It's Begining to Look a lot Like Christmas....

The tree is up and the house is all decked out. I just love Christmastime! My xm radio in the car is stuck on the Holly station that plays all Christmas music, all day long!

Thanksgiving and Black Friday

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving at Grandma and Grandpa's with Uncle Wes and Aunt Kristy and Uncle David. It was nice to be with family and enjoy some very yummy food.







Call me crazy but I love black Friday. I woke up early on Thursday and tore open the newspaper to find what good deals were in store for me. I made my lists and decided I'd go to Toys 'r' us first. Boy was that insane! I woke up at 4:45 am and threw on a sweatshirt. I drove down to there only to find that a zillion other people had the same idea. The doors opened at 5 and they let in a certain amount of people. The line to get into the store was forever long but I decided to wait, after all that was the fun of it! I waited an entire hour just to get into the store. Once inside it was a zoo, I quickly grabbed my items and got in line to pay. After another hour in line I put my treasures in the truck and headed to Target, then Wal-mart and then another Target. When it was over, I was exhausted but boy was it fun! Next year I need to bring someone with me so that way we can wait in line for each other, while the other shops.

High School Musical Party

For Maddie's 7th Birthday party we had a High School Musical themed party. We decided to do a friend party this year and ended up inviting 14 kids! It was pretty crazy. Luckily they were outside most of the time! We had a great time and Maddie loved it! Here are some pictures from the party.



Maddie got a Nintendo DS for her birthday from us. She is thrilled and has been begging for one for about a year now. It has been a nice way to keep her occupied and frees up my computer a little more!

Midnight Showing of Twilight

I am a fan of the twilight book series and recently read them when the fourth book came out. To me the books were an escape and made me feel 16 again. I was a little unsure of how they were going to transfer to screen though. A group of friends (also fans of the books) wanted to go to the midnight showing last night so I went along (along with 1000 other people). I went into the movie a little skeptical and it started out okay but it turned into a huge laughfest. (At least for us, although I heard some snickering around me too.) As soon as Edward started flying and climbing trees like a spider monkey, I couldn't take it seriously anymore! We all started laughing and just couldn't stop. Have you ever gotten a case of the serious giggles, I mean when your abs start to hurt, when the person next to you can't stop laughing and you keep trying to stop but you just can't? Well that's what happened and I was worried we were going to get kicked out of the theater! The part that set me off was when he grabbed a tree branch and threw it, it looked like something out of incredible hulk. I'm sure the laughing had something to do with the fact that it was 1:00 am. Anyway, I felt like it was a bomb and will totally ruin it for anyone who sees it and wants to then read the books. The only audience I think that will enjoy it is maybe the teenage audience, which it is definitely geared for. I am interested to hear what other people think of it. If you were looking forward to seeing it, I hope I didn't ruin it for you. It is still worth seeing it just for curiosity sake.

Happy 7th Birthday Madeline!

Dearest Madeline,
How do sum up what an amazing person you are? Seven years ago today, you changed my life completely. You came into this world into my loving arms and immediately filled my soul with light. You have been a sunshine in my life and have brought so much love to my heart. I can't imagine a world without you in it. You are a shining example to those around you. You are such a talented girl and make me so proud when you sing! You bring happiness through your beautiful voice. As I looked back at your pictures over the last 7 years all I can think of are the happy memories of my life with you in it! You have grown so much, I wish I could stop time and cherish each and every moment. At the same time I love to watch you blossom into a beautiful flower that has the wonderful qualities of a daughter of God. Maddie, I feel like the luckiest woman to have a daughter like you and I am so grateful to share my life with you!

I love you from the bottom of my heart.

Mommy

Maddie's last soccer game

Maddie had her last soccer game yesterday! Despite the 90 degree weather, she had a great time and did very well. She has improved so much throughout the season. She made great friends and had a ton of fun. The best part is she liked it so much she wants to do it all again next year!

Carter and Sawyer had fun watching her games and practices. Here they are cooling off in the shade.

Maddie got to play goalie and during her quarter she kept the other team from getting a goal!

Here is a video of Maddie kicking the ball!

Oh and of course, they won their game! Their record was 8-4-1.

Soccer Rocks!

Maddie has her last soccer game this Saturday so her team had their pizza party tonight at a local pizza joint. It was a very long season, but I am actually sad to see it end. It was fun getting together with all the parents and kids tonight and celebrate the wonderful season they had. Maddie has really come a long way and just loves playing soccer, which makes me so happy! She was excited to get her very first trophy! Now Carter wants to play soccer so he can get a trophy too!



Sawyer was more interested in playing video games, which drove me crazy the whole time!

Another Mystery shop at Disneyland

Lately we have enjoyed going to Disneyland to do Mystery shops. For one, we get 2 free tickets (and parking) and two, we get to eat free and shop for free (which explains the mouse ears, I would never buy those on my own) Because Maddie and I are the only ones who have season passes, I have to do a Mystery shop to get Carter and Chris in also. Lately it has worked out well and I have enjoyed doing a little bit of Christmas shopping in some of the gift shops I have been assigned to. Yesterday we went to Disneyland and since Maddie's birthday is next week, we celebrated her birthday a little early and had her wear a birthday pin. If you ever have the chance to go to Disneyland on your birthday, you definitely have to get a birthday pin, they put your name on it and your age (at least for the kids). Everywhere you go throughout the day the cast members say, "Happy birthday __________!" and it feels so good! I went to Disneyland once on my birthday a few years ago and just loved it! So Maddie got to wear the birthday pin and she had a blast. We went on the Toy story ride (Again) and had so much fun, I highly recommend it! Just before the park closed it started to get empty which was nice because we were on the carousel and got to stay on for another ride since there was no one in line. The kids also got to do the Tea cups twice! (Does any one call that by it's real name? Mad Hatter's Tea Party)

On our way out we got to admire the beautiful Christmas Tree at the entrance to Main Street. It truly is breath-taking! The Christmas season officially begins next week but we were lucky to see some of the beautiful decorations they already have up. I can't wait to go again, I always get kinda sad when the park closes... even after all these years!

High School Musical 3

Last night Chris and I took the kids to High School Musical 3 along with my Mom. It was so fun to go see a movie with the kids and thoroughly enjoy it! I know it definitely is cheesy and a teenie bopper movie but I just loved it and so did Chris. There is so much chemistry between Troy and Gabriella, it just makes you wanna melt. They did a great job with the ending and finishing up the trilogy. I thought it was much better than the first two movies and the songs were really fun. I came home and downloaded the soundtrack from i-tunes! I loved the fact that it is rated 'G' and is as clean as a whistle. I think we should promote these movies as much as we can because they are hard to come by. Movie producers need to know that we want more clean movies we can take our kids to! Even the dreamworks cartoons are rated PG and have some off color humor. Overall I loved this movie, and yes they break out into song many times but remember it is a MUSICAL.

The Potty Diaries- Chapter 2- Survival

So as you may have read in my previous post, I started potty training Sawyer yesterday. I didn't post yesterday because it was such a crazy day. Maddie and Carter had no school yesterday and Maddie doesn't have school today either. I felt bad because it would have been nice to do something fun during the day but nope, we're on lock down here at the Nielsen residence!

Yesterday was just awful! Sawyer would sit on the toilet for 20-30 minutes and do nothing. I'd sit there and read books and try to get him to go but nothing would happen. Then he'd get off and a couple of minutes later he would pee in his underpants and on my carpet, floor or couch! I was so frustrated and I ended up losing my cool, and getting really mad at him a couple of times. After I'd calmed down, and cleaned up the mess, I reminded myself that I just need to accept the fact that my carpet and couch are going to get peed and pooped on until this kid gets potty trained, it is just part of the process. After 8 pairs of underwear had been soiled, Sawyer woke up from his nap (with a dry diaper!) and went on the potty and finally peed! I was so excited, I felt like maybe this would work, maybe I could potty train a 2 year old! He had only one success yesterday, but it was better than none! I think the process is going to take longer than several days and I may have to put a diaper back on for things like church and when I go to other peoples houses.

By the time 6 o' clock rolled around, I was exhausted and we had planned on going to High School Musical 3 with the kids and my Mom. So we had Grampy come over and put Sawyer to bed while we all went to the movie. I was relieved the day was over!

When I woke up this morning I felt more positive about the whole potty training thing. I am pretty proud of myself, I haven't even gotten really upset or cried today! So far today he's had 2 accidents and has gone on the potty 1 time. He's taking a nap now so we'll see how he does the rest of the day. Earlier I was feeling like maybe he just isn't ready for this because he still hadn't gone and I felt like he was genuinely trying to go but couldn't for some reason. Well Maddie has been very helpful and excited for Sawyer to be a "big boy" so all on her own said, "Sawyer, you want to go potty?" and took him to the toilet, put him on and started reading books to him. Within a couple of minutes, she starts screaming with delight, "He did it mom, he went pee! Yeah Sawyer!" I was so excited and grateful for my little helper! I'll definitely have her try to get him to go again. Makes me wonder why he went for her and not me, maybe he is being defiant with me for some reason. The past two days have been survival mode, I really hope I don't give up, I have been tempted though. The fact that I'm blogging about it sure motivates me to keep trying!

The Potty Diaries- Chapter 1 Getting Ready

(Disclaimer: this post contains "potty" talk)


After several months of this...





I've decided I must take the plunge and potty train Sawyer.

"Bucky" as he's more affectionately known, is 26 months old and has been "playing" with his poop for some time now. It started by just putting his hands in his diaper and then coming to me saying, "poo poo mommy". Then he started smearing it on stuff! He literally went 2 weeks and did it every single day. These days it has been less frequent. The worst was when he decided to play with his poop at church in Nursery! The Nursery leader thought it was playdough at first! He got it all over his clothes, the table the carpet and even some toys. He stepped in it too so the bottom of his shoes were full of it! I was mortified to say the least. Everyone keeps telling me, you've got to potty train him and it's gotten to the point where I am afraid to leave him with a baby sitter (can you imagine cleaning that up as a 12 year old?) So needless to say I think it is time.

Carter and Maddie were about 3 1/2 when they finally were potty trained. Sawyer is much younger so this is uncharted territory for me. I am not working at all this week so I decided now would be a good time to start.

You may wonder why I am writing about this on my blog. Well for one, it is going to motivate me to actually get it done, since I have now committed to it. And I think potty training is seriously the HARDEST part of motherhood, or at least that is what I remember from my previous two experiences, and I need a place to vent about it! I have learned from my mistakes which are

• pull ups (a glorified diaper)
• waiting way to long (3 year olds are even more defiant than 2 year olds)
• Starting and stopping. (the kid eventually figures out that you'll give up and put a diaper back on!)
  

The third one is the hardest one, I just hope I don't give up. Tomorrow is the big day, I spent the day cleaning, doing laundry (so I can focus on potty training!) and I even made a little "potty train" chart! Wish me luck and I'll keep you all posted!

Trick or Treat!

On Halloween we went trick or treating at Grandma and Grandpa's neighborhood with some friends from our ward. It seemed like there were a lot more people out and more homes with lights on. Maybe due to the fact that it was Friday. We ended up with lots of candy! The Super Mario Bros. costumes were a hit!

Carving Pumpkins and Caramel Apples

We waited until Halloween to carve our pumpkins because it was so hot all week. I didn't want to risk having them rot. (It was in the high 90's all week!) The kids really enjoyed carving them, even Sawyer got into scooping out the seeds.






We also made Caramel Apples that day and they were so yummy!

Halloween at School

Carter got to dress up for Halloween at his preschool. They did a little parade through the building and even visited the Senior's eating their lunch on the other side of the building. He came home with tons of treats and Maddie was so jealous. (Her school is pretty strict with the healthy food only at school rule).





Maddie's school did a parade in the morning in their costumes and had a harvest party later in the day, with healthy snacks of course!

Halloweentime at Disneyland!

I love going to Disneyland during Halloweentime! They have the cutest decorations and it really gets you in the fall spirit! (Except that it was 100 degrees that day! So it didn't really feel like Fall.) I was able to get a mystery shop a few days before Halloween so we could take the kids to enjoy the festivities! When we arrived the letter 'A's in the word CALIFORNIA were transformed into a candy corn. The kids ran right up to it and pretended to eat it!



We went to the new Toy story ride first which opened this Summer. We had not been on it yet so we were excited to try it out! It is similar to the buzz lightyear ride where you shot at things but it is in 3D and is much more fun! We had a great time!


We headed over to Disneyland Park but not before watching the High School Musical 3 show. Maddie enjoyed dancing along with the cast members. Once it got dark it we enjoyed the Haunted Mansion which is completely done over in "The Nightmare before Christmas" and the outside is just beautiful. It was dark so I couldn't really capture it I tried. On the hill next to the mansion they had tons of pumkins lit up and it was beautiful. The mansion was covered in candles.

While Chris took the kids on a big kid ride, Sawyer and I headed over to the Carousel and he was so excited.




I just love Disneyland so much and I get such a nostalgic feeling when I'm there, no matter how old I get, I still feel that excitement brimming inside me! Especially when I see this site...

.........I can't help but feel like a little child.