A Peek at the Poulsens

Our first Christmas Eve as a family of three! Mommy and Natalie Jane hung out at home watching cheesy Christmas movies on TV while Daddy played basketball. mid-squeal of delight  "playing" with Chloe-doll Christmas colors! We did some last-minute Christmas shopping and then headed over to our Lincoln family's house. We ate all sorts of yummy treats, homemade pizza, and, of course, the traditional Christmas Eve Chinese. puzzling giggles for Uncle Anthony the presents! reading scriptures Natalie even learned a new trick: she found her bottom lip and loves sucking on it. We had Christmas movies going, people taking naps, QRTs, and general festive cheer. : ) And, of course, PRESENTS! (since we won't be there Christmas morning) Natalie had fun ripping the paper, and she got lots of fun toys, new books, and cute clothes. Austin and I got some juicy things too, especially a new bookcase with an accompanying...

Natalie is the only person I know who can still be cute after three days of not bathing. She doesn't hate the bath, but I don't think she quite loves it yet...it's a "fine, I'll put up with it" moment. Most of the time Austin is at work while I bathe her since we do it in the morning, but tonight he was here and I took advantage of an extra pair of picture-taking hands! Pre-bath (how can you not die over that robe!? Ananda, show your parents please!) the CHEEKS In-progress bath the cup is a great distraction Post-bath (from a different night) Fresh and Clean!

Here's my typical Monday (when I'm not in school): Fetch Natalie when I hear her morning noises (around 8:30 today...awesome!) Be cozy, change diapie, feed her, put on a real outfit, play She naps, I write Max a letter and read my scriptures She wakes up, we play with some toys, we go on a mommy/baby bagel date Stop by the store, be home by lunch to meet Daddy, feed/change Natalie and gear up for another nap I make a snack (homemade pizza rolls) and clean the kitchen; we Skype with Ananda Natalie wakes up; we play and sing and she helps me work on my super secret project for Daddy : ) (I would post pictures but that kind of defeats the super secret part) I feed and change her; Makall comes over for a little while I work on dinner and Natalie hangs out until Daddy gets home! We eat dinner, I tidy the living room while Daddy plays with Natalie I practice piano (even on break - I'm so proud!) and go work out (I'm o...

We went to get new phones this week and Austin had a $200 Visa giftcard, so he said I could get whatever I wanted. I was tempted to get the iPhone and actually had it in my hand before I realized that I could save $150 and get an equally capable phone. I put the iPhone back and was perfectly happy with my other choice (a stylish white phone with purple case, thank you very much!). We were on the way home and Austin said, "Okay, Barnes and Noble?" I was confused because we had just gone there the previous week (which isn't abnormal for us) but I said, "Sure, why?" and he said, "You get to choose books since you opted out of the iPhone!" Best husband ever. So with the extra money on the Visa, we each chose a book for ourselves, for Natalie, and for the family. If you know us, you know books are our FAVORITE, so we were in heaven. We decided we'd use this opportunity to complete our Harry Potter collection, purchasing 3 and 4. We had to display al...