A Peek at the Poulsens

Our street doesn't get a lot of car traffic but it does get a lot of walking traffic, and I've noticed certain patterns and trends. For instance, an older woman walks her little puffy dog in the mornings before it gets hot; our elderly neighbor, Margaret, takes a slow walk with her cane; and there are lots of regular bike riders, runners, and family walkers. My favorite people to watch, though, are this father/son duo. I don't know who they are - the boy is probably 10 - but I see them walk by every day around dinner time, just chatting and laughing. One time they both had basketballs and it was clear that the dad was teaching his son how to dribble. I love watching them because in my mind I see Austin with our sons, going for a walk to spend time with each other, working on sports skills, or just being silly about something. He is already the most wonderful dad, but I know we have even more to look forward to. Is there anything more tender than a daddy loving his children?...

I can't believe that Little Jack has only been with us for just over 2 months! It feels like he's been here forever; he's definitely meant to be with our family.  He smiles now when you talk to him or when he catches your eye and it is still just as cute the third time around - I'm glad these wonderful happy infant times never get old even though your other children have done the same things. His smile is so JOYFUL! His whole face lights up and his eyes crinkle and it melts my heart every single time. His neck is pretty much fully supported now with a few wobblies here and there, and he is a good sleeper. (Naps during the day and then a 5-7 hour stint, feeding, and straight back down for another 2-4 hours at night. YAY.) He is a great sidekick, just like Stockton was. He just hangs out, doing whatever we are doing. He likes facing outward when he's awake and sleeping against my chest - he's very snuggly and not hard to get to sleep at all (h...

Each holiday gets more and more fun as our children participate and understand more of the traditions and festivities. This Independence Day was extra nice because Austin got Friday off since the fourth was on a Saturday, so it felt like we had two Saturdays in a row.  Natalie and I ventured out to the big fireworks show in Lincoln (which they always do the night of the 3rd, for some reason). She had actually already gone to bed that night since the show didn't start til 10 but I woke her up and told her we were going to a fireworks party and she jumped right out of bed. It was such a fun, cozy date! We had a long way to walk after we parked and I think she was nervous that we would get separated in the crowd, so she held my hand the whole time and then we were cozy on the blanket waiting for the show to begin. I love spending time one-on-one with my children, especially doing something out of the ordinary, and it was very fun sharing this experience with my Natsby. We loved ...

HAPPY HARRY POTTER MONTH, MUGGLES! We've been hard at work celebrating the birth month of our favorite wizard, Harry himself, and the witch behind it all, J.K. Rowling. We love HPM. So far we've... made "wizard's brew" with friends baked Harry Pot(ter) Pies, complete with lightning bolt "scars" We've watched the first three movies and read excerpts from the books each night, annnnd... we made EXPLODING BON-BONS!!! melt chocolate and cream, put in fridge for 3 hours, roll into balls and cover with pop rocks  put in freezer while you melt dipping chocolate, then dip the bonbons into the chocolate  and top with another sprinkle of pop rocks  The pictures don't do them justice - we couldn't stop eating them! We would have been proud of ourselves for just making them, but the fact that they were delicious made it even better. It was so cool that the inside chocolate was a different texture than the outside.....

Edit: Austin posted this the other day from work without telling me...it was a "Stardines" poem (see this  post) we worked on together via email that we never posted and Austin was finally tired of it sitting in our email inbox so he randomly put it up on the blog with no explanation. Love that man, haha. The Lostrich "Where am I?" Thinks the Lostrich yet again. "And where am I going? And where have I been? "And who are all these people That I've never seen before? And why do I not recognize This large department store?" The Lostrich has, in fact, passed by there every day, but he cannot remember that, or why he goes that way. In a momentary panic, the Lostrich hides his head. He buries it deep in the ground, and wonders if he's dead. "Where am I?" he asks himself once more. "And why is it so dark in here? And why's my head so sore?" The Lostrich is so lost, you see, that even in the ground...

I have to admit, I am extremely proud of my effort in planning, preparing, and completing our t-shirt quilt. I have sewn a total of like two minutes in my entire life up to this point, so this was quite the undertaking. We had so many t-shirts, most from my high school/college, but a handful from Austin, and I had wanted to make them into a quilt for a long time. I googled "easy t-shirt quilt" and followed those directions, and figured it out as I went. cut out t shirts cut out fusible backing iron on fusible backing cut fabric strips pin strips onto shirts sew strips onto shirts pin shirts into columns sew shirts into columns cut fabric strips for quilt edges pin edges to t shirt columns sew edges on pin the batting/back fabric to the front sew...carefully... hold breath... squeal at finished product It was a fun project to work on together with Austin - we'd turn on a Psych episode while we pinned and sewed and took lots of breaks for my poor pregnant ...

Picture dump, here we go: I'll never get tired of seeing them play together  Natalie demands to be all up in my grill any time I'm feeding Jack. I told her that I needed more space on the chair, so instead of sitting next to me she sat on my shoulder. Much more helpful, haha.  cozy Pop-pop nap, and Stockton attacking Jack's eye living room picnic  "airplanes" I have a lot of thoughts in my head but never seem to be able to remember them when I finally find time to sit down and blog...for now, I guess you'll just have to enjoy more pictures.  post-nap Stockty LOVE those sparkly eyes he makes the best faces! attacking chicken nuggets - would you believe this is their first freezer chick nug experience? they can't get enough  handsome Stockton, nap chair, and pizza with Daddy one of my all-time favorite pictures my sister is so pretty  will I ever get a (good) picture of the three of them? this lo...