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Showing posts from 2011

New Year's Resolutions

I went to look at last year's resolutions to do a re-cap and for once I never made any.  Excpet to lose weight.  That's a given every year.  Here's my resolutions for 2012: Lose 20 pounds Get more organized Get the girls on an earlier going to bed/waking up schedule Use more coupons/try to save more on groceries by meal planning around sales, etc./spend less in general Call my dad more and send him more pictures (sorry, Dad!) I also have a list of projects I/we plan/hope to get done in 2012: Replace the girls' toddler beds with twins, paint and redecorate their room. Hang curtains in our dining room and bedroom (we've been in our house 4 years and still haven't done that!) Purge/de-clutter/reorganize the entire house and garage.  Did a bunch of that today and it felt great. Finish putting photos in albums and/or scrapbook (I've had piles of photos just hanging around in envelopes or boxes for years and I finally started but didn't finish).

Christmas

Our Christmas celebration started on Christmas Eve morning.  We let the girls open a few gifts from us so we'd have less to haul down to the in-laws.  Then after breakfast we headed down and got there around 1:00 PM.  We had lunch and then went for a short walk.  Then we changed clothes/got the girls in their Christmas dresses and went to their church's Christmas Eve service, then home for dinner, presents and dessert with their good friend and her daughter.  We finally got the girls to sleep around 10:00 I think, and they slept until 8:30ish on Christmas morning. We had brought their stockings with us, since Santa wouldn't have been to our house yet before we left home, so we did stockings and Santa presents first, then had breakfast (eggnog french toast-yum!) and then the marathon present opening began.  Paul's parents (well, mom) really goes overboard with gifts.  The girls were actually tired of opening and losing interest toward the end.  But, they got some reall

Follow Up

I let the girls sleep until 9:00 this morning, figuring they needed it since Kayley was up so late and Olivia's sleep kept getting interrupted (I do think about giving them separate rooms from time to time but most of the time there's no issue).  I thought we'd have no problem getting them to bed at their normal 9:00ish, but then Kayley fell asleep around 5:00.  We didn't let her sleep long, though, because we were trying to have an early dinner so we could go to Snowflake Lane.  On the way back, Olivia fell asleep in the car.  Now they are both wide awake at 9:46.  Sigh.  They should be back to normal in a day or two.

Frustrated

The girls keep sleeping until 9:00 or 9:15 and I keep letting them because I like to sleep in, too, because I stay up kinda late (11:00, 11:30) because I like to read or watch TV or play on the computer for awhile after everyone else goes to bed.  So this last week I've been getting up later than normal most days, like between 8:30 and 9:00 (one morning it was 9:20!  What mom of small kids, stay-at-home or otherwise, can ever do that?).  But then instead of getting the girls up then and there I like to get on the computer for awhile, so I let them sleep.  Then they sometimes don't go to bed until 9:30 or later, which is why I have to stay up until at least 11:00 or 11:30 to have my alone time so then I'm unable to get up early enough to get them up earlier.  It's a horrible cycle. Today they got up at about 9:15.  Surpringly, Olivia told me at 7:05 that she wanted to go to bed, but then she wanted to take a bath first so she ended up going to bed at 8:30.  Kayley on t

First Christmas Program

There they are-front and center in the green dresses The girls sang in their very first Christmas program at church last night.  They did so good!  I really wasn't sure what to expect--I thought maybe they'd get up there and freeze, just staring out at the audience and not singing a note.  But they sang the whole time and did the hand motions and everything.  I was so proud. I took some video with just our camera (we don't have a camcorder) and had a little trouble zooming and holding it steady but at least I got something.  Most of the pictures I took didn't turn out because I had the wrong setting-grrrrr.  I swore I checked.  But we did do a photo shoot before we left.

Christmas Kick-off

We are officially in full-on Christmas mode.  Yesterday was our annual trek to the tree farm for our Christmas tree.  The girls were really into this year and did a great job helping us pick the perfect tree. This is it! Enjoying  a post-tree hunt oreo We spent the whole afternoon decorating it and the house, then at 5:30 we headed to our town's annual Tree Lighting and Santa arrival.  We had a carriage ride, some cookies, warm apple cider and hot chocolate, and the girls got to sit on Santa's lap for a picture.  Last year Kayley was too scared but this year was no problem. Window clings Photo op with Rudolph On a carriage ride Tonight we tried to get some pictures of the girls with the cats.

Favorite Christmas Movies

Wow, I can't believe it's December already.  Today's Fabulous Holiday Blog Challenge topic is favorite Christmas movies/specials, and now I'm totally in the mood to start watching them all, and I'm also going to try to find a bunch I've never seen on TV and watch those, too. My all time favorite is Charlie Brown.  Every year my mom would make popcorn and my brother and I would curl up with our favorite pillows/blankets and watch.  And I love that they still play it on TV in this day and age of political correctness even though (gasp!) it mentions the birth of Christ as the real meaning of Christmas.  I'm surprised it hasn't been banned from network television. Anyway, I have a couple favorites that most people probably don't think of as Christmas movies, but hey, they take place at Christmastime. And then there's Christmas Vacation that we watch every Thanksgiving weekend, and one of my latest favorites, Elf. Of course, I love all t

Let's Play A-Z

I'm a sucker for stupid games like this.  I did this one on Facebook a few years ago and found it again to at And Then There Were Four , who found it at Faith, Hope & a Whole Lotta Love .  Feel free to play along. A. Age: 42 B. Bed size: Queen C. Chore that you hate:  Folding/putting away laundry D. Dogs:  Love them and hope to get one some day, but cats are so much easier if you ever spend a night or two away from home, so right now we have 2 kittens. E. Essential start to your day: Coffee! F. Favorite color: Purple G. Gold or Silver:  Silver H. Height:  5-2 1/2".  I've shrunk 1/2" in the last few years :( I. Instruments you play:  Make that "played":  Trumpet and Piano.  I can still read music, barely, and try to play stuff on an electronic keyboard but it's really hard. J. Job title:  Mom K. Kids: Twin 3-year-old girls, Olivia and Kayley L. Live:  Near Seattle, WA M. Mother’s name:  Barbara N. Nicknames:  None O. Over

Children's Museum

I stumbled upon free passes to the KidsQuest Children's Museum through our local library-score!  I've been wanting to take them there forever so I was thrilled to get free passes.  We went today and the girls really enjoyed it.  They only had certain days available, though, all weekdays, so Paul couldn't go with us.  But since it was for 4 people I was able to have a friend who is currently unemployed join us, but she couldn't stay long. Anyway, the big hits were the scarf shooter, water tables and this machine with gears and levers to manipulate balls through various chutes and holes.  Totally fun. We made polar bear claws   Playing with a boy at the scarf shooter Letting the machine blow the ball in the air Puppet show Colorful magnetic shapes Riding Clifford in the mall

Holiday Traditions

Today I'm joining Amber and Neely's Fabulous Holiday Blog Challenge where the topic is Favorite Holiday Traditions.  Paul and I have enjoyed creating several Christmas traditions since we got married.  First, we always watch Christmas Vacation sometime during the Thanksgiving weekend.  Next, all 4 of us go to a local tree farm to select, cut down and purchase our Christmas Tree (aptly refered to as the Nelson Family Christmas Tree).  We used to do this the Friday after Thanksgiving, but in the last few years we've waited until the first weekend in December.  We spend most of the day the first Saturday in December getting our tree, putting it up and decorating it.  We also put up our outside lights that weekend. Last year we took the girls to see Santa for the first time, and that will become an annual tradition.  Finally, we always take a drive around the neighborhood one evening to look at all the lights.  And, of course, it wouldn't be the Christmas season

Thanksgiving Weekend

I can't believe Thanksgiving weekend is over.  Those 4 days just flew by!  We went to my brother's house up in Mount Vernon for Thanksgiving and had a great time visiting my family.  The girls got to play with their 2nd cousins (whose mother is my niece/their 1st cousin) which is so fun for them. Friday we took them to their very first movie, The Muppets. They did pretty good, but not quite as good as I expected, considering that at home they would watch TV all day long if I let them and certainly never have an issue with sitting through an entire kids' movie.  I think if it had been an animated Disney/Pixar film they would have done just great, but they really don't "know" the Muppets so they liked 'em for awhile but got kind of bored toward the end.  I loved it. I grew up with and loved the Muppets so it had sentimental value for me.  Anyway, they liked it well enough and really enjoyed the whole experience of being in a theater and having popcorn

Bedtime

I don't know what it is about evenings, but every night in the hours between dinner and bedtime the girls morph into something akin to this:  

Playdates

We don't do a ton of playdates.  We might do one or two a month with my mom's group, and every once in awhile I might get together with another mom somewhere.  Other than that it's just storytime at the library, sunday school, the park, etc.  But lately we suddenly have a bunch of playdates on the calendar. Last Tuesday we had one with the mom's group to make Thanksgiving crafts.  I still maintain that glitter glue and 3-year-olds are not a good combination but at least it washes off easily :).  We (I helped) made some cute foam turkeys.  They love doing crafts and I'm sure we'll be doing tons more for Christmas. How cute are these? Mommy accidently put the feathers on the wrong side on the one on the left.  My bad. Stickers and glitter glue = hours of fun Friday we had a playdate at our house with another set of twins.  Boy/girl twins that are 2 1/2.  I met the mom through another friend.  That was really fun.  The girls rarely have friends over

Preschool Hunting

We are in the throes of searching for a preschool for the girls.  I thought I had it narrowed down but then I found a few more to check out and just today I got a flier in the mail for a brand new one just down the road, like literally 2 minutes away at a church we briefly attended when we first moved here.  I really want to find out more about that one, and hope maybe they're a little less expensive, but probably not.  They also have classes starting in January, so maybe I won't have to wait until September to get a few hours to myself a few days a week!  Not that I'm counting down or anything.  Besides, we maybe would wait until September anyway just to save money.  Anyway, I've been busy calling and emailing and we're hoping to make a decision soon so that we can get on a waiting list if need be.  Preschool already (well, not already.  Most kids their age started this year).  What happened to my babies?

Halloween Night

The girls were so excited to go trick-or-treating last night.  They barely ate any dinner.  Our friend Jerri came over to help give out candy so we could both take them around the neighborhood, which was great, because usually I stay behind to give out candy and only daddy gets to take them. A fairy and a mermaid Olivia did NOT want to pose for a picture

Meet the Kitties!

Last Saturday we finally made it to the shelter after talking about it for weeks and came home with two adorable kittens. Cleo Maisy How cute is this? I love animals and never thought I'd be petless for this long (it's been about 4 1/2 years since our last cat died), but then the girls came along and the last thing we needed was yet another demanding creature living among us.  But now that they're older we figured it was about time.  Although, in hindsight, having witnessed these poor kitties being picked up by the neck, chased and smothered (not literally, but with pets and cuddles) it might have been better to wait another year or two, but actually the cats are pretty tolerant and handling it quite well (meanwhile, we're coaching the girls on how to handle them and what not to do).  It's really fun to have cats again.

My Issues with Couponing

Kelly's Show Us Your Life topic today is couponing.  Since becoming a stay-at-home mom I've tried to explore the world of couponing a few different times, but have given up on it.  I have two main issues. 1.  I have found that most coupons are for items that I don't need/want.  Things like Hamburger Helper or canned veggies.  No thanks. 2.  Coupon items that I actually need, like paper towels or cleaning supplies for instance, are still more expensive than the store brand, so I just buy the store brand instead. I've also had bad experiences with coupon websites.  I've tried them a few different times and have always had to download software or a special application to my computer, and then I've had trouble trying to print the coupons.  The first time I tried it I couldn't get any of the coupons to actually print, and the second time I finally got one out of several to print, after much effort.  So I've given up on those websites. I do find store

A Windy Day at the Park

So last week and the week before the girls were fighting colds and we didn't get out much.  Then after being gone most of the weekend, I spent most of Monday catching up on housework and laundry, although we did get outside to ride bikes for awhile.  So by yesterday I was desperate to get out for some fun stuff, and the weather was supposed to be great, so I made plans to go to a new park (not new but one we'd never been to), see the trains (there's a railroad museum in our town and a bunch of old trains along the highway with a walking path along the tracks), and run an errand or two.  I almost scrapped those plans when it also turned out to be very windy (I despise wind), but finally decided what the heck.  So to the park we went where I endured the super annoying wind and on the way back, we stopped to look at the trains, which I've been talking about doing all summer.  Now I can finally cross that off my list. Mount Si   Someone was flying a k