The Nielsens

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Music Concerts

These last two weeks we spent our Tuesday evenings attending the boys' school music performances.

Clifford's 3rd Grade Music Performance

Kristjan's 2nd Grade Music Performance. He even had a speaking part!

A few weeks ago was Twin Day at school. Last year the boys dressed up together. For this years, Clifford told me he was planning on dressing up with a fellow classmate. Later that same evening when I inquired with Kristjan on who he was dressing up with, he said "Clifford, duh!!" I could hear Clifford in the background sigh heavily, but like a good big brother, went into Kristjan's room and they worked on putting together an outfit without once complaining.

Pre-Summer Fun

I don't know about anyone else, but I'm ready for sunshine and some summer fun!!!! We've had a few days here and there of good weather, so we took advantage of enjoying our backyard....

We had a weenie roast one evening, as well as a few nights of s'mores making!

We BBQ and Smoke a LOT!!! Pete's dad has graciously let us borrow his smoker. We definitely don't allow it to sit around and collect dust. At least once a week we use this baby!!

There was a week where temperatures were reaching the 80's!!! So I was super excited one day to buy a slip 'n slide for the boys, letting them skip doing homework right after school. We set it up, boys got into their swimsuits, and they played on it....for like 10 minutes. Then Pete told me to take it back. My happiness was deflated!!! Pete said it was cheap and stupid. I think it would have been better if I'd bought a single one (due to the lack of flatness in the our yard and it being a double, water wasn't able to hit the second slide). So back it went, and Pete hooked up the hose to one of the slides in the yard.

Clifford recently went on a birthday sleepover, leaving Kristjan with some quality alone time with us. As a treat, we went out to dinner at Red Robin.

Recently at Cub Scouts...

Our current Cub Scout year is quickly coming to an end (yay!!!!), with only a few more meetings to attend. Peter and I have only officially been in our Committee positions for a few months now. On top of that, Pete is currently the "acting" Bear leader, which in turn means I am too (I help plan and prepare his lessons). We're already burnt out. We've come to realize how unorganized this Pack really is, plus the people in these positions prior to us thought it was ok to not follow BSA rules. And don't even get us started in the lack of parent participation! There's soooo much we have to fix! Ugh!!!

On a happier note, the boys (the Scouts as a whole) seem to be enjoying the new changes we've slowly implemented. Peter has made a point of opening each den meeting with the boys lining up by den and doing a flag salute before announcements. The monthly Pack meetings used to be where we'd show up for awards and then leave...how boring!! We've now tried to incorporate an engaging activity to go along with the monthly Scout message. As for Pete's den itself, the Bears, this group of boys are having a blast. Peter unofficially took over last November, and we've gotten many compliments from the parents on our hard efforts. During the meetings, I typically stick with Kristjan. I have to say, I'm a bit jealous that we're not part of that den. Kristjan's den leader, as nice as she is, doesn't try as hard, often coming to the meeting and planning her lesson right as she gets there, often leaving the boys bored. Though I keep my mouth shut...last thing I need is to take that on too :)

Boys at the end of the Spring Fundraising - the Walk-a-thon

Our April Pack Meeting. The theme/lesson was on Faith. We tied it in with flying. The Scouts made candy airplanes as a treat. They also made paper airplanes and used them to play two different games.

Also during the April Pack Meeting, Clifford received a special award for coming in Second Place for the most laps walked at the Walk-a-thon. Go Clifford!!!

For the month of May, the Wolves joined the Bears to earn the Leave No Trace Award. For one meeting, Pete and I set up a mock campsite and went over the rules for Leave No Trace, while the boys pointed out what was wrong with the campsite (trash, food lying around, etc). Afterwards the boys paired off to create posters. At the next meeting, the boys then went around to pick up garbage outside before playing a game of flag football for fun (sorry, no pics)