Ice fishing with Reina

Last month or January or something like that, Glenn and a friend took Reina ice fishing on a Saturday afternoon.  The cold and ice did not deter our girl from having a great time.  Reina really likes to fish and she especially likes to carry fish around.  Things she doesn't like in regards to fishing include:  being forced to throw the fish back (see last year's trip to Florida) and cold fingers.  On this trip though, she was a little trooper.  And potentially a future ice-fishing model.  

She and her dad fried this fish up for dinner.  After it got a good snuggle of course.  And yes, that jacket was washed almost immediately.

Not sure why Glenn's hat is so tall.....

 

Walking the catwalk with her blue steel

Big thanks to Glenn's friend for these great pictures! 

Happy girl, less happy fish.

A letter to the birthday boy

Dear Will: Today you are eight.  8!   You grow taller every day - you are up to my armpits already.  I can lift you up but it leaves us both in a heap of giggles.  You are a kind, conscientious kid.  We see it at home but we also hear from your teacher that you are a good friend and compassionate to your classmates.  You play with Reina and go along with her princess/baby/pony/kitten games every once in a while, but she usually tags along with your battles and adventures in the backyard.  Will, you are so patient with your little cousin, you show patience with her that I don't see with any other members of our family.  You two played with your Transformers the other night and you were delighted that she was interested in 'boy toys.' 

 

Will, you are still my sports buddy.  You became a big fan of the Cowboys during this basketball season and I'm excited to take you to a Broncos game in the fall.  You've been on more than a couple of hunts with your dad in the past few months and you come back tired but happy.  You even asked for hunting clothes for your birthday this year and your dad immediately got online at Cabelas and ordered you a bunch of stuff.  And by immediately, I mean about 5 minutes after your conversation.  You are also having a lot of fun playing sports.  We just finished the basketball season and you are signed up for baseball and swimming.  You want me to sign you up for soccer too, but I think we are booked up right now kiddo. 

 

You tell me that you want to be a soldier when you grow up but you've also been talking about being a writer and a cartoonist.  You are very interested in World War II, big battles in general, Star Wars, Legos and creative writing (in the poop humor genre).  You have a lot going on in that big brain of yours and we spend a lot of time googling things like "when was the first gun invented" and "how many people died in the Battle of Gettysburg?"  You love "what if" questions, like "Mom, what would you do if we saw a tank driving down our street?"   I still don't know the answer to that one.  What would I do? 

 

Will, you are doing well in school.  You are a whiz at spelling and I'm amazed at some of the math that you are already learning in second grade.  You are figuring out multiplication and division and even starting on fractions right now.  I'm going to have to brush up on my times tables to keep up with you.  You still dislike singing in public but your choir teacher tells me that you bravely sing your parts during class.  I think I'll be able to keep you in line by threatening to sign you up for choir, so keep that in mind buddy. 

 

Here are some pictures from your birthday celebration:  

Opening presents in the wee hours of your birthday morning.  We told you that you had to wait until after 6:00 a.m. to wake us up.  You gave us until 6:15, generous boy.

Surprise - it's a Lego! 

This picture sums up how your sister felt about getting up early to watch you open presents....

Nike socks in focus, birthday boy's face not so much.  Will, your mom probably needs glasses. 

I need to add Under Armour and Nike to your list of "likes."

I have about 30 pictures of you making poses like this one.

This is doesn't have a lot to do with your birthday, but Reina's monkey was hanging out in the living room and I was walked by I almost jumped out of my skin.

Eight birthday candles on some UW cupcakes for the birthday boy. 

So happy birthday, my big kid.  You are a heck of a lot of fun right now and we love you so much.  I think EIGHT is going to be a great year. 

Basketball

Caution:  the following post will contain a lot of talk about college basketball but little about the Bronco Babies.  You see, the Pauley family (well mostly Glenn and me) just spent a crazy weekend immersed in the Mountain West Conference basketball tournament.  No, we weren't there in person to cheer on the Wyoming Cowboys (see the last post) but we yelled as loudly as we could from the den, paced, stressed, wore the same shirt for all three games without washing it (okay, that was just me) and even shed a few tears when our team won the championship game on Sunday. 

On Thursday, I was home with both kids in the afternoon and the Cowboys played at 3:30 p.m.  Will was starting to feel better but Reina was pretty sick still. I was desperate for her to take a nap so I had to abandon my usual basketball strategy (tv on mute, radio in the kitchen on so that I can hear the local sports announcers and their take on the game) and let Reina doze on the couch while I hunkered down in the basement with the small tv and no radio.  I also had to keep my cheering and clapping down to a very muted level so that I didn't wake Reina.  Glenn was still at work so Will and I watched most of the game together.  Glenn got home in time to watch the last five minutes with me and the Cowboys won!  The team hadn't won a first-round tournament game in recent memory so that was fun!  The conference tournament is single elimination so winners advance to play the next day.  Bring on Friday!

On Friday, Will went back to school, Reina was feeling worse and the basketball game was at 7:00 p.m.  The Cowboys played a team (Boise State) that they beat in January but BSU went on a tear after that and finished as the #1 seed in the conference.  Wyoming was #4.  It was a great game - back and forth score, Wyoming climbing out of a 12-point deficit, overtime, a banked-in three-pointer that put the Cowboys up by two scores and a Cowboy win!  I can't just sit  and watch the games anymore - I'm too nervous.  So Friday night, I baked Will's birthday cake, sorted and recycled a bunch of stuff on the dining room table, put away some laundry and cleaned up the kitchen.  At one point, I realized it was 8:40 and both kids were still up, no teeth brushed, no jammies, no snack.  I pointed this out to Glenn and without taking his eyes off of the game, he barked back, "Just tell the kids to brush their teeth and go to bed!"  Now the Pauley bedtime routine is pretty well established with lots of book reading and teeth brushing overseeing and tucking in - but not on this Friday night!  (For the record, we hustled during the break between regulation and overtime and got everybody tucked away without missing too much of the game.  We had very cooperative children that night.)

In some future blog post, I'll document how Glenn has gone from casual sports observer to obsessed Super Fan. (Spoiler alert - I almost told Glenn during Friday's game that he just need to enjoy it because after all, it was just a game, which is something that has been said to me many times in my life and I've rarely believed it.) Stay tuned. 

Saturday we woke up to a beautiful sunny sky and great weather.  Both kids were feeling much better so there was a lot of time outside getting some fresh air.  The Cowboys played at 4:00 p.m. against conference power house San Diego State University.  SDSU has been to the NCAA tournament several times in the past few years and more importantly, they beat the Cowboys twice during the regular season.  Surprisingly, I wasn't too nervous about the game.  I'm usually worst-case-scenario girl when it comes to my sports team but I was calmly optimistic.  We got our errands down in time for the 4:00 tip-off.  Glenn watched the tv while I buzzed between the guest room, the kitchen and the upstairs. I had radios tuned in on each floor so I wasn't too far from the action.  The Cowboys jumped out to a healthy lead in the first half but were only up by 3 at halftime.  By halftime, I'd cleaned the guest room, the kids' play room, put away some laundry and filled out a little monopoly game sponsored by the grocery store.  I kept Reina busy with play-doh while Will fought bad guys outside.  During the second half, the game got pretty close and I gave up my cleaning to watch.  I sat at the top of the stairs so I could hear the radio which was about 10 seconds ahead of the tv. I figured I had to know what was about to happen.  After a very exciting ending which featured another three pointer and 2 free throws made by a guy who normally shoots about 50%, the Cowboys won!  Free throws matter, kids!  When the final buzzer sounded, Glenn and I were jumping around like a bunch of college kids, the phone was ringing off the hook and Reina kept asking, "Mom, why are you crying, are you okay?" 

So now the Cowboys play in the NCAA tournament on Friday.  I have big plans to sit at the top of the stairs with both the radio and the tv on and cheer on the team.  Who knows, I may even get some more cleaning done.  Go Pokes! 

The week in pictures

After all of the snow and cold from the last few weeks, we are now in the middle of a warm snap.  Last weekend, the kids spent every extra minute outside playing.  Reina even talked me into a new box of sidewalk chalk at Target one afternoon so her artwork adorns the driveway.  I think that's a self-portrait. In hindsight, perhaps that stick figure girl should be wearing a jacket, a fact that will be important shortly. 

 

Hey look, it's Tootsie and Trigger enjoying the view from the front door on a sunny Wednesday morning.  What a minute, why are they inside on a Wednesday morning?  Not that they mind. 

That's because it's a sick day!  Wheeeeeeee.  On Tuesday night, Will went to bed with a nose that was running like a faucet.  Reina's cough from last week came back but just at night and no fever or anything so I didn't think much of it (spoiler alert, I should have thought more about it). Will woke up Wednesday with achiness and droopiness, a low fever and general malaise. Reina was perky so she went to school and Will and I hunkered down on the couch for a day of movies and Ipad games.  It was nice to spend a little time with my oldest. I  picked Reina up from school and noticed that she was coughing quite a bit.  Again, no fever so no biggie.  Will seemed to be perking up a little bit so I naively thought everybody was on the mend.  Wednesday night Reina woke me up with her coughing and when I reached for her hand, she was burning up.  Fever of 102 and constant coughing translated to her and I watching cat videos on youtube at 1:30 in the morning and me trying to decide if we needed a trip to the ER.  We got a little bit of sleep and took her to the doctor first thing yesterday.  (Ear infection, cough aggravated by all the coughing but not pneumonia or bronchitis, no influenza.)Will stayed home again because he was still under the weather.  Both kids and a sick day and a mom who was starting to crack up just ever so slightly. 

Tootsie the critical care nurse.  And also probably looking for leftovers from Reina's lunch.

Big brother feeling a little better but still home. 

She sleeps! 

So incredibly boring, long story short.  Will went back to school today.  Reina still has a high(ish) fever so she's home.  I'm reminding myself that at least I get to watch basketball from home and hang out with the kiddos.  Here's hoping everyone wakes up fever free and perky in the morning. 

March

March has been delightfully boring so far which is nice for my stress level but not so great for blogging.  Kids' basketball is done and we have a bit of a hiatus before baseball starts.  Reina still has dance but that's just once a week.  The kids will be starting swimming lessons but not until next month.  So we have a relatively open schedule at least for a few weeks and I think we all need it. 

I volunteer in Reina's classroom for a few minutes every Tuesday and it sure is fun to hang out (with what feels like) 500 kindergartners.  I'm only there about 40 minutes but man does it feel a lot longer than that.  Last week, the room was all abuzz because apparently a rat had been spotted in the girls' bathroom.  During my time there, the story blossomed from just a rat to a giant centipede to something with fur but it definitely sucks people's blood.  So yes, apparently there was a vampiric multi-legged, furry creature prowling the girls' bathroom.  The teacher told me that it was probably just a little piece of lint.  My office is super boring in comparison.  This week, the only breaking news was that Mrs. Pauley was wearing really big boots.  

Will's having a pretty good semester in his class.  Last month he came with a note that he needed to write a paper about the giant ground sloth.  He was enthusiastic about it and I thought it would be pretty fun to help him research the animal.  Turns out the giant ground sloth went extinct about 8,000 years ago so finding photos, information about habitat, predators, diet, or even what the dang things looked like was a wee bit difficult.  But thanks to the internet and inter-library loan, we know now more about the giant ground sloth than you do.  And when Will becomes a paleobotanist or whatever, we can all thank the giant ground sloth. 

I have no cute anecdotes to share about Tootsie and Trigger.  We are in that portion of  the winter where it's usually too cold to get them outside for enough exercise to tire them out so we settle for short walks here and there that just seem to make them more rowdy when they are back inside.  Trigger did puncture a can of rootbeer and drink most of the delicious frothiness, an event that I didn't witness but found the evidence when I got back from church.  So there's that.

Glenn and I are doing well.  We are a little tired of cold and snow but if we say that too loudly, the weather will turn and we'll be in a drought again.  So shhhhhhhhhh, 'til next time.