What Was That Again....?

As many of you know, I have been working with the students at Northridge High School on their production of "Beauty and the Beast". My kids frequently accompanied me to the rehearsals, and are now quite familiar with the songs from the show. Ethan was recently singing the "Gaston" song around the house, but apparently had not understood all of the words...I thought that his new rendition of "Gaston" was quite entertaining. The words were as follows...

"I'm especially good at decorating....I want a guy, GASTON!"

Nice, Ethan. :)

How Was Your Holliday?

My family is filled with insane people...which I get, isn't really up for debate. However, this is one of the more insane things that my family does. Last year, my sister had the brilliant idea to give my father the thing that he has always wanted more than anything else...a pie fight. My dad has always said that there is nothing in this world funnier than a pie in the face. Thus, last year on Thanksgiving, the first annual "Poulsen Family Pie Fight" was born.

So this year, on the day after Thanksgiving, we had our fight. It was bigger, messier, and whipped-creamier than ever before! I do have to say, that it is mildly terrifying to be hit smack dab in the face with a plate full of whipped cream--it gets all up your nose and makes for a whole lot of terrible "over-share" types of events involving cream and mucus. However, having experienced it firsthand more than once, I do have to say that there are very few things in life that are as funny as a pie in the face. Enjoy the pictures...they bring a whole new meaning to "And may all your Christmas's be white..."

Go Ahead--Just Tell Me That They Are Cute, And I Will Move On...

This year, it was my job to bring pies for Thanksgiving Dinner--FIVE OF THEM! I was actually really excited for the oppurtunity to show off my "Domestic Goddess" skills a bit, however, my mother and sister are the "Makers-of-Amazing-Pies", and not me! So, the day before Thanksgiving, they assisted me in the making of the pie crusts. (The filling was canned previously..as any who read this blog will have guessed.) The three pies that are not shown here were a Pumpkin, a Banana Cream, and a Lemon Merangue...they were not as cute as my Apple and my Peach.

A Very Noisy Place

So, I am apparently destined to raise a rock band in one way or another. Eliza asked for a drum set for her sixth birthday...which we ended up getting her. I now have a child playing the electric guitar, and one playing the drum set. My house is a very noisy place these days! Can it get any crazier?...Only time will tell. (My bet is on crazier, if you ask me!!) :)

Wound Up Dead...

So, my children and I recently went to the Ogden Eccles Dinosaur Park with my sister and her children. As it was around Halloween, there was a little "graveyard" for the kids to play in. Thinking that it would be a fun place to take pictures of the kids, I took them over and started giving them instructions. Belle and Keith were able to grasp the concept of "look scared" pretty well, and Ethan has a good handle on "dead"...but I apparently need to have a chat with Liza about what "dead" means.....(and yes, when I took each of her pictures, I said "Liza, look dead.)

Freaks and Geeks

So, my sister and I have a really good time when we get together. Recently, when my son needed his baptism pictures taken and my incredibly gifted brother-in-law offered to take them--my sister and I decided to get in on he action a bit. We jumped into the "lighting test" picture, and as you might guess, we were a little bit silly. The most ridiculous thing was my brother-in-law's response to the silliness. He took a particularly goofy picture of the two of us, and doctored it up a bit. Marf and I have been laughing about the picture ever since. I think the funniest part is Marf's unreasonably large eyes, lack of lips, and hump on her neck--but my giant nose, withered finger, and extra-large bicep are pretty entertaining as well! I just thought the world would enjoy a good laugh at our expense as much as we have!

Ethan's Baptism

Ethan (my oldest son) was baptized on Saturday. Despite multiple glitches, including a near broken foot from my husband, FIVE accompanists in a 24hr period, people showing up late, and Bry and I forgetting to pack an extra pair of underwear for Ethan, everything eventually came together and Ethan was baptised. I was surprised at how stressful the entire event ended up being for me. I was really looking forward to a nice, stress-free day, but I guess that that is never really the mother's lot.

The actual baptism went very nicely. My parents had brought some water from the Jordan River in Israel back with them, and before the baptism, they put it into the font so that Ethan could be baptized in a little piece of the Jordan River. Ethan very nearly had to be baptized twice, as his foot came out of the water, but the witnesses agreed that he was indeed under the water completely at some point. Despite the many things that had gone wrong initially, it was very nice to be reminded of why we are here--which I don't know about you, but I need reminding of now and again. I have a tendency to get caught up in the details and loose sight of the big picture, as was nearly the case with the baptism. In the end however, if nothing else, I was able to re-focus--if only for that small moment, and remember what is really important in our lives, and stressful day or not, it was worth it!