The Nelson Narrative

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). ...

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 t...

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.

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 g...

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.

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.

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'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, W...