Water Woes

There have been great things about living in the country and then there has been this. This is a bathtub of "clean" water. The last 2 years our water has been really bad in May and June. This year it got to its all time worst and it got the attention of everyone that uses rural water as well as the newspaper, news channel and health department. After much testing they determined that it posed no health risk (gross), it was from deposits being knocked off the pipes due to extremely high usage these times of year. So pretty much the pipes are super old and have lots of deposits on the inside of them and due to so many new houses and so much more water usage all these deposits were making their way into our water in our homes. I was super grossed out by this and annoyed that I couldn't wash white items in the laundry, the toilets had black rings around the bowl, I was bathing my kids in pond water and it wasn't usable out of the faucet. Robb installed a whole house water filter for us and they came out many times to flush our water lines to try to improve things. It did eventually get better but we also got put on an outside water ban for all of June and water restrictions every April- Sept after that. 

Girls Weekend for Brook's Bday

Robb still isn't feeling quite himself after surgery and he wanted to keep it pretty low key for his birthday this year. He had decided he just wanted to go out to eat. We felt bad leaving him on his birthday weekend but we planned to be back for the actual day. We went to Omaha and stayed in the Old Market, to celebrate Brook's birthday. This is the first girls trip that Emmy has got to go on, so she was super excited! We checked into the hotel and had some drinks and snacks for Happy Hour before we walked downtown to eat. We ate at Spagetti Works. Wow! That place has went downhill big time in the last 10 years. Oh well, birthday girl gets to pick! We then shopped and walked around the Old Market. Emmy found a crystal in one of the stores that she had to have. She really wanted a bigger one but $5 was about as much as our crystal budget allowed for the evening. The girls and grandma had fun in the fur and leather store! We took in the eclectic culture of the Old Market on a weekend, got Scooters coffee and smoothies at 10pm and headed back to the hotel. The girls swam in the morning and we shopped for a little bit before heading back to spend the day with our birthday guy at home. Emmy decided that girls weekend was the best thing ever!

Last Day of School!

 The top picture is the first day of school and the bottom is the last day of school. Caleb wore the same shirt for the first and last day and it was totally unplanned. We got a good laugh out of that! Last day of 5th grade for the boys and last day of 3rd grade for Abby. Now on to summer!

Happy 36th Birthday Robb

This year has been a rough one for you! Back pain and back surgery which have kept you from most

of the activities that you love. Here is to a great new year of less pain and more fun! We love you!

 

Volleyball

Abby played rec volleyball through the YMCA this spring. Her coach is a lady that I knew from church and she is very nice! There were 4 Norris girls on the team and 5 girls from one of the grade schools in Lincoln. At this age it is all about learning skills, how to move to the ball and just working as a team. Abby really enjoyed it and it was fun to see them improve as the season went on.

Magic 2018 spring volleyball

Mothers Day 2018

These cute kiddos are the little people that make me a mom. Being a mom is the greatest and hardest job I have ever had! As they get older I feel less and less equipped to handle the hard things. I was much better at dealing with teething, temper tantrums and night feedings than I am with heart break, disappointments and big attitudes that come with older kids! We muddle through and pray that we say the right things and make the right decisions. I love you with all my heart and I hope that if nothing else you look back and know that we weren't perfect as parents but we loved you and tried!

These kids gave me a great Mother's Day! They brought me breakfast in bed and let me sleep in. They also had lots of cute homemade cards and poems and gifts. Later that day they helped me get all my flowers planted too.

Obedience Class

Bryce has been wanting to do Agility classes with Lucy but you have to pass basic obedience class first. So we enrolled Bryce and Lucy in obedience class, turns out it didn't work for Bryce but Lucy seems to be better behaved. Ha Ha! Lucy really enjoyed the classes even though she was obnoxious and barked a lot at first. She doesn't do great with other dogs especially when she is on a leash but she is learning. Bryce and her passed Basic Obedience so they are on to Agility class next.

Tree Planting Weekend

Since we moved into our house we knew that we wanted a lot of trees so we got started this spring by planting some. They are a huge expense so we will have to do it little by little but that's ok. Robb's back still isn't a 100% so Bob, Caleb and I did most of the digging and Andy did most of the heavy lifting. We are thankful that so many people came to help us! We planed 3 trees in the front yard, 2 Maples and an Oak. We planted Poplars all along the back of the house and fast growing evergreens along 54th street. We also planted a Willow tree down by the pond and 3 apple trees on the side of the house and  a flowering crab apple tree in the landscaping. It may take a lot of years but we will get this 3 acres looking like we want it to.

Nebraska Weather

This spring has been terrible. Actually, we seemed to have just skipped spring all together. We had a couple days of nice weather and then 1 week later we had our spring snow storm. I talked Emmy into taking the second picture since it was such a drastic weather change so fast. I guess you never know what to expect in NE. By this point in the winter/spring I am so desperate for nice weather that I try to figure out why we live in this crazy state!

These pictures were taken 2 days apart. Look at our crazy weather change!

Tumbling

We had decided after the dance recital that Abby would be changing dance studios next year and will be dancing at Aimee's in Hickman. The teacher at the Lincoln studio was pushing for Abby to go to point shoes this next year and after talking to Steph who danced in high school, we decided that she was too young. If they use point shoes too early it can be really hard on your ankles and we didn't want to take that chance. Abby also wanted to dance with some of her school friends this year that will be dancing at Aimee's. Abby and Addison were sad that they wouldn't be dancing together anymore so our compromise was to do a tumbling class together. They started tumbling in May and are loving it. Emmy also started toddler tumbling and quickly graduated from that class to beginner tumbling.