Introducing Emily Audra!

Here are some pictures of Kristen and Leif's perfect little darling! Born at 7 lbs. 2 oz this morning, Emily is healthy and beautiful and perfect as she could be. Her nose is the very sweetest little Paulsen nose. Mom and baby are fantastic. Congratulations, adorable family, on your amazing new addition!!!

The Fat Man Speaks...

Fun with Andrew!

Today we were able to hang out with Kristen & Andrew for a bit. Time of our lives! The boys went into the extra bedroom that we don't use and managed to entertain themselves.

Looks painful, but they sounded happy...

Pretty cute little nerds.
(And if I had any dignity at all I'd be mortified by what has become of Jesse's neglected hair.)

Who is Really the One Learning Here?

Jesse is begging me constantly to work on a project- meaning artwork of some form, preferably messy. So we've been painting a lot, and today we did a project my parents sent out to him. It involved sprinkling tiny foam pieces onto a sticky parrot. He had to match up the colors with numbered sections on the parrot to make it like the one on the package. He was being as patient as he could stand while I neatly tidied up all the stray pieces of each color of foam before we moved on to the next color, and I realized I was being completely lame. I caught myself lecturing him when he leaned forward and blew some pieces all over the place while I was trying to clean them up, and I thought, what am I going on about? What did he do that was so wrong? What would it hurt for me to just let it go and bring a little fun into his day? So- full of anxiety- I picked up a few pieces and threw them at him, and smiled when he looked at me like I'd really lost it. He cautiously reached for some pieces, and when he saw me still smiling he threw them at me, and the inevitable war ensued. Gabe even ran over to join us. You know what? We had fun. I hope I can remember this and learn from it. And what do you know, cleaning it up after was no big deal.
P.S.- I'd been watching for chances like this because a good friend of mine is really great about these things, and she helped me realize the value in it. Who knows how long it would have been before I clued in to the need to join in the fun of my kids' childhood? What more would I (and the kids!) have missed out on? So to that person, thank you for this moment and the endless ones to come- from my kids and from me.

Love the Little Reminders...

Karen just forwarded me an email that was a copy of a column written by an old woman. It's a list of her 45 lessons of life. It was a cute read, and a few things stood out to me. They're probably things you've heard or thought about before, but we can all use little reminders sometimes.

#2) When in doubt just take the next small step.
#7) Cry with someone- it's more healing than crying alone. (Why is that so true?)
#13) Don't compare your life to others'. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
#28) Forgive everyone of everything.
#35) Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.
#37) Your children get only one childhood.
#40) If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd hurry and grab ours back.
#43) No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

Lots of Fun!

Big Joey & Little Joey brought a fire truck around for the boys to play with. What great friends!

Kicking off the summer with a picnic in Heidi's gorgeous back yard- so much fun!

Kathryn is seriously the coolest. Love that girl.

Portly little summer sausage.

Gabey kept busy in the sandbox and seemed to enjoy the time on his own.

Couldn't you just eat those beautiful, rosy cheeks?

My guys get the best post-nap bed head.