It's Halloween!!

OK everyone - what are your kids dressing up as for Halloween? I wanna see pictures!! I've got Blossom (a PowerPuff Girl!) and Bob the Builder!

Thing 1 & 2

Here are my boys!

Arctic Tale

My brother Eric was an assistant editor on this film, which I think should be coming out nationwide pretty soon if it hasn't already. My family saw a preview of it in Chicago a couple of weeks ago, and I think kids will probably really enjoy it, or at least parts of it. Eric has been regaling us with stories surrounding the process of getting this movie completed for almost two years now, and some of them are pretty incredible (the production meeting where it was argued whether or not walruses could have flashbacks is a highlight). Knowing all the changes the film went through it's amazing it finally got finished and it makes me wonder how ANYTHING gets done in the film industry!

Anyway since you all have kids in the right age group for this movie, I thought I would give a shout-out to Eric-- his name is the first listed in the credits under "Assistant Editors". AND-- this is what we're most proud of as a family-- a lot of Eric's sound edits made it into the final cut of the film, over those the actual sound editor did, most notably in the walrus "pull my flipper" sequence. That's right, Eric has found his niche as the go-to fart wizard! Now that the film is finished and Eric has to find another project to work on, I hope he will be sure to make a note of that on his resume.

My latest distraction.....

So, this is the most fun web site I've found in a while: www.simpsonizeme.com. We're considering this for our Christmas card this year - fun, fun!!

Doing Well

Anyhow-

This will be a quick post- to let you know Axel arrived safely and we are all well. Congrats Lisa on getting knocked up. We'll keep you in our prayers. That's so awesome. Birth went well- planned C-section- but Axel took a huge drink of amneotic fluid on the way out- and got it in his lungs and had to be in the NICU 6 days which was pretty yucky. But the bottom line is he's okay and doing fine, we're all home now. It was stressful though. Not much else to report- just chasing Oskar. In December I started this little business thingy, I paint and I started doing portraits of rich people's dogs. Yes- officially I have become the "wedding singer" or the art world. Anyhow- keeps the babes in comfy organic cloth diapers. I put up a website at www.muttbutt.com (also new email carolyn @ muttbutt. com ) with some of the pooch clients on if you want to see them. BUT I doubt I'll have too much time for painting the next few months- but maybe, never know, they'll actually be a few of my paintings in a show this weekend if you want to some down to Tucson to see them!!

Okay- Baby #2 crying. must go.

Carolyn

Here I Am

Ola

Sorry so long- no posty. I have been a little pre-occupied chasing a 2 year old while hugely pregnant. I'll post a photo I was HUGE HUGE HUGE. Now we have 2 boys. Oh BOY! What were we thinking, I don't think I'll ever have a moment to check email again.

Axel Magnus Anderson was born May 9 1:14 Pm, 7 lbs, 14oz, 21 inches.

Roll Call!

I'm in Week Two of our 2-week family vacation, and I am feeling guilty for not having taken some time to blog here over the past one-and-a-half weeks. Actually, that's a lie. I haven't thought all that much about blogging at all, but I did just see a story I know will make Lisa happy -- it appears to be the Summer of the British Band Reunions, no? Time to touch base.

My Life in Pictures: While we were in Atlanta, we all went and had the grandkids take some pictures with Grandma and Grandpa. A couple are featured here:


Brett takes "smile" a little too literally when it comes to taking pictures -- a definite pet peeve if mine -- and as a result he often looks a little demented. My solution is to tell him to laugh instead of smile, and that sometimes works, but he also tends to ham that up a bit, too (imagine), so that has led to some interesting images as well. As we were looking through the pix and picking and choosing which to have developed, Dad famously muttered that he wasn't particularly thrilled with any of the group shots or of the ones of just him and Mom because he felt like he was "just sitting around in [his] underwear." Also? This is the only time any of us have ever seen (or ever will see) him wear jeans.

Must-See Movie: Hot Fuzz -- it was everything I hoped for and much, much more. Best movie I've seen in a long time.

Reading at the Moment: Until I Find You by John Irving (yes, still -- and I'm only 1/4 of the way through its 824 pages).

Listening to at the Moment: Backlogged podcasts from Penn Jillette, Adam Corolla (for Danny, mostly), and NPR's "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me."

Brutal Honesty of the Week: Brett asked this at breakfast this morning: "Grandma, why is your hair always messed up?" (Basically, her answer was the same as mine always is; it's naturally curly.)

Your turns.

First the Police get back together... and now this?

First of all, thank you so much for posting those pictures, Aimee-- oh my God, the kids are getting so big and they are both so freaking ADORABLE! They are both going to be little heartbreakers... you better watch out when they go to summer camp!!!! ;)

Also-- thanks so much for the flowers-- Nate and I were so surprised and touched that you would send us flowers! I loved the margarita glass-- so cute!!!!

I guess I should explain why Aimee sent me flowers-- well, Nate and I are, at long last, officially parents-to-be!!!! I am 6 weeks pregnant as of yesterday, and have a due date of October 20... so yes, along with the Police going on tour, it is a sign that hell has indeed frozen over, or at least, that anything is possible. After 2 years of trying, we are really hoping everything will go well with the pregnancy-- I know it's still really early, so we haven't told everyone we know yet, but I thought you guys should know!!! I can finally start posting pictures of my human children! Whee! I must have asked Aimee a hundred and fifty questions when I called her this week with the news-- but all of you have your own insights and wisdom to impart, so any advice would be so appreciated... I am pretty overwhelmed, to say the least. It's going to be the first grandchild on both sides of our family, so needless to say everyone is pretty excited about it, especially my parents, who are going to be moving to Chicago in the next month or so (finding out I was pregnant was an added bonus)!

I'm tired most of the time, and don't exactly have morning sickness but sometimes I just feel really not hungry-- and it's random. I made poached eggs on toast for breakfast this morning, and I thought it tasted so good, as soon as I finished I went back to the kitchen to make some more-- and as I was washing out the egg poacher I suddenly wondered how I had managed to eat it the first time, it sounded so unappealing. For the most part I feel all right though.

Anyway, that's the biggest news we've had in quite a while. Carolyn, how is your second pregnancy going? Did you have your baby yet? Please post some pictures if you can!!!!