The week in cell phone pictures

Another week and a half and no time for blog writing.  That seems to be my theme lately.  I'm hopelessly optimistic that things will settle down and I'll get back to a more regular posting schedule.  But how boring to write about how I don't have time to write, right?  So on to the pictures!  Last weekend, we attending a wedding on a local ranch. It was one of those perfect Fall nights, cool but not too cool, no wind, yummy food, a UW football win and happy kids, mostly happy anyway.  Will fell asleep on the way out to the wedding, slept in the car for another 45 minutes or so and then was somewhat droopy and delirious until he realized there would be cake.  While the party was on inside the barn, the kids entertained themselves with dancing (Reina), exploring (both), talking to cows (Reina), tiptoeing across a cattle guard (Will) and playing on an old coach (both).  I didn't manage to take any photos of Reina but here are a few of Will. 

Look at that balance!  Actually, he fell through shortly after this was taken.  He is my kid after all.  

Driving an imaginary team, holding imaginary reins but looking very much the part, I think. 

Will had control of the camera phone in this one.  This must be what I look like to him.  Wrinkled shirt and too much teeth!

Back at home, we had two wild dogs this week.  I had to travel last week so they didn't get their morning runs while I was gone. I ran a race on Sunday (ran my best time ever!  But it was downhill!  But it still counts!) so I didn't run with them at all during the weekend.  The weekend was also too busy for many walks so here I am apologizing to the dogs but it is what it is.  Tootsie still loves us.  I think she's settled in pretty easily huh? 

Reina started driving this week.  Well, she thinks she's ready anyway.  This is how I entertained her during one of Will's flag football practices.  Not content to play in the park, this girl insisted on getting behind the wheel.  If only she could reach the pedals. 

 Finally, Reina had a much needed haircut.  Just like earlier in the summer, it seemed the longer her hair grew, the wilder her personality was.  I took Monday afternoon off to do a bunch of chores that had been bugging me:  cleaning out the dead plants in the garden, vacuuming up the 10 pounds of dog hair under the sofas, and cutting R's hair.  Mission accomplished!   

 She was worried that it was a "boy haircut."  I think it looks adorable.  I can't say that it's tamed her very much, but I guess we wouldn't have her any other way.   

This is one of those long wordy posts

Two weeks since my last post?  Man!  I've had good reasons, but nothing serious.  We've been busy with kindergarten, flag football, work, travel for work, travel for relatives, giant garage sales with relatives, dogs who need exercise every single stinkin' day, a garden that is out of control and a house that's begging for a big cleaning.  There are also kids who need to be fed and cleaned (so demanding!) and lots and lots of FOOTBALL! 

So we'll start where left off last time.  Everyone asks me, "how does Will like kindergarten?"  The answer varies from day to day.  He's usually pretty willing to go to school in the morning and he definitely enjoys the after school program.  He's figuring out the schedule and the routine.  We haven't had one single drop-off where he cried.  He had a rough day last week because he had to sit in time-out for the first time at the lunch room.  His transgression?  Burping in someone's face.  He was actually pretty upset about it but not so upset that he didn't repeat the dastardly act two days later. 

Will had a project this week called "The Who Box."  He had to fill up a box with 7 to 10 things that described what he likes and is interested in right now.  Will's items included a lego man (naturally!), the Ninjago movie, his Ninjago shirt, a Star Wars book, Pirate Booty snack, his camouflage hat, a picture of him hiking, and a picture of him with cousins Ben and Alena.  I can't think of anything else to add that would further explain this 5-yr old boy right now.  Except maybe a picture of him hugging his sister and then pushing her.  It's very love/hate between those two right now.  They'll play and play and play and play for hours and then the whole thing will dissolve in less than five minutes for reasons known only to them and which I can't translate with all the whining and sobbing and accusations flying back and forth. 

Speaking of Will's sister, last night I was reading Reina a story about a doctor's office and when we were finished, I told her that she can be whatever she wants to be someday.  A doctor, a cowgirl, a teacher, etc.  She thought about it for a minute and then said "I want to be a cat."  I told her that she could be a doctor who takes care of cats and she said, "No, I want to be a cat."  Lesson learned.  In the future I should say something like "You can be whatever you want to be of the human variety."

Speaking of the non-human varieties of our family, both dogs are having a pretty good life.  I'm training for another half marathon so they get lots of exercise.  When they aren't jogging with me, they are turning the living room into Dog Wrestlemania.  They keep each other company during the day.  While outside, Tootsie has figured out how to break into our compost bin so she snacks on rotting fruits and vegetables scraps all day.  yuck. I was thinking the strong smell emanating from her bottom was due to the dog food she's eating.  Clearly not.  I wrapped the compost bin in an entire roll of duct tape this weekend in the hopes of ending that cute little habit. 

I meant to write about this last month but never got around to it.  August 12 marked six months since Glenn went to the hospital.  Once he was on the road to recovery, the doctors told him that it would take about six months to get back to 100%.  It's so nice to say that he really is back to 100%.  He's a little skinny in my opinion but he feels great. He has a big slate of hunting on the calendar and it's so nice to know that he survived that whole thing without any lasting impacts.  I think we've all come away with a greater appreciation of each other and the importance of paying attention to that little voice that says "something is not quite right here." 

Last weekend, Reina and I traveled with Aunt Vicky to Minnesota.  The purpose of the trip was to see family and help our Aunt Mary with a garage sale. Most of the items in the garage sale were from my Grandma's estate.  The sale was a lot of hard work but it was really nice to see everyone and spend some time thinking about Grandma and her great taste in dishes, knick-knacks, Christmas decorations and stuff.  Many of the garage sale people told us that it was the nicest garage sale they had ever been to.  We sold a lot and donated a lot and my suitcase came back significantly heavier than when I left but we got everything done.  Reina had a great time and she was a pretty good little traveler.  The weekend wasn't completely meltdown-free, she had her moments, but all in all she hung out with a bunch of big kids and grown-ups and did her best to keep up.  My aunt has two cats and Reina looooooooooved them.  I'm sure the feeling wasn't entirely mutual, you could almost see the cats smiling when they saw us packing up our bags, but they were very patient with her.  When we'd get up in the morning, she'd greet them with a "Good morning Miss Kitty.  How are you today?"  I'm confident she expected an answer. 

Anyone want to buy a basket?  Or seven?

Back on the homefront, Glenn and Will went camping with the dogs.  A great time was had by all.  In fact, Will asked when Reina and I were going on a trip again.  Not soon enough apparently.

So September is half over and we are all chugging along.  More pictures next time!   

The rest of the week

So it's the Monday of Labor Day weekend. I'm on the sofa working and watching mindless tv, the kids are outside playing in the sun (good for them!) and Glenn's working out.  Oh and Trigger and Tootsie are sleeping upside down on the couch.  Everything is as it should be. 

What an eventful week! Will is enjoying his first week of kindergarten. Every night after school he has some little tidbit to share. On Thursday, when asked what he'd learned that day, he thought about it for a minute before replying "that we don't run in the halls." I can see that being a lesson he needed. On Friday, he lectured Reina and I on fire safety all the way home. "If the door is hot, then you jump out the window." He's picked up a few colorful phrases that we are having to weed out of his vocabulary all ready but it could be worse. After picking him up from school one day last week, he and I were driving to get Reina and he was quiet for a minute before asking, "How do bumblebees go potty?" I don't know the answer to that question, but if I ever write a book, I'm pretty sure that's going to be the title.

On Saturday, Glenn took Will dove hunting for the first time.  Just to clarify, Will didn't do any actual shooting but he had a great time with his dad.  Trigger got to to go too and did his job passably well. 

The mighty hunters before the hunt.  You can tell that they are related huh? 

One of Will's brave little Lego men made the trip, too.  Hey - at least it wasn't a backpack and an address book re: tball a few years ago. 

Guess who didn't get to go bird hunting?  Poor Tootsie!  Instead of chasing doves all over southeast Wyoming, she accompanied Reina and me to Aunt Vicky's house to help can.  She got to pester a cat and two grumpy ol' men dogs, so it was probably worth it. 

 I forgot to mention last week that I took Will to his first Broncos game.  It was the third preseason game and it was hot, hot, hot up in our seats.  The seats are so high that we are noticeably closer to the sun or something.  This little guy was a trooper.  He didn't complain, he stood up and clapped when everyone else did, he asked me periodically if the bad guys were winning (they weren't), and he sampled just about kind of snack in the stadium.  It was fun to show him one of my favorite places and I look forward to the day when he can come to a regular season game with me.  That day will have to wait until he can go to the restroom by himself or I will miss too much of the game.  But look at this cute face!  He needs some short sleeve Broncos attire too.  All we have are long sleeve winter-y type things and there was no way he was wearing that in August. 

Last weekend, we also zipped up to the mountains for a quick picnic with some friends.  We had a great time.  Tootsie rolled in every cow pie that we came across.  Trigger lost his off-leash privileges rather quickly again.  The kids played and played and played and played and then ate cookies. 

 There was also dancing... but only to music that Reina could hear. 

A quick Reina story.  Grandma Pauley gave her a cute little stuffed unicorn.  She asked me what unicorns eat and I said "marshmallows" and that struck her funny bone and she giggled about it all night.  She named the purple unicorn "Pickles" which we thought was pretty funny.  Big Brother pressured her to change the name to "Fluffy" which although it might be a more appropriate purple unicorn name, it lacks the originality of Pickles.  After thinking about it for a while, Reina announced that the unicorn's name is now "Fluffy Pickles."  If I ever have a band, I'm pretty sure that will be the name.