Christmas Letter 2010

Merry Christmas from the Poulsens!

We’ve had a good year in 2010 – here’s an update on what we’ve been doing.

Trips:  4-day kayak/bike adventure (Laura only), Utah for the 4th of July, Wisconsin Dells with Kotziers & Grimes in August, Utah for the fall deer hunt (Gary only), Michigan for Christmas

Gary still works for 3M, and spends quite a bit of time on the road travelling to Ohio and New York state. He’s on a first name basis with most of the hotel staff in those cities, and loves the perks he gets as a frequent flier.  He really got into shape this summer – he lost 25 pounds by logging 768 miles on various fitness activities – mostly cycling during the summer.  He and Laura completed the 30 mile St. Paul Classic bike tour in September.

Laura is staying busy as president of the young women’s organization at church.  When she’s not driving kids around, or teaching church lessons, she’s either on her new Macbook (love!!), writing the occasional blog post, riding her bike, cross country skiing, or… big accomplishment for the year… learning how to swim.  (Yes, in her 40’s she finally took swim lessons – it wasn’t pretty!)  There are no Olympics in her future, but at least now she’ll be safe when she starts kayaking next summer.  She’s logged 860 fitness miles, not including the endless laps in the pool, and still doesn’t look like someone who exercises.

Sarah is in 7th grade and settling into middle school.  She’s enrolled primarily in special-ed classes, but is mainstreamed for choir, which she loves.  She’s a good “mommy” to her two goldfish, Goldie and Nemo, and continues to collect Care Bear, panda, and Rudolph items – even though there’s not much extra space left in her room!  She’s pretty open to trying new things (for someone with autism) and so she spent a great week this past summer in a day camp for kids with autism.  She wasn’t as crazy about the sports camp that Mom enrolled her in, but she was a trooper and found out that T-ball is kinda fun.

Madi is in 3rd grade, and excels at reading.  Math is a little harder, but she doesn’t mind practicing using math games on Mom’s iPhone.  She loves her rabbit, Marbles (aka “Bun Bun”), but still pines for a dog.  She’s fierce at Pokemon on her Nintendo DSi, and is excited about learning to cross country ski on her brand new skis.  She loves to collect just about anything, which tends to drive her mom crazy.  She just had her first sleepover, and is really starting to dive into the “tween” lifestyle.  She scares her mother with her computer proficiency; she’s gotten way too good at Googling, and would be addicted to YouTube if Mom didn’t get in the way.  Her hero is Speed Racer (from the 1960’s animated series) and whenever she’s in the car, she insists on listening to the Elvis XM radio station.

As 2010 draws to a close, we are grateful for family, friends, and our many blessings.  Have a wonderful and blessed Christmas and a joyous new year!

This year's Christmas song

Last year I was enamored with Barenaked Ladies' version of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen".  This year I have a new fave:  O Holy Night by Weezer



Some may remember that O Holy Night is far and away my all-time favorite Christmas song.  (I want it played at my funeral.)  This is just a cool take on the song, and, as with all versions of the song... if I really listen and think about the words, I cry.

Messing with time... and catching up!

For those who don't dig through my past archives to see if anything new is there (ie - everybody, 'cause who would DO that??), I've listed some new posts that I've buried in the archive, because I have this thing about everything being in order.  Anyway, I've backdated the following posts so that they appear chronologically, based on when I first started the post, or when the event happened.

What, me, a hoarder?
Crying over pudding
Apple picking
Trick or Treating
Released... and normal??

This still doesn't catch me up, and the one post that I can't get to work is the one that most readers will really want to see - Madilyn's video comments on the first day of school.  For some reason, the video won't upload and process correctly, even though I've been trying all day. 

Arrrgh.  Technology - wonderful and maddening all in one swoop.

59 is back!

Sarah is very particular about her bus number. In the morning, she rides bus 59. Lately, that bus has been having mechanical trouble, so they've been using other buses on her route. Yesterday, it was 47.

Because of the layout of our street, you can hear the buses before you can see them. This morning, we heard the familiar bus roar, and Sarah exclaimed "59 is back!". Glancing down the street, I could make out the bus, but not the number. Puzzled, I turned to Sarah and asked "Can you tell it's 59 from how it sounds?"

"Yes," she replied, with a tone that suggested it was a stupid question.

As bus 59 reached the end of our driveway, I just shook my head and wondered yet again what it must be like to live inside her head.

Released... and normal??

I'm not sure if I've blogged about it, but I've been back in physical therapy for the last two months.  I had stopped doing my daily PT exercises, and I guess over the course of the summer, had lapsed back into bad (muscular) habits. Once school started again, and Madi and I were walking every day, my backside started hurting again. Apparently bike riding doesn't strain my muscles, but walking does, which is why I didn't have any problems during the summer.

Not wanting things to get as bad as they did last year, I immediately called my physical therapist and started working with her again. Things progressed much more quickly this time, and today I was discharged, pain-free, with a declaration of "normal". Ah, right. That means that, right now, my butt muscles are the only part of my life that I would qualify as "normal". Gotta start somewhere, right??  :)

The rest of me might take a bit longer to achieve that designation...

Impromptu campfire

As we all happened to be outside near sunset on Sunday, I suggested that we have an impromptu campfire; perhaps our last of the season. Everyone (except Sarah) agreed that it was a great idea.  So, instead of a healthy meal, we had s'mores for dinner.  Hey, I never said I was a good parent.

This is the scene, "exposed" by the camera flash.  It really was dark outside.  BTW - that's ROOT beer in Gary's hand, lest anyone think he's gone astray...  :)

This is what it truly looked like.  We had lots of fun just sitting and staring at the fire.  Marshmallows, chocolate, and graham crackers helped, too.  Sarah eventually came outside to claim her marshmallows, but campfires aren't really her thing.  After all, this is the kid that won't let me light candles in the house, unless they're on a cake.

Trick or Treating

Although I showed the girls in their costumes in my Oct 27th post, I wanted to post some pics from Halloween night.  Sarah decided that she didn't want to go out trick or treating, and I wasn't going to push the issue - the girl does NOT need candy in her life!  So, Madi and Dad headed out.

This year, we tried a new tactic to guarantee proper trick-or-treating manners... at every house where Madi forgot to say "thank you", Dad got to keep the candy from that house.  Much to Dad's dismay, she didn't forget once!  This is definitely a rule for future Halloweens.

Without Sarah to restrict their radius, they came back with quite a haul.  Madi's pumpkin was filled to the brim, and Dad's pockets were bulging with his own stash, given directly to him by sympathetic parents.

Sarah was a little jealous, and suddenly decided that she wanted to go trick-or-treating.  When told that she would have to put on her costume and walk around, she decided that it wasn't worth the effort.  Madi gave her a few pieces of candy, and all was good. There certainly wasn't a shortage of candy in the house, as Mom WAY overbought for the 12 trick-or-treaters that showed up at our door.