Pre-Christmas activities

I'm trying to get all of the 2018 blog pictures up here before the end of the year, which is just a few days away.  Eeek!  We are having a nice week full of family time and lots of hanging out.  Glenn and I went back to work today but the kiddos were entertained by Christmas stuff and grandparents.  Here are a few things that have happened in the past few weeks. 

I have baked my butt off the past few weeks, pardon the indelicate expression.  Besides the German cookies that are part of the Pauley family tradition, the kids and I made some sugar cookies to decorate. I also made a few batches of chocolate covered pretzels for Reina's school party and neighbor gifts.  When I made the sugar cookies, the kids were really interested in picking out shapes and decorating.  Will insisted on the Christmas pig seen in this picture.  I guess there were farm animals at the manger?  

Christmas cookies and ye olde fashioned Christmas pig!  

We have had some wintry weather and even had a little bit of snow over the weekend. All three pets chose the couch that's directly across from the stove for a warm nap.  Smart pets. 

A few weeks ago, Will had his science fair at school.  Parents were invited to come by and watch the kids give their presentations.  Will did a good job on his presentation and even made eye contact with me when I took the picture.  No smile, but a (slightly) enthusiastic thumbs up.

Will's groundbreaking scientific experiment involved hammering nails into different types of wood to see which one was the hardest.  

A few Saturdays ago, Will and I zipped down to Denver for the Broncos game.  Will's streak of only attending winning games ended abruptly and you can imagine how thrilled he was about that.  Spoiler alert:  not thrilled at all.  Despite the scoreboard results, he and I had a fun evening together that involved a pedicab ride to the stadium and lots and lots of french fries.  Here's hoping 2019 brings more W's for our favorite teams. 

We still love the Broncos!  

Merry Christmas!

Another Christmas Day is winding down.  Reina and I are watching one more Christmas movie while the guys play a video game that was technically purchased for Glenn and then became a joint present and now I've yet to see Glenn actually playing it as Will has taken that part over.  Video game wrangling aside, it's been a very nice Christmas.  The kids woke us up at 6:00 a.m.  Last night we told them that they couldn't wake us up until 6:00 a.m. and they followed that rule at least.  We opened up some family presents and then the rest of the Hansen and Fry gang came over by 7:30.  We ate the year's best breakfast and opened up more presents.  The rest of the day was a blur of napping, a chilly jog, playing with new stuff (not just for the kids!) and cooking a pretty darn good turkey. We're getting ready for some family boardgame time in just a few minutes but I wanted to memorialize the day really quickly.

Will's favorite present - his new microphone and headset for his Xbox.  (This year, he didn't ask for any Legos and my mom heart was a little bit smaller.  Big kids are fun though.)

Reina wants it to be known that she likes all of her presents equally and she is unable to pick a favorite.  She received a mix of toys but also some big kid art presents and she has enough crafts to keep her busy for the rest of the vacation.

Glenn's favorite present is a cookbook.  Yep, that's a real statement.  Following his close instructions, I ordered a book on cooking game meat authored by the host of one of his favorite hunting shows.  Yep, those are all real things too and thank you internet!

Lucy is feeling very thankful for all of her generous family members and is going to pull a Reina and say that she can't single anything out.  She's psyched to have some gift cards for future shopping, some new books to read and a lovely pair of Carhart coveralls for cold football games thanks to Glenn who is very thoughtful and also slightly tired of me being cold. 

Merry Christmas everyone! 

Photos of Reina Singing, part 900

Monday night was Reina's fourth grade Christmas program and it was delightful.  The kids sang four songs :  Rudolph, Deck the Halls, Santa Claus is Coming to Town and We Wish You a Merry Christmas. That last one makes me tear up every single time. (Yes, I know that's a weird one to cry about.)  We enjoy watching Reina sing - she's so expressive and she knows every word.  Happy Holidays from my favorite fourth grader!  

Where did this grown-up kid come from?! 

A quite moment before the singing begins.  She looks so serious!

The whole group (well except for the poor kids I cut off in the photo)

Enthusiastic hand gestures and expressive singing

ditto 

With props! 

Reina and her two besties 

Weekend stuff

Another week in December is wrapped up.  Yesterday, Glenn cheerfully pointed out that Christmas is two weeks from Tuesday and yiiiiiikes.  I need to get a move on.  The shopping is getting close to being done but the Christmas card is currently two lines of gibberish in a draft word document, none of the presents are wrapped, none of the packages are even in boxes to be mailed and every morning I race to move the Elf on the Shelf before someone in the house wakes up and looks for her.  So there's a lot going on.  On Saturday, Reina and I met Aunt Vicky and Grandma and the cousins to see the unveiling of a new playground in the mall that Vicky helped fundraise for and we also squeezed in some shopping.    

Aunt Vicky, Reina, Spiderman and an unaware Grandma.  

Unicorn girl doing the floss.  

Another shot of the serious Spiderman. 

Another one of my daily chores every morning is to pick up all of the Christmas ornaments that mysteriously fall off of the tree during the night.   

What (who) could possibly be the cause?  What a conundrum! 

Finally, this picture popped up in my FB feed over the weekend and I was instantly transported back to our first Christmas as parents and these two sitting under the tree.  Be still my heart.  

Kicking off the holiday season

On Saturday, we continued a tradition that started a few years ago.  Reina played a few Christmas songs on the piano following the Tree of Remembrance event hosted by Aunt Vicky's office.  Reina ended up going first, which she was pretty nervous about but she did terrific job.  She played "Angels We Have Heard on High," "Up on the House Top" and "Deck the Halls."  I'm really proud of how much she has progressed with her piano playing.  She's not crazy about practicing but she's really come a long way.  

Reina takes her piano playing very seriously.  This is not a time for smiling. 

Still not smiling while her piano teacher plays accompaniment.  

The other holiday tradition we have is to jam as much shopping into as little time as possible at the mall. On Saturday, we all came to watch Reina play but there were also some college football games that Will wanted to watch, Glenn has a general aversion to shopping at places that don't feature outdoor items, Reina and I had some good coupons to use so we all wandered off at times to do some shopping.  Will's basketball season started this week so he needed new shoes.  I encouraged Glenn to take on this important task because I'm still haunted by last year's search for The Perfect Basketball Shoe for Tweens.  In case you were wondering, last year's shoes fit for about 6 months.  In related news, Will and I are very close to wearing the same size which I know will excite him beyond belief because nothing says COOL like being able to wear your mom's shoes.  

Hey Will, we can share shoes now!  

So it was a nice weekend.  We put up the tree which is Coco's favorite day of the year and within an hour, I was reminded why I don't hang up shiny, breakable ornaments on the bottom third of the tree.  The weather was appropriately seasonal and I started some Christmas baking.  And to top it off, we got to spend some time with Aunt Vicky and the little monsters. Not a bad way to start off December.

Stuff that we are thankful for

It's Thanksgiving evening and I'm stuffed with turkey and pecan pie.  Reina is upstairs watching a video, Will is playing a video game and Glenn is tidying the kitchen. I'm feeling guilty but also content to sit here on the couch with my feet up and tackling this blog for the first time in weeks.  We have a lot to be thankful for but first I have to address my lengthy absence. 

I've sat down to write about Halloween and the rest of football season and all of the little delights that occurred in November a few times lately. But our family has been dealing with a lot this month and I can't write about all of our foibles without talking about some tough news.  Our delightful Aunt Vicky, frequent contributor of funny stories and birthday pictures on this very blog, has recently been diagnosed with breast cancer.  We've all been blindsided by this news but she has good doctors who have already embarked on an aggressive treatment plan.  She has a huge network of friends and supporters who are keeping her and Matt inundated with meals and visits and support.  She has all of us who do our best to keep her spirits up and help wherever we can.  She has a hard road ahead but we are keeping her in our prayers and holding her close to our hearts and we are hopeful that she'll come out strong on the other side. 

So it's Thanksgiving.  We had a fun day with extended family and old friends and some new ones, too.  I asked the kids earlier what they were thankful for and here you go:

Reina;  Family and her friends, one friend in particular. 

Will:  His family

Awwww, what's going on with these kids?  Good behavior because they know I'm Christmas shopping tomorrow?

Glenn:  His family, his family's health and being able to live in Wyoming.

Lucy:  Today, I'm most thankful for my sister's radiologist who saw something suspicious and didn't dismiss it. 

This space will soon be filled with funny pictures and mildly inappropriate kid anecdotes soon enough.  Tonight, hug your family and keep ours in your thoughts. 

A bunch of pictures of Will playing football at UW

Last weekend, Will had the chance to play on the city's all-star tackle football team.  The team was comprised of a few players from each regular season team, there were about 20 kids all together. They practiced for two weeks and then played a few teams from across the state/region last weekend in Laramie.  Will's team's first game was on Friday night and they played under the lights on UW's field.  What a cool opportunity! Glenn and I both took a bunch of pictures and it was hard to whittle them down to a reasonable number to put on the blog but here we go.  

Will is #23 and getting ready for the kick-off.  

On defense. 

Lined up and getting ready for a tackle.  Will helped make a goal line stand.  

Will is the second player from the right with black socks.  

Getting the defensive play from the coach.  

He obliged me with a post-game picture on the field.  

On Sunday, the temperatures warmed up and Will's team played in the sun against a team from Billings. 

Will played on the defensive line during this game.  Here he's lining up to play nose guard.  

Getting ready for another kickoff - Will is at the front of the line.  

Looking serious at halftime. 

Post-game team picture at mid-field.  

#23 with his biggest fan

No wait, this is his biggest fan.  

Will and his teammates from his regular season team.  

Will and his Grandpa Pauley who traveled up from Colorado with Grandma Pauley to watch him play.  

Elementary football season is officially done.  Now we turn our focus to homework (Will are you reading this?) and get ready for basketball. 

A few weeks ago

I've had these photos sitting in my draft folder for a few weeks now and I have a bunch of new football photos to upload so the October theme of the blog is FOOTBALL FOOTBALL FOOTBALL and also Reina's Halloween costume. 

Will's last regular season game was a few Wednesday's ago, on one of the high school fields under the lights.  It was a lot of fun.  Will had a good game and the team won.  It was also cold enough to be an adventure but not so cold that it was painful. 

Will's out there somewhere. 

Post-game dancing.  

Listening to the last post-game speech from the coach.  Look how old that kid looks!  

Slow down time, just slow down a little bit.  

That weekend we also had our first snow of the season and it wasn't just a skiff.  It felt strange dusting off the snow shovels when I still had blooming flower pots but that's Wyoming for you.  

It was cold enough for all three pets to sorta snuggle up on the same bed for an extended period of time.  

So that was an earlier October weekend.  Since then, we've had a little bit more football, some hunting for Glenn, lots of work on Reina's Halloween project (to be unveiled soon) and a bunch of other stuff.  Party, party, party!

October weekend

I posted these pictures last Sunday night, planning to write about our weekend Monday night, and well now it's Sunday night again.  So here we go.  Last weekend, we had a bit of a cold snap which put a slight damper on our Saturday plans.  Will had his second-to-last (penultimate!) tackle football game and it turned out to be his best game of the season.  He caught a pass for a 2 pt conversion (his first score!) caught a few other passes and had a great tackling game.  It was a lot of fun to watch.  I forgot to take the camera so I didn't get any pictures.  Reina took a few selfies....

This was one of about 40 pics.  Look at those flowing locks.  

After the game, Will and I headed to Denver.  I was running a race Sunday morning and then Will and I had tickets to the Rockies playoff game.  It was all very exciting.  Glenn and Reina stayed in Cheyenne.  Reina had her first all-girls sleepover to attend and Glenn had a blissful evening at home by himself.  I was a little jealous. 

Will checking out the sights from our hotel room.  We had a lot of fun exploring downtown Denver.  I survived a trip to Pac Sun with a tween and Will lasted 15 minutes in H&M before complaining of boredom.  What a trooper.  

Sunday, I ran my race (Hot Choco 15k and didn't barf) and then Will and I worked our way towards Coors Field for a Rockies playoff game vs the Brewers.  The game didn't end the way we wanted it to but I'm so glad we had the chance to go.  A few weeks before the end of the regular season, I had a chance to enter a lottery for a chance to buy playoff tickets.  I was worried I would jinx the team but I went for it anyway and found out that I could buy two tickets.  I let Will and Glenn fight over who got to go with me and Will won out. 

We arrived at the stadium really early but we got to sneak down to the field level to watch the teams warm up.  It was really neat to see the players we've been watching all summer up close and in person.  

Obligatory selfie from our seats.  Go Rockies!  

The afternoon got colder and colder and the score went from hopeful to not so hopeful.  It also started raining every so slightly.  We stayed through the 7th inning and then thanked the Rockies for a great season and headed home.  I was chilly for the rest of the evening.  

Meanwhile, Glenn and Reina visited the Pauley grandparents and made old fashioned hats out of paper!  

I took Monday off because the kids didn't have school and I wanted a chance to hang out with my darling offspring.  Also, I had a bunch of laundry and other chores from the weekend.  But it was win-win because we crossed off a lot of things on our to-do list, like flu shots and cat vaccines. 

Who looks more excited for shots?  At least Will didn't meow at the window the whole time during our drive across town.  

The kids bravely got their flu shots.  By "bravely" I mean there was a minimum amount of whining, although Will asked Reina to go first and I had to buy donuts for my brave little soldiers afterwards.  Coco didn't need a darn donut, thank you very much.  But we did give her lots of cat treats.  We spent the rest of the day watching movies, working on school projects and doing the previously mentioned laundry. It was a pretty good way to start my week.  

September is for football

We have football coming out of our pores.  Flag football, tackle football, college football, Broncos.  Well actually, there's a lot going on in September.  Dance classes, piano lessons, hunting trips, work trips, end of season gardening, races and football.  And baseball.  Most of us are all in on the last week of the baseball regular season.  Go Rockies!  And all of the teams that need to beat the teams that the Rockies need to lose in order to make the playoffs.  Yes, that last sentence will make little sense to anyone else but at least a few of us are carefully keeping track.

So back to football.  Will is playing tackle and flag.  I don't have any pictures of flag yet but those games are after school a few times a week and Will is playing center like he did last year.  He finds flag a little low-key compared to tackle but I think he has fun with his friends.  I don't have any tackle pictures either but Will is having a pretty good season.  He's playing linebacker and tight end and has played every snap for the last two games. 

 Earlier in the month, we all traveled to Laramie for the UW game.  It was a beautiful sunny day and the only drawback was that the Cowboys lost. 

Reina and Glenn at a UW game a few weeks ago.  Game day gold!  

Last weekend, Will and I went to the Broncos game.  It was a record high temperature that day and we refilled our free-refill soda at least four times.  The Broncos had a tough game and were behind most of the game.  Will and I left our seats with a little more than two minutes left because one of us (okay, really both of us) were pretty frustrated with the game.  When we got down to the concourse, I told Will I just wanted to watch a couple of plays on the tv.  The Broncos put together a 2-minute drive and won the kicker won the game with a few seconds left. 

Will and our new lucky seats on the concourse after the game-winning field goal. 

So that's our September in a nutshell.  Glenn is home from a bighorn sheep hunt and I shall momentarily turn over the reins of the blog to him for a picture-filled post next time. 

First Day of School and also some stuff that the parents did this past weekend

Well, we made it to the First Day of School.  Both kids popped out of bed bright and early.  Outfits had already been decided on the night before.  Backpacks were mostly packed and while there was some slight indecision, concerning footwear, everyone was dressed and ready to go about 45 minute before we normally leave the house. I don't expect that to happen again for the rest of the year.  

Obligatory 'stand in front of the flowers on the front porch' picture.  

What's a first day picture without Coco?  Will briefly thought about grabbing Tootsie and Trigger for the photo but then figured that would get out of control quickly.  

 Will seems excited about his teacher and 6th grade class.  He reminded me several times this morning that it was his first last day of elementary.  (Muffled sob.)  I did not need to be reminded. I've also already made plans to take next year's first day of junior high off (preemptive muffled sob.)  He has several friends from last year in his class and flag football practice starts tomorrow already.  Bring on 6th grade! 

Reina has the same fourth grade teacher that Will had and she also has several good friends in her class this year.  She had a little attack of the nerves this morning but was slightly mollified when I told her how I threw up on the first day of school a few times and a little anxiousness was perfectly normal.  Or runs in the family at least.  She was full of stories tonight and enthusiastically attacked her homework so she's off to a good start, too.

On an unrelated note, but before I forget to post these pictures - Glenn and I ran a trail race this past weekend.  We did this same race last year and had so much fun that we decided to give it another go.  This year, I ran the 4-mile course and the much faster Glenn took on the 8-mile.  We were both happy with our times and didn't break any bones.

Isn't this a great picture of a handsome man?  I didn't take this picture - this is from the official race photographer. I was miles away when this picture was taken and probably breathing so hard I couldn't have stood up straight.  But look at Glenn attacking that hill.  He's a natural.  

And then there's me.  I have a remarkable flair for always looking like I'm standing completely still in races but hey, I'm ahead of that older guy behind me!