A Peek at the Poulsens

Austin and I sometimes have pun wars where we see who can come up with the most clever plays on words, so when I saw this book I knew I had to get it for him: It is a collection of poems about different pun animals, such as Plandas, Wedgehogs, Jollyfish, and, of course, Stardines. it has these funky illustrations my personal favorite, the Slobster Of course, Austin loved the whole idea with the silly names and creative poems, and we decided to come up with Stardines Vol. II, featuring such animals as the Rantelope, Mutterfly, Limpanzee, Lostrich, and Molar Bear. my attempt at illustrations We collaborated to write the first poem of Volume Two, entitled "Spellephants." Enjoy: Spellephants are very smart. They S-P-E-L-L til dark. They E-A-T when they wake up, And then they spell until they sup. They C-A-N spell anything, Including words like talk and sing. But big words are their specialty, like parathyroidectomy . They A-R-E so very blessed With br...

As many of you probably don't know, I am totally one of those extreme science fiction/fantasy geeks who dresses in Elvish clothing to go to J. R. R. Tolkien conventions. I'm the one in the middle. A couple of people have told me I look kind of like Orlando Bloom. I don't really agree.   Every once in a while I will read what I have deemed "Jessie books," which are books that I would never have thought twice about if Jessie hadn't recommended them to me. Some recent examples have included: Watership Down, The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, and Cold Mountain. But my one true love is and will always be fantasy. I love traveling to other worlds where magic is possible and people solve problems with swords amd magic instead of computers and smart-bombs. Anyways, one of my all-time favorite fantasy series is the late Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time. It is a 14 volume, 12,000 page behemoth of a series, and every chapter is absolutely fantastic. Unfortunately,...

"Hustlin is the Key to Success" was emblazoned on the back of a gentleman's shirt walking outside my apartment just now...I think I'll lock the door, just to make sure. Anyway, Happy Friday! Here at the Poulsen pad we are spending this lovely morning relaxing: Natalie went down for her nap a full hour early, so I am catching up and enjoying a mug of hot chocolate. (Yes, it's finally warm outside, but nice and cool inside...besides, ho-cho is so cozy : ) ) I've been reading up a storm - this week I finished The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson, another of Austin's fantasy epics that I, sort of grudgingly, admit to having loved; The Hunchback of Neiman Marcus by Sonya Sones (written in non-obnoxious refreshing verse from the view of a 50-year-old woman whose daughter is going to college and whose mom is going crazy in a hospital...I HIGHLY recommend it- funny and real), and Ape House by Sara Gruen, author of Water for Elephants . Ape House was compellin...

 the last picture pre-Natalie I always felt guilty when people asked me how my pregnancy was going last year because other than getting enormous and being really hot all the time (but who wasn't hot last summer?!), I had it REALLY easy. Like, no issues. I hear these horror stories of awful miserable pregnancies and then crazy stressful painful scary labors and deliveries, and I sort of shrink back so that I don't get attacked for having such a relaxed, chill experience. This time is even worse, as far as the guilt goes, because I seriously feel perfect. Now that Stockton is kicking often and my stomach is growing, I finally consistently feel "pregnant," but I have just had such a great 20 weeks. I haven't even been tired, but that could be due to the fact that I now have a higher tolerance for low sleep since having Natalie, or that I'm distracted enough by taking care of her that I don't feel the need to fall into bed for hours-long naps every da...

It's been longer than normal between blog posts this week, but that's not due to a lack of things to write about - I've just been so happy and fulfilled being with my family that I didn't feel like taking time to sit at the computer. (Not that it means I'm unhappy and unfulfilled when I do blog, I just have been feeling even more joy lately!) Natalie has just been completely WONDERFUL the past, well, since she was born, but especially lately. She is such a happy little thing, all the time! I have been completely relishing all my time with her. She is now the nap pro (KNOCK ON WOOD) and sometimes her marathon naps go on so long I feel like I don't know what to do with so much free time; don't worry, that feeling is short-lived...I'm just not used to it! She wakes up with such a big grin on her sweet face - when I hear her making noises after a nap I creep into her room and peek around the corner, and when she sees me she sort of does this frantic/exci...

Instead of bemoaning how much life Les Mis is sucking out of my soul, let's have a happy post since it's Mother's Day! I used to be a pretty emotional person (okay, I'm still a pretty emotional person) but I'm usually not that mushy gushy about things. I'm grateful for all the happiness in my life, but I don't need to be all *special* about it. For instance, after I had Natalie a common question was, "Isn't it just so wonderful being a mom?" Of course the answer is a resounding YES, but it also seems like a silly question because of course it's wonderful, I've been dreaming of this for the past 20 years, and to finally have my own literal offspring is beautiful and thrilling, so sharing it with my husband is even more wondrous. However, it's also where I am in my life right now: the MOM stage, particularly the raising small children part. This is my "normal" for the next however many years, but I don't want to make...

Hearken back with me to last summer when we were getting ready for Natalie to arrive and Austin couldn't wait to dress her in all of the clothes that make reference to "Daddy" (Daddy's Sweetheart, My Heart Belongs To Daddy, Dads are the Best, etc...). Also remember with me for a moment how excruciating it was waiting for our baby to get here; so painful, in fact, that we had to dress up a roll of paper towels in baby attire to appease our impatience. (see this blog) Well, we're not in the same hurry this time, but we had too much fun last time to pass up the opportunity for a little Roll Play, eh eh? all ready for church! cozy, and playing with appropriate boy toys (like dinos)  Natalie either ignores Stockton...  ...or cringes when she sees him he loves getting a little play time in before bed Haha, these are classic. Very Austin/Jessie. Other goings-on: climbing on everything   pretty and playful! She had her ...

I say that in quotes because I didn't really have one...it was CANCELED! Can you believe that?! Weather will be weather, but for crying out loud, have a backup plan UNL! It was 36 degrees and rainy and they straight up decided not to have a commencement ceremony. So much for living my dream of the past MY WHOLE LIFE. I mean, how can you cancel graduation? Luckily, once I finished all of my official coursework on Monday I felt completely accomplished and satisfied, and I didn't even feel like I needed graduation...being done was enough. I wasn't devastated about not walking for graduation, but I still think it's completely ridiculous that there was no indoor venue in case the weather was inappropriate. Imagine how many dreams were crushed this weekend! Bah! But for real guys, I'M DONE WITH COLLEGE! I HAVE A DEGREE! Jessie Poulsen, Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance. Quite the nice ring to it : ) ...and actually I don't have my official diploma beca...