The Nelson Narrative

Here are a few of the resolutions I made for 2010.  Let's see how I did: One was to lose 22 pounds.  Hey, I did it!  Oh wait-I think I meant I wanted to actaully be down 22 pounds.  I've definitely lost at least 22 pounds, but it's been the same 3 or 4 pounds over and over.  Guess that doesn't count... Another was to read more.  My goal was 15 books.  I read 14 1/2.  Shoot.  So close.  If only the girls still napped I surely would have exceeded my goal.  Oh well. Guess what my resolution is for 2011 (See #1 above)?  4 1/2 months until our Hawaii trip so I need to get on it.  My goal is to lose about 17 or so by then.

I think I'm the last blogger to post about Christmas, but here goes.  We had 3 full days of Christmas festivities.  That's not typical, but that's just how it worked out this year.  We went to my brother and sister-in-law's on Christmas Eve and had a great time.  The girls got to play with their 2nd cousins, Taylor and Skyler, and they had so much fun. Kayley, Taylor, Olivia On Christmas morning the girls got up at 7:00 and came and snuggled in bed with us.  They knew the night before that Santa would be coming but they didn't really remember in the morning until we said something.  We went downstairs and had a nice relaxing morning of opening stockings and sipping coffee by the tree and just hanging out as a family.  Later, Paul's parents and sister came over for more gifts and a turkey dinner.  The girls got SO many nice gifts between the two families!  I still haven't got it all put away and organized. On Sunday, we went to ...

Last Thursday (the 2nd) we took the girls to our neighborhood tree lighting.  There really wasn't an actual tree lighting, unless we just missed it, but others that had been there longer didn't see it either.  They did have a band playing Christmas carols, Santa, hot cider, etc.  The girls enjoyed seeing Santa for the first time, but Kayley didn't want to sit on his lap.  I was glad that Olivia was brave enough, and she even told him she wanted a pony (I thought she'd be too shy to say anything). Speaking of pictures, we still need to get a good picture to either put on a photo card or to just get wallet size prints to send out in Christmas cards.  We skipped studio (i.e. JCPenney) photos this year because we can never manage to get out of there without spending in the neighborhood of $150.  Either way, I need to hurry and take a good picture and then get it printed.  I really wish we could afford to get some professional photos done of all fou...

I kind of took an unintentional break from C25 over Thanksgiving and the week before.  I didn't even exercise at all between the 17th and the 27th.  So starting on the 27th I couldn't just pick up on Week 8 Day 3 (the final 28-minute run before increasing to 30 minutes in week 9) where I left off, because I had to build back up to it.  I think I ran for 10, walked 5 and ran for 10 more, then the next time I ran 1 mile (12+ minutes), walked for 3 or so, and then ran for 8 more or something, then the next time I ran for 20.  So I wasn't expecting to be in week 9 this week because I still hadn't completed Week 8 (I figured I'd have a few more days of 20- to 25-minute runs before doing Week 8 Day 3's 28-minute run), but as I was running last night, just hoping to last at least 20 minutes, I just kept going--for 30 whole minutes!  So Week 9 Day 1 was suddenly complete!  Yay!  I still can't believe I ran for a full 30 minutes!  That's hug...

We went to Paul's parents for Thanksgiving this year.  We spent the night and decided to take advantage of the availability of his sister to babysit (we were back before they woke so no real babysitting even occured) so we could partake in the Black Friday ritual-my first time ever.  His parents do it every year and if we're there we just sleep though it, but this year I decided to give it a try, which is pretty amazing seeing as how I DESPISE getting up early.  But, I really wanted to experience it for once so we got up at 4:30 and off we went.  It was actually kind of fun, but we really didn't need that much.  Paul wanted to get a Wii, so we scored that at Best Buy and then got some toys and a few gifts at Fred Meyer.  Friday evening we watched Christmas Vacation as is our tradition (although we usually watch it Thanksgiving night), and Saturday we took turns going out by ourselves to the gym and miscellaneous errands/more Christmas shopping. Sunda...

Another blogger shared this youtube video on her blog and I had to steal it. I'm lucky enough to not get too many of these types of questions/comments, but I see other MoMs (mothers of multiples) on message boards/Facebook/whatever complain about it all the time. Anyway, this video is hilarious.

Yesterday and today we got the first snow of the season.  We're not really prepared.  I got the girls each some snow bibs at a consignment sale awhile back, but the boots I bought them are a little big and the only gloves they have are chenille, so not waterproof.  Nonetheless, we went out a played in the snow for a few minutes today.  Kayley refused to even wear her boots OR gloves, so we didn't stay out very long. Olivia Kayley Ralphie (from Google Images) Not quite as bad a Ralphie... No gloves-brrr!

The girls and I have had a busy week.  On Monday, we met Paul's mom and aunt at Southcenter for a little shopping and lunch for his aunt's birthday.  Yesterday, we had a playdate with another mom in our church group and her kids and Friday we met a friend and her daughter at Bellevue Square for a playdate and lunch at Red Robin.  The girls have had a really fun and active week. Yesterday I took the whole day and went Christmas shopping, by myself!  It was so nice.  This was round 2, so I've made some good progress on my list, although I still have a ways to go.  Every year I vow to be at least close to finished by Thanksgiving, and every year when Thanksgiving rolls around I've barely started.  This year I'm still not that close to finished but I'd say I'm over 50%, which is way more than usual at this time.  Kohl's was having a great sale, so in addition to some gifts I actually got some things for myself, which was so much ...

So ours isn't really a bonus room, it's just a family room, basically.  The builder called it a loft, because it's on the second floor, but it's basically the equivelant of a family room off the kitchen or whatever.  We use it as a TV room and a playroom for the kids.  And like most other rooms in the house, we have yet to do much with it.  I had envisioned painting a red accent wall, but the couch is a dark burgandy (looks brown unless you look really close, or if the light is just so) and the chair is a steel blue (all left over from Paul's single days).  So eventually we will paint some color, just not sure what yet.  And don't you love the baby gate in front of the TV/DVD player/cable box, etc.?  There are a bunch of DVDs down there, too, and the girls will just NOT leave that stuff alone so we had to barricade it. Can't wait to get rid of that gate! Like many other rooms, I plan to paint and hang curtains...someday.  Also ...

On Wednesday I was finally able to run the full 25-minutes.  And then some.  I decided as the 25-minute mark was approaching that I felt like I could do a measly 3 more minutes and thus complete week 8 day 1, so I did!  Then, I noticed that I was really close to the 2.25 mile mark so I kept going an additional almost minute I think.  I can't believe I ran for almost a half hour staight!  I totally could have, I just decided to stick to the program and take my time working up to it.  Man, it felt great! Today is Week 8 Day 2.  Hope I can do it again.

It's been awhile since I've participated in Kelly's Korner  's Home Tours.  This week is bathrooms. First, our downstairs powder room: This is the only bathroom that we have painted so far.  It's hard to tell, but it's a silvery lavender color.  I fell in love with the color, and thought that it would go great with our purple rugs but turns out it's a bit too blue.  Oh well.  It will have to do for now. Here's the girls' bathroom: The only reason I have that shower curtain in there is because I needed something blue/green to go with towels we already had, and that was the cheapest one I could find, plus we already had (Paul's before we were married) a framed picutre with seashells, etc.  I thought about re-doing it in some kid-friendly theme, but have pretty much decided against it, simply because I don't want to have to re-do it again in a few years when they outgrow it. And now to the master: Blank wall where another sink/v...

My moms' group had a playdate today at Kidz Bounce (a place with a bunch of bouncy houses).  I was so excited because I've been wanting to take the girls there for a long time and I thought they would absolutely love it.  They came around, but it got off to a rough start. First of all, it's Veteran's Day, a school holiday, and there were at least 2 birthday parties going on, so there were TONS of kids there, mostly older.  So the girls were pretty overwhelmed, and I was having a hard time keeping track of both of them.  At one point, Olivia was inside one of the bouncy houses and Kayley was stuck on a the stairway of a big slide, trying to get back down after chickening out.  So, while I was trying to rescue her, Olivia came out of the one she was in, and was wandering around looking for us, crying.  At that point I was ready to throw in the towel and go home (and we'd only been there maybe 15 or 20 minutes), but as I was putting their shoes back on ...

I finally lost another pound the week before Halloween.  Since then, however, I'm quite certain that I've gained it back and then some, what with all the Halloween candy and cookies, etc.  Today I am making a fresh start (how many times have I said that in the last few months?  Sigh.).  When I started blogging about my weight loss efforts back in August, I thought that doing so would hold me accountable and help me be more successful.  That SO hasn't been the case!  Oh well. As for C25K , I'm still trying to finish week 7 (I should be starting week 9 today if I would have stayed on schedule).  I was so proud of myself for managing 3 25-minute runs in a row (week 6 day 3 and week 7 days 1 and 2) but when I got to week 7 day 3 I just couldn't run the whole 25 minutes.  I ran 15, walked 5, ran 5, walked 5 and ran 5.  Then I tried again a few days later and did the same thing.  So I'm still trying to finish week 7 with a full 25...

Today my moms' group had an outing to the Fire Station.  It was a slow day and there were only two firemen there, and wouldn't you know it right as the tour was about to start they got a call!  So they let us roam around while they left in an aid car and after awhile another fireman showed up to give us the official tour (and might I add this guy was the total cliche of "hot fireman".  Wow.). Anyway, the girls enjoyed seeing all the firetrucks and gear and loved getting to sit in a firetruck and an ambulance.  As usual, I couldn't get them to look at the camera and/or smile, let alone both at the same time.  They're kind of all over the place in these: Inside an ambulance A vintage firetruck They got hats and a coloring book and crayons Kayley didn't want to wear her hat but she held it up for the camera

It's been a weekend full of Halloween activities.  First, we made cookies on Friday: Then, we carved a pumpkin on Saturday: Finally, trick-or-treating on Sunday:

The girls' new bedding arrived this week. I love it, but I'm still a little torn.  I had my heart set on painting their room a purple along the lines of this: from Google Images But I had a hard time finding bedding I liked that would go.  In hindsight, I probably should have checked out Etsy (a website where people sell their own home made stuff, i.e. jewelry, kids' clothes, hair bows, dog sweaters, purses, you get the idea).  I probably could have had something made in a fabric of my choice.  But who knows how long that would have taken, and it probably would have cost more.  These were only $30 for the 4-piece set.  Anyway, I really like this bedding but it's a bit more pink and less lilac than I thought (so hard to tell on a computer screen).  And even if it were more lilac like I thought, it still wouldn't go with that shade of purple. There was another bedding set that I almost ordered instead that, turns out after seeing ...