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!