The Nelson Narrative

2013 was a great year, complete with a few big milestones for the girls. In February they turned 5.  For the first time we had a party with just their friends, now that they are old enough to care and we can't fit all of our family plus their friends and their parents in our house and can't afford to have it elsewhere (like Kidz Bounce or someplace). In June they graduated from preschool and in July we had a fun family vacation to Lake Coeur D'Alene and Silverwood Theme Park.  Of course, there were also multiple trips to Crescent Bar where the girls were able to hone their swimming skills. September marked the start of a whole new era--elementary school.  They started Kindergarten!  I can remember thinking back when they were babies how far away September of 2013 seemed and now it has come and gone! We dealt with strep throat and head lice.  Good times. Christmas 2013 2014 should be another big year.  We will take our firs...

This year we spent Christmas with Paul's parents and sister.  She recently moved to Colorado but made the trip up for Christmas.  We went to his parents' house Christmas Eve and had dinner and a gift exchange with their good friends Janet and Christie, a mother and daughter.  After they left, it was time for the girls to go to bed but they were SO excited about Santa coming that they didn't fall asleep until almost 10:30.  When they were finally asleep, we put out their Santa gifts and went to bed ourselves. Christmas morning they found their Santa presents under the tree.  Kayley got the Lego Friends cruise ship, and Olivia got a skateboard.  They were so excited--just what they had asked for. After breakfast we opened the rest of the presents, and later had a big turkey dinner.  Paul and I came home but the girls stayed there until Friday, when we all met up at another relative's house to see a cousin who had come up from California. ...

Yesterday was the last day of school for the girls.  We had a little snow, the first snow of the season, so when we got home they of course had to go play in it and it totally reminded me of the Frosty cartoon at the beginning when the kids get out of school for Christmas vacation and of course there's lots of snow, because in the movies/TV there is always snow around Christmas. Then last night we were setting up to have a family sleepover in the living room by the Christmas tree and I got to thinking that it is all almost over.  Last weekend we had our Sunday School class's Christmas party on Saturday and the girls' singing program at church on Sunday, then their school party was yesterday.  The only thing left is Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in a mere few days and then it'll all be over.  I'm always a little sad when it's over but I'm also always excited to make a fresh start at the new year. Anyway, I've been really bad about blogging bu...

So, I had never even heard of Elf on the Shelf until last year, or maybe the year before.  Last year, all the girls' friends had one and they were always telling me stories about what their friends' elves were doing or how so-and-so touched their elf and it lost its magic, etc.  They wondered why we didn't have one.  I saw them in the store and thought about getting one but they were $30 (with the book).  I told them that Santa must've already known they were really good so he didn't need to send an elf to spy on them. This year I found an elf at Costco for only $11.99 (or something).  It didn't come with the book, just a daily activity calendar.  I knew they'd love it and sure enough, they were SO excited to find an elf in our house the Saturday after Thanksgiving.  We named him Roger (Paul's middle name and my grandpa's name). The girls love searching for elf first thing every morning.  And so far I've managed not to...

We had a great Thanksgiving.  We hosted this year, which was only our 2nd time doing so and the first time we only had 6 or 7 people (can't remember if Paul's sister's boyfriend-at-the-time was there) besides the girls, who were only 9 months old.  This time it was 9 adults and the girls. Yesterday I baked two pumpkin pies and made a sweet potato casserole (prepared it but didn't bake it) and last night Paul and I got the tables all set up.  We had to rotate our table 90 degrees, extend it and then put a card table at the end in order to accommodate everyone.  Then we brought the girls' table down from upstairs and set that up off to the side. This morning we got up at 6:30 to make the stuffing and get the turkey ready and got that in the oven at 7:30.  My side of the family likes to eat pretty early, like 1:00, especially this year since they all had an hour and a half drive home.  After the turkey was in the oven I just showered and got ready. ma...

Our Halloween started with a "Harvest" Party at school yesterday.  Parents were welcome so I went.  They did crafts, had Halloween-themed snacks and played some games.  It was fun.  Paul's parents came over for dinner and then they stayed at our house to give out candy while both Paul and I took the girls out trick-or-treating with a bunch of neighbors.  Usually I stay home to give out candy while Paul takes them, so it was fun to get in on the action this year.  We went to all the houses in our immediate vicinity and then drove up the street to another friend's house to see them and enjoy a super yummy pumpkin spice martini.  They didn't have school today so we didn't have to worry about getting them to bed on time, which was nice.   Carving pumpkins last weekend They both wanted to be the same thing they were last year (cheetah for Kayley and Winx Club fairy for Olivia), so I didn't have...

So people have been asking me what I've been doing with all my free time now that the girls are in Kindergarten.  I have to say, the 4 hours just flies by, just like I knew it would.  I'll use last week as an example of a typical week. Monday I just cleaned and did laundry pretty much the entire time they were gone.  Tuesday I volunteered at school with health screenings.  Specifically, hearing tests.  Remember in grade school when you'd put on some special headphones and have to raise you hand when you heard a tone?  I got to operate the little machine and mark the students with a pass/fail. Wednesday I did a DVD workout, then went to Trader Joe's, and Thursday I went to the gym.  By the time I got home and showered I had about an hour to just check email/FB, etc. Friday was my "long" day, where they were gone until 2:00 instead of only 12:35 (they only go to school every other Friday - their school has early dismissal every Friday so the AM and...

We made our annual trek to the pumpkin patch last weekend.  We were going up to MV anyway to visit my mom, and a good friend of mine happens to work at a pumpkin farm there every October so we knocked out both of those in one visit, plus we got to see my niece's new house and visit my dad and stepmom before they head south for the winter.  It was a busy and fun day.  Then yesterday the girls had a field trip to another pumpkin patch, so they've definitely had their fill of pumpkins for the season.