Nelson Family Blog: February 2025

We are in our typical cold stretch of the winter right now. Today, the morning temp was -16 degrees. So, it was a little big chilly.

It's been a couple of weeks since I last blogged, so I will try to catch you up. A few weekends ago, Good Shepherd came to Bethel to play some basketball games. We ended up losing all three games again, but the kids played so much better than their first games. Elliott had a really good game. He didn't score any points, but he was getting rebounds, making good passes, and hustling all game long. Emma also had a really good game. She scored 12 points, hustled, boxed out, and had a lot of fun. Bethel hung with Good Shepherd for the first half, but there were no subs again for the A team, so in the second half they ran out of steam and Good Shepherd pulled away. Grandma and Grandpa Kiecker came to the games. After the games we got Boss' Pizza, played some card games, and then called it a night.

On Saturday, Mom and Dad headed home in the morning and John, the kids, and I headed to Brookings for a Jackrabbit double header. We shopped at the Jackrabbit store, and Emma got a nice hoodie and Elliott got a new hat. We had a ton of fun watching the Jacks. The girls played first, and we all enjoyed the game and a Jackrabbit win. Then, we stayed for half of the boys' game, and then we headed to Cubby's for supper and to watch the second half of the game, and some of the NFL football games. Emma's day was made because Mesa Byom came into Cubby's while we were there to eat supper with her parents. Emma kept looking at her and she even told her "good game" when we left. She had a great day.

In other news, John has been doing some ice fishing when he has time. Elliott fishes with him sometimes. The kids also did the Kid's Fishing Derby again this year. Both kids participated, and Elliott got 8th place out of 300 kids. So, he was pretty excited and he won some pretty cool prizes as well. Both kids also got some free fishing poles. They all had a good time. I stayed home and caught up on some house things, went to the gym, and did typical Stacy things.

I've been busy getting the Robot program up and running at work. I had to build our cart for the CORE, make all the preference cards, and just do the general work to get the robots running at the ASC. It's been busy, and a little stressful, but overall it's gone pretty well. I have put in some extra hours, but it was satisfying to be a apart of something new.

This past weekend, the kids had another basketball game, this time against Cornerstone Lutheran School. My parents decided to come again to watch the kids play, and Jim and Barb came as well. The games were interesting. I don't think Cornerstone had ever played a basketball game before, and they got destroyed by Bethel. It made for some fun basketball watching for us. Elliott had 10 points and a lot of rebounds. And he ever got to play with the A team. Emma scored 18 points, had a ton of rebounds, and had a really fun time playing. Emma and Elliott even played at the same time for part of the game. Proud momma moment. After the game, we had some pizza, played games, and then called it a night.

On Saturday, Emma and I had ticked to go to the Jackrabbit women's basketball game. It was Women's Sports Day in Brookings, so Emma and I got there early (we were actually the first ones there). Before the game, there were stations to go to that were run by other Jackrabbit student athletes. Emma and I got to make bracelets, make posters, get temporary tattoos. get free T-shirts, and take photos in a photo booth. We had a lot of fun. We also sat in the lounge/student area for the game, and had a really good view for the whole game. The Jacks won, Emma got ice cream, and we even got to get autographs at the end of the game. Emma and I were first in line for autographs, and we got every single player's autograph. Emma also made a bracelet for her favorite player Mesa Byom, and she got to give it to her during autographs. She was so happy.

After all the excitement, we met up with John, Elliott, and Mom and Dad and ate supper at The Pheasant. It was pretty good. Then, we stopped at a Brewery for some games and a couple drinks, and then it was time for us to head home, and mom and dad to head home.

Sunday was the Superbowl. We decided to just keep it chill this year and stay home. We went to church, shopped at Walmart (where I found boots and shoes for both kids for $5 a pair, it was crazy!), worked out with the kids. We are into lifting weights lately. We bought some dumbbells, and I pull up some Fitness Plus exercises on my phone, and the kids do them with me. It's pretty fun, and it's so good for them. Then, we played Superbowl Bingo during the game, ate some nachos, meatballs, and homemade chicken tenders. The Eagles beat the Chiefs in one of the most boring games ever. There were some good commercials, but the halftime show by Kendrick Lamar left something to be desired.

This past week has flown by. The weather has been really cold, and snowy. We had no snow a week ago, and now we have a good 5 inches outside. Tomorrow is Valentine's Day, and I have a couple fun gifts for the kids I'm going to set out tomorrow morning for them. They also have another basketball game tomorrow against Good Shepherd and then the kids are going to Jim and Barb's house after the game so they can do some sledding this weekend. They are pretty excited. John and I are looking forward to a nice evening to ourselves as well.

Tonight, John is at church council and Emma is in Watertown right now with the Tomczaks to watch some basketball. She probably won't be home until 9:30pm or so. The rest of our weekend is pretty open. It's kind of nice to not have much for plans and just enjoy our weekend.

I'll try to be better about keeping up on my blogging so these posts don't get so long-winded. Basically, our life right now is basketball, work, and school. But, it's fun, and time keeps flying by.