And back AGAIN!!!

I am not sure why I have been putting off my blog for so long? Maybe because I have two kids, one that I have to take and pick up from school, playgroup, soccer practice, work, and a number of other things on my plate, but my goal is to catch up today...Lets see how far I can get before the kids wake up and I won't be able to finish since ole sticky fingers will want his try at the keyboard. So here it goes!

What is the ONE thing Liam wishes for every time he sees a star? More trips to Utah. Well he got his wish. Shortly after our last visit to Utah in December, we got to go back for the wedding of Nate's brother Justin.

We have always told our siblings to get married when we are off break so we can get an extra trip out of it, this time Justin and Kristin did as we asked and got married in January.

Lucky for Nate they gave him the weekend off so we could go to this happy occasion.

Nate and I were asked to help with a last single song (They had their reception the night before they got married.) It actually turned out really well. We sang the song Falling Slowly by Glen Hansard. Her friend played the piano and her cousin the violin.

Liam was a little sad that he didn't get to perform with us, so her cousin let him try out his way to big violin which seemed like a good compromise to him.

He is getting so big. Where did my baby go?

Although it was a short visit, we got to see Claire and Andrew our cousins on the Poulson's side.

The kids had so much fun playing together an event that happens rarely due to both of us living in different sates other than Utah and having it work out for all of us to meet in UT at the same time.

Liam and Claire had one eventful night of playing mom and dad. Which ended in Liam cutting his face with a razor. When asked what happened, He said he didn't want to tell. So his cousin volunteered the info. (Claire told Nana that they were playing Mommy and Daddy and Liam said that Daddy's shave their faces. Seems logical right?) It could have been much worse, and the next day I happened to find a pretend razor kit at target that was on clearance from Christmas.

We thought we were timing the trip perfectly. We left for the wedding January 14th and came back the 17th. Owen was turning two the 16th, so we figured since we were leaving BEFORE he turned two, that we could still get in one last lap child flight for FREE.

WRONG!!!! At least if you fly on Southwest. At check-in in Baltimore the agent asked to see his birth certificate which I happened to have on hand and always do when we fly after hearing horror stories of people missing flights or having to pay day of fares for not having one. BUT I have NEVER been asked to see it, with either child.

I handed it to her, pleased that I had it. To which I get the response, "Did you purchase a return ticket for him?" uh NO! "well he will be two by that travel date." yes well we are leaving BEFORE that date and it's a round trip flight. "No mam, I'm sorry, but two is two. You can either purchase one here, now with me, or when you get to your final destination, but I have put in the computer that he will need to have a purchased ticket for the flight home." Fine.

So upon landing Nate called to speak with customer service and was told, "It's not a Southwest policy, it's an FAA policy that anyone age two whether by two minnutes or two days be required to be in their own seat," Blah Blah Blah. They told him the could give him an infant fare of $300. No, not good enough! So in the end they let us buy it for the same price we purchased ours at when I booked.
So know now that you will have to purchase a ticket if they are even a minute over two.

It wouldn't have mattered cause we couldn't have left any earlier, so we made the most of it and had a birthday party complete with candy, balloons, an ice cream sundae bar, and a lightening McQueen cake.

It was fun to get to spend time with our cousins and see some of my aunts and uncles while there as well.

New Year!!!

Ok,
So I know it's almost April and all, but in the spirit of keeping my blog as my journal, you are going to have to read about Christmas and News years until I get caught up to the present!


Nate has always chosen New Year's eve as his holiday to work since we don't drink, have two kids, it's too cold to be outside longer than a millisecond, and we're rarely awake past 11pm, it's not a holiday we are too sad to give up to those who do take full advantage of this evening of wild and craziness.
The same held true for this past year, except that we had planned to stop by a friends for a bit to let the kids play.
That was until I got a better offer (LOL, sorry Eden. But in my defense she was the one who told me to go!) my neighbor works for the Hershey lodge, and I guess each year they have a HUGE indoor new years eve party for their hotel guests and their families. Sad that I would have never know this even happens since it's not open to the public and they don't have to advertise for it since the package sells out by August each year.
Well lucky for us and this little connection, we were invited to be our neighbor (Donna) and her son (Christian)'s dates for the evening.
I wasn't really sure what this was going to be like, but NEVER did I imagine that it would be a full fledged carnival.

That's right an entire carnival inside of the banquet and ballrooms.
There were rides, (a carousel, bouncing cars, and this huge sliding boat ride.)
Food, (your common buffet items, plus Philly cheesesteaks,we do live in PA you know.)
Snacks, (popcorn, cotton candy, hot dogs, cookies...) and my personal favorite, chocolate fountains with all sorts of fresh fruit for dipping!
Then there were the bouncy fun houses, a magician, a balloon man, and carnival games where the kids could win tickets to exchange for prizes.
It was AMAZING!!! Nate was finished with work early and met us there, but unfortunately one of us had to take one for the team and take Owen home to bed since he was melting down past about 10.
We stayed until the end and had a great time. Seriously one of the BEST New Years Eve party/event I have ever been too.
So thanks Donna and Christian. We hope we will get to be your dates again next year!

Christmas 2009

We missed our family a lot this year over the Christmas holiday. Not that we don't miss them every year, but I guess having just been there to visit made it harder to be away for some reason??

But we still had a wonderful Christmas and Santa came bringing gifts of all kinds.

Christmas eve we had a nice dinner at home. It was not your traditional meal, unless you are from the middle east. And even then I'm sure we put our American flair to it.

During dinner we told Liam that Santa was coming tonight and that if he wasn't asleep when he got to Pennsylvania that he'd pass our house. We told him after dinner we'd get in our new jammies, (courtesy of Nana and Bompa.) read the story of when Jesus was born, then say our prayers and go to bed.

As soon as Liam was finished he asked if he could get on his jammies. We said sure! Which he did. (all by himself! He's getting so big.) Nate and I finished cleaning up the kitchen and ten minutes later realized that Liam had fallen asleep on the couch. Just to be sure he wouldn't miss Santa!

We were "those" parents and before the kids could go out to see what Santa had brought them, they had to listen to the story of Jesus' birth. (Not as mean as the year my dad took a shower and got fully dressed before we could go down.)

This was actually fun since I'd made some felt puppets to go along with the story. Both kids were happy to help.

Then is was go time:

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

There is nothing better than running from your room on Christmas morning to see if Santa made it to your house while you were sleeping, and then you find that gift, the one you've been asking for for months. In this case it was a Light "Saver!" All Liam wanted was a blue Light saber and Santa totally came through. You can tell he was super excited. That was UNTIL he decided to look into the barrel of the saber while pressing down the trigger button.

OH YES HE DID! And he had a little cut above his eye to prove it.

All I could think about was, "you'll shoot your eye out, you'll shoot your eye out!"

Needless to say it lost it's luster real quick after that. But once we convinced him that as long as he opened it away from his face, that he'd be OK, did that glow return.

Owen also got everything he wanted and more. He is obsessed with the movie Cars and Lightening McQueen. "KA-CHOW" a phrase we hear multiple times a day.

Nana totally delivered on the traditional Christmas eve jammies. Owen's couldn't have said it better, and Liam couldn't figure out how Nana knew he had always wanted a robe. I told him Nana's and moms know EVERYTHING!

Which he seemed content with.

And Nate was lucky enough to get some hand me down board prep books from some friends. Just what everyone wants for Christmas, right?

All I wanted for Christmas was for the boys to keep their Christmas church outfits clean until we got to church and to get ONE good picture of them together all dressed up and looking so dapper.

This was the best one of them together! (Not kidding!)
But I did get a couple of Owen that were keepers and one of Liam! BOYS!!!

Even though we missed our families a little bit more than normal, it was a great Christmas enjoyed by us all!

Back to PA where we got some snow that we could actually play in!

Is there anything sweeter than than a baby in snow bibs??? Nope I didn't think so.

Boys at work:

And ended with some oh so rosy cheeks.

Cousin time

The favorite activity of choice while in Utah for Liam is to spend as much time with his cousins as possible!!!
I think he got a large dose this trip.

There were Cousin jumping wars:


Cousin lets run through Temple square as fast as you can to see the lights without getting frostbite. Seriously FREEZING COLD THAT NIGHT!!!

Cousin Ice cream sundaes:
This would be Owen's favorite activity. (And Reese's too! All the drips from Owen somehow landed on her face. LOL!)




















Nannie always has the best treats when we come. And fun decorations. These were my favorite!


And a new favorite:
Cousin SLEEPOVERS!!!
Liam and Tess got to have a sleepover at Papa's house, they were so cute cuddled up next to each other. One of the days these two were hanging out in the pantry/toy closet and I heard Tess say, "Liam kiss me." Liam: "No I don't think so." Tess: "Liam, JUST DO IT!" Liam: "Fine." Sigh.
I was totally loving it!














But one of my favorite things to do while in Utah is to see my pseudo little sister Erin. This is (was) my sister Ali's best friend. She became part of the family during high school and I still feel like she is a part of it. She reminds me of Ali. Isn't she cute!

Really it was a blast to be out there. I stayed a little longer than Nate and got to see some other friends, family and eat at a few more of my favorite places. It makes me miss being home, and only furthers Liam's love of Utah.

A little Vaca to Utah

We try to get out to Utah any time Nate has vacation. 1-to see family 2-to appease Liam 3-To watch in person the "Holy war" BYU vs Utah Football. Nate hasn't been to a game in 4 years, so this was his moment, and thanks to a very generous Dad/FIL who gave us his tickets and watched our boys. (Thanks DAD!!!) And to the rest of the Poulson clan who watched them after the game. This wish came to fruition!!!
And oh what a glorious game it was. A little too close for my comfort, but it kept it exciting up until the last play of the game! Overtime. Ute's score a field goal. BYU down by 6, Cougars have the ball. Hall looks left, throws into pressure to George. TOUCHDOWN COUGARS!! We win by three points. One of my shining moments! And yes 31 year old Nate and his brother stormed the field afterward. So totally worth the 12 hour flight to get to Utah!!!

Snowed in...

Since I'll be stuck inside today, due to snowmageddon II, I figured now is a great time to catch up on my blog. Like I said last time, we lost our hard drive and all our pictures, so I will be starting with the pictures that were left on my camera, to now.


To start, let go back to Thanksgiving:
Liam had a school program where the kids sang songs and dressed up as indians. As you can tell, Liam was the ONLY child that didn't want his face to be colored. SO Liam.



And the proud Mama! What parent doesn't love a singing program? Especially one where your childs name is Silver Wolf. (Do you think they named him that because of his hair?)



A little taste of you missed out on! The next American Idol I tell ya!

These are more random pics of the boys being boys. Owen has figured out how to put on his own shoes. Very two year old like, wants to do it by himself, but puts them on the wrong feet! Doesn't bother him though.



Liam on the other hand went through an obsession stage with his swim vest. He put it on first thing in the morning and only took it off when forced. One night he begged to sleep in it. (I choose my battles carefully, so I said yes to this request.)

Dormant

Oh my poor little blog. Here you've sat for over a month with no love, no laughs no memories. WHY???

I'll tell you why. Our computer crashed, re-crashed and then the company that was supposed to retrieve all my precious data LOST the hard drive. How you ask? Not sure! But alas it's gone and all the pictures, music, videos and files too!

YES I cried my eyes out, yes I wanted to yell profanity that could have come spilling out my mouth, but really I am just plain sad about it all!

So this is the time where you BACK-UP those things that cannot be replaced. NOW! Yes Now!

So really although the pictures may be compressed and pixelated, you my Little blog, the Life and times of the Poulson family are all we've got!

I hope to return to you soon, but until now I will just reminisce on all the fun things we've done the last 5 years. That's right 5 years!

With love!

Jen

Sams club kitchen aid blog giveaway

So our computer crashed this week and I may have lost all my pictures (Except for the ones on this blog, thank heavens!)

We've been using Nate's really OLD laptop (Liam helped peel off some of the keys when he was a baby.) to check emails and pay bills, but the disc drive is broken so we can't install any software to set up our printer or download pictures, so I am posting about my friend Mandy's blog, Gourmet Mom on the go. Today she is doing a blog giveaway of a kitchen aid mixer!!! Given by sam's club.

Go here to enter to win. But I'm going to win!!!

Do you know what it means...

To miss New Orleans?

I DO!

10 years ago I never thought I'd utter those words, or know why I'd miss it.
For instance that New Orleans is in Louisiana, (The boot shaped state right?) Yeah that's right when Nate said he was applying to Tulane I had NO idea where that was.
That my home would be adorned in Fleur De Lis.
I'd like fish (well white fish, and really the Mahi Mahi at Jacques-Imo's.)
That 65 is considered cold.
That mold can grow in most amazing places.
That I'd be a Saints fan. "God bless you boys!"
That my first child would be born there.
That I would evacuate for 3 hurricanes and return to a partially gutted home to start over, after one particular Hurricane.
That I would get all defensive when people would say is there really a reason to re-build New Orleans?
Or that I would meet some of my dearest friends there?

Nope! This list could go on and on.

We left New Orleans in 2007 and I had no hopes of returning before our tender was done here in Hershey, but all that changed when we found out that the ASA (American Society of Anesthesiologist.) conference was going to be held there in October this year.

AND that the school will pay for you to go if you submitted a medically challenging case and were picked to display your poster for 2 hours during the week.

I told Nate I make him the medically challenging case if he didn't figure a way to get us there.

He totally did his part and thanks to a lady with Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension, (Ask Nate what this means, cause I'm not exactly sure even after he's told me 10 times.) we made our poster and headed South.

I went a few days early so I could soak it all in. Immediately after picking up my luggage and walking out those airport doors I was immediately reminded of the smell of mildew, the 100% humidity and that heat that doesn't let anything breathe.

We packed my two into my friend Lora's car along with her two and headed straight to Lebanon's. I got my Chicken Shwarma and it was just as good as I can remember. We then headed to Audubon park where we were greeted with a HUGE New Orleans welcome. Me and Owen were attacked by fire ants and had to run away through puddles of mud.

The rest of the week was spent enjoying all the things I missed. Me and Bryn took the kids to the Aquarium. (Still one of my favorites.)





They were so excited they were running up and down this tunnel screaming!





Not so sure about being this close to the fish.



This just freaks me out!





Liam touching his first sting ray. I think I squealed a little myself, they're just freaky feeling.





The boys watching the shark tank.
Nate's parents came too, who wants to pass on a trip to New Orleans? Here is Liam's response to seeing them after exiting the Aquarium.



So happy in fact that he walked back to the hotel with them instead of driving with me and Bryn.


We did some Halloween activities at Canal place. Trick or treating at Mignon Faget, Making masks and Caricatures of my crazy twosome.


And last but not least, to my favorite zoo. Audubon Zoo. I love it here and so do the kids. My favorite part is the elephant show. They teach you all about the elephants, then let you feel the side of one of them.

I found this picture of Liam at about the age Owen is now!
They both touched, but had that concerned look about doing it.



Besides these captured events, we also ate at all our favorite places, (I still think Commanders takes the trophy! But only brunch, dinner is a little too pricey.) Went shopping at UAL, ate Beignets and hot chocolate while walking through the quarter after an evening of Preservation Hall. Had a crazy guy yell at me (actually a compliment) in Jackson square, but best of all was seeing some of our best friends. They let us camp out in their living room on couches and on air mattresses. (Thanks Ryan, Lora, Bryn and Mark!)





All in all a fabulous trip "home." in the words of Louis:
"Do you know what it means to miss New Orleans? I miss it both night and day. I know that it's wrong...this feelings gettin stronger the longer I stay away.
...And that's where I left my heart."