Thanksgiving weekend recap

While driving home from the Christmas parade last night (Saturday), Glenn told me that he felt like we needed a few more extra days for our holiday weekend.  From my perspective, I'm actually a little relieved to go back to work tomorrow, where the pace will hopefully be slightly slower than it was at home this weekend.  We packed a lot into our holiday!  On Saturday, the kids and I continue to tackle the giant toy sinkhole known as their rooms.  We got it done and Glenn was amazed when he got back from hunting.  It's not often that I can surprise him (in a positive way) with my cleaning skills. 

 

Part of the reason for all of the cleaning in Will's room is that we decided to paint it before the new carpet arrives.  Earlier in the summer, he asked for a Broncos room and seriously, who am I to turn down that request?  While I originally envisioned blue and orange and stripes and a giant Broncos logo and all sorts of Broncos wonderfulness, over time (and a few yucky games), I toned it down to white on the top, blue on the bottom and an orange stripe through the middle.  Here's the 'before' picture.  Vicky and I painted that green a few months after we moved in. 

 

Glenn and I obviously care a lot about removing clutter and furniture before we paint.... it could've been so much worse.

 After a jampacked day full of church, Sunday School, trip to the paint store and three football games (Go Broncos!), I'm pleased to report that the only thing we have left is the orange stripe.  We hope to finish that tomorrow night and put the room back together.  Will's bunking on the floor of his sister's room tonight and not super excited about that.

As I mentioned earlier, last night we headed out to the Christmas parade.  In previous years, the Christmas parade has been something to "endure" rather than head out to because of the cold, COLD weather.  This year was almost balmy compared to previous years.  It did get a little chilly towards the end and certain members of the family ignored mom's advice about grabbing a hat and gloves ... but we had a nice time.   Bring on December! 

Black Friday

It's officially the holiday season. I woke up not too painfully early, slapped on some mascara and headed out to do some shopping. I avoid the 3 a.m. or midnight or whatever it is now rush, but I do like to go out a little early and see the sales.  Vicky and I met at Target at around 7 a.m.  I was untethered but delighted to have this little reindeer for company.  This morning is the only guaranteed shopping time I have with no kiddos in tow so I try to grab some of the bigger items and look at everything else.  

 

It's too dang early to be wearing reindeer antlers lady.

 

One of the great things about shopping with a one-year old is that you can test drive possible toddler toys before deciding on the winner.  While I'd wanted to let the kids pick out something for Baby Cousin, this firetruck was on sale and a big hit with the little kiddo.  I bought it and brought it home to show to the kids. It was a big hit with the five and seven-year old set too.  In fact, it's still sitting on the edge of the couch and whenever either one of them walk by, they can't help but press the siren.  There have been at least five times today where I thought that a firetruck was not only racing down our street but probably pulling into our driveway.  Need to get that sucker wrapped. 

 

weeee ooooooo weeeee oooooo weeeee ooooo weeee oooo (x's 100)

After my early morning shopping spree, I came home, grabbed a piece of pumpkin pie for breakfast and the kids and I headed to Fort Collins to return my brand new camera and run a few other errands.  Glenn's chasing the elusive wapiti so off we went.  On the way down I heard one of my favorite non-church Christmas songs. 

Reina's already a fan. 

 We shopped and erranded and came home in the early afternoon.  Will had a playdate with a friend while Reina and I hung out and did chores. Okay, truthfully I napped on the sofa while Reina watched a Barbie movie.  Barbie and the Four Musketeers.  Not sure it's a faithful adaptation of Mr. Dumas' work, but girl power and all that.  And there's a fluffy kitten who plays a pivotal role. 

Once Will was home from his playdate, the kids and I tackled our big project for the weekend.  Their rooms.  We are getting new carpet in a few weeks and I thought it was a good opportunity to clean stuff up.  It's going to be an on-going project this weekend but we made some progress.  One giant trashbag, 3 bags for Goodwill and a box of toys for the basement (in the hopes that they are forgotten with the rush of the holidays and can find a happy new home in a few months).

Reina has a little closet built into the side of her wall and up until today it was a catch-all for leftover baby stuff, clothes that didn't fit and other odds and ends.  Well, no more.  I gave up on the idea of keeping the crib bumpers (why?) and other little tiny stuff and Reina worked hard to sort through stuff she didn't play with anymore.  When we were done, we have a new girls only hideout with most of her stuffed animals and enough little plastic houses to recreate a village the size of Manhattan. 

Look at that big kid! 

While trying out my new camera version 2.0, Reina grabbed it and took a few snaps.  Don't I look dreamy? 

No photoshopping here, I really am that fuzzy. 

Thanksgiving selfies

Happy Thanksgiving!  We celebrated with Aunt Vicky, Uncle Matt and Baby Cousin and had a great meal.  My brain is running slowly tonight - blame it on the turkey and pumpkin cheesecake.  So here are a bunch of selfies and one picture of Ainsley from hanging out yesterday. 

 

It's a Bronco Baby Mom sighting!  Everybody say cheeeeeese. 

Most everybody look at the camera! 

3/4's of us have mean faces, 1/4 of us is just being cute. 

Yesterday, the kids didn't have school so I didn't work and got the bonus of hanging out with Ainsley all day. It was a lot of fun having a little person around the house, although I admit to forgetting how much CAN'T get done with a little person on your hip.  But the kids had fun entertaining her (and being entertained by her).  My BRAND NEW camera stopped working so I didn't any pictures.  A certain store is going to have a volatile customer to deal with tomorrow morning. 

Tootsie says:  "Hey Boss, you want that I should feed the kid?"  Red heelers are soooooo helpful. 

Well at least I have a few weeks before I have to send the Christmas card out

It's the first night of Thanksgiving vacation!  The kids don't have school tomorrow so I've taken the day off and don't go back until Monday.  Yeah!!  We have big plans to cook and shop and watch movies and hang out with Baby Cousin.  The five-day weekend has me thinking of all of the stuff I need to get done in the next 30 days or so.  Amongst that list is of course the Christmas card.  I pulled out the camera to see if I could snap some affectionate sibling shots.  Looks like I'll just have to keep trying.... and maybe wait for daylight.

 

Smile for the camera! 

Everybody look at mom and not the movie playing on the tv behind me... oh nevermind.

Hug each othe..... or nevermind. 

Monday Report

Picking up the kids from school today and Will asks me what I weigh. I tell him that moms usually don't like to tell people the number and that it's sort of a private thing.  He asks, "Do you weigh a thousand pounds?"  Less than a thousand buddy.  Less than a thousand.

When we arrive home, Reina reports that someone in her class said "boobs" on the playground and kicked someone else twice.  She was more detailed about which part of the body was kicked but since I've already typed "boobs" in this blog today, we'll just leave that little tidbit out of her report. 

Glenn and I drove down to the Broncos game yesterday.  Since all of the grandparents are already south for the winter, the kids spent the day with The Amazing Aunt Vicky and Baby Cousin.  Vicky was quite the trooper to take on both monsters for a pretty long Sunday but they had a great time.  I enjoyed the last 25% of the Broncos game and it ended in a "W" for the home team, so ..... phew.

Big Cousin and Baby Cousin working on a puzzle. 

Saturday

After a really busy week that had me traveling two nights, Glenn ferrying Will to wrestling practice two nights, a Thanksgiving lunch at the kids' school, ballet practice on a new night, a wrestling tournament and about 5 loads of laundry, Saturday couldn't get here soon enough.  After doing some chores and making the first of what will be many trips to the grocery store this week (hello Thanksgiving), Glenn and Will (and Trigger!) headed off to pheasant hunt for the afternoon.  I haven't cracked open the user's manual for my new camera yet (on my to-do list!) but I snapped a few shots before they left. 

Camo'd up and ready to go

Tootsie was the unhappier of the two little girls being left behind.  She doesn't appreciate the distinction between bird dog and cow dog.  Reina knew a trip to Aunt Vicky's house was on the agenda for our girls' afternoon so she was mostly content to stay with me. 

Look at this long-legged kid.  With a car growing out of the top of his head. I need to crack open that user's manual. 

Wrestling

Will has been attended a wrestling camp for the last two weeks and the program culminated with a small tournament tonight.  I'll admit, wrestling was a little hard for this mom to watch.  He hit the mat hard a few times and I'm sure I visibly winced.  I know next to nothing about wrestling and learned a few pointers tonight.  Will worked really hard and we are proud of him for trying something new.  Especially when that 'something' involves throwing (or being thrown) people down on a mat.  We have a week off and then basketball starts for both kids.  In the meantime, I think Will wants to keep practicing wrestling so Reina had better watch her back.   

 

Grappling.  I think that's what the call it.  Or dancing. 

Will and his good buddy who happens to be in his second grade class. 

My boy.  My big, big kid.

These pictures are courtesy of the Bronco Baby Mom's early Christmas present.  I know, I know, it's only November 21 but Glenn ordered my new camera last weekend so that he'd officially be done Christmas shopping.  No comment.  When it arrived yesterday I hemmed and hawed about not opening it until Christmas but then I thought about all of the great photo opportunities in the next few weeks and let's admit it, my cell phone is barely doing the job right now. I have a lot to learn with my new camera (that has an actual lens and so many settings that I'm not even sure what the little icons mean) but I'm pretty amazed at what it can do so far.  

Happy early Thanksgiving

Pumpkin crunch was just about all that Reina ate. 

Today, the kids' school hosted their annual Thanksgiving lunch which featured turkey and gravy, mashed potatoes, salad, cranberries, a roll and something called "pumpkin crunch" which is a basically a pumpkin pie but instead of the crust on the bottom, it's towards the top under the whipped cream.  Odd, yes, but it works.  Will and Reina have lunch at two different times which was convenient for lunching with each kid.  I managed to take a picture of Reina chowing down.  We had a nice leisurely lunch where she told us about the kids sitting at the table with us and their various infractions in the classroom that morning.  Lunch with Will was a little more frantically paced and I didn't have time to get the camera out before he was announcing that it was time to head to recess.  Oh second graders. 

Reina and her BFF

I'm traveling tonight for work and Glenn sent me this picture of Reina and her best friend.  Some days he's her fiance, others days he's just a boyfriend.  But almost ALL of the days, he's her best friend.  His big brother and Will are in the same class and they are at wrestling camp tonight so the little brother and sister got to hang out, too. 

No animals were harmed in the making of this blog post, part 2

Before this blog got derailed by all of the stories of barfing kids, Glenn and Will went deer hunting last weekend.  They saw a few deer but didn't bring any home.  The weather was still pretty mild before the obnoxious cold snap/polar vortex/winter thing we had going on this week, so everybody had a good time. 

He'll be getting his learner's permit next week, or at least that's what it feels like.  He sure looks good in orange!

Glenn and his little clone.  You can't really tell here, but Glenn was in the process of growing a beard. 

Little sister doesn't get the exclusive rights to liking horses.

My own motorcycle man.

Glenn kept the beard until this morning when he came out of the bathroom complete with mustache and rectangular goatee that he wowed everybody at church with.  I can't say that this is my favorite look.  Will was concerned and told his dad that he looked like a clown.  I don't know that we'll have a repeat performance of the facial hair parade that took place in 2010 but maybe he'll surprise us with a Charlie Chaplin mustache in the morning.  Fingers crossed! 

Meet Cricket

Reina won this hot pink Cricket rifle in a raffle at a wildlife banquet last night.  She was all smiles as she walked off the stage with Glenn (his smile was just about as big as her's).  Even big brother was a little delighted, although he's not a fan of the color - naturally.  As I type this, Glenn is already securing Cricket away in the gun safe.  We don't mess around with gun safety at the Pauley household. 

Another one bites the dust

For the last few years, I've tried to blog every day in November as part of a national blogging movement thing.  And just like last year, I find myself blogging about sick kids during national blogging month.  Yesterday, I picked kiddos up from the after school program, came home, started dinner, Glenn and Will left for a wrestling camp (more on that later) and Reina threw up.  I thought because four days had passed since Will's "food poisoning" (which was obviously not food poisoning but just a stomach virus that seems to be racing through our town) that we were all in the clear.  Not so much.  Glenn and I still fine and I hope we stay that way.  We have a bunch of fun events planned for the weekend and none of them involve vomiting.  Fingers crossed!

Reina was sick all night, but true to form, woke up this morning, asked for some Sprite and cartoons and was jumping on the bed when I called home to check on her mid-morning.  Glenn and I took turns on Reina duty today, but we probably would've been better off hiring a lion tamer to come over and hang out.

When Will and Glenn came home from wrestling camp last night, Reina was using our barf bucket and Will walked over and patted her on the head and said "poor Reina."  He doesn't always let on that he kind of likes his little sister but that moment sure touched my heart.  In stark contrast to Reina's reaction on Monday morning when she found he was sick.  She came bursting into my room crying that she didn't want to see Bobo throw up because she doesn't like to hear about people barfing.  I guess we can cross ob/gyn or internal medicine off her list of potential professions. 

9 Years

Celebrating our 9th anniversary at the Olive Garden (hence the giant salad bowl in the forefront).  Photo by Will. 

Glenn and I were married 9 years ago today.  Here's the equation for our marriage so far:

3 dogs
2 kids
2 houses
1 major illness
1 major Super Bowl disaster
1 trip overseas (booo!  need more!)
a bunch of trips to the ER
9 hunting seasons, football seasons, college basketball seasons
3 times we actually bought each other an annivesary present (once was a vacuum cleaner)
1,000,000 adventures
1,000,000 happy memories
Happy 9 years

Warning: this post features a discussion of barfing, ad naseum

Will, who hasn't missed a day of school since November 2013, woke up in the middle night and proceeded to throw up at a regular interval until noon, at which time I took him to the doctor and got the magical medicine that helped him last year when this same thing happened but we let it go for about a week.  Wow, long run-on sentence.  What can I say, I've been up since the middle night helping someone hold the puke bucket.  The rest of us feel fine even though I keep checking in with my stomach, "You okay buddy?  Feeling good?  Nothing bad happening, right?"  I think Will must've eaten something yucky on the hunting trip.  When I asked if he remembered anything in particular, he described an energy bar that tasted "gross" and that he tossed it in the woods. I told him that there's probably a raccoon running around those woods with a bad stomachache now too and that briefly made him smile.  Tomorrow is Veteran's Day and Glenn and I have the day off.  The kids are supposed to have a half day of school, but we'll see how Will's doing.  Reina might be the sole Pauley who has to be anywhere by 8:30 a.m., and boy won't she be thrilled by that.  It's better than barfing!

Disclaimer: No animals were harmed, or really even inconvenienced, on this hunting trip

Glenn just returned from a week long hunting trip in northwestern Wyoming.  He was hunting mule deer but came back empty-handed.  Then he and Will headed up to northeastern Wyoming for a quick weekend hunt.  Now everybody is back home and there are piles of laundry to prove it.  I'll have pictures of the Glenn and Will hunting trip tomorrow night but here are some shots from Glenn's first trip. 

 

While scouting for deer, Glenn and his friends found this band of big horn sheep close to the top of a mountain.  The hunting season for sheep had closed two days prior to their trip and the sheep were aware of that fact.  Glenn said they got within 45 yards and the sheep saw them and didn't bat an eyelash. 

Glenn tells me that this is a bachelor group of rams with the oldest one and the head honcho (not an official wildlife management term) or big boss guy on the left side of the picture.

Glenn points out that the sheep in the lower right-hand corner even fell asleep while they watched. 

Yawwwwwwnnnnnnnn.

Sunset in the Shoshone National Forest. 

Not necessarily in this picture, but Glenn also told me that while he was glassing for deer one morning.  He saw a herd of deer in the distance run off.  As he watched a little longer, a mama grizzly and two little cubs rambled up the hillside.  I'm glad he was far enough away but I would have liked a picture of that.... with a super long-range lens. 

I'm so glad we are all back home under the same roof.  The high temperature on Tuesday is supposed to be 9.  Farhenheit.  Brrrrrrrrrr. 

Why we live in Wyoming, part 900

I feel like I've written about this before but I'm too lazy to go back and look it up tonight.  A few miles from our house, there's a chunk of state land and when there aren't cows grazing on it, people from town can hike and take their dogs and really tire them out.  Well, that last part is always my main goal.  Since I'm not training for a race right now, a little 30 minute jog isn't going to take much out of T & T and they sure are better dogs when they are exhausted.  So Reina and I took them out to the field this afternoon to let them run and run and run. 

 

I noticed this circle of rocks for the first time a few weeks ago.  It sure looks like a teepee ring to me but I need to take the expert (Glenn) out with me next time for his opinion.  Reina agrees with me, for what's it worth.  

 

Reina and I also did a little bit of shopping today.  For anyone needing gift ideas for the Rein-iac, she's added this chapeau to her Christmas list. She'd also like a second one to use as a bucket. 

Cousins

Reina and I had a quick visit with Baby Cousin tonight.  Reina still delights in getting to hold Ainsley on her lap even though Ainsley's like, "thanks but I'd like to go check out what's going on in the kitchen or really anywhere besides your lap."  But for a few minutes, they both sat in contentment and played with Ainsley's teddy bear.  This little, dark-haired curly girl is growing up so fast but she sure is a lot of fun.  The holidays are going to have a special sparkle this year... and feature many games of 'What's in Ainsley's Mouth and Quick Fish it Out!'

 

My, what large ears you have

Reina draws and draws and colors and draws some more.  She draws elaborate cross-sections of houses with purple curtains and pink beds and big rooms for her and her cats and a little tiny closet-sized space at the top of stairs for the rest of us.  She draws a picture of her big cousin's graduation and asks me how to spell "I love my family."  She draws unicorns and horses and babies and most of all, cats.  Cats with giant heads and big pink ears.  Cats that say "meow" under a sky filled with fluffy clouds and butterflies.  Cats that only have 3 legs but maybe it's a perspective thing.  We found out at Reina's parent-teacher conference last week that she's a little hard on herself in the classroom.  She's as smart as a whip and learning everything quickly.  She just gets down on herself when her teacher corrects her, points out a misspelled word, etc.  Frankly, she probably gets that from me.  (My family members are scoffing at the "probably" part of that sentence.)  So I'm trying to find a way to let her know that it's okay to be corrected, that's how we learn. In the meantime, I'm going to keep encouraging kitty pictures and everything else that comes out of that quirky little brain of hers.   

While I was playing volleyball

I took both kiddos to my volleyball game last night.  Will watched me play a few weeks ago but it was Reina's first time in attendance.  Knowing that I'd have to keep her busy and in her seat the entire time, I gave her my phone to play with while I was on the court.  As I went back to serve at one point, Reina yelled "Mom, Mama, look over here!  I want to take your picture!"  Now, this is city volleyball and it's not ultra competitive but I'm also not going to stop my game so a 5 yr old can get her perfect shot.  

Since her sports model wasn't cooperating, Reina created her own fun.

There were 5 pictures almost exactly like this - with the only difference being the intensity of her stare.

The perfect selfie!

I don't know.....her brother's jacket?

She also recorded several minutes of video featuring the exciting sounds of rec league volleyball but the non-exciting view of the floor of the bleachers.  Someday you'll be able to say you saw her early work first.  

Running

I ran a half marathon yesterday.  I've lost track of how many half marathons I've run and I don't mean that in a braggy way, more of a the-years-have-blended-together-since-2009-and-I-really-can't-remember-which-one-is-which.  I know I ran my first half the summer after Reina was born and I've run at least one a year ever since.  In 2010 I did three which was a little insane.  I've done somewhere around 11 or 12 total.  So yesterday's race was one that I had run before but they changed the course this year so it was basically new.  After the Yellowstone half that Glenn and I ran in June (did I write about how much that one kicked my butt? Well, it did.) ended, I wasn't sure if I wanted to run another one this year.  My finish times had been steadily increasing with the past several races and well, that's not a good sign, nor is it helpful to one's ego.  But a good friend wanted to race it and Uncle Matt signed up, so Vicky and Baby Cousin would be there, and that's all the motivation I needed!  The weather was crisp and cool but not too cold. I borrowed Vicky's Ipod and jammed along to the craziest combination of songs I could imagine.  Each new song made me giggle but kept me going.  I finished with one of my better times, a good 20 minutes or so faster than this summer's race.  Yah!  My legs are tired today and a little sore but no permanent damage.  Also yah!  Now I can just get back to jogging with the dogs to make them not so crazy and to help me avoid the holiday pound accumulation. And I'm already thinking about signing up for another one in the summer. 

Halloween postscript

We had a perfect Wyoming Halloween.  There wasn't 3 feet of snow on the ground and the wind wasn't howling 50 mph.  Costumes could be worn with just a jacket over the top, or long johns underneath, and no snowpants were needed.  Reina/Elsa got a little cold after the first round of trick-or-treating so she came back home and helped hand out candy.  Our street is under construction this week so we didn't get many brave souls who wanted to march past the "road closed to thru traffic" sign. After Glenn took the kids out and brought Reina back, Will and I hit a few more blocks with Trigger, who saw a yard with one of those giant blow-up spiders that move and proceeded to lose his ever-loving mind.  He barked and barked and jumped back and barked some more until I finally dragged him away.  Trigger is not a fan of inflatable lawn ornaments.

 

Here are a few last minute photos of Halloween 2014.

Arrrrrrgh matey!  It's a Pirate Jack-o-lantern.  Will picked out the heritage-y orange and white pumpkin and dictated to Glenn the rather complicated pirate visage that he had in mind. 

Reina and I made a kitty pumpkin, naturally.  I think she has the look of Grumpy Cat. 

For trick-or-treating, Will felt like he had to take his costume up and notch and accessorize with a Civil War beard.  Thanks to my eye pencil, Glenn did his best.  Will's costume was a big hit with the grown-ups who answered the trick or treat doors.