Nelson Family Blog: Spring Time

I totally fell apart, and forgot to blog for over a month. Oops! We have been busy, but mostly I just forgot.

Emma wrapped up basketball at the end of March. Her YMCA team actually ended up winning the Championship Game, so that was very exciting. It was especially impressive since they only had 5 girls at each of their last games, and they still managed to win. Emma really improved throughout the season, and it was really fun to watch her. I hope she continues to want to play, because it was a really fun season, and she has some natural ability for the sport. And I think she enjoys it as well.

Emma also recruited Hannah T to play in a YMCA Tri-State Basketball Tournament here is Sioux Falls. The girls ended up playing against some tougher competition during the tournament, and they lost all 3 games by quite a bit. But, they played as a team, and it was still great experience for them to build on for next year.

We also had spring break for one of the weeks in the March. I took the whole week off, and the kids and I had a good time just finding things to do. We completed my lego Orchid, we had a Fizoli's date one day, we worked on some 4-H projects and posters, and we just enjoyed some downtime at home. The weather was terrible the entire spring break, so we weren't able to spend any time outside. We did make a couple trips to the greenhouse and put in some hours shoveling dirt and planting. And we also got all our dentist appointments done over the break. We had plans to go to Mall of America and visit Grandma and Grandpa Kiecker during break, but a giant snowstorm put a halt to that, and we just stayed home. It was a great week, and I got some things done around the house that I had been meaning to do, but it would have been nice if the weather could have cooperated a little.

Easter has come and gone already. On Easter weekend, we went to Jim and Barb's to have a Sutton Easter. It was pretty low-key, but we all had a good time. We had good food, had an Easter egg hunt for the kids, and checked out all the beautiful flowers in the greenhouse. Emma also learned how to drive a 4-wheeler now, so that is her new trick and she is loving it. Thankfully, she's a fairly cautious driver, so she's done pretty well so far. The weather for Easter was pretty chilly, so we spent most of the time inside. This spring weather has been pretty gross. The whole next week is 40-50s, and it's already April 20th, so it's kind of depressing.

This past weekend, we celebrated Easter with my side of the family. We went to Rachel's house for Easter/Elena's birthday party. We got to Rachel's house around 11am on Saturday. Rachel was hosting a party for the neighbors and Elena's friends, so we just kind of hung out in the basement for a while. Eventually, John, Ryan, Emily, and I ran out to the Mankato Brewery for a drink (and some quiet). Then, we had Easter supper and some family time, before we headed out to spend the night at Mystic Lake Casino. We thought it would be a fun place to spend the night before heading to Minneapolis to go to Mall of America.

On Sunday, we woke up, had a great McDonald's breakfast, and then went to the mall. I thought it opened at 10am, but on Sundays it opens at 11am, so we had to kill an hour. So, we went to Ikea. It was a happy accident. I really enjoyed spending some time in Ikea and we found some great steals. After Ikea, we went to the mall and went on some rides. Emma was a daredevil and wanted to go on every single ride. Elliott was the opposite, and had to be convinced to go on rides. It turns out, he's not really into rides. So, once we got him to go on as many rides as he could tolerate, we hit up Legoland, and then had some lunch at the food court. We had plans to leave around 3pm, because the weather was bad and we wanted to get home at a decent time. However, some nice lady gave us free tickets to mini golf because her group couldn't handle another activity. So, we decided to play some free mini golf.

We had a great time playing mini golf, but it took a while and we didn't get out of the mall until 4:15pm. So, we headed for home. It was snowing, 32 degrees, and the wind was blowing like crazy, so it made for a terrible drive home. There were cars in the ditch and it was slow going for a while. But, we made it home in one piece around 8:20pm. We had two very tired kids to put to bed, and we unpacked the best we could, and then called it a day.

It was a great, busy weekend. This past week, we have shifted gears and are starting to focus on the spring/summer sports. Elliott had his first soccer practice, and he loved it. He's going to have a great season. Emma also had a couple softball practices this week, and it sounds like she's going to really have fun playing fastpitch this summer. I can't wait for nicer weather and spring sports.

The school year is winding down, and we continue to be busy with school, piano, sports, and work. I feel like our weeks are just crazy! Hopefully we can slow down a little bit this summer. And I will try to keep up on my blogging!!