Jeylin's 100-Day Project

Yesterday was the kids' 100th day of school for the 2009-10 school year.  This usually falls during Catholic Schools Week and the kids enjoy lots of fun activities and crazy dress-up days at school.

This year, I decided to help the kids make really fun and interesting projects.  I forgot to take a picture of Jordyn's project so this is just Jeylin's post.  Jordyn gave her project to her BFF Maddie so when I get a chance, I'll have her bring it down so I can take a picture of it...she only lives next door :)

All 100-day projects need to be created using 100 of some item.  The most common project I think is fruit loop necklaces, paperclip strings and other stuff.  This year, Jeylin and I decided to use pasta...oh and not just any pasta, but big pieces of rigatoni.  And what would a 100-day project be without coloring added...well, just plain boring.  So, we colored 100 pieces of rigatoni in each of the following four colors (25 per color)...

RED

YELLOW

GREEN

BLUE

Then all of the finished pieces were strung onto an extra long piece of orange rope.  Here are two pictures of the finished project and the wonderfully elated 5 year old who was so proud of his craftiness...

Dressing Herself...Part 2

Couldn't resist posting Kierra's outfit of choice for today....

She is so going to hate me when she gets older!

Water....Water....Water....

Potty time!!!  Potty training has officially started and is in full swing at the Nielson home.  Since I am not working Fridays now due to a slow stint at work, we decided to take this weekend and start potty-training Kierra.

I had this feeling that since Kierra is quite bright and seems to figure things out on her own that this would not be very difficult.  I thought that all it would take would be a coincidental pee-ing in the potty chair and a big celebration and she would have it down.  I was about half right in that assumption.

After dropping Jordyn and Jeylin off at school on Friday, I went to see my friend Dawn's new house.  Brad worked late so he started the morning with Kierra.  Unfortunately, it didn't go so well for him.  When I came home, I jumped right into it.  I immediately took the diaper off and put her in training pants.  Luckily for me, the first accident was on the linoleum in the kitchen.  I took her to the bathroom and made sure she knew what needed to happen.  I changed her into a fresh pair of training pants and set the kitchen timer for 10 minutes before we would "try" to go again.  A whole whopping eight minutes later I hear, "Mommy, uh oh."  That's right folks...eight minutes.  Again, luck was on my side and it happened in the kitchen.  So, we repeated the previous steps only this time, I set the timer for 8 minutes and again, four minutes later...."Mommy, uh oh."  Argh!!  Really????  And then one more time with the clean underwear....I'm already starting to run out of clean underwear....yikes!

Four minutes later, I set her on the potty and we waited.  Not sure how much time had passed but she finally went and the big celebration followed from Mommy.  I'm sure she thought I looked like a fool but oh well.  This is the half of my assumption that was correct!  She now knew that when she had the "urge" she needed to go sit on the potty chair....and she continued to do just that all day long.  The half that I didn't think about nor was it correct, she hasn't quite figured out the concept of taking the undies off to go potty in the chair.

By the end of the day, we were in real big girl underwear because they proved easier for her to remove and put back on.  Her little butt was so cute in those things...I totally should have taken a picture.  There were of course more accidents throughout the day but she did get the idea down of going to the potty every time the "urge" strikes.  Now if we can just continue to work on the undressing part first.

Saturday it was the same and so far today is the same as well.  Hopefully next weekend she might get that half figured out completely.  I must say though that we are lucky to have a wonderful babysitter for Kierra throughout the days that we do work.  She will keep up the work throughout the week so we don't waste valuable time and efforts.

Basically, I just wanted to say "BRAVO Kierra!!!"  Then I wanted to point out that once she is finished with diapers, we will have our own celebration.  We have been changing diapers ever since August 2, 2001 with the exception of about 3 months between Jeylin finishing training and Kierra being born.  We are definitely looking forward to the end of the training!  By the way, if anyone has any ideas of how to teach Kierra to take the undies off before sitting on the potty, do tell because this is a new scenario for us.

Little Fashion-ista

She just loves to dress herself...

...and in true Diva style, shoes are her favs....

However, I think something might be missing from her wardrobe....we'll have to work on that :)

Costco Winter Party

Saturday the 9th was the annual Costco Christmas Winter Party. We always have a blast at these parties. It's funny sometimes because no one really knows just how crazy we all are. If there is one thing people at Costco know how to do, it is definitely PARTY!!!

This year, I vowed to go all out and enjoy myself. Usually I don't dance very much because I am always worried about my appearance. This year, I didn't care. In fact, I embraced the dancing. I was banking on the following equation....More dancing = More weight lost. That is until you throw in the absolutely fabulous Prime Rib dinner & countless adult beverages!!! Oh well, it was a fun night and I still maintained my weight loss goal for the week.

Here are some pictures from the night. The theme this year was Cowboy. LOVED IT!!!

Our Friend Shawn Balzer.  Only a REAL man could pull of the Leprechaun look that well!!!

Getting my Good Luck Kiss in before the night started

Real hubby, me, & my Costco party hubby....it's an inside joke :)

Our Boys!!!

Jenna & Shawn....Greatest Friends EVER!!

Our self picture with Jenna's camera

I'm trying to make nice with the Sheriff :)

Until Next Year.....

New Blog

I am taking a break from updating this blog...way behind too I might add...to inform all of you that I have started a secondary blog. It is a private blog set up as more of a journal for myself. I will however allow readers to join as I believe you will all give me positive feedback that will be worthwhile. If any of you are interested, just let me know and send me your email and I will add you.

I am listing this as a disclaimer though...this is a journal to document my journey for the year of 2010. The subject matter might be hard for some to handle but it is not intended to hurt any feelings...it is merely a tool I am using to reach my goals for the year.

Thanks to all who take the time to read this blog and I do promise, I will update it soon enough. I hope you all have a very blessed New Year!

The Infamous Crab Pot

In the months proceeding our Seattle trip, Brad and I made sure to watch every episode of the Travel Channel's Man vs. Food in order to find one restaurant that we could splurge on...and by golly, we definitely found it.

For those of you who have never heard of The Crab Pot, I suggest you check it out. They are most known for their feasts. These feasts include many different varieties. All the food for the feast is boiled/steamed together, thrown in a large stainless steel bowl and then dumped on the middle of the table for your eating enjoyment. Each hungry person is equipped with a wonderful plastic bib, a wooden mallet, and a wooden slab to crack the crab shells open. It's such a wonderfully fun experience. We had decided in advance to order the largest "feast" they offered and share that between the two of us and some with the kids if they wanted. We ordered “THE ALASKAN” and it was fantastic! We even managed to stay at the budget!

Here are some pictures of our experience...

Brad getting ready to "feast"

Myself preparing for the big catch

Jordyn's all geared up to start whacking some crab

Jeylin can't wait to tear those legs apart

Kierra just liked the photo op

Ready, set,.....FEAST!!

A close up of our meal....thrown across the table.

Just a goofy picture of Jeylin after dinner :)

Seattle Day 2

Day 2: Friday, August 14th

This was the busiest day of our vacation! We had so much we wanted to accomplish that we were non-stop moving all day. Busy but oh so fun! Since I am writing this post almost 4 months after the fact, I might not have as much detail for the story but I will try my best.

This day started with a very early rise from Momma! I woke up at I believe 5am so I could get my shower out of the way and get my hair done before I needed to start getting the girls ready. Since our hotel didn't offer a continental breakfast, the kids ate Capn' Crunch berries in the room....from our stash of previously purchased food. It worked out perfectly because there was no need to leave the room and we could all get ready without the disruption. Oh yeah and the in-room (or bathroom) coffee pot was a blessing too :)

We finished getting the kids ready for the day and were getting all the final items packed in the backpack for the day when I realized that I had forgotten to empty my camera's memory card before our trip! I couldn't believe it! On a 4Gb card, I had only a few pictures remaining....and the card holds over 900 pictures!!! We rushed to the nearest Wal*Mart so I could transfer the pictures to CD and here is where the day takes an ugly turn...

Since we were on a very strict schedule, we left the hotel a little early to account for this added trip. In this particular Wal*Mart, the photo center was located in the back. As I raced through the store, I remembered we also forgot to pack umbrellas. Hello dorkus!! We're in Seattle and I forgot to pack umbrellas...yep, I'm a smart one. Oh well, we're at Wal*Mart, we'll pick them up on our way out. Anyway, I go to the Photo center and notice they have 3 different computers for the processing of memory cards. Since we were early, no one else was in line. Great, I thought....wrong!! The first computer stalled and so I went to the next computer...same thing again. When I asked the "associate" for her help, she completely ignored me and told me that it would load in a short while. Five minutes later, nothing! I again tried the original computer I was on since the third was of course out of order. At this point, the wonderfully helpful and every-so courteous "associate" stated she needed to reboot the system. I figured no big deal, we'll just buy the umbrellas and wait the two minutes or so for the system to load...yeah, not so much. She said it could be 20 minutes or so!! I kept wanting to look at her and say, "LISTEN HERE LADY!!! I AM ON A STRICT SCHEDULE! COULD YOU PLEASE QUIT STARING AT YOUR PHONE AND HELP ME!!!!" but, I managed to keep "some" composure. I was very displeased. Long story short, we left without processing the pictures...oh, but we did manage to get two umbrellas...so I guess the trip was not for not.

During the trip to the Space Needle, Brad tried to calm me down as I stared at my camera screen, risking car-sickness, to delete pictures I think I could live without. We arrived at the Space Needle, found a great parking spot and were on our way! We breezed ahead of the ticket line thanks again to our City Pass Booklets and made our way to the top of the Space Needle. I had forgotten how fast and crazy the elevator ride was....it was such a rush!!! The kids really enjoyed it as well. We walked around and looked at the sites and of course, had a minor melt down from Jeylin because we weren't purchasing a full-course breakfast at the top however, we did give in and splurged for a Starbucks coffee, two waters, a yogurt and a cinnamon roll. They were all deliciously expensive but oh well, we're on vacation right?? Which reminds me, we also got souvenirs from the gift shop too. Here are a couple pictures from Trip #1 to the top of the Needle...

The Space Needle

(Sorry for the weirdness of this picture...I was taking it from inside while they were outside)

I love it when nice people offer to take your family picture...oh and you don't have to worry about them running off with your $1000 camera because really, where could they possibly go??

Next on the agenda was a stop at the Pacific Science Center where we would once again be meeting up with Sam & Amy. First on the PSC agenda was a 3-D Imax experience called Underwater or something to that effect. It was all about fish and such stuff. Highly educational and also incredibly neat to see. It was the first 3-D experience for the kids and it was hilarious to watch them try to grab the images coming at them. Kierra kept the glasses on for a short while but then eventually just sat there and watched the blurry screen without them.

After the show, we actually only met up with Sam since Amy and her family went to see the same Imax showing after us. The six of us toured the remainder of the PSC. It was so much fun to watch the looks on the kids' faces as they saw the dinosaur replicas and all the fun hands-on exhibits. They really enjoyed their time here. Here are the three of them sitting in a dinosaur footprint and a stone Triceratops at the entrance of the PSC...

Leg #3 of the busy journey took us to the Piers... but first to the Tram. We took it from the base of the Space Needle to a shopping mall a couple blogs above Pike Place Market. The kids enjoyed it so much! At the mall, we decided to stop for some lunch and once again, much to Jordyn's dismay, we had budgeted for fast food. I guess all mall food is generally fast food but in our case, we hit the McDonald's. It seemed to be processing the customer's the fastest so that was our choice. We ate and then headed to the ground level to walk the remaining distance to the Piers. We were spending the remainder of our day down there visiting the Seattle Aquarium, taking an Argosy Harbor Tour and eating at the infamous Crab Pot restaurant (to be featured in the following post). The Aquarium proved to be very interesting and fun for the kids. It was so fun to see their reactions to everything.

Can anyone say "Chocolate milkshake???" (Deuce Bigelow)

Hey look, it's Dori...a little fuzzy but still her :)

Don't "wook" at me :)

Jordyn & Jeylin posing in front of the otter pen

The scuba diving fish feeder was posing for the camera as well

A giant starfish

After the Aquarium, we headed for our Argosy Harbor tour. This was something that we had planned on leaving out of the itinerary if we had started to run behind. I am so glad however that we didn't do that because it was a very relaxing and beautiful trip. While waiting to board, we checked out a nearby t-shirt shop, purchased a couple more souvenirs and then noticed that Kierra had fallen asleep in her stroller. She managed to sleep through 1/2 of the tour too. It was very interesting to learn facts about the city of Seattle and to see things around the Harbor that we would not normally see.

Jordyn & Jeylin posing with the giant penguin at the T-shirt shop

The tour before us making it's way back to the dock

4 of the 5 of us on the cruise....Kierra was still sleeping ever-so-soundly

(and once again, where was the guy gonna go that offered to take this picture)

A view of the Space Needle

Little Miss Kierra decided to wake up and take in a bit of the scenery

Part 2...The Crab Pot to come....

Seattle Day 1

Day 1: Thursday, August 13th

After spending all of Wednesday afternoon and part of the evening packing for our trip, Bradley decided to head to bed since he would be doing ALL of the driving for the next four days. I stayed up until midnight loading the car and tidying up the house. Once my short 4 hours of sleep were over, we woke at 4:00am and loaded the rest of the stuff that could not be done the night before...i.e. cooler full of snacks, toiletries, oh yeah, and the kids :) Then we were on the road by 5am.

We had made it 5 miles or so, just approaching Chief Timothy, when Brad's mom called us and asked if we would like to take her GPS with us to make our traveling in Seattle go a little smoother. "Heck YES!" we say! So, we turned around and met her halfway back to pick it up. While on the way back, I realized that I had left our itinerary somewhere in the house...oh crap, how would I make it through without a plan?? Luckily, Maria (Brad's mom) was watching the cat while we were gone so she said she would call me that night and read the plan over the phone...yippee! Okay, so I know all of you reading this are thinking..."oh my word, she even plans her vacations???" And all I have to say to that is, "why yes I do ladies and gentlemen"....because we had a lot to do and see, only 4 days to do it in (including 12 hours of drive time), three kids to think about AND a very, very tight budget. I planned our schedule so that, according to all the websites, we would visit the well known places of Seattle during the least busy parts of the day and so that we wouldn't accidentally miss out on something we wanted to see because we weren't sure when they opened and/or closed.

So anyway, by 5:30 we were on our way. We decided to go through Dayton and then hit 124 and go thru the Tri-Cities. This way is I think only slightly longer but a much less boring trip since there are so many small towns along the way...it really feels like we are traveling faster. We stopped in Yakima for breakfast at 8:00 or so. Since Jordyn despises McDonald's for breakfast and we had only allotted enough money for fast food dining we opted for Burger King. Apparently, that isn't much better than McDonald's. So, my little girl ate chicken nuggets and french fries for breakfast...it was great. After breakfast, we were on the home stretch.

We weren't heading into Seattle for the first day since we were staying in Renton and had stuff to do out there. We met Brad's brother Sam and his wife Amy at the Southcenter Mall in Tukwila...and we made it in record time, we arrived at 11:00!!!! For those that aren't counting, we turned a 6 hour drive into a 5 1/2 hour drive AND we stopped for breakfast! It was a great start to the trip...even though Kierra was incredibly tired of her car seat by the time we were ready to leave Yakima.

We walked around the mall for a couple hours and let the kids release some energy. Then, we headed for the Museum of Flight. For anyone considering a family vacation to the Emerald City, I highly recommend purchasing the City Pass Booklets. These booklets let our family of 5 into the main attractions in the Seattle area for 46% off the admission prices you would pay at the gate. Plus, they offer immediate entry and no waiting in line to buy tickets!!! We cashed in our E-tickets at the counter, got our wrist bands and headed for the museum. The kids were in awe! Since we really didn't have much of our itinerary based on this day, we could take our time...that was until we were told that the Concord and Air Force One planes that you can tour would be closing in 90 minutes. We headed straight for those exhibits. The Concorde line was well, non-existent....the line for Air Force One...HUGE! They were only allowing four people on at once and we were a group of 7. Luckily for us, the ticket checker had a soft spot for families and let us all on together. After touring the planes, traveling through the museum, buying our first souvenirs at the gift shop...with a wonderful 10% off coupon courtesy of the City Pass Booklets, we were finally on our way to the hotel.

We stayed at the Holiday Inn in Renton. It was a nice hotel with a pool and not too far away from everything we wanted to see...plus, we got a KILLER deal on the room....only $40/night!!! We had Taco Bell for dinner because the kids didn't want to try anything new and then we settled in to get some rest for the next busy day on our trip.

Here are some wonderful pictures of Day One

The Museum of Flight

Kierra the Astronaut

Jordyn the Astronaut

Jeylin the Astronaut

Jordyn & Jeylin posing in front of a Blue Angels fighter jet

Jordyn "Flying Stallion" Nielson all clear for take off!

Jeylin "Ace" Nielson gives a thumbs up! He's ready to take to the skies.

Air Force One from days gone by

Jordyn's 8th Birthday

This year, our beautiful baby girl turned 8 years old. Since she shares a birthday with one of her classmates, we decided to do a joint-party...you know, since they invite the same kids anyway. We celebrated at Claire's house since they have a pool and had an awesome Hannah Montana Pool Party. Music played in the background, kids splashed and sang and danced, ice cream cake was served, presents were opened AND, we also enjoyed a wonderful Sudsy-foam event too.

This is Makayla, one of Claire and Jordyn's classmates....she's such a goofball ;)

And of course Jeylin had to take part in the fun

All the guests!!!

He's such a Ham!

And here is the source of all that foam. A giant garbage can filled with water and loads of bubble bath with an air compresser hose tucked in for the air factor. It was so hilarious to see the kids race for the foam and just slip and slide all over the tarp. Then, just rinse and repeat for the perfect bath time =)

Kierra loved the pool

Daddy & Kierra