The rest of the month

All I've had time to write about this month has been holidays and Christmas programs and festivities, and while that has certainly been the theme for December, we've managed to squeeze a couple other activities into the last few weeks.

The weekend before Christmas, we piled everyone into the car and drove down I-25 to Albuquerque for the New Mexico Bowl. Grandma Hansen came along to help wrangle kids and Vicky and Matt joined us to cheer for the Cowboys. The Cowboys played in this bowl in 2009 and I missed the chance to go then because I had a 2 yr old and a 9-month old but this year it seemed do-able. Although the Cowboys lost, we still had a nice trip. The kids were astonishingly easy travel companions. I can say that because I didn't have to keep them entertained while we were at the game. I think they might have worn Grandma out. The trip was long but we all had a nice time and it's fun to be at that stage where they can all travel a little easier.

The only good picture I captured of the kids involved them eating room service pancakes while watching cartoons and needing some anti-static stuff for their hair. Vicky and me at the pregame tailgate. Go Pokes! Yes, those are temporary face tattoos and no, we aren't too old for them. Me and Cowboy Joe!

Glenn showing loads of Poke Pride.

I told him to "smile" and this is what I got: Back home and post-Christmas. Will received this shirt from Grandma and Pop-pop for Christmas and they must have picked it out from the Catalog of Sure-Fire Ways to Thrill a Four-Yr Old. On the surface it's just a mild-mannered green long sleeve tshirt with a picture of a dinosaur on the front, BUT when you cross your arms, you get a mean blood-thirsty dinosaur mouth. Eeek! Preschool was closed on Thursday and Friday of this week and instead of staying home and doing more post-holiday chores, I took the kids to Denver to spend some time at Pop-pop's house and to see the Zoo Lights. The weather was pretty mild this year so it seemed like a good time to go. As soon as we walked in the main gate of the zoo, a vendor was selling glow in the dark swords and you can be sure that Will noticed and we shortly walked away with two lovely new swords. It worked in our favor later because it was easier to keep track of Will by looking for a large glowing light swinging frantically back and forth as he battled a legion of imaginary bad guys.

Reina joined in the jousting fun.
Oh look, it's a light-up tiger. Let's figure out how to stab it with our swords.
While taking a break from slaying monsters, they did get to touch a hedgehog. It was a very exciting night at the zoo.

I'm not sure if I'll get a chance to post again before the end of 2011. Tomorrow we will be busy wrapping buffalo burger, that's right, the other highlight from December is that Glenn shot a buffalo last week. I'll spare the blog the buffalo hunting pictures, but he is very excited and I'm proud of him. Buffalo meat is very good and we'll have a freezer full to last us a very long time.

2011 has been an eventful year for us. We traveled to Florida and Reina saw the ocean. We bought a camper and delighted in the fact that both the kiddos are already little outdoorsmen (and outdoorswomen!). We said a heart-breaking goodbye to our beloved Canyon but then welcomed an energetic, furniture-chewing, bird-hunting, kid-snuggling bundle of a dog in Trigger. We donned satin dresses and (not-satin because that would be bizarre) suits and watched Vicky marry Matt and welcomed a new uncle into the family. I sadly lost my last surviving grandparent but took solace in the happy memories. We spent time with lots of extended family and enjoyed lots of visits from our "relatins" (Will's word for relatives). We watched Will learn to write his name and play football and turn the corner away from toddlerhood and make a beeline towards Kidville. Reina found her voice and reminds us daily that she's nobody's pushover. As 2011 comes to a close, we have a lot of happy memories to look back on and I'm excited to see what 2012 has in store for us. Happy New Year!

Christmas 2011

Christmas 2011 has come and gone and oh what a weekend it was. We crammed a lot of cookie-making, card-writing, and kid-entertaining into the few days before the holiday. The mania was further enhanced when Glenn returned from his hunt with a buffalo in the back in the truck. Christmas Eve was spent last minute shopping, watching a football game that won't be mentioned, and wrapping buffalo meat. We all dressed up and went to church, but before we left I frantically tried to capture a picture of the four of us. I was marginally successful. After church, we had a late dinner and then had the easiest bedtime ritual we've had in a while. Will was super enthusiastic about brushing teeth and getting in bed because he knew that Santa wouldn't come to our house until everyone was asleep. Will got in bed at 8:15. At 8:37, he came downstairs to ask if Santa had showed up yet. Luckily Santa hadn't started wrapping or assembling toys yet, because Santa is smarter than that. Finally, all the children were snug in their beds and Santa worked his/her magic. Christmas morning dawned bright and early. Will crawled into bed with us at 5:45 and I told him he had to go back to sleep for a few minutes. The following conversation occurred:

Will: I'll go back to sleep mom but I'm just thinking about Santa's naughty list.

Me: Are you worried that you are on the naughty list?

Will: No, I'm just thinking about it.

I assured him that he wasn't on the naughty list (although I was tempted to point out various actions in the past week that might have landed him on said list, but you know, it's Christmas and all that.) Reina climbed into bed a few minutes later and try as we might to get everyone back to sleep, we were downstairs opening presents by 6:45. Yawn. Keep in mind that Santa had stayed up until 12:30 the night before assembling presents....

Will's big gift was the Lego castle. His Lego likes vary from castles and knights to Jedi's and spaceships with a few ninjas, pirates and policemen thrown in for good measure. Luckily the castle was a big hit, along with the fishing boat, Star Wars paraphernalia and even a new ninja that he also received from everyone else. It was a Lego Christmas. For the other part of the family, it was a very special equine Christmas. Reina's big present was this horse, who she immediately christened Lucky. Poor Lucky is designed to carry dolls, not 30-lb almost 3-yr old's. But Reina doesn't seem to mind. After the sun finally came up, and at a much more respectable hour, the rest of the Hansen/Fry family came over and opened more presents, had a great brunch and assembled Lego's. It takes a village to assemble Lego's. Reina stayed on the horse in the midst of all of the presents. ...until it was time to open up another horse present with the help of Pop-pop. This one she named Lucky Too. Or Lucky Two. Or Lucky also. Almost 3-yr old's aren't very specific about their homonyms. She gave poor Lucky a much needed break when she opened this present from her aunt and uncle in Omaha. It's Belle's dress in Reina's favorite color - yellow! Reina wants to live in a world with yellow food, yellow horses and yellow dresses. She wore this party frock until we peeled it off of her sobbing body at bedtime. Will with his lightsaber, Jedi playhut and Capt Jack Sparrow shirt that he insisted on wearing two days in a row. I know he'll want to wear it to school tomorrow so I negotiated with him to get it in the wash tonight. It was a nice holiday at the Pauley household and the Christmas glow even continued today with two kids who were too busy playing with all the new stuff to fight, whine, or bug their parents. I wish it was Christmas every day!

Overheard at Christmastime....

While driving by the house with the biggest Christmas decorations display complete with coordinated music and lights, animated creatures, etc., Will remarks, "Man that guy must really like Christmas."

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Both kids and I braved the mall for a few last minutes gifts tonight. While walking out, we met the cow from Chick Fil-A. A boy after my own heart, Will ran up and gave him (her?) a big hug. Reina did not. She hid behind me and only managed a tight wave as the cow mosy-ed on by. As we were walking away, Reina told me "Cows shouldn't wear dresses."

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A few nights ago, we were in the den watching tv and Will was staring at our wood burning stove. I thought he was watching the flames but then he turned to me, "Mom, are you sure Santa can fit in that thing?"

Christmas programs and weird photos

Last week, both kids had their preschool Christmas programs. Reina's was Wednesday night and consisted of her sitting on the teacher's lap, jingling a few bells and quietly singing a song or two. Girl is not interested in the spotlight, at this point. After the program, the little kids had a book exchange and then a visit from S-A-N-T-A. Reina climbed up on his lap but then proceeded to go mute. She did manage to whisper "a horse" in response to his "what do you want for Christmas?" question but she didn't waste time on any small talk. Brother, on the other hand, climbed right up and filled Santa in on all of the details that he needs to know for Will's Christmas. All the other issues aside, I do love the look on Will's face when he sees Santa. He just lights up and has such a look of wonderment. This is a fun age.

On Thursday, Will's class had their program. We were sitting too far away to capture any good images, but he's the elf in the sweater vest on the left-hand side of the photo. He hated that outfit and threw a fit putting it on because it's "not cool! And my friends will laugh at me!" (I thought I had a good 5 to 10 years before I had to have that argument.) Glenn coaxed him into the sweater vest and corduroys by convincing him that it was a soldier's outfit and he could bring his sword (in the car). Clearly, it worked. Will did a great job in the program. He sang the songs and made an enthusiastic stab at all of the sign language for "We Wish You a Merry Christmas." The whole class sang the first two verses of "Silent Night" and their sweet little voices brought tears to my eyes.

Reina kept herself busy during Will's program by taking about thirty pictures of herself with my camera. And talking to herself whilst taking said pictures. "Say cheee Waina!" Don't you just love the interplay of gray and white to form an image that represents the bleakness of winter? No? Just me? I have about 15 more photos from that genre. Let me know if you are interested in purchasing any of her work.

Meet Frosty

I found this cheerful fellow planted in the front yard when I came back from my jog this morning. He's the product of enough snow on the ground still and too many holiday cartoons being watched in the Pauley household lately. Will informs me that the snowman's name is Frosty, naturally. He also tells me that it's okay if Frosty melts because "he'll be back again someday." Reina is concerned that he doesn't have a hat and asks if perhaps we can go to Target and buy him one. She requests Target specifically. Apparently ball caps or stocking caps aren't good enough for our Frosty. He needs a top hat! Glenn's happy that it's warm enough to get the kids outside and tired out from a little snowman building activity. I'm just wishing they'd found something else besides glass Christmas ornaments to use as his eyes. However, that's two LESS ornaments for Trigger to chew on so we'll just leave it as it is. With the kind of winter we are having so far, Frosty could be in our frontyard until May.

It's beginning to look a lot like something.....

A Santa-Pirate and his disheveled sister (seriously) decorating the Christmas tree. In between hanging up an ornament or two, Will was busy defending us from approaching marauders. All of the shooting noises and explosions didn't really fit into my idea of a peaceful, holiday evening but what can you do. He's a boy. And he's four. An artsy (blurry, hurried) attempt to capture Reina carefully decorating the tree. She was particular about which ornaments should we hang, and frankly at this point we don't expect any different from her. She hung up cats, those little fake marshmallows that look like snowman and shoes. Yes, we have shoe ornaments. We had another nice snowstorm last week. While it added a certain holiday touch to our landscape, it also brought with it some bitter cold. I shoveled the driveway and sidewalk for a few minutes on Saturday while Will and Trigger romped in the yard. Both dog and kid were wanting to stay outside long after I was ready to come in.

After my post last week, Reina did develop croup and an ear infection on top of that so my long Thanksgiving holiday weekend was extended for a few more days. Will has the cough now but we are hoping that all of his different "breath-y" (his words) medicines will keep him healthy.

At church, Will has been practicing to be in the annual Christmas program. I've been trying to teach him some of my favorite Christmas Carols like "Away in a Manger" and "Silent Night." He's been mildly interested but every time I try to sit down with him at the piano it quickly deteriorates into a whine-fest. Last week, as we were driving home from preschool, he started singing sweetly in the backseat. His song of choice? "Dreidel, dreidel, dreidel, I made it out of clay. Dreidel, dreidel, dreidel....." He knew all of the words to the first verse. He's learning a lot at Montessori!

Five Things to Know About the Christmas Parade.

1. It was cold. Not "too-dangerous-to-be-out-there" cold but cold enough for snowpants and hats and gloves and frozen adult bottoms from sitting on the concrete.
2. Number of chairs Glenn suggested we bring with us: 2. Number of chairs we actually brought because I was like "Nah, we don't need them. It's not that cold.": 0.

3. Hot chocolate seems like a good idea because it's warm and yummy but it leads to three trips to the bathroom and subsequently missing seeing Santa which was the whole point of the bleeping trip anyway.

4. Trigger likes parades. Especially parades with horses and alpacas in them. Very interested in other things with four legs. He also likes it when people randomly drop snacks in his vicinity while watching the parade. 5. Important lesson. If your kid is coughing and sneezing and looking droopy, it's probably a good idea to go with your gut and not drag said kid to the Christmas Parade even though she wants to see the Parade because chances are, said kid will keep hacking and coughing and end up with a diagnosis of croup the next day.

Will flashes gang signs and Reina pouts

We've had a busy pre-Thanksgiving week. Glenn was buffalo hunting last week but came home without a buffalo this time. He'll have a few more chances before the season ends. While he's gone, I try to keep everyone busy with fun projects and crafts that they don't normally get to do. Last weekend I had the brilliant idea of having Will and Reina make some turkey stuff for Thanksgiving. We picked out a project and they were excited to glue and peel and cut and everything. I got all of the material set out and had everything ready to go. Will sat down for about 3.5 seconds, made his turkey and was done. Reina stuck around for a little longer but she was unhappy that Will had used a pink dot and blah blah blah. Needless to say, this was the best picture I could capture of the Art Project 2011. And I know, I want to reach through the camera and wash Reina's face! I mentioned in a previous post that Will is learning (and retaining) all sorts of funny stuff lately. He informed me this week that he knew how to say his name in sign language. Here we go..... W I......L.......

L!!

Reina looked especially cute for church last Sunday so I thought I'd take a quick pic of her radiant cheerfulness.
Let's try this again!
Hope everybody has a happy Fanksgiving!

November Stuff

We have all sorts of weird milestones happening at the Pauley household. Last night I overheard Reina's first (successful) attempt at tormenting her brother by repeating everything he was saying.

Will: I'm going to get a treat tonight.
Reina: I'M going to get a treat tonight.
Will: Stop saying everything I say.
Reina: Stop saying everything I say.
Will: I'm not playing with you.
Reina: I'm not playing with YOU.

And so it begins....

Brother and sister generally get along pretty well. Their big game lately is to play Lion King. Will plays the role of Mufasa (the daddy lion) and Simba (the boy lion) and Reina gets to be the mommy lion, of course. Trigger plays Scarf the bad lion. In the actual movie the bad guy's name is Scar but I can't bring myself to point that out to Will. Scarf is a much better villain's name, don't you think?

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Will is really interested in learning lately. He wants to count everything (number of Lego's to put back in the Lego bucket, how many bad guys are fighting Batman, pieces of antelope jerky he can eat for breakfast (I know, weird - but they both love it for breakfast). He'll willingly write his name on anything. Sometimes it comes out W-i-l-l, sometimes it's l-l-i-w depending on which side of the paper he starts on. He's very earnest about relaying the little details that he learns in school. "Mom! Did you know that the Indians lived in a tee.... what are those things called?" He gets very serious when he talks about that holiday that's coming up and I have to stifle a smile when he says "Mom! Did you know that it's going to be Fanksgiving next week? I fink it is!"

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Reina is so very two, still. She's talking up a storm but her personality is still very umm... mercurial? She's all smiling and hugs one minute and then screeching "NO! I'M MAD AT YOU!" the next. She loves to play kitchen and pretend that she's cooking up a feast of hot chocolate, 'sammitches' and tea. She wants to do every single thing that her brother does, and she wants to do it faster and better. How's that for a preview of coming attractions?

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Glenn and I celebrated our sixth wedding anniversary last weekend. By 'celebrating' I mean we went to a 5-yr old's birthday pool party and had a blast and then ate Japanese takeout in the kitchen with a couple of hungry kids hogging the tempura. This anniversary was the first time that the date fell on a Saturday since our wedding. All day I thought back to what I was doing in 2005 - getting my hair done, buying a bagel sandwich with my veil on, getting ready with all of my friends and relatives, seeing Glenn at the end of that long aisle. It was a happy day and I marveled to think of how much has changed and yet how much has stayed the same since then. We have a different house and dog and two crazy kids but we are still the same people who got married that windy day in November.

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At the pool party last weekend, both kids had a blast in the water. We had to drag them out kicking and screaming (literally) and Reina looked like a cast member from that last scene in "Titanic." Her lips were a lovely shade of blue. They both love the water and with the help of some floaty vest things, they splashed around and went down the water slide and had a great time. Will even jumped off of the diving board! I don't think I did that until I was 16! He balked on his first attempt and had to climb back down but after a pep talk and watching a few other kids have a go, he bravely climbed back up, walked to the end of the board, jammed both hands in his mouth and then jumped into the pool where Glenn was waiting to catch him. He ended up getting up there a few more times. I remain alternately amazed and terrified at his bravery. One thing's for certain, we are signing this kid up for swimming lessons next month.

Overheard at Target

"Look Mom! I'm a fly!" "But we neeeeeeeeed it!"

Reina is getting too big for the seat on the front of the shopping cart so I've been letting her run free with her brother. She's extremely helpful. Today I fished out of our cart the following items: a gold and silver ladies watch, that giant bag of gumballs in the picture above and a Barbie. We didn't notice the giant roll of blue duct tape that made it home in our shopping bag but apparently she has decorating plans that we don't know about.

Well at least we won't have to worry about in-laws

We had a weird milestone of sorts this morning in the Pauley household. Will officially proposed to Reina. Well, to be fair, I think his actual words were "We are going to get married someday, right Reina?" Her response was "ehhhh...."

I'm relaying this story for two purposes. One: to embarrass him when he's 13. Two: to remember to mention this story in the toast at his wedding. "Sorry new Mrs. Pauley but you should know that you weren't actually the first person that Will wanted to marry."

Will has weddings and relationships and couples on the brain lately. Besides Reina, he also wants to marry a cute little blonde in his class. I asked why he wanted to marry her and he said it was because she has long hair. Typical. He suddenly knows the terms "girlfriend" and "boyfriend" and any two people of the opposite sex on the television are suddenly coupled in a romantic relationship, instead of say, detective partners or people talking in line at McDonald's. "Is that her boyfriend?" "How come his girlfriend is shooting a gun?" Yeah. No more Law & Order episodes left lying around.

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When he's not plotting his nuptials, Will still has pirates on the brain. It's been cold and windy outside so we are stuck in the house after dinner. Tonight, Will and Reina talked their Dad into pulling them around the upstairs in a laundry basket. That's no ordinary laundry basket, mind you. That's a pirate ship. Complete with a princess-in-peril and her baby (?). That's one tough baby. Doesn't the pirate ship hauler look completely enthused? My camera has a special function that manages to capture Glenn looking dour and in pain whenever possible. He was having fun, I swear!

A few minutes after I snapped this photo, I was downstairs and heard Reina shrieking so I came up to investigate. Turns out the two were supposed to be taking turns riding solo in the pirate ship and it wasn't Reina's turn, hence the loudly vocal dismay. I catch Will and Glenn at the top of the stairs discussing the merits of taking the pirate ship down the stairs. Not, downstairs but DOWN THE STAIRS. I calmly and politely reminded Glenn of the trip to the ER earlier in the summer after Will rode the exercise ball DOWN THE STAIRS. After some rational discussion, I agreed that they could attempt a very controlled pirate-ship-down-the-stairs maneuver. After a short but bumpy ride, Will made it to the bottom of the stairs unscathed and cheerfully informed me, "See mom, I'm not bloody!" Yup, that's we measure success around here. No one got bloody. Hooray.

Race Day

We traveled down to Colorado this morning so that Uncle Matt and I could run a half marathon while the rest of the crew cheered us on. This is going to be a short post because I really want to go lay down. I'm tired! It was a fun race and one of the better ones I've run in that I didn't throw up or cry at the end. Yeah!! Here we are pre-race. It was a cold day but pretty nice for a long run. Trigger came with us too but he was still in the car at this point. Will's not plugging his ears on purpose, he's just jamming out to some tunes on my Ipod. He loves his music. Here I am approaching the finish line. Vicky took a bunch of great pictures but I chose this one because (a) I actually look like I'm running and (b) I'm not making an obscene gesture at the camera - not that I would EVER do that but let's just say that it was a long 13 miles and (c) look at the form, that smile, I actually look like a runner (unlike some of the photos from previous races where people are like, "why are homeless running down the middle of the street?")

So it was a nice Saturday. We are having one of those rare months-that-end-in-'ber weekend occurrences where both of us are home and no one is hunting anything. The weather was a little nasty when we came back home so we spent the afternoon and evening just hanging out. It was really nice. Now I'm off to find another handful of ibuprofen and resume my position on the couch. More tales of the Bronco Babies tomorrow....

The Cowgirl and the Pirate

First things first, Trigger (aka Secretariat) won second place in my office's Halloween pet costume contest. He lost to a cat with a kicky hat and witch's dress. Any cat that willingly wears a hat and dress probably deserves first place. But I think Trigger looks pretty good too. As a bonus, the costume made him a little humble and reserved. I think I'll put it on him every night. On Halloween, I spent a few minutes with Will's class for a Halloween party. The kids wore their costumes and had a parade around school and then changed back into regular clothes for a Halloween snackfest extravaganza. Each snack item was orange - wiggly jello bats, cheez-its, orange slices, cupcakes (made by the Bronco Baby Mom), cheese stick and orange juice. Very appealing for the 4-yr old set. Here they are singing the Montessori pre-snack song. The hand-holding and singing warms my heart. Will takes his wiggly orange jello very seriously.

I headed back to work for a few hours and then picked up the kiddos early to take the tour around the offices (all of their Cheyenne relatives are state employees and we take our office trick-or-treating very seriously!) and then home for a quick meal so that at least a few of the calories they ingested that day were of the protein/vitamin-laden variety.

Here's the official 2011 Halloween picture:

Reina is a homemade Jessie the Cowgirl. She was delighted with her hastily sewn cowhide chaps that are actually safety pinned to her jeans and her sale rack western shirt that she'll be able to wear until she's a 4T. Will is a pirate. He wanted to be Capt Jack Sparrow but he ended up looking more like a Three Musketeer/buccaneer variety pirate. He's got the jauntiness down pat.

The weather was pretty decent for a Wyoming Halloween and we all went trick-or-treating around the neighborhood. Both kids quickly figured out that ringing a few doorbells and shrieking "TICKORTEE!!" equaled a handful of candy in your orange plastic pumpkin and they were fully on board with the process, until we got to this house. If you zoom in closely, you can see someone coming around the corner.

Well, behind that person was a grown man dressed in full Darth Vadar gear, complete with flowing black cape and scary black head dress thing. I saw him before the kids did and as I scooped in to get Reina, I couldn't capture any of it on film. The Cowgirl took one look at Vader, her face fell and she quickly took a few steps backward to get the heck out of Dodge. She didn't cry but she must have figured that no amount of candy was worth the price of staying on that porch. Will, of course, was enthralled. "I know who you are!" It was definitely Will's favorite house of the night. Darth Vader, to his credit, pulled his mask off when he saw the terrified two-year-old and she did eventually go back up to the door but she was on alert for the rest of the evening.

After a few more houses, Will was cold and ready to peruse the contents of his plastic pumpkin and Reina was tired of being suspicious of each house so we headed home. The kids helped us hand out candy for a few minutes before crashing hard. The night after Halloween, we were hit with another big snowstorm so we made it just in the nick of time. Happy Halloween everyone!