Spring Break for the first time

Last weekend we got to have our first spring break. We've always been off track when they've had spring break before. I have to admit, it was more of a pain then anything exciting. We'd just been off track for 3 weeks, then back to school for 8 days, then off again. I feel like I haven't known what day it is for the last couple of weeks because we keep changing our schedule! But we filled the days with some easter activities, and luckily, my mom was in town for the weekend so we got to spend some time with her.

Everyone was very excited to decorate eggs.And then we hid them outside. I laughed that Sara hid all of hers in the same place under the slide.

We also spent Sunday down at Aunt Peggy's.

We rocked our hearts out!And played MarioKart with Karin and Ben.

The best part was just having these three kiddos around even if we don't know what day it is and where we were supposed to be!

Sara has a bruise on her head and insisted on wearing a band-aid all weekend long. It made me laugh all the time.

Kate is working very hard on her reading. I'm very proud of her hard work!

Matt asked to have his picture taken, but his eyes started watering as soon as I pulled out the camera!

Matt's treasures

Recently in school, Matt's class published a book. It was something they worked on for a long time. Matt would give me updates on it every now and then and last week, they finally got to bring home the finished product. He was very excited about it and I also think it turned out really well.

The Treasures of Matt Nielsen

My Favorites:

Color: Green and orange

Book: Star Wars

Sport: Baseball

Game: SkipBo

Season: Fall

TV Show: Spongebob

Animal: Rabbit

My Hobbies:

My hobby is building legos. The reasons are 1. I'm a good builder, 2.I'm a lego fan, 3. It's really really fun. I have 30-40 lego sets and I build them all by myself including Slave I. Slave I is the hardest lego set to build that I have you have to know tricks to build it and I know the tricks. I still want more lego sets.

My Friends

My friends are Truman and Bryson. When I have my friends over we like to put on these nerf gun vests and shoot the target at them It's hard to shoot the target. We also like to play games, legos and marble escape, Marble escape is when you try to knock off all the marbles except yours.

My Family:

I have five people in my family. They are Kate, Sara, me, Mom and Dad. Kate is 5 years old, Mom is 33 years old, Dad is 34 years old, Sara is 3 years old, and I'm 7 years old. We like to go geocaching and hiking. My birthdays June 10th, Kate's is Aug. 5th, Dads is March 27th and Moms is Aug. 27th Saras is Nov 7th.

My favorite place to go:

My favorite place to go is Colorado. It's because my Grandma and Grandpa live there. Sam, Seth, and Henry also live there. My cousins also live there. We like to go on the cattle drive. We are going to go on the cattle drive this summer. I hope it will be fun!

My favorite place to eat:

My favorite place to eat at is Mcdonalds. I love to get chicken nuggets and fries with a HI C. I like to play at the inside playground and hop in the slide and zoom down. I also like to play in the police car and order food. I wonder when will go there again.

When I grow up:

When I grow up I want to be a lego designer. The reason is because I'm a lego fan and I collect lots of lego and I'm a great builder. I'd make lots of Star wars sets like the planets or cities. Lego designers design any lego sets they want.

Christmas in April?

We've got the Wii.

And we've got the fresh snow.

Why not?

Character Strengths

My friend told me about this fun personality test she took. I love these kind of things. It must be the psychology in me. I like these because as you discover your strengths, you discover how to improve your life using what already comes naturally to you. I've taken a lot of these kinds of tests over the years. Now, as I read the questions, I know what they are really asking and what kind of score it's going to bring me so it's a bit of a challenge sometimes to give the honest answer rather than the one that says how I want to be. For example, on the color personality test (red, orange, green and white) I WANT to be orange, but if I'm answering truthfully, I'm always red. I guess I did a good job with this test because when I showed Jerry the scores, he said, "Yep, that's you to a T." Good or bad? I don't know, what do you think?

You can do this particular survey HERE. Click on survery. It did not take me the 30-40 minutes that it said it would, maybe 15.

Your Top Character Strength
Spirituality, sense of purpose, and faith
You have strong and coherent beliefs about the higher purpose and meaning of the universe. You know where you fit in the larger scheme. Your beliefs shape your actions and are a source of comfort to you.

Your Second Character Strength
Industry, diligence, and perseverance
You work hard to finish what you start. No matter the project, you "get it out the door" in timely fashion. You do not get distracted when you work, and you take satisfaction in completing tasks.

Your Third Character Strength
Hope, optimism, and future-mindedness
You expect the best in the future, and you work to achieve it. You believe that the future is something that you can control.

Your Fourth Character Strength
Modesty and humility
You do not seek the spotlight, preferring to let your accomplishments speak for themselves. You do not regard yourself as special, and others recognize and value your modesty.

Your Fifth Character Strength
Self-control and self-regulation
You self-consciously regulate what you feel and what you do. You are a disciplined person. You are in control of your appetites and your emotions, not vice versa.

New off track activity

My friend told me about a fun activity she had done with her son's preschool so we jumped on the chance to do something different while off track. We took a tour of the local Sweet's Candy Factory. The kids had a lot of fun. Everyone's favorite part was, of course, the candy samples that we got.

The Best Pet

A few weeks ago, our neighbors got a dog. When they first told us they got one, we laughed. This is the third dog they've gotten since we've lived next door to them and they haven't worked out so well. But when we saw the dog, we knew it was a keeper! Turns out it works really great for your neighbors to have a cute little dog that your kids love! Sara is especially enamored with Pepper. On the days that Kayce works, she has asked Sara to come over and let the dog out for a few minutes. Sara loves it. And she loves the notes and laffy taffys that Pepper leaves for her. It's pretty cute. Since we've been off track, we've had Abby and Pepper over a lot and it has been fun. In fact, perhaps there will be a dog in our future, too!

Kate and Sara have both been a little afraid of her, but they are quickly getting over that!

The other day we walked past a pet store and Sara asked if we could get a pet. When I asked what kind of pet she wanted she said, "One like Abby's."

It's fun to watch them all run around together in the back yard.

The meanest April Fool's

I love April Fool's Day. It's so fun thinking of little jokes to play. Sadly though, I have never had that really great joke that worked out so perfectly. The closest I've come was one year I made pancakes for breakfast and poured a whole bunch of salt in Jerry's pancake and he ate it even though it was really gross. He didn't want to hurt my feelings and the kids were eating their's so he just choked it down. That was the best, until this year. Matt has been wanting a Wii ever since the Lego Star Wars III game was announced and they don't make it for PS2. But we really didn't have any intention of getting one right now until we came across one that someone was selling because they had won it and already had one. The person lives in Idaho and they are coming down to Salt Lake City this week so we are going to buy it from them but not until then. Well, we decided to have a little fun with it. So, on April Fool's Day, we borrowed someone's empty Wii box and when Jerry came home from work he gave it to Matt. You could feel the excitement! Matt's face lit up and he said, "Are you serious??" "Did you really get one?" He started opening the box and it was just like Christmas. His anticipation was so real! It didn't take him long to figure out that the box was empty and Jerry and I chimed in with "April Fool's!!", but then we told him that we really were getting one he just had to wait a couple of days. Isn't that horrible?! It was so funny though. And Matt was such a good sport about it. And it has been fun building the excitement up for a few days. I just hope it all works out now or we'll be in big trouble!

One year older and wiser too

I'm so far behind, and life goes on. I started another great post for Jerry's birthday and it is also still in my draft box, but before it gets any later, I thought I'd say, Happy Birthday! We had a fun day celebrating Jerry's birthday. I love getting the kids excited for celebrations that are not their own. I bought Jerry a sweatshirt a few weeks early and I gave Matt the responsibility of hiding it in his drawers. He would tell me almost every day that it was still there and still safe and unseen. That was fun. Sara wrapped her own present for Jerry. It was a piece of scrap wrapping paper that she wrapped in another piece of scrap wrapping paper. That was cute. It was fun to hang out!