White Christmas and toddler sledding hills

As I mentioned in a previous post, we had a white Christmas. Here's the view out of our front door on the morning of December 26th. I think Cheyenne only received a few inches out of the Christmas Day storm, but obviously all of it landed on our front walk. I even shoveled the day before but you can't tell. So with all of the snow, we ended up with a great toddler sledding hill in the backyard. This drift went all the way to the top of our 6-foot fence. It was a great toy for toddlers and neighbor dogs who wanted to explore a new yard.

Here's a step-by-step guide for a successful toddler sledding experience.

You start at the bottom of the hill.

You slip and slide around until Dad decides that it would be much easier to just carry you up the hill. You get distracted by the tree branches and ignore mom and dad's encouraging words. "Come on Will, don't you want to slide down the hill? It's fun! Come on Will, Mommy's getting cold. Will get to the top of the hill right now. Do you want to come inside? You want to come inside don't you? Will, stop pulling on the tree branches. You are going to break it. Will get up the hill right now!"
You get into sledding position while Dad manuevers the expensive sledding device (cardboard box) that we have procured. Nothing but the best for you kid!
Wheeee! Slide down the hill. Repeat until your hands get cold and the novelty wears off. Meanwhile, inside the house, is the cutest little jail bird. Doesn't that smile make you want to open the gate and let her play with the stairs?

Babyzilla

Reina is a big fan of the train set. She makes a beeline for it as soon as her bottom hits the living room floor. She scoots over to it as fast as she can and starts picking up as much as her little hands can hold. Here she's planted firmly on the tracks and a toddler screaming fest is about to begin. "No baby no no!" Good times.

Merry Christmas!

What a lovely day! It was Reina's first Christmas and Will's first Christmas where he really seemed to know what was going on. We all had a lot of fun. I was the first one up this morning. Well.... Reina and I were up together. Then Aunt Vicky joined in the fun and we tried to make as much noise as possible to encourage the last two members of the family to get out of bed. Will slept until 8:00 a.m. which is ironic because he rarely sleeps that late when we want him to. Finally, everyone was awake and downstairs, the Hansen grandparents were on their way over and the opening of presents commenced. Will enjoyed opening presents so much that he happily volunteered (and in some instances just went ahead anyway) to open everyone else's gifts. Reina was more interested in the wrapping paper, of course, but she had a good time too.

Will's big present was a Thomas the Train set and as you can see, it's a big hit. The adults in the group are enjoying it, too. In fact, there were a few times that I wanted to tell him to go find something else to play with so that I could get the bridge just right. But then I would have to remember who the present was really for, blah blah blah. Reina needed her caffeine fix to kick-start the morning so here she is drinking her daily Diet Coke. Just kidding. The bottle was one of her favorite Christmas items though. That and our telephone. And the train set. She's a big fan of Will's new train set. We are in the midst of a white Christmas. We don't have the big snowstorms that the Midwest are currently experiencing but it's been snowing and blizzard-y all day. What a great day to be stuck inside the warm house, with lots and LOTS of good food and time with family. Merry Christmas to all of you!

December festivities

It's been another wild week in the Pauley household. Between shopping, baking and busy days at work, we haven't had much time to blog. Both kids had ear infections that necessitated a trip to the doctor on Friday. We had Will's first preschool Christmas program (see more details below) and A LOT of last minute Christmas shopping. And baking, don't forget the baking. In between all of that, I did manage to catch a few shots of brother-sister-togetherness. Nothing like eating cheerios on the kitchen floor with your sib. Doesn't it look like Will told a joke that Reina didn't find particularly funny? She's so sophisticated already! As promised, here are pictures from the Montessori Christmas Program extraordinaire. Will's standing on the far right looking offstage in this picture. To preface this story, he's only been in this class since early November so we weren't sure how many of the songs he would know. When you add that to his general lack of interest in doing any one thing longer than 45 seconds (aka super-short attention span), I really didn't know how this would work. He initially balked at going on-stage but walked up there like a trooper.

As the songs begin, that's when the real fun started. (Attn Will-of-the-future: You might want to stop reading here because Mom is about to tell a very embarassing story about you.) Will sang the first song with both of his hands stuck down the back of his pants. And then he took a break from the pants and sang like an adult for a few minutes.

At this point, the photo portion of the narrative ends because I was laughing too hard to hold the camera still. During the next song, Will pulled his shirt up to mid-navel and sang with his belly hanging out. THEN, he found the waistband of his blue Diego underpants sticking out of the top of his pants, grabbed on to those and pulled, and sang the last song while giving himself a front wedgie. Good stuff. Next year he is wearing a turtleneck stapled into the waistband.

While all of the singing was going on up front, Reina was busy being the cutest little sister in the audience. I've mentioned before how much this baby likes music, but it bears repeating. She sways back and forth anytime she hears a song and if given the option, she'll sing along.

One more important event occurred this weekend. The Wyoming Cowboy football team played in the New Mexico Bowl. And they won! In double overtime! It was very exciting! The kids learned new words of exclamation from their Mom! The Cowboys were 14-point underdogs so not much was expected of them but it was a lovely end to their up-and-down season. If you want to read more, lots of great articles and photos can be found here. Go Pokes!

What Reina thought of Santa Clause

I think the picture says it all.

Chocolate milk and donuts

Today I took Will and Reina for their booster shot for the H1N1 vaccine. While we were driving there, Will asked me where we were going. When I told him "the dr's office" he happily announced that we would go get chocolate milk and a donut afterwards. See, like a month and a half ago, I had a few minutes to kill after taking him to the doctor in the morning, so he and I (as a special treat) stopped off and had (A HEALTHY!!) breakfast before I dropped him off at school. It struck me as ironic that he would remember an event from 30+ days ago but routinely forgets where his shoes, lunchbox, firehat, etc. are in the house. The toddler mind is certainly intriguing.

We are gearing up for Christmas here at the Pauley household. The tree is up and decorations are scattered throughout the house. Will is starting to figure out that something special is going on. He told me today that he wanted a new robot and when I told him that he'd have to wait until Christmas, he informed me that it already is Christmas! Dec. 25 can't come soon enough for some folks around here.

Hey look - it's a picture of the elusive toddler! He's actually saying "Merry Christmas" in this picture. It was the only way I could get him to stand still for 2 seconds.

Reina still isn't crawling but she's figured out a better way to get around. Here are the step by step instructions.

You start by looking cute. Then you lean forward as far as you can (it would take the removal of several vertebra for me to be able to bend like that) and push off on the floor.

Pull with your arms and scooch with your fanny. Continue this technique as you get closer to your target. Almost there! Gotcha! This was the last picture I took before the camera was pried out of my fingers.



Hope you are staying warm out there. We've had negative temperatures all week and that hasn't included the wind chill. There's a heat wave coming in and it's supposed to be 30 degrees tomorrow. Whoo-hoo! Hope your days are filled with chocolate milk and donuts.

Faces of Reina

Actually, this post should probably be called "What's up with Reina's hair?" It's getting thick (in spots) and a little unruly at times. I'm not used to baby girl hair. When Will's hair started getting too straggly, we had his first haircut. I'm afraid if I do that now, she'll look even more like a boy. I do have the obligatory little colored bows to stick on her head that shout to the world "I'm a girl!" but those fall out or she pulls them off and tries to eat them. Not sure what to do about her mustache either . . . Hey look, it's the Daddy again! Here's Glenn patiently trying to coax Reina into eating her sweet potato/chicken entree instead of wearing it. I think she started crying about 15 seconds after this picture was taken.

"There was a girl, who had a curl, right in the middle of her forehead. When she was good, she was very, very good. When she was bad...." she was Reina!

Grandma Hansen and I have an on-going discussion/debate going on regarding whether or not Reina will have curly hair. Time will tell but this picture taken after her bath seems to indicate that she will be a curly girl. Poor little thing.

Any guesses as to what Reina wants for Christmas? She would like it to have web access and unlimited texting. Let's see, what else is new? Reina is so ready to stand up by herself. She hasn't quite mastered it but she loves hanging on to furniture and all of the new things to reach. Sitting on the floor is really boring and she gets fussy if we make her do it for longer than 3 minutes. Unless she has a cell phone to play with..... She's totally mastered the art of scooting around the floor on her bottom and crawling isn't far off. I'm trying to enjoy these last few weeks of immobility because wants she figures out the crawling business, our house will never be the same.

I haven't forgotten Will. It's super hard to get him to sit still long enough to take his picture. Shots of Will are becoming a bit like photographing Bigfoot. He's got plenty to say however. He talks and talks and talks and about 90% of it is a complaint, critique or suggestion on how we could be making his life better. His latest is to tell us to get out of his room at night when we are tucking him in. On the cute side, he thinks that the correct name for sheep is bah bah black sheep and that the restaurant with the golden arches is called "Old McDonald's." In between his critiques, he does tell both Glenn and I that he "yuves" (loves) us which still melts my heart. I yuve you too, buddy!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving! We spent most of the day at Aunt Vicky's house. She hosted a lovely meal and everyone had a great time. We started off the day running a 4-mile "Turkey Trot" which then gave me permission to eat everything in sight for the rest of the day. Will ran around outside (the equivalent of at least four miles) wacking someone else's snowman with a stick and Reina stayed inside looking cute and entertaining grandparents. Here she is with Grandma Hansen. And here she is with her Pop-Pop. The Broncos played tonight and Vicky's color scheme was blue and orange. Very appropriate! I never had a chance to take the picture but Glenn and Pop-Pop wore the same shirt. They must have planned it beforehand!

Reina had a few bites of turkey and some sweet potatoes. Will ate too many appetizers so he barely touched his actual meal. The rest of us stuffed ourselves on really good turkey (it had bacon in it!), green bean casserole, cauliflower au gratin, and all the rest of the trimmings. Missing this year was Mom's famous Hansen family jello salad. It's been banned from Vicky's house. It's truly a weird concoction and someday I'll post the recipe here. Here's a preview - it has jello, cream cheese, celery, walnuts and I think mayonnaise.

Will was too busy today for me to get a good picture of him so I'll post this one instead. This is from his first Thanksgiving. We spent the weekend with Glenn's brother Mark and sister-in-law Maria in Omaha. I'm not sure why he was wearing a cowboy hat but he had a great time! Finally, Glenn and I are beginning to wonder if we are raising a hoarder. When we put Will to bed, his bed holds a few blankets, pillows and maybe a stuffed animal or two. When I go in a few hours later to check on him, this is how it looks. It's like a "Where's Waldo" puzzle, except it could be "Where's Will." Can you spot the fishing pole, hammer, truck, silo, TWO firehats and a gun? Extra credit if you can find the fireaxe.

This year, I'm very thankful for my wonderful family, both here and scattered around the country. I'm so blessed to have a great husband in Glenn and two kids who are more than I ever thought I could hope for. I have a nice house, a great dog and a few football teams who bring me happiness on a Saturday or a Sunday (or sometimes even a Thursday). I have wonderful friends and feel very thankful tonight. I wish you all a happy Thanksgiving!

Glubs

A year ago, I worried about Will's language development. At the time, he was a man of few words and those few words were fairly undecipherable for people outside of his inner circle. These days, I cannot get the kid to stop talking. Will has opinions about everything and drops in a new word practically every day. His pronunciation can still be a little tough (glubs = gloves) but at least you can ask him questions to find out exactly what he's saying. Here are some phrases that we hear WAY TOO OFTEN:


Mama, I need you for a second!
I wanna tell you something!
Baby - go sit in timeout!
I don't want your help.
I don't want to go school.
I don't want dinner.
I don't want bath.
seeing a trend here?

Will is a lot of fun right now. He loves to sing and talk about a myriad of rescue vehicles (firetrucks, police cars, ambulances, helicopters). He's adapting pretty well to his new preschool class and hasn't had a potty training accident in more than a week (gasp!)

Reina had her 9-month check-up last week. She weighs 18 pounds (55%) and is 27 inches tall (45%). She's healthy and pretty much the smartest baby girl in the Rocky Mountains (my medical opinion). She's trying her hardest to pull herself up on the furniture and she desperately wants to play with Will's toys instead of her own. She's a delight and I fully expect her to start speaking in complete sentences within a week or two.

Reina Eats a Lemon

The following is an Aunt Vicky Production:

Reina is given a lemon . . .
Reina gnaws on the lemon for a really long time . . . Mean daddy takes the lemon away . . . Brother tries to get in on the lemon action and Reina is not impressed nor does she want the stupid cereal that is offered in lieu of the lemon. The preceding was brought to you by Aunt Vicky, who is responsible not only for taking the pictures but handing her a piece of lemon in the first place.

Pictures and random anecdotes

Here's Reina at our church's Halloween party a few weeks ago. I know, I've already posted a billion Halloween pictures but this is such a typical look for her that I had to include it. While she's usually pretty happy, she also has a serious side and you can almost see the wheels in her brain turning. Or maybe she's just tired of Halloween and wearing her fairy princess outfit.Okay, back to cheerful baby. This is how Will came down the stairs for breakfast this morning. Wearing his firehat, carrying his fire extinquisher, gun (aka gun-gun), giant foam sword and a doctor's stethoscope. He asked me to help him put all of his "stuff" (his words) up on his chair. Last night he went to bed with the firehat, gun and a Thomas the Train backpack. Will is a very busy kid. Speaking of gun-guns, this picture is sure to warm her Daddy's heart. Think we should submit it to the NRA? Don't worry, it's not a real firearm - just the pellet gun that we bought for Will's first birthday party. Yeah, I feel wierd just typing that sentence. Clearly she loves guns but hates having her face washed. Or wearing socks. Speaking of posters for the NRA - here's a picture of Will and Glenn when Will was 8-months old. That is a real firearm. Glenn was in the middle of hunting season and Will was helping. Finally, a little picture of sibling togetherness. Reina can stand up in her crib if we set her up that way - she can't quite pull herself up and I have no idea why I am encouraging her to do so. Life is a lot easier right now. I give her a couple of weeks though - this kid wants to do what the rest of us are doing. Will's trying to give her a kiss in this picture. He's been very nice to her lately. I watched the two of them playing together before dinnertime a few nights ago and it just melted my heart. I know I'll have years of yelling, crying and "Mom he/she's bugging me!" in my future, but right now it's very sweet to see their relationship start to develop.
Reina incognito.

Here are a few milestones from our weekend. Tonight, Will told me for the first time that I was being 'mean.' You just can't hear that enough as a mother. Yesterday morning, I was lying on the couch (with flu-like symptoms) and Glenn was in the shower upstairs when I heard the downstairs toilet flush. I jumped up and ran to the bathroom thinking that Will was goofing around and probably flushing the remote or my car keys down the drain when he comes walking out pulling up his pants. Yup, he used the bathroom all by himself. Shortly after that, he asked me for the car keys so that he could go meet his friends at the mall.

Halloween pictures

Here's a picture of Glenn's jack-o-lantern masterpiece of 2009. It's called "Lucy in repose. Or what she looks like when I wake her up at 3:00 a.m. to tell her that Reina is crying." Happy Halloween Toddler. Will's probably trying to negotiate how little dinner he needs to eat before trick-or-treating. At the end of the night he informed me that he wanted to "go home and eat my candy all gone." Nice try, buddy.

Reina looking cute and elfin princess-y. We took her to the doctor on Saturday morning and found out that she has another ear infection. The only clue was that she had two really bad nights of sleep in a row. No fever, no crankiness during the day, just a bad couple nights. I'm so worried that her mellow personality right now is going to translate into a craaaaaazy teenager in 13 years.

Here's the kids and their trick-or-treat friends, the two little Ashby girls. We took several pictures and this was the best one. Taking a picture of four smiling kids is a futile effort.

Will had a great Halloween. Once he figured out that there was candy involved, it was tough to get him to end the night. Hope your halloween was just as fun and candy-filled.

The weather outside is frightful...

This post is for all my southern-dwelling, east-coasters, mid-westerners, and friends and family NOT living in the Rocky Mountains today. This is the view outside our front door:
Isn't trick-or-treating going to be FUN?