Cute Kid Comment

Lyssie has said a couple of things in the last week that have made me laugh out loud! She has such a vocabulary for an 8-year-old. Those who know her well and have heard her in action will find these "Lyssie-isms" funny :)

The other day I forgot it was "early release" from school and that the elementary school kids were getting home an hour early (feel free to nominate me as Mother of the Year!) I pulled into our neighborhood just as the school bus was leaving and realized that Alyssa and Danny had probably been dropped off at least 5 minutes before that (the bus's first stop.) They were waiting by the front door, relieved to see me and came running to tell me all about their efforts to get inside the locked house after the bus had dropped them off. They had tried every window and door they could reach, all while our dog, Mabel, barked at them from inside, anxious to have them come in. When they ran around back to try the sliding glass door and found the stick securely in place (I'm paranoid - always have been) Mabel was barking through the glass at them. Wishing Mabel could somehow help get the stick out of the door Alyssa said, "Dang! I wish Mabel had opposable thumbs!"

Over the weekend, while we were fishing, Alyssa saw a creepy-crawly on my shirt and with alarm said, "Mom! There's a spider on you!" I'm not much for spiders and jumped up quick and yelled, "A spider?!" Then Lyssie shrugged and said, "Well, some sort of arachnid."

Jacob's Birthday!

Today is Jacob's 4th birthday! We had just barely wrapped our brains around the fact that he's no longer a baby and all of a sudden he's no longer a toddler!

Since we were all home from school/work for Memorial Day, Brad thought he'd take the boys fishing again early this morning as a fun birthday treat for Jacob. As they were getting ready to go, Jacob said that he'd rather wrestle with his Dad and brother on the trampoline than go fishing :) I thought that was cute...and it saved Brad the drive out to the kids' fishing pond!


After lunch we let Jacob open up one of his presents so he and the kids could play with it (a little sprinkler toy for the back yard). They had a lot of fun - the weather was great for it!


Jacob requested a Spiderman cake this year so while the kids were out playing I got busy with that. When I asked him what flavor of cake he wanted, he said, "Sugar flavor". One sugar-flavored Spiderman cake, coming up!


Just before dinner Brad called me into the living room and this is what I found...


Apparently, that sprinkler toy was more exhausting than it looked! He eventually came to and ate his birthday dinner (BBQ) with the family. After dinner he opened up the rest of his presents.



And then he finally got to eat his cake!


4th Birthday, so here are four (of the many!) things we love about Jacob:

- He's easy to please and mild mannered

- He's kind-hearted

- He's developing such a cute sense of humor

- He loves his family

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JAKEY! WE LOVE YOU!

Dayton Days!

There's this cute little town about 40 minutes NE of us called Dayton. We try to take the kids to their annual town celebration when we can because it's always a pretty fun time. This year the weather was perfect and with no napping babies (or even kids in diapers - can you believe it?!) we stayed until early evening and had a blast! We watched the parade in the morning and the kids loaded up on candy (only running in front of moving vehicles to snatch it up once or twice!) Next we had a yummy picnic at our favorite park in Dayton. We played softball, football, the kids played on the toys and climbed trees and we all soaked up the sun.



Brad had heard of a kids' fishing pond near the park so we went there next and the kids caught NINE fish (that pond was well stocked!)


The girls were conflicted about the killing of the fish...

...the boys were not.


We came home and had a yummy fish fry for dinner! But not before crashing in the car for the 45 minute drive home (LONG day!) Poor Jacob even fell asleep mid-lollipop!

Fathers'/Sons' Camp

Brad and the boys attended our Stake's Fathers'/Sons' Camp a couple of weekends ago (or, as Jacob likes to call it, "Sons' Camp"...guess the fathers are expendable?) They had a great time together, stayed up late and came home filthy. Amazingly, Danny did not throw up this year - he's got quite the track record where puking his s'mores all over his sleeping bag is concerned!

Here they are in all their camping glory...

Mothers' Day

Had a great Mothers' Day and felt spoiled and pampered all day long! One of my favorite things about Mothers' Day at this stage of life is the cute kid-made gifts and sentiments. I love the way kids express themselves and the cute things they have to say about their moms. Our ward often does a little mommy questionnaire for the Primary kids to fill out and then they put the highlights in the Sacrament Bulletin on Mothers' Day. This tradition had a hiatus a few years back after the Primary did it on Fathers' Day as well and one little boy said his Dad's favorite tv show was Baywatch...didn't see the Mothers'/Fathers' Day questionnaires for a couple of years after that.

Here are the Nielson kids' questionnaires from yesterday:

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE DINNER YOUR MOM MAKES?
Alyssa: Meatballs
Danny: "Spgede" (spaghetti...same meal as Alyssa's, actually)
Jacob: Pizza

IF YOUR MOM HAD A FREE AFTERNOON, WHAT WOULD SHE DO?
Alyssa: Sleep
Danny: "Klean"
Jacob: Take a walk

WHAT IS YOUR MOM'S FAVORITE TREAT?
Alyssa: Cheesecake
Danny: Carrots
Jacob: Lollipops

WHAT'S SOMETHING YOUR MOM ALWAYS SAYS?
Alyssa: Rather safe than sorry!
Danny: Daniel, stop doing that!
Jacob: Put your PJs on.

WHAT MAKES YOUR MOM SMILE?
Alyssa: My Dad telling jokes.
Danny: When I listen, as rare as it is!
Jacob: When I look at her.

Cute, huh? Well...I'm going to go 'klean' and then treat myself to a big bowl of carrots. Rather safe than sorry, you know!

Brace Face

It's no secret that Brad is a fantastic Dad. He plays games, coaches teams, fixes owies (especially the big ones!), tells jokes, helps with math...the list could go on and on. But today he did something that I feel goes above and beyond. Haley has been nervous for months about getting braces so Brad decided to help her feel more comfortable by getting them too!

Okay, in reality, our Orthodontist is living large off the Nielson kids, so offered to give Brad braces for free! Can't pass up free! His offer came right as Haley was due for her braces so he had Haley and Brad schedule a double appointment. This morning they sat side-by-side and got braces at the same time!

This picture of Brad is for Amber. Call it karma.

And here they are after their appointment:

BRING ON THE SOFT FOODS!

First Dance

Amber attended her first dance a couple of weeks ago, while at an overnight stake youth conference. She had a blast!

It was definitely one of those times that I wished I could be a fly on the wall, but I was lucky enough to have a couple of informants present - my friend, Cookie, and my husband, Brad. I thought for sure I'd have to rely fully on Cookie for the details, but have to admit that I entirely underestimated my husband! Brad, much to Amber's great chagrin, came home able to recount exactly who she danced with throughout the night AND, get this, he even took pictures of her dancing! They are small, blurry and dark pictures, but pictures all the same! He tried to be sneaky, but she eventually caught him and gave him a "WHAT THE HECK!" look (captured below).
Realizing he was busted, Brad started to take some random pictures of other kids to try and make Amber feel less singled out. My impression was, however, that taking pictures of other kids probably only added to the creepy factor! I can hear it now, "Who is that 38-year-old man taking pictures of all the kids on the dance floor?" Oh well. He did his best and at the end of the day I HAVE PICTURES OF AMBER'S FIRST SLOW DANCE! How awesome is that?!

Yes, she was about a foot taller than one of the boys who asked her to dance :)

Not Young

Our ward is having a 'Young Couples Dinner' in a couple of weeks. Today I asked Brad, "What's a 'young' couple"? He said, "Not us."

So there you have it. We're officially not young.

On a happier note, the cut off was 38, so we are just barely not young.