A Peek at the Poulsens

An excerpt of an email I sent my missionary brother Max last week: 1:00 church might be the death of me. Usually our kids go down for naps between 12-12:30 , and sleep for 2-3 hours. Obviously that doesn't work on Sundays, so we try to put them down for naps earlier, which only works like a third of the time and ends up being more stressful anyway. Plus, we still usually have to wake them up to get to church on time which means they are cranky, because who likes being woken up from naps? Then Sacrament Meeting is a wrestling match, trying to keep the kids contained, quiet, and keep ourselves sane. We basically bring about 12 different snacks (today we brought: a banana, a bagel with cream cheese, a bag of goldfish, two suckers, a water bottle, a sippy with milk, and some leftover crumbs from last week. Everything was eaten by the end of Sacrament Meeting) and just continually stuff food in their mouths to keep them happy and quiet. Then we either brave nursery or go home because ...

Ugh, I accidentally deleted a whole post about my experience with hot dogs at the cub scout Blue and Gold Banquet tonight. I don't really care enough about the stupid hot dogs to rewrite it, but I'm mad because it was actually a pretty funny post, if I do say so myself. Basically, it was a giant fiasco because the water wasn't heating up fast enough in the big roaster pans and the hot dogs were still frozen solid and dinner was supposed to start in fifteen minutes. Through a ridiculous assembly line of sink defrosting, oven warming, microwave cooking, and roaster finishing we made it work and everyone was fed and content in time, but now I smell like hot dog juice and mustard. Also, I REALLY want chocolate magic cake right now but it's 10:22 and even if I felt like getting up and making it I still wouldn't be eating it for another hour and then I'd be in chocolate heaven but probably wide awake when I need to go to sleep. Sighhh. Also also, I haven't had...

The weather has cooled down since last I wrote but it's still not deathly like it was before, so I can't complain too much. It has sort of confused the kids though - all of a sudden we're back to coat weather and aren't playing outside multiple times every day. We try to snag a little play time in the late afternoon sun when it seems warmest. This flip-flopping of temperatures must mean SPRING!! I'm sure it will continue to fluctuate, but as long as we get lots of sunny days thrown in there I'm happy. Spring also means BABY! This is our first spring babe and I am SO appreciating the timing. No huge and pregnant during the hot months, the baby will be older by the time it gets cold again so I'm not quite as worried about them being freezing, plenty of activities for the kids to do over the summer...it's going to be great. Remind me that having a baby in spring is a good idea for next time. happy park swinging : )  i love his smiley eyes on t...

my sunny Stockty  water, measuring cups, random mixing bowls....perfection. i think they did this for over an hour the other day, and it was literally the first thing natalie said when she woke up. "let's go play wiff the waterrr outside!" daddy is a good sport and pulls Natalie (and sometimes Stockton too!) all around  (by the way, sorry not sorry for all the backyard pics. you'll have to deal with them for the next few months, muahahaha!) marathon naps - Natalie hardly ever takes more than a two hour nap, but this was going on 3! they are just so cute all rosy-cheeked and cozy with their blankies. kitty right by natalie's face, so adorable.   playing chess with Pop-Pop; fresh batteries in one of Stockton's favorite toys, and the picture we sent to Mimi when we were sad she wasn't hanging out with us welcome the newest member of our family  I finally bit the bullet and ordered a four-person 72-hour kit so I could get it off my...

My mood has been so boosted the past week with the BEAUTIFUL weather Nebraska has bestowed upon us. It's like our humble state is apologizing for the terrible months of winter frigidity and is asking forgiveness with perfect sunshine, cool breezes, and consistent temperatures in the high 60s. THANK YOU! Other things that are making me happy lately: Hy-Vee pears (fresh) . I can't get enough. I buy some every time I go to the store and they are gone that day or the next. SO DELICIOUS, especially after they've been refrigerated. Big Hero 6 . We watched this movie with some friends a couple weeks ago and the kids LOVED it, so I thought it would be fun to buy when we have the new baby...a week later, Natalie still hadn't stopped talking about "starfish movie" (she thinks the robot at the beginning looks like a starfish) so I caved when she grabbed it at Target and now we haven't watched a different movie in days, except... Guardians of the Galaxy. I fin...

That's what we're doing, just sort of trucking along! Not much has been going on - as I'm getting more pregnant it is becoming harder to do everyday things, so I feel like we've slowed down a little bit. For instance, I have to reeeeally want to go somewhere if I'm going to put in the effort to get both kids bundled, outside, in carseats, out of carseats, wrangling at the store/friend's house/misc errand, back in carseats, back out of carseats, inside, DEEP BREATH. My protuding belly just gets in the way! It's hard to carry Stockton. Then throw in Natalie having some sort of tantrum issue, and going out turns into the type of production I don't really want to sign myself up for. But I still feel rejuvenated when we leave the house, and the kids always seem uplifted as well. Plus, better naps! : ) Totally mesmerized by Let it Go, blankies in hand. Cute post-nap babes.  I'm starting to rely on Austin even more - "will you go switch the laun...

Seriously though, how cute is she? She's been dying for a pair of sunglasses and Target finally had a summer display with lots of choices - Natsby was thrilled! She likes that they are "like Mommy's." It's rare that we make a trip to my parents' house without playing on the deck, no matter how cold it is. They love playing with basketballs - it's funny to see them pick them up and not know what to do with them except drop them and then go pick them up again, ha. I desperately needed an outing and some exercise the other day, so Natalie and I braved the cold one day after Daddy got home and we had a great time! She had hot chocolate in her sippy and I put music on for us to jam to and it was just what we needed. On our typical loop we get to a certain point where I usually let her out to walk, so sure enough we got there and she was excited to get out and "walk wiff Mommy!" It was fun girl time. : )  Also, as girls we got t...