My New Food Blog

I love to cook and I really enjoy trying out new recipes regularly, so I decided to start up a new food blog. It can be found here --> www.paulsonpantry.blogspot.com.

Enjoy!

Princess Spunk and Other Stuff

It's another Steve-free night :( - he's out helping a family remodel their bathroom - so I'm taking some time out to blog about what's been going on, post some DARLING pictures, and watch So You Think You Can Dance - so glad that's on this season!!!

So, in the next two weeks, the house will get a fire inspection and a health inspection and after that we're DONE getting ready for the daycare and I'll hopefully have that license in my hand.

There are SO many things I need to blog about.. like the fact that we have a dog. Or our INSANE garden. I think I've picked like a thousand cucumbers and have more peppers than I know what to do with. And, I was totally amazed this year by how many tomatoes a single plant can yield. And, don't get me started on the spaghetti squash. Or my infatuation with fall and how I'm counting the days.. but tonight it's all about Kathrynn, my spunky little princess (don't worry, Joe will get his own post, too). She's been so cute and so sweet lately and has been a total HAM for the camera, so I've got some good stuff to post. Plus, she just had a really bad night tonight. She was sad and uncomfortable and went to bed early.

Anyway, less talk, more action...



Here she says she's a baby. :) This is one of my favorite facial expressions!

Having so much fun!!!

Reading "Go Dog Go," her favorite book - I have to read it EVERY night and several times during the day.


I just love this little girl - she has so much light and is full of love - and she's fun and spunky and just hilarious. Tonight, she was pointing out my eyes and nose and cheeks and chin and then looked up at my hair and said, "Mommy, you're a chocolate head." (She had just asked for chocolate because she was trying to go potty.) She is an absolute mommy's girl and I just love that. She brings so much joy into my life. :)

Because I'm a Nerd Like This...

Thanks, Nie.

I have become consumed by a blog that I somehow tripped upon a few months ago - The Nie Nie Dialogues. There's something so unique and beautiful about it and it seriously touches my heart. It's written by a remarkable mother of four who was in a terrible plane accident a year ago and suffered burns on 80% of her body. I've read the story of the accident and her life since, but have been curious about her life previous to the accident, so about a week ago, I decided to start from the beginning - she's been blogging for about four years. And, I have to say, that just from reading her blog, a change has come in me. I'm about 18 months from her current post, so I haven't read everything yet, but what I have read has truly touched my life for good in so many ways.
She has such an optimism, such a true love and spirit for motherhood and for being a good wife and homemaker. Her focus is on the joy that her family brings her and the simple and beautiful things in life. She has brought out things in me that I've been trying to bring out on my own, and through the inspiration that I've received through her blog and her amazingly sweet spirit and strong faith, I find it effortless to do the things necessary to complete the day to day tasks in my life while maintaining a sweet spirit in my home. My love appreciation for Steve and our children has grown exponentially. I see so much more in them than I have before.
Steve is truly a knight in shining armor - though a humble one. Any problem always seems instantly resolved when he comes into the picture. And he always helps everyone so willingly, and I'm more in love with him than I can say I've ever been. Joe and his amazing spirit and raw talent and pure little testimony of Christ. Kathrynn and her amazing spunk and LOVE for life. You can see it in her eyes all of the time - she loves life and she means to live it to the fullest. And Drew, with her longing for peace and comfort and her gigantic heart.
I just needed to express my gratitude for the things she has shared with the world and for the amazing life she has lived and created for her children. She has also taught me not to take a single moment for granted. I'm able to see now the work I am here to do and don't want to lose a single moment idly standing by.

Other things...
Remodeling our home is nearly complete, though not quite all of the way complete, which is why pictures haven't been posted. I'm getting a lot of grief for not posting said pictures, though, so I may just give in and do before and almost afters.
We are inches away from starting the day care. My fingerprints finally came back (sent the first batch in in March), so now we're just ironing out the last few details and I'll be turning in my paperwork hopefully in the next week or two. And away we go...
Steve has started school this semester, working on his pre-reqs for Nursing school. He is the busiest person in the world right now and every moment I have with him is treasured.
This is totally the beginning of a new phase in our lives. It feel like we're walking into a tunnel and there's a big giant light at the end of it, but it will be a couple of years before we get there. I can say with assurance that this will all be worth it and that Steve is going into the best possible field for himself.
I've felt so many little changes within myself - all for the absolute best. Little ways to take care of my family better, like focusing more on having whole foods in our home and making everything I can from scratch rather than buying processed, ready made foods. This will definitely change things in my coupon adventures, but I think the benefits will be worth it.
And, best of all, I feel fall coming in. The light is different, leaves are starting to hint that they'll be changing color soon and the wind won't stop blowing. It's almost like it's blowing the new season in. I love fall. It is my favorite season, hands down, and it's the time of year that I feel most alive.

We Are an OCD Family

The Culprits:


The Acts:

First, we have all of the yellow toys together...


And then the pink toys...


And this little number - I was just informed that it's a workshop. :)

The Night Joe Duped Me

So, I was putting Joe to bed and he was gathering up all of the animals that he sleeps with when he asked me where his cat was. I told him that I didn't know and maybe he should do without it tonight, but he looked so bummed out that I went looking for it. After a good 10 minute search, I went back into his room and told him that I couldn't find his cat and that we could look for him in the morning. He looked heartbroken. And then, he got this sly little look on his face and pulled the stinking cat out from under his covers and just laughed and laughed and laughed! It was there the whole time!!! He totally got me! He's ONLY FOUR!!!!!! :)

He's just like his daddy. :)

YEA!!

I'm sure this is old news to a lot of you, I'm just SO excited that the New Moon trailer is out!!!

In Case You're Wondering What We're Up To...

Since it's been forever since I've graced the pages of my blog or facebook page.. here's what's happening with the Paulsons...
(I'll go oldest to youngest just for fun)

Steve:

• Is seriously a stud.
• For the last month or so has been going to a night class Monday-Thursday and hasn't gotten home until 9:30 each night.
  
• In his 'free time' has been remodeling our house, including creating a pantry, rewiring and redoing the plumbing in our basement, creating an entire new room and closet which will be the play room for the day care, building a fence, putting sod in our back yard, creating a grape arbor in the back, planting the grapes that will go with the arbor, building an awning in the back so we can have a little shade, etc. More will happen this weekend, including planting honeysuckle, raspberries, and blackberry bushes.
  
• Has LOVED having a grill and takes over dinner most weekend nights, which I have loved.
• Gave me a rose bush for Mother's Day. So sweet. :)
• Gave me another Mother's Day surprise, which landed him in the emergency room - he had severe abdominal pain that came on fast and turned out to be a kidney stone. Not a fun few days for him.

Julie:

• I've finally found that "click" that involves having a consistently clean, together home. Amazing the correlation between lack of time spent on the internet and cleanliness of my house.
  
• Have gotten a little too involved in my calling. I'm an Activity Day Girl leader (8-11 year old girls) and have been SO busy with it. We just did a big mother/daughter dinner/program for mother's day and I seriously thought I was going to lose my mind before it was over. We had another activity last night that I ran - I think I'm done planning activities until summer's over.
• Although, my class has sharing time this Sunday, so I'm not totally off the hook.
• I've been trying to help Steve as much as possible with the house stuff. I even dug a post hole - I have a lot of respect for how hard he works for us.
• I've been painting the playroom during Kathrynn's naps.
• Have been taking names in my quest to get back down to my pre-Joe weight. I've lost 16 lbs since I started trying (like MONTHS ago..) and am lighter than I was pre-Kathrynn. Only about 10 more lbs to go. :)
• Have been loving having the piano - I've been able to sneak a little time in here and there to play and it is just wonderful to have around.
  

Drew:

• Is very excited to summer vacation and spending a couple of months at our house.
• Has mastered the pogo stick.
• Makes Steve consistently nervous as she grows cuter and cuter and more and more comfortable with boys. :)

Gandalf:

• Is loving the warmer weather and spends all night outside hanging out with the "Yowler."
• Which leads to him sleeping all day long.
• Scratched the heck out me the other day when I was teasing him. I had it coming.

Joe:

• Has been betrothed to the cutest little girl in the world. :)
• Is enjoying the idea of irony. Just as I was putting him to bed tonight he told me it would be hilarious to go to sleep with his sunglasses on and did and laughed and laughed and laughed.
  
• Is SUCH a great helper.
• Informed me the other day that I don't get stinky. I appreciated that. :)
• Has been showing some serious talent with music and art. We hope to hook him up with some piano lessons some time in the near future.

Kathrynn:

• Is an obsessive hugger. It's seriously sweet most of the times, but gets to be a little too much at bedtime when she needs like 20 hugs in order to be satisfied or in the middle of the night when she's crying because she wants a hug.
• Is seriously ready to potty train. I'm just not so ready. Scared out of my mind, really. But, she talks about it, is enamored with her new "big girl pants" and even sets up a diaper and wipes in the usual changing spot when she's ready for a new diaper. I need to just bite the bullet and get her going. Maybe next week.
• Is a button pusher. A big one. If there's something that irritates a particular person, namely Joseph, she will do it. Over and over again. And laugh hysterically. We need to find something to channel that energy into.
• Loves to play "Ring around the rosies."
  
• Oh, did I mention that both kids got croupe the day after our little emergency room trip. Fun times.

Picture time.
Kathrynn's favorites napping position...


Steve's home.. More pictures later. :)

Our Beautiful New Addition

No. Not THAT kind! We got a piano!!!



First, I have to say, I love my husband!!! He picked it out all on his own - can you believe that?! It's gorgeous! He found it on KSL (for those of you not in Utah, it's a newspaper website that lists free classifieds, so anything you want to buy is basically on there because everyone lists) for a STEAL and tried to track me down to get me to go look at it with him but I was was out and about on the impossible mission of finding the right shoes for our kids - hard work. I have the pickiest boy in the world and one of those girls who has to try on EVERY shoe in the shoe aisle.
So, he went without me and told me that he knew, without a doubt, that I would love it - and I DO!

It's an antique and is in AMAZING condition. It's an upright grand piano - it was originally a player piano, but that part was removed and the doors for the player part of permanently closed. It still have the original finish and doesn't have a scratch or nick on it - and it's beautiful. It sounds wonderful, too! I haven't had a chance to play it yet. The kids jumped on as soon as I put the bench under it.

I'm so excited! And, you'd better believe they are too. :)

Happy Easter!