The Nelson Narrative

What a busy day.  The girls got up at 6:30, which is early for them.  They were all excited about their Easter baskets. They got Hello Kitty stickers, a Barbie DVD, a Winx Club doll (Kayley) and a Winx Club accessories pack (Olivia), a tee shirt, Lego Friends (wouldn't fit so I stuck them underneath the baskets which worked out fine once I wrapped them in celophane) and miscellaneous candy.   I made waffles for breakfast, then it was off to church.  After church we headed up to my brother and sister-in-law's for Easter dinner but had to stop at a store first because I had forgotten the candied walnuts for my salad and we needed sunscreen for the girls.  I wasn't able to find candied walnuts so we had to do without. After fighting some heavy traffic we finally made it to my brother's, had dinner and then the girls and their 2nd cousins had an egg hunt.     The girls with 2nd cousin, Taylor.  We forgot their baskets ...

I'm linking up with Kelly's Korner again today for Show Us Your Life - Date Ideas. I love date nights.  Unfortunatley, we rarely have them now that we have small children because we just can't afford to go out and pay a babysitter on top of it.  On the rare occasion that we do go out, it's because we were able to get grandma and grandpa or some friends to babysit.  But tomorrow night we are going out to celebrate Paul's birthday and for the first time ever since the girls were born we have hired a babysitter.  That's right, in the 5 years since the girls were born we have NEVER hired a babysitter.  We've only had grandparents or friends watch them on occasion.  I'm so excited!  We are hoping to start going out more, whether we hire a babysitter or just trade off with friends or whatever, now that we have refinanced our house and will no longer be paying for preschool here in a few more months.  So here are some of the ideas ...

I'm linking up with Kelly's Korner today for the topic "The Joy of Playing with Our Kids".  I've always considered myself to be a big kid at heart.  I've always loved to play with toys, and I remember thinking how I couldn't wait to have children so I'd have an excuse to play.  I've always loved to color, play with play-doh and do puzzles, and even long before I was married and had children I would sometimes keep that stuff on hand "for when my friends with kids came over".  Truth is, sometimes I would break out the crayons or play-doh with nary a child in sight. When the girls were born, I couldn't wait for them to be old enough to play with toys, then I couldn't wait for them to be old enough to color and play with Play-doh, then I couldn't wait for them to be 3 so they could play with all those 3+ toys like Barbies, Polly Pockets, etc. I love playing with them with their toys, or playing games, doing puzzles, coloring, ...

Today we had our 6th birthday party in 5 weekends.  This one was for their 2nd cousin Taylor and it was at Jungle Playland in Mount Vernon.  The girls had SO much fun.  It a big play place with climbing structures/tunnels/slides, a ball pit, and some video games and ride-on toys (the kind you put a quarter (or token) in) all decorated in a jungle theme. Olivia and the birthday girl fighting for position Kayley on a lion Cupcakes in the party room While we were up there we stopped and visited my mom, who was recently moved into an Alzheimer's care place, and then we visitied one of my best childhood friends that I hadn't seen in about a year.  She lives right across the street from the elementary school we both attended, so we took the girls over there to play on the playground.  It was so good to see her again and catch up.

Almost every time I comb the girls' hair, they SCREAM and cry in pain.  I feel SO bad, but there is nothing I can do.  I try to be as gentle as I can, but they still scream and cry.  I've tried detangling spray and it doesn't help AT ALL.  I get SO sick of listening to them scream every time, but what am I going to do?  I can't just leave their hair all tangled.  I suppose I could cut it super short, but I can't stand the look, and they don't want it that way either.  ONE DAY, one GLORIOUS day that seems eons and eons from now, they will FINALLY be able to comb their own hair and/or it won't hurt so gosh darn much.  They kind of can now, but they can't get out all the tangles.  I'm so frustrated and fed up.  It is literal torture for all of us.

The girls had their 5 year well check a week ago and I just remembered this morning that I never posted their stats and I don't really have them recorded anywhere else so I better do it before I forget. Olivia was 41 1/4" (25%) and 33.4 pounds (25%). Kayley was 42" (50%) and 39 pounds (25%). They didn't need any shots (yay!) and won't, other than flu, until they are 11.  They did have their vision checked this time and Kayley was 20/30 and Olivia was 20/40.  The doctor said that's acceptable but I wonder if she'll need glasses in the near future?  I guess if it gets worse, but maybe it won't.  Who knows. They also had their hearing checked, and they had to pee in a cup.  I thought it was going to be really hard to get their samples but it wasn't.  They just sat down and I positioned the cup and they started to pee and per instructions I let some go into the toilet first and then collected some.  It was easy. Now they don't go back fo...

Well, we didn't get hardly any snow all winter, and now that spring is officially here, a blizzard rolls in.  OK, totally NOT a blizzard, but still more snow than we got all winter.  When we got up this morning there was just a dusting, then while we were getting ready for school it really started coming down and sticking.  I kept checking the school district's website and school was still on (their preschool follows the SD calendar).  I debated whether or not to even bother, considering the last time it did this I got them to school ok but could not get home because the road back home was closed and when I tried to go another route it was blocked by a stalled bus and when I tried yet a different route I realized that by the time I got home I would just have to leave again so I ended up hanging out at the outlet mall until it was time to go pick them up.  I decided to just go to the main road and see how it went, if it'd been plowed and what-not, but after turni...

  On the first of the month, I started a 20-day challenge to do 10 minutes of fitness per day.  I did really well up until last week sometime and then I got consumed with the consignment sale plus the girls had TWO birthday parties in a row last weekend (#s 4 and 5 in 4 weekends with #6 this weekend) and had several days where I didn't get my 10 minutes in, but up until then I had several days where I did way more than 10 so I figure it all evened out.  Today is day 19 and I haven't done anything yet, but yesterday I did 40 minutes on the treadmill at the gym (I was shooting for 45 but I had to pee!) and tomorrow I plan to go to the gym again.  Meanwhile, I'll try to get some Wii in tonight and/or maybe some abs. I was down 4 pounds as of last Friday (not because of 10 min per day, obviously, but mostly just by watching what I ate) but have since succombed to my weakness for anything Cadbury, so I'm sure I've gained some or all of it back.  Sigh.

Every now and then I like to do a "day in the life" post so I can look back and remember what our days were like at certain ages and stages. I've been meaning to do one ever since the girls started preschool last fall but just haven't got around to it yet.  Yesterday was a typical preschool day so I'll go with that, and sometime soon I'll do a non-preschool day. My alarm went off at 7:30, but I hit snooze and lounged in bed with the cats.  At 7:45ish Olivia came and got in bed with me.  We snuggled for a bit and then got up.  I was planning to go to the gym later so I didn't bother with a shower, but I did put on real clothes and a tiny bit of makeup.  Meanwhile, Kayley got up. At 8:00 we went downstairs for breakfast.  After serving them and cleaning up, they got dressed and we left for school without them brushing teeth or combing their hair because we ran out of time.  Oops. After dropping them off at 9:30, I went to the b...

We have had, like, the laziest Sunday ever since they were born, I think.  We skipped church to catch up on stuff (and to sleep in due to DST).  I've done some cleaning and organizing but mostly we've just played and I even got some reading and a short nap in while the girls watched the latest Barbie movie on TV.  It's 4:30 in the afternoon and Olivia is still in her pajamas, which I think is a first.  There have been many times where they've still been in the pajamas until noon-ish, but never this late.  Whatever.  We're not going anywhere. We had another birthday party last night.  Just to recap:  The girls' party was two weeks ago.  They went to a party last weekend for a preschool friend, then last night was a party for their 2nd cousin.  Next weekend we have TWO parties, one Saturday and one Sunday, both for preschool friends.  We're going broke.  It's a good thing there are only 5 other kids (not counting them...

Today I registered the girls for kindergarten!  I can't believe they are this old already.  We will go back on May 31st for orientation, where they will meet their teacher and see their classroom, and then we go in August for transportaion orientation where they will learn their bus schedule and get to sit in  (and maybe ride?  Not sure) a school bus.  Exciting!  I'm not all sad and sentimental yet, but I think I will be on their first day.  Right now I'm just excited to have FOUR hours to myself FIVE days a week, vs. only a little over two hours three days a week. As for my 20 day challenge, I did about 14 minutes of yoga on Sunday and yesterday I rode scooters with Kayley (Olivia was at a friend's house) for at least 30 minutes plus I walked/jogged to the park and back (they rode scooters) and jumped up and down a lot while there to stay warm.  I haven't been able to go to the gym so far this week because Paul is working in a differ...

Today was the 2nd of 4 birthday parties in a row.  The girls' best friend from preschool was born on the same day as them and her party was today at the Issaquah Fish Hatchery.  It was really fun.  The girls got to feed some fish and paint a fish (they literally put paint on a dead fish then covered it with paper to make the image of a fish). The girls with the birthday girl Getting ready to feed the fish fish painting   Unicorn cake M & Ms in all the colors of the rainbow   This is from google images, but they had a similar rainbow fruit platter with Strawberries, Canteloupe, pineapple, kiwi, blueberries and purple grapes, with bowls of yogurt covered pretzels at the ends.  And today is day 2 of my 20 day challenge.  I did 18 minutes of various Wii Fit stuff this morning, and I'm going to try and do some yoga later.

I always love the first day of March because it means that it's almost spring (or, around here, only 4 more months 'til summer) and it's always a good time to renew my commitment to any New Year's resolutions that have fallen by the wayside now that Valentine's Day (chocolate) and the girls' birthday (cake, meals out) are over and done with.  I didn't even bother with a New Year's resolution post this year but I still made my annual resolution to lose weight and just like the previous few years I have been doing horribly so far.  I recommited to diet and exercise the week before the girls' birthday and was doing great, but ever since their party I've been doing horribly again.  Now that we're finally done with all the various celebrations and all the leftover cake is gone, I was all geared up for a fresh start today when, lo and behold, I saw a 20 Day Challenge from Sparkpeople in my facebook newsfeed.  So I dec...