A friend emailed this to me and so I thought I would share...it is stinking cute and actually quite impressive! Make sure you pause my music player and then click the link and have your volumn turned up. Hope you enjoy because we sure did.
Friday, February 26, 2010
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
It's Official!!!
Kierra's potty trained!!! Woohoo! Actually, she has been for the past couple days but I've been too afraid to commit to writing the post and jinxing all the efforts...but, she's been so great lately, I couldn't stand it!
She is the first kid we have trained before the age of 3 and we are sooo happy!!! She still wears pull-ups for naptimes and bedtime because she's still in a crib and the bathroom is upstairs but that soon will change. In the near future, we plan on converting her crib to a full-size bed, giving that to Jordyn and transferring Kierra to Jordyn's twin sized bed. Then all we have to do at nighttime or naptimes is bring the potty chair into her room and assuming she wakes up, she'll be done.
She even graduated herself to the regular toilet...at least part of the time. I think she switches back and forth throughout the day. She's even so good that she does both "duties" and does it on her own without telling us. Great except she hasn't quite mastered the art of wiping so we try to notice when she's sneaking to the bathroom.
We are so excited to finally be without diapers. I can live with pull-ups for a while...but no more diapers, halleluja!!! We have been changing diapers since August 2001!!! That's a long, stinky time! What are we going to do with the extra $40 a month AND the empty drawer in our hall storage? Ohhh, the possibilities are endless. Okay, not quite...really, how much can we really do with an addition $40 lying around?
Well, I'm being summoned to the bathroom by the sound of pitter patter and rustling potty chair noises. Everyone have a charming day!!!!
She is the first kid we have trained before the age of 3 and we are sooo happy!!! She still wears pull-ups for naptimes and bedtime because she's still in a crib and the bathroom is upstairs but that soon will change. In the near future, we plan on converting her crib to a full-size bed, giving that to Jordyn and transferring Kierra to Jordyn's twin sized bed. Then all we have to do at nighttime or naptimes is bring the potty chair into her room and assuming she wakes up, she'll be done.
She even graduated herself to the regular toilet...at least part of the time. I think she switches back and forth throughout the day. She's even so good that she does both "duties" and does it on her own without telling us. Great except she hasn't quite mastered the art of wiping so we try to notice when she's sneaking to the bathroom.
We are so excited to finally be without diapers. I can live with pull-ups for a while...but no more diapers, halleluja!!! We have been changing diapers since August 2001!!! That's a long, stinky time! What are we going to do with the extra $40 a month AND the empty drawer in our hall storage? Ohhh, the possibilities are endless. Okay, not quite...really, how much can we really do with an addition $40 lying around?
Well, I'm being summoned to the bathroom by the sound of pitter patter and rustling potty chair noises. Everyone have a charming day!!!!
Monday, February 15, 2010
The Lovely Bones
For those of you who are aware of the newest movies to hit the theatres, I'm sure you're no stranger to these words.When this book first came out, I bought it thinking it sounded interesting. I'm not much of a reader unless something really catches my eye and peaks my interest. For me, to just grab a book and start reading just doesn't happen. Anyway, I remember LOVING this book the first time I read it that I was extremely happy when I heard about the movie...although, I'm still deciding if I should watch it.
For those of you who are not familiar with this book or film, it is a very good book centered around the rape and murder of a 14 year old girl in 1973. Not a true story so it makes it a little easier to swallow but a heavy topic nonetheless. The first time I read this book, it took me a while to convince myself to finish reading it. I was compelled because the victim narrates the story from Heaven. The author, Alice Sebold, jumps straight into the heaviness and details the plot of the book within the first chapter. I must say, it's hard to even think about continuing to read this when it hits you that hard within the first 5 or so pages....but, I persevered and am glad that I did.
This book was fantastic! Since it had been quite a long time since I had read it and with all the publicity of the movie's release, I decided to read it again. I hadn't forgotten the complete plot but was still surprised by a lot of things I had forgotten about the book. This time, I read it in one day...technically two if you consider I started Saturday evening but, I finished it yesterday. I have never read a book twice before but think I will start making this a trend as it was interesting to have some idea of what was going on but to still be surprised by the little forgotten pieces.
Friday, February 5, 2010
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)...
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...
Monday, February 1, 2010
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!
Sunday, January 31, 2010
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.
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.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
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 :)
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
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.....
Friday, January 1, 2010
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!
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!
Monday, November 30, 2009
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 :)
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
.jpg)
