It's May - and it's still snowing

With all of the other news going on in the world this week, I feel a bit silly complaining about the weather. But I'm going to do it anyway. There's not much new to report on from the Pauley household. The weather is bringing us all down. This weekend was windy, cold and there were even a few snowflakes. I know that we choose to live in Wyoming but I'm really over it. The kids are getting stir crazy inside and although the grass is greening up, nothing else is growing. It's too scared to. I know that I should be grateful that we are not dealing with tornadoes and all of that devastation but I could really use some sun. And a nice gentle breeze .

Okay, enough griping for one night. We had a busy week and a really fun weekend. Last week we had the annual parent/teacher conference with Will's preschool teachers. It's always interesting to hear about his day-to-day adventures. He will share a few details on the ride home every day but depending on his mood, I usually just find out if he played outside, sat in time-out or what he had for snack. At the conference, Will's teachers said that he is doing well in most areas. He really likes to build towers and stack blocks by shape and put stuff together. He's less inclined to work independently and initiate projects on his own. He likes to watch other kids start something before he'll dive in. We also found out that he's a bit of a social butterfly. I imagine that he treats preschool somewhat like a cruise ship. You go to the Aloha deck and sit in sun and laugh and have fun and then you move to the Lido deck for shuffleboard and lunch, and you are still laughing and carrying on. I can't tell if Will's the ring leader or just a member of the Good Times Gang but the kid loves to laugh.

Reina's class doesn't do parent/teacher conferences, but if they did we could all sit around and talk about how Reina's language is increasing by leaps and bounds, even if her primary language is still Rein-ish. At home, her new favorite activity is roll call: Where's Daddy? He's hunting. Where's Bobo? He's in his room. Where's doggy? He's outside. Where's Pop-pop? He's at his house. Insert complete list of family here and once you reach the end of the list, start over again from the top. She asks the questions and I'm expected to provide a timely answer, or the question is just repeated until I do.

This weekend, my Aunt Mary and cousin Katie came to town from Minnesota for a quick visit. We all got up at the crack of dawn (okay, it wasn't even really dawn. It was 3:30 a.m.) on Friday morning to watch the Royal Wedding. Yes, we were one of 'those' people. It was really fun and I'm glad I watched it live, even if I was in a sleep-deprived trance the rest of the day. Later on Friday, we went to Fort Collins to shop for bridesmaids dresses and other finery. You know what's not easy? Keeping both Will and Reina occupied in a bridal shop. Or a make-up store. Or a clothing store. We had a really nice visit and both kids warmed up to the relatives pretty quickly.

No pictures of the kids this week because it's been that kind of a week. On Sunday, all of the houseguests were making their way back home and Glenn was still turkey hunting so the babysitters came over for a few minutes so that I could jog and exercise Trigger. He was so tired out from playing with the kids while I was on my run, that he kept laying down on our walk. Needless to say, we all took long naps Sunday afternoon.
In what has to be in the running for 'worst picture ever,' I was walking Trigger last week at dusk and spied a great horned owl on our neighbor's roof. Now I realize that this picture could be anything... bobcat, paper bag, traffic cone... so you'll just have to take my word for it. Trigger and I stood and watched the owl for several minutes and he kept turning his head all the way around and looking at us like "What? You lookin' at me?" Living on the edge of the prairie certainly has its disadvantages when the wind is howling, but it's time like these that make it all worth it.