Christmas 2013

Our beautiful kids.

Nielsen Clan

I touched on Christmas a little bit in my "Year in Review" but wanted to add pictures of the festivities.

Thor and Baliegh's elf, Leif (front) and Wylie and Alida's elf (back) riding one of the decorative fish in the lake house.

Cousins building gingerbread houses

 

Grandma "helping" decorate Thor's house

Candy buffet/decorating table

The picture doesn't do it justice. It was so beautiful!

Christmas Eve Jammies compliments of Aunt Sarah

Baleigh in her Rapunzel dress - She really loved it.

Thor's favorite gift - Gravitack from Ben Ten Omniverse. "Santa" searched the internet and stores for 3 months to find that one. He was so pleased. Made all the work worth it.

Chubby baby Alida

Uncle Jer even made it up from Florida

Sunrise over the lake. Pretty great veiw from the breakfast table

Baliegh loved that telescope and used it often to look at the ducks and geese on the lake.

Indy Nielsen's

Peepaw with his mustache comb.

2012 A Year In Review

This year was a year of major change for the Nielsen household.

 January stared the countdown to our exit from the Army. We still were not sure where we would be living and that was a huge decision weighing on us.  My brother Chad and his wife Emily welcomed a son, Ryan the first week of January as well. He is now a happy little man who we have had the joy of babysitting along with his big sister on a few occasions.

February Jake's younger brother Adam and wife Sarah welcomed a second child as well. Their daughter Alida is a chubby little red head whom everyone says is one of the happiest babies around. We had the pleasure of meeting her at the big Nielsen Family get together later in the year.

March was crunch time as far as getting things in order for me to exit the Army. There are tons of mandatory classes to attend when getting out. It was also the time that Jake's brother Adam and their dad came down for a 5 day tour of Texas. They rented bikes (Jake took ours) and went down to the coast and came back up through central Texas. I took a couple days off to be with the kids while they were away and we had a great time together. The end of March my best friend Katie's fiance flew me up to see her for a weekend. I had the most amazing time and it was so what I needed.

April brought the Texas Blue Bonnets and the early summer heat that Texas is known for. We managed to get down to Sea World one last time to use our military passes there. We got to sit in the splash zone at the orca show and got all wet. Its a memory I hope the kids hold with them for a long time.
This was also the month we finalized our purchase of a home. We became proud owners of 814 Peggy Sue Dr on April 11, 2012. It was a long drawn out process but well worth it in the end.

The beginning of May brought the mobilization of my unit to Yakama, WA. I remained at FT. Hood to maintain operations there with the rear detachment. I worked up until the day that I was released from my unit. It was a super stressful time but in the end we had a smooth moving day. Jake and I packed the truck in a few hours and spent the rest of the day making sure the house was cleaned out and the motorcycle was tied down for our journey up north. We stayed in a hotel the night before we left because I still had to get cleared from housing before I could leave post. Once I had that final green stamp we hit the road.
 Jake as usual, drove the moving truck and Thor was only too happy to ride along way up high. Baleigh, Porkchop and I had a girls only ride in the Prius. 2 days on the road and we made it to our destination. We stayed the night at my parent's house and then hit the ground running in the morning. My parents and my siblings Hannah and Caleb came over and helped us unload the truck. It took less than 2 hours and we were DONE! Then came the hard part.

June, July and August were spent re-doing the entire house. Painting every possible surface and removing what seemed like a million nails (and then repairing the holes left behind). New flooring, new window treatments, and lots of love went into Peggy Sue. We still have a handful of odds and ends to finish but we are almost there. The first two weeks brought two more babies to the Zimmerman family. My oldest brother Chris and his wife Tracie added a fourth child and second daughter, Kenzie Faith to their brood. My younger sister Holly and her husband Justin had their first child, Olivia just a few days after Kenzie was born. It was the year of babies in our family. In July Jake started a new job at a local factory where he is the Parts Procurement Department Head. I officially came off active Duty on August 1st and am a free woman now!

September brought the start of school for Thor. He is in Kindergarten and loves his teacher Mr. Blakely. He has made a few friends and enjoys coming home and teaching his little sister whatever new he learned that day.

October 1st was Jake and my 7th wedding anniversary and the 12th was Thor's 6th birthday.  We had a HUGE party here at the house to celebrate Thor's birthday. What a fun day- even if it did rain. My parents took the kids for the weekend so Jake and I could have a little time to ourselves. It was the best anniversary to date. We haven't had an overnight without the kids since they were born. It was pretty low key for the average couple but we walked the mall and actually went out to dinner. Amazing.  Halloween was a blast! Thor saw a little friend from school and we walked around with him and his mom. Thor went as "Thor" and Baleigh was Cinderella. 

November was crazy busy with Thanksgiving prep and thoughts already looking forward to Christmas. We celebrated Baleigh's birthday the weekend prior, because just like the year she was born her birthday fell on Thanksgiving. We had a small party with just my family on Sunday afternoon. We went to Chicago earlier in the month to spend a day with Grandma Diane and take Baleigh to the American girl place to get Dolly Bean's hair done. Then we headed down to the southside so I could run in a 5K with my friend Katie on Sunday morning. We stopped in to see Grandpa Peepaw and Grandma Cori that afternoon. Busy weekend! Thanksgiving with my parents and then Black Friday with my sisters and sister in laws.

December came and went like a whirlwind! I hosted a Cookie Exchange that was a huge success.We spent Christmas in Lake Geneva with Jake's family. The weekend after Christmas we went to Chicago to spend a day with Grandma Diane. We went downtown and walked past Macy's windows and then checked out the 8 story tall Christmas tree in the Walnut Room. The kids were pretty awestruck. We headed over to Maggianos for dinner -which was AMAZING! After that we caught a cab up to Lincoln Park and walked through the Zoo Lights. I think that was the best time we have ever had in the city. We drove home that night and the next day we spent hanging out with my cousins at my parents house. They were up from southern Illinois for the weekend and it is always a joy to get together with them. New Years Eve we went to some friend's house and spent the night playing games, and having fun.

2013 was a BIG year for us. I start a new job next week and we are looking forward to me being able to contribute to the family income again and to be able to do it from home is amazing. This year I have found two quotes I am going to strive to live by -

"There comes a time in life when you have to let go of all the pointless drama and the people who create it, and surround yourself with people who make you laugh so hard you forget the bad and focus only on the good. After all life is too short to be anything but happy. "

"Instead of wondering when your next vacation is, maybe you should set up a life you don't feel the need to escape from" 
 

Baleigh's Birthday

Baleigh Requested a "Rapunzle" themed birthday so we made Pasqual cupcakes like the little guy from Tangled.

Our birthday girl ready to blow out her 5 candles.

Grandpa Bob and little Ryan. That kid is the HAPPIEST baby you will ever meet.

With her birthday plunder. She got to get her ears pierced a few weeks prior to her birthday and we took her to the city to get her DollyBean's hair done at the American Girl Place with Grandma Diane

Daddy and Thor checking out her cool new gifts

Posing with her new wand  from Aunt Holly and beautiful new hat that Aunt Gretchen made (it matches her coat)

Cousin Gage and Thor snitchin' food.

Cousin Emma enjoying a cupcake

All the girls had a pow-wow in Baleigh's room to discuss a certain someone's new boy! Baleigh got the Cinderella poster from Aunt Hannah.

All in all it was a really fun afternoon. I was not up for a HUGE party like we had for Thor's so we did this one on a Sunday afternoon and just had my family over. I told Baleigh that next year when she is in kindergarten if she would like a big party that we will do one like that for her. It just got to be a bit much having that many people in the house. We enjoyed it but fall/winter birthdays don't allow for much outside time and about 25 people is our house's comfortable capacity. : )

Holidays and Such

This year has been one of a great many changes for the Nielsen family. The other day I got to thinking about "where was I this time last year?"- about a million miles and things from here is the answer.

Last year I was in a job (The Army) that was quite literally sucking the very life out of me. I don't think I could have been more miserable. I loved my actual job but the environment I was on was completely toxic and that made for a very difficult existence, not only for me but my family. It had been years since we had been able to come HOME for a holiday and we were feeling pretty burned out. We had no one around to watch the kids, because my old unit whom I trusted and loved had deployed and there was no way I was leaving my child with a stranger.

This year is a complete 180! I am happily taking a bit of time off from the "working mom" gig and staying home with our Baleigh Bean. The kids and I gardened a bit this summer and I found that she is a great helper when it comes to pealing tomatoes are hulling strawberries. She loved picking peppers and collecting basil and fresh tomatoes for one of our favorite summer meals - grilled margarita pizza.

In September, October and November we celebrated numerous birthdays-they happened in quick succession as well. Starting the last week of September he had Cole's (my nephew), My mom's, and then week 2 of October was Thor and Kylie's (my niece). The last week of October was my dad's and then we had my brother Caleb's and Baleigh's birthday in the first 3 weeks of November. Mix that in with the start of AWANA ( a Wednesday night church program), Ballet (for Baleigh every Wednesday), Thor starting school, Halloween, Thanksgiving and our 7 yr Anniversary and you have one jam packed fall.

I feel blessed to have so much family around that has been really helpful to us in the last 6 months as well. We could not have gotten out house to the place it is right now without numerous hours of help from 2 of my brothers (Caleb and Clayton) fixing all the crazy wiring issues it had as well as putting in lots of new lights and switches for us. My dad and mom were also invaluable not only in helping put down the new floor and just this week finishing the ceiling in my kitchen- but they also helped us by keeping the kids at their place during the day for the first week we were here so Jake and I could get the house painted and unpacked with little to no distraction. With all the frustration that comes with moving and buying a home we had an invaluable support system in them and we are so grateful.

I can hardly believe that we have reached the 12 days of Christmas! It has come so fast. This year we are spending Christmas with Jake's family out in Lake Geneva. It will be the first year we have all been together since before the Army. Jake is really looking forward to seeing his brother Jeremy who has been living in Florida for the last few years. He is flying up to see all of us for the weekend and we are thrilled he can make it.

Jake's work shuts down for the week of Christmas so he gets a mandatory unpaid vacation. Not really what you want at Christmas time but we are going to make the best of it and enjoy our time together. : )

Thor is 6

Requested Birthday breakfast- poached egg. Kind of fitting since he is so obsessed with birds lately. : )

Angry Bird Cookies for his class treat

Opening gift from Auntie Katie and Uncle Skippy

Princess Skippy!

Loving his cupcakes.

Happy 6th Birthday

Birthday banner and his school birthday crown

Ivy and Ryan Zimmerman (cousins)

Grandma Diane and Grandpa Peepaw and Daddy

Saturday night we had Thor's 6th birthday party. We had the whole Zimmerman clan here along with several good friends and all of Thor's Grandparents. It was a fun party. There was plenty of good food, and conversations as well. I didn't get quite as many pictures of the decorations as I would have liked but it was really fun getting to dress up the house for my little man. We loved having everyone here and look forward to future parties here on Peggy Sue.

Follow Up

To follow up on the blog I wrote last month, I wanted to make a few clarifications. I am not nearly as on fire as I was at that moment, and would like to clear misunderstandings up. A sister brought it to my attention after reading it, that I was pretty harsh and wanted to know why I was so angry.

Well, every week I take Baleigh to story time and to ballet and Awana. Every week the same catty mothers sit around in their little circle (literally) talking about their lives. These are the moms who went to grade school and highschool together, they met boys in the same small town and got married at the same time, and then they had babies at the same time and seem to do everything as a perfect little group. I have tried to get to know them on several occasions and have all but been treated like a leper (now I get how guys in bars feel approaching a group of girl - terrified).

 So I was angry and I lashed out. I did all the things I was judging them for in my rant, I judged them for #1, judging other moms(especially the working ones- that really struck a nerve), and #2, putting out there how awesome their lives are then I "judged" them for "pretending". Maybe their lives really are perfect. Maybe they really do have it all. Why do I care? Maybe in a little way I was jealous of it (a very little way : )). I realized this past week with our anniversary and having some time alone with my own amazing spouse that if I wanted, I too could brag about my amazing family. The husband of a friend of mine, was on FB the other day saying how he likes to only put uplifting types of messages on his status so that people come away with the best feeling possible when they read his page. That is what these girls are doing. They are just putting out the best possible parts of themselves so that everyone feels good. OK, I get it. I will never be one of those people, maybe because of how I was raised; but I think it was put in to perspective for me. Some people have to only talk about the good stuff in public because that may be the one good thing they have going for them.

 I apologize if I offended some of you (if you are even still reading the blog) and am going to take a page out of Jim's book and write more positive things. There are already so many negatives in life, why dwell on them? This is part of why I purged my FB about a week or two ago as well. I am cleaning out the stuff that doesn't make me a better person. If the other mom's at story time don't want to be friends - cool - I don't know why I feel the need to try and be accepted by them because our kids has a class together. I have 3 amazing sister in laws and 2 amazing sisters and several friends from the surrounding area who I love dearly and should be cultivating relationships, with rather than trying to get a random group of women to be my friends. October is my month to "clean house" so to speak. I am going to make me a better person and stop concerning myself with all the truly unimportant external distractions.

7 Years And Still Together

Today Jake and I celebrate 7 years of marriage and just over 12 years together as a couple. It has been one amazingly complex journey to say the least. Between the multiple moves, military separations, unexpected babies, and day to day drama, I think we have come out of the last 12 years stronger and more committed than ever.

This time last year we were still in Texas with the knowledge that our time as an Army family was coming to and end. Together we buckled down and made a great exit plan. We worked our tails off this year to make our dream of owning a home come true. Then we successfully packed up our life in Texas and transported it back to the Mid-west. We have turned a once unwanted house into a warm inviting home that we both love and have begun life as civilians again with more ease than the first time.

I thank God daily for having such a loving partner in my life to hold my hand on the road we are traveling together. Some days it has not been easy and we have had our share of downs to balance out the ups. But overall we have been blessed and will continue to thrive no matter what life throws our way.