Spiders, butterflies and other things that make me go ewwww

We had a nice holiday weekend!  On Saturday, we headed down to Denver and checked out the Butterfly Pavilion. 

Two rare, elusive butterflies who refuse to look at the camera at the same time. Or at all. 

Besides butterflies, the Pavilion had a whole host of other creepy, crawly creatures.  While we were waiting for the grandparents to arrive, we spent some time in the bug room. That's not it's official title but it works for me.  Lots of stuff in cages, besides this big hairy tarantula here.  Will got a sticker for holding Rosie the Tarantula.  Reina did not get a sticker because no amount of money, ponies or ice cream would've convinced her to hold that thing in her hand.  She was adamant, "I do not like that spider.  I don't want to touch it."  

Will the Spider Tamer.  I put on a brave face but there was no way I was touching it either. 

After looking at spiders and starfish and other invertebrates, we headed into the butterfly pavilion.  Fighting the urge to slap everything away from my face, I managed to take a few pictures of cute siblings. 

In about 3.5 seconds, Reina's going to try to touch the butterfly, even though I'm standing right behind her saying, "Just look at the pretty butterfly, don't touch it!"

We saw lots and lots of pretty flowers.  Try as I might, I don't think I could grow this one in my garden at home. 

Turtles!  Now this I like. 

We also tried to get a picture for the Christmas card (planning ahead!) but then a butterfly landed on Pop-pop's hat and 3 out of the 4 Pauleys were distracted.  Which is fine because before the butterfly landed on Pop-pop's hat, 2 of the 4 Pauleys were crying about having their picture taken. 

Why walk when you can ride?  You can see so many cooler things from Pop-pop's vantage point. 

Finally, after the butterfly tour, we headed back inside so Will could give Pop-pop and Grandma a tour of the bug room.  Will even exerted some 5-yr old peer pressure and talked Pop-pop into holding Rosie.  Pop-pop got a sticker too! 

Independence

A tale of two kids....

On Friday, Reina and I went on a field trip to the Martinez Farm in Fort Collins. I've chronicled the joy that is The Farm before.  It's a favorite place of both kids and I enjoy seeing them look at all of the animals, plus it's a pretty little oasis, a time machine of sorts.  Anyway, I'll post some pictures of Reina shortly but after the field trip, she and I went to Whole Foods for lunch.  She talked all through lunch about a variety of topics.  She's in that lovely stage where everything is a "Why?" or "What's a _____(name of thing you just mentioned)?"  etc. etc. etc.  While not interrogating me, she regaled me (and the people sitting around us) with a monologue about her adventures on the farm.  "I saw a goat and some chickens and a tat (cat) and a baby tow and I gave a pony some pats and the pigs were being naughty and ..."  After a long, leisurely lunch, I packed up our trash and cleared our table and headed to the trash bins.  Reina marches to the door, pushes it open and announces that she'll meet me at the car. 

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.  Like I just let 3-yr old's cross busy parking lots all by themselves.  I'm not sure I've even ever let her meet me at the car anywhere.... maybe coming out of the house into the garage?  I said "No, you won't meet me at the car.  Wait for me right there."  Her response was a harrumph, followed by an aggressive arm folding but she stayed put.   She started with the "You NEVER let me...." Clearly.  Yes.  I never let you maneuver two lanes of traffic by yourself.  You are right. 



Reina and her best friend Dylan.  They had fun trooping around the farm.  At one point, Reina shrieked, "Dylan, hold my hand!"  Apparently, he likes his girls a little bossy. 

Reina and the nicest pony I've ever met.  I've rarely met a friendly pony so I was cautioning Reina to be careful but this little guy was very patient and sweet.  Granted, he probably wanted the grain in her bag but there were too many signs begging us to NOT FEED THE PONIES and we obeyed. 

Reina wasn't afraid of any of the animals, even the ones she should have been (baby turkeys I'm looking at you).  She fed the goats, the sheep and one adorable calf that I almost snuck into the back of my car until I remembered that they grow up into cows. 

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Tonight Will accompanied me on my walk with Trigger and when we weren't singing "the ants go marching two by two" or talking about Ninja Legos or what he might do at Pirate Camp in a few weeks, we talked about graduation.  We had passed a house that had a flag on it that showed a picture of a dachshund in a  cap and gown.  Yeah, I don't know why either.  Anyway, back to my story.  Will asked what 'graduation' meant and I explained that when you are done with high school, you graduate and you get to go to college.  He thought about it for a minute and then told me that he didn't want to go to college. Well, maybe he'd go but he wanted me to go with him for a while.  I'm writing these words down now to remind him during the summer of let's see, 2025 (?) that HE WANTS HIS MOM TO GO TO COLLEGE WITH HIM FOR A WHILE.  Maybe I'll work on a PhD or get another bachelor's degree or something. I can't wait. 

For the record, I did tell him that when he's graduating in 13 years, I'll bet that he'll be very excited to go to college without his parents but we can wait and see how he feels when it gets a little closer.

Riding bikes and selling stuff

This picture has nothing to do with this post but I was cleaning up my phone and came across it.  Reina loves to put stuff in bags and carry said bags around the house.  It's always a random collection of goodies, but she seems to have a plan.  And that plan is to be ready to bust out of this joint at a moment's notice, apparently. 

We had a garage sale last weekend.  It's become a yearly tradition with my sister and another friend.  We sell stuff that we've accumulated in the past year.  For me, that's often a bunch of kid clothes that no longer fit anyone and the toys that they've outgrown or discarded.  Since moving into their new house a few weeks ago, Aunt Vicky and Uncle Matt had a bunch of stuff that they didn't need anymore.  We've had beautiful weather here for the last oh, say, eight weeks, but Saturday morning dawned crisp and COLD and not the greatest garage sale weather.  We didn't do too badly and most of that stuff you see on the driveway and in the garage is somebody else's problem treasure today. 

On Sunday, the sun was shining and after church, chores and naps, we headed to the park.  Some of us were heavily armed in case we ran into a situation. 

This was my attempt to get a family picture of the three of them.  Reina decided that she didn't want her face shown, Glenn was trying to cajole her and Will was .... being Will. 

Some of us were really happy to get out in the sun and some of us look so much better than we did a few months ago. Isn't it awesome?  And no Trigger, I'm not talking about you. 

This is what Mom gets when she says cheese while Serious Bike Rider is looking directly into the sun.  Will is mastering bike riding and Glenn's goal is to take the training wheels off at the end of the summer.  My goal is for Will to NOT break any bones this summer so we'll see how those two goals work together. 

My big kid, riding off into the sunset. 

And then there's Reina.  She didn't always want to ride her bike but she did a pretty good job.  We are working on steering and looking ahead to where the bike is going, but clearly that's a work in progress.  I attached a rope to her bike to help keep up the rest of the family and it worked well.  It also helped her belief that her bike is actually her horse.  Named Lucky, naturally. 

I don't know how she flies in that thing

I bought the kids new coloring books on Friday and remembered to bring them with us to church today.  Reina usually colors on any blank piece of paper in sight on Sunday mornings so I thought a new book might keep her occupied for a while.  Will's very good at sitting quietly and playing with whatever he brings along but today he liked the Super Hero coloring book I picked out.  I looked over during the sermon and had to stifle a giggle when I saw what he was coloring.  Instead of coloring Wonder Woman's one piece/spandex/get-up, Will decided she must be gallivanting around in a bikini top and I-don't-know-what on the bottom.  But she does have nice green boots. 

Yee haw!! 



Here's a close-up of the costume in question.  Not much keeping that top on on besides gravity! 
Double-sided tape maybe? 

Later this afternoon, Will colored while I did some work.  As you can see, he takes it very, very seriously. 

 Batman was fully clothed by the way. I guess I need to pay more attention to the cartoons he's watching. 

Very smart and a "little wiggly"

Another week gone by and at least five good intentions to post more but life keeps getting in the way of my writing.  I had to travel overnight for work last week and even though it was just one night, it takes me a while to get caught up.  (Although a night to myself in a hotel is fun, I'll admit it.  TV all to myself, time to read, maybe a visit to the exercise room.  But I'm glad I don't have to travel every week.)   Anyway, back to the week.  Reina's ear infection STILL hasn't gone away.  She's on her third antibiotic and we are keeping fingers crossed that this one finally knocks it out because it's no fun for her and definitely a little hard on all of us.  Yesterday, she was feverish and droopy and just wanted to sit on my lap all day.  Today, Glenn stayed home with her in the morning and ran a few errands with her in tow.  They dropped Will's bike off at the local bike shop and Reina found a $40 bike helmet that she planned on wearing home.  When Glenn told her she had to leave it at the store, she cried and told him that he was breaking her heart.  So yes, we are hoping this antibiotic works it's magic. 

I have so much to write about that this is will probably end up taking me a few nights (and it has, I started this on Tuesday, now it's Thursday).  My Aunt Vicki visited us over the weekend from Virginia and we had a great time.  (We had several ideas of how to help the kids differentiate between the Aunt Vicki/Vicky's and all of our ideas like Old Vicki/Young Vicki, Big Vicki/Little Vicky, etc. were met with mixed responses....) We all helped Matt and Vicky move into a new house that is so cute and charming and I have to stop myself from driving over every day to see all of the progress they have made on unpacking, decorating, etc.  

So anyway.  The point of this post?  Last week, I took Will to kindergarten screening. We are still waiting to hear if he'll be going to our neighborhood school, but in the meantime, he had the screening to make sure that he's ready to go next year.  He is so ready.  He passed the tests with flying colors.  The only points he missed were because he couldn't hop on one foot for more than 2 times in a row (he clearly has my balance) and he wouldn't get serious about the alphabet.  We know that he knows most of the letters but for some reason, he doesn't like to demonstrate that to his preschool teachers or the kindergarten screening teacher.  In talking with the teacher afterwards she said she can tell that he's very smart and she thought it was pulling her leg by saying he didn't know the alphabet.  On the sheet that we got to take home, her only note was "he's a little wiggly."  I think that can sum up his childhood so far.  Smart and wiggly. 

Side note, I discovered why 3-yr old's don't get to go to kindergarten yet. I made the mistake of bringing Reina with us to the screening and she was made that she couldn't go back with Will for the testing. She kept walking by the door of the room that he was in and shouting "Hi Bobo!"  She was not satisfied to sit with me in the hallway. 

We also had Will's parent teacher conference with the preschool teachers this week. At last year's meeting  felt like he treated preschool like it was a cruise ship with one fun activity after another and a big gang of friends to play shuffleboard with.  This year, it sounds like he views it as a frat house.  Granted, I haven't spent a large amount of time in frat houses but I would imagine that it's similar to Will's preschool experience, minus all the beer of course.  His teachers said that the only thing Will gets 'in trouble' for is too much socializing.  Whether he's talking with the person sitting next to him during quiet time or sneaking pencils into nap and then breaking them up and stuffing them in his shoes with a bunch of other little boys (true story), Will has a good time wherever he goes.

So to sum up.  Will's ready for kindergarten.  Reina wants to go, too.  Mommy wants time to slow down, except for the time that heals Reina's current ear infection.  That can hurry along.