The Nelson Narrative

I don't know about the girls, but 1st grade is wiping me out!  I get home from work between 6:15 and 6:30.  Dinner is usually waiting for me (I feel like a husband in the 50s) and Paul and the girls have usually just finished.  Sometimes they wait for me, but that's pretty late for the girls to eat so it doesn't bother me if they eat earlier.  After I/we eat I clean up, and by then it's about 7:30.   The next hour is just a whirlwind of getting things ready for the next day and helping the girls with their homework.  Sometimes they've already done it by the time I get home, but even then they still have 20 minutes of reading every night and lately it seems there is always some project or another that we have to help them with.  I feel like I'M back in school and it's killing me.  I long to be able to just come home from work and chill and not have to spend the next 2+ hours cleaning and doing homework.  So different from when I...

The girls turned 7 on February 28th.  We had their party at Mudhouse Pottery Painting.  It was really fun.  This was the first party that wasn't just at our house, so it was really easy.  I ordered a cake from someone I found on Facebook (that I later found out is the mom of a girl they know from school) and we just brought some pizzas, fruit, juice boxes and our paper products.   They had the table all set up with painting supplies and each girl got to choose which figurine to paint.  They all had a great time and Kayley and Olivia got a neat plate signed by all their friends.   Kayley in the middle Olivia 2nd from left The cake I found some zebra print gift bags at the party supply store to match the zebra-striped cake    

(I actually published this on March 17th, but it says March 2nd because that the day I started it and saved a draft, I guess.)   Once again the month is half over before I've managed to get this posted, but here it is. As with January, I did horrible again with my February goals.  I managed to exercise 3 times (not counting the occasional set of crunches or pushups or climbing the stairs at work), but that is the only goal I met.  So on to March (and I'm blogging from my phone and can't figure out how to do bullet points):   Lose 4 pounds. Read 2 books. Exercise 6 times. Start watching House of Cards on Netflix. Have a date night (actually planning a daytime date for Paul's birthday on the 28th). Have smoother, calmer, less hectic mornings by doing more prep the night before and getting up a tad earlier.   I will say I am not off to a good start on most of these, but there's still time to redeem myself.

The girls have never been into dolls (other than Barbie and Monster High).  Ever.  One day about 4 years ago I got an American Girl doll catalog in the mail, flipped through it, saw the prices and thought to myself, "good thing they're not into dolls!". Fast forward a few years, and all of their friends started getting American Girl dolls and suddenly they wanted one too, of course!  So we thought about having them ask Santa for one last Christmas but decided it would be better if we actually took them to the store and let them pick one out, so instead of getting one for Christmas, we held off until their birthday, which is next Saturday.  But since their birthday party is that day, we went to the AG store today.  Paul's mom came with us and we met my dad and stepmom there, so it was a family affair. Kayley got the Girl of the Year, Grace Thomas.  My dad and stepmom bought her the matching outfit, and some other clothes and accessories. ...

A little late, but here are my goals for February: Lose 4.6 pounds Read 1.75 books (finish one I started in January and read one more) Make it to the gym (or walk/run outside) 3 times (3 times in a whole month is pathetic but it's just SO hard to find time these days) I sucked at my January goals, so maybe February will be better.

There just is no such thing as a nice, relaxing weekend anymore. Obviously, with kids they were few and far between anyway, but now that I'm working every weekend is jam-packed with errands, cleaning and cooking.  And at the end of every weekend there is a super long list of things I meant to do but just never found time.  We joined the Y about 3 weeks ago and I have yet to go work out.  I keep meaning to do a weekly meal plan every Sunday (or Saturday) but always run out of time.  We desperately need a new mattress but can't find time to shop for one, and the list goes on and on.  Then there's the girls' birthday party coming up on the 28th, and several family birthdays in March, plus a few stints selling Girl Scout cookies at a grocery store and so on.  And the girls aren't even in soccer or softball or anything involving weekend games/practices (they have gymnastics on Monday nights).  I can't imagine what weekends would be ...

One thing I really want to start doing more consistently this year is set monthly goals.  I set some for January but haven't gotten around to posting them yet (surprise, surprise) so here they are: Lose 5 pounds.  I had already lost 6.2 as of last Friday but I gained a little back this last week, with all the football parties (the Seahawks are headed back to the Superbowl!) and what-not.  As of right now I'm at the 5 pound mark (well, 4.8), so I just have to not gain any more back before the 1st. Exercise 3 times per week.  I have not done this.  I get up at 6:00, get myself ready, get the girls ready for school, go to work, get home at 6:30, eat dinner, clean up dinner, read with the girls (they have to read/be read to 20 minutes every night), get them ready for bed and put them to bed and by then it's 8:30.  I really don't want to work out that late and then have to go immediately to bed after.  But I need to either start using the g...