The Nielsens: Current Happenings

Life right now is crazy....chaotic...busy. I feel like I don't have a moment to catch my breath and relax. The last three weeks are a blur. At one point, I had a week where every single day there was an appointment or two that we had to attend, on top of sports, school, life. We're just so busy. Here's what we've been up to lately....

We MOVED!!!......To a HOUSE!!!

After 4 1/2 years of living at our apartment complex, we moved into a house. It's split-level, with 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 1/2 a garage (it's why it's a 4 bedroom lol), and a basement, PLUS a huge yard! Oh, and we're on a dead end street.And our monthly rent is lower than what we had to pay at the apartment. Sadly, it's in a completely different school district, but I was told the middle and high schools are amazing (yay!!). I will be commuting the boys to Martha Lake until the end of the school year, then they'll attend Woodside in the fall...which is directly across the street from our house! This house has so much room and has great potential, but it needs a lot of TLC. The last tenants did NOT take care of anything. But the landlord is down with us making improvements and knocking it off our rent.

This is the only pic I currently have, which is from when they
painted prior to our moving in.

Candy Site Sale
The boys participated in a Cub Scout candy site sale one Saturday afternoon at a local Lowe's Hardware. Our Pack would like to avoid having to do a spring candy bar fundraiser, so the goal was to sell as many candy bars at the site sale as possible. No word yet on how well we did.

Watch DOGS
Pete spent an entire school day at the boys' school as a Watch DOG. He helped in both boys' classrooms, participated in PE with 5th Graders, ate lunch with Clifford during a Student Council Meeting, went out for recess, and helped out in the special reading classes. A few kids asked if he'd be back the following day. One little girl ran up to him at recess to give him a big hug. A group of boys thought he was cool because his beard made him look like Wolverine. Many gave him high-fives as they recognized him and passed him in the hallway. He was exhausted by the end of the day, but he said he loved it and had a big smile on his face! He signed up for two days (one for each boy), and actually goes back tomorrow for another day of fun!

This pic is up on the school bulletin board along with all
the other dads who volunteer.

More stitches?!?!....I think NOT!
A week ago I sliced the side/top of my thumb while trying to clean up some broken glass. It was a pretty good cut, and maybe could have used stitches or glue, but since I'm still paying on the stitches from my foot, a band aid was good enough. I was already on edge with dealing with this move and trying to get everything unpacked, cleaned and in order, so when the cut happened, I had a breakdown. Pete cleaned and bandaged me up while I sat on the floor bawling.

We were out of band aids and bandage tape, so Pete, thinking
like an Engineer, used electrical tape. I had a few strange looks given
my way when ever someone noticed my hand :)

Watched the Super Bowl
We had so much fun hanging out with friends while watching the Super Bowl. The game was AWESOME!!

No Super Bowl is complete without snack food!

The gang (all kiddos were downstairs playing, except for Kristjan,
who is hiding behind me)

We had cupcakes for dessert...I chose to eat mine while watching
the gals up above have a food fight :)

Peter with his buddy Erik. This guy is a hoot and is a lot like Pete.
They look rowdy in the pic, but it was all for show :)

An admirer :)
Recently, I have come to find out that I have an admirer. He's blonde, brown eyed, and cute. His name is Lucas. And he's five years old :) His mom Anne is on PTA with me, and Clifford is friends with his older brother Jackson. Anytime I run into them, Lucas has to get my attention to say "hi". One night when it was Cub Scouts (Jackson and Clifford are in the same den), Lucas stayed home with his mom and drew me a picture. The next day, he proudly walked up and gave it to me. It was so sweet. THEN last week, he gave me a few notes that said "Lucas loves Sarah" and "Lucas likes Sarah". My heart is melting!! He's such a sweet boy. I think I'll make a small Valentine to give to him :)

It's a picture of me, holding the picture he made me :)

I told Lucas it would be the first piece of artwork in the
new house. As promised, it was :)

Spoiling the Boys
Both boys have gotten into the latest fad: bracelet looms. All the kids seem to have one and are making these rubber band bracelets like crazy. One night while at the mall, we passed a kiosk that was having a blow-out sale on the loom kits. At first, we walked away. I had thought about buying one as a gift for Kristjan's birthday, but Clifford wanted one as well. Pete and I talked in "parent code" before deciding "why not?!" So we headed back to the kiosk and told the boys to pick out a kit. Clifford and Kristjan were ecstatic that we were going to buy this for them after all. It definitely was a special treat. With the exception of holidays and birthdays, and unless we're at Goodwill or a garage sale, we don't really buy them toys throughout the year. So this was a big deal. And we were happy to be able to spoil our boys :)