is dead and weeds are thriving!