The Nelson Narrative

Another sunny, warm day.  Yesterday after preschool Olivia wanted to go to the park but Kayley didn't.  What's a mom to do?  So we flipped a coin.  But then they fought over who got to be tails.  So I picked a number between 1 and 10.  Kayley won, so she got to be tails but it came up heads so Olivia won the coin toss.  But Kayley still didn't want to go, so I suggested a different park that we would have to drive to and she was cool with that except she actually wanted to go to two different parks, so we did. This was gonna be a pic of just Kayley, but Olivia snuck her mug in there! Kayley refusing to smile like usual Today during preschool I went to Costco and it was SO nice to actually be able to browse through the clothes, books and toys.  Tomorrow (and Saturday) is our community garage sale and I can't wait to puruse the neighborhood, by myself.

I rarely even attempt to do anything to the girls' hair because nothing (clips, ponytails, headbands, etc.) ever stays in for more than about 2 minutes.  I'm always seeing other girls their age or younger with cute clips, ponytails, etc. that stay put just fine, but when I try anything it never works.  I think I might be able to do pony/pigtails now if I use those tiny rubber bands without any fabric (I have some that have like a terrycloth type fabric covering) so today I decided to give it another try but I couldn't find any of the non-fabric ones.  We'll see how it goes.   Olivia wanted a braid (doesn't really show in the picture) but I know it's not going to hold with just a fabric-covered pony holder. I'm going to keep experimenting and see if I can have better luck.

I don't know about the girls, but I love, love, LOVE preschool!  Ha, I'm kidding--they love it too.  But I am really loving it.  It's so nice to have those couple of hours to do whatever.  Unfortunately, I have spent 2 out of the first 3 days grocery shopping.  Last Friday, their 2nd day, we were getting ready to go out of town for the weekend and needed some stuff, then on Monday I needed to shop for the week.  Wednesday and today were better, though.  Wednesday I wanted to look at storage containers so I went to Fred Meyer, then to Target, then got gas at Costco then went to Trader Joe's (more grocery shopping, gees).  Today I would have liked to just come straight home and do some things around the house but I had to go back to Target to pick up a prescription I forgot to pick up Wednesday and also they charged me for something that was supposed to be free with the purchase of something else.  I ma...

It's finally here!  The day I've been dying for for 2 years, since the girls stopped napping.  It went really well.  Quick and easy drop-off, and, just as planned, straight to Starbucks for my first Pumpkin Spice Latte of the season.  Ran a few errands then it was time to pick up again.      

For Easter 2009, when the girls were about 14 months old give or take, they each received a white stuffed poodle in their Easter basket from my mom.  A few days or maybe weeks later, I was thinking how neither of them had a "lovie", so I handed Olivia one of those dogs.  I can't remember if I gave one to Kayley too, or if she was already starting to show affection for the blanket that would become her lovie, but in the end Olivia latched on to the dog and Kayley to the blanket, which had been a shower gift before they were born. The dog became know as "Doggie" and the blanket became "Gaga".  Kayley couldn't say "blanket" and it sounded more like "gang-ka", which eventually morphed into "gaga" (and yes, there have been plenty of references to Lady Gaga whenever we explain to others that her blanket is known as "Gaga"). Anyway, they have been attached to these items for the last 3 1/2 years, taking them eve...

Yesterday we drove up to Deception Pass to hang out with our neighbors who were camping there this weekend.  The girls had a blast playing on the beach and building driftwood forts with their friend Abby.  And since we were in the area we went and had dinner with my mom.  She no longer drives and can't ever come to us so I'm trying to get up there at least once a month.     Saturday was a nice, lowkey day.  Paul took Olivia to the farmer's market, and then I took Kayley to the outlet mall, the grocery store and the library.  We haven't done as much of that (separating them and doing things one-on-one) as we'd like, but everyone enjoys it.  They are so much better behaved when they're alone versus together.  I absolutely dread taking them to any kind of store or restaurant (other than McDonald's or somewhere with a playground) anymore, even if Paul is with us, because they act like total monsters.  But by themselves, t...