Post-Holiday weekend

I'm at the stage of Christmas break where I'm not quite sure what day of the week it is but I do get to sort-of sleep in tomorrow because I'm taking the day off and that's all I know.  Oh and Wyoming plays in a bowl game tomorrow so it must be Monday.  Reina asked me how many more days of vacation she had left and she still has six.  SIX DAYS! 

Our weekend was a hodgepodge of fun activities and chores and winter-y weather.  On Saturday, Glenn went duck hunting, Will had batting practice and I baked a bunch of cookies for church.  The weather was frightful so it was a nice day to stay in.  Reina beat me in several games of Trouble - her new favorite. 

On Sunday, the weather cleared up a little bit and Will and I headed down to Denver for the last Broncos game of the season.  We (mostly) took Glenn's advice and bundled up in snowpants and carhartts so we stayed warm.  Will decided to forego his snowboots and his feet got pretty cold.  He's going to love that memorialized that little tidbit on the blog.  The Broncos won, we had fun. 

Obligatory mom/son selfie

 Today, we made hamburger out of the moose, elk and antelope that Glenn and Will shot this hunting season.  It was a long day of meat grinding but we got it all done.  It's nice to start the new year off with a freezer full of meat ready for dinner. 

Glenn had a little stalker checking out his handiwork.  

Camera pictures from Alaska

I'm trying to write as many posts as I did in 2018 and I only have a few more days to hit my goal. I was looking through some of the posts that I started to write this year and never finished and discovered all of these Alaska pictures. I'd made a photo book for the Pauley grandparents to thank them for the trip and I guess I never got around to blogging about it.  So here are some of the highlights for blog posterity.

We left Seattle on a Sunday afternoon and cruised all day Monday.  The weather was usually in the low 60's or upper 50's and it felt great to us after a hot July in Cheyenne. While on the ship we spent a lot of time watching for whales and we got to see so many!  It was really cool.  

Glenn whale watching and Reina modeling.

It wasn't quite 60 degrees the morning that Will and I sat on the deck and read books and watched for whales.  Glad we had our cold weather gear! 

I took many photos with my Canon but these are the phone camera versions.  Our first stop was in Juneau where we had most of the day to explore Alaska's capitol.  We found a small city museum that had a little area for kids to explore and they loved it, even the tween.

Will pretending to process fish - he even put on the apron.  Well, he was using the fish as a weapon to cut other fish but he was having fun.  

Sun setting as we left Juneau

It looks like these are all of the camera pics that I saved.  We also visited Ketchikan, Sitka, Victoria BC and I feel like there's someplace else that I'm forgetting.  It was a terrific opportunity to see such a beautiful part of our planet and spend lots of quality time with family. 

While just about everybody else on the ship was viewing the Hubbard Glacier, these two monsters were swimming.  Yes the pool was heated but the air was not warm.  They didn't care.  

Merry Christmas 2019

Another Christmas is winding down and we had a really nice day.  The kids mostly respected our 6 a.m. wake-up time, Reina came in at 5:56 a.m., close enough.  We opened our family presents and then the rest of the Hansen/Fry clan came over for breakfast and more presents.  After everyone left, the kids played with their new electronics and Glenn and I jogged and then napped.  It was a delightful day.  

Here's my annual interview with everyone to memorialize the highlights of their day.  

Will:  His favorite present was Madden 20 and he and his friends have big plans to form a franchise. I know what each of those things means in the real world but the details are a little fuzzy in regards to the Xbox.  But he's having a great time.  

Glenn's favorite part of the day was the church service last night.  He says he also really loved brunch and the tripod that he picked out himself.  He's also really excited about his new GPS and a shirt that I bought him.  I think he added that last part because of the increasingly negative look on my face as I type this.  

Reina's favorite present was an Echo Spot that Glenn picked out for her.  Reina has been talking to Alexa all day and frankly the rest of us are a little thrilled that she has another "person" to ask questions - "Alexa how old is the oldest person in the world...." 

Lucy is considering this the Christmas of Footwear.  I unwrapped slippers, cowboy boots and some super comfy flats today.  Now I have to decide which ones to wear to work tomorrow. I guess the slippers are out.  

We had a great time watching the little cousins unwrap presents and jump off the stairs.  We ate delicious mostly prepared by Uncle Matt and everyone was stuffed by the time the morning was over.  The pets were also spoiled this year.  Coco got a head start on the festivities by opening some cat presents in the middle of the night.  Soxy was equally delighted with all of the wrapping paper and cardboard boxes and we realized that this might be her first Christmas in a house.  She made the most of it. 

Cat toy Christmas

Yep, it's still dark out.  This was taken right before the unwrapping frenzy began.  

Reina and her new Sven-from-Frozen2 jammies

Will surrounded by Christmas excess 

Will and Glenn picked out some new running tights for me.  And a big bag of chocolate.  

Reina surrounded by Christmas excess 

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

It's beginning to look a lot like something

How many times have I used that phrase as a blog title in December?  More than once I'm sure.  With less than a week left until the holiday, it's definitely looking like Christmas.  The tree is up and while Coco rearranges some of the ornaments daily, it's decorated.  Most of the presents are bought, none of them are wrapped but that's what the weekend is for.  I've started sending out Christmas cards and the big packages have all been mailed.  Tomorrow is the last day of school for the kids for two whole weeks and Glenn and I are winding down our work days for the rest of the year. We are all ready for a break. 

The day we bring the tree home is Coco's favorite day of the year.  She and Tootsie carefully inspected this one.  

At the beginning of the month, Vicky and I volunteered at Christmas House.  This was our first year volunteering together and it was a lot of fun.  We worked in the tea room in the morning and then served in the house in the afternoon.

Vicky and a sample of some of the tea room wares.  We didn't bake most of those goodies but we had fun serving them up.  

That weekend, our Aunt Mary from Minnesota came out for a quick visit and we packed a lot of shopping, eating delicious food and hanging out.  It was a great way to start the holiday season.  On Saturday morning, we dropped the girls off at the church program practice and Will was at baseball practice so the girls and Everett went shopping downtown.  We walked into our favorite local kitchen store, Everett took a look around and announced that he was all down shopping at this place.  Oh buddy.

Just two cousins hanging out at the mall 

I bought an indoor snowball fight kit on Black Friday and couldn't wait for 12/25 to open it up.  Much hilarity has ensued but I think the cats are having the most fun.  

Pictures from last month's holiday

I was looking for some pictures for the Christmas card tonight and found pictures from Thanksgiving that I never posted. (I actually just typed 'Halloween' and now I need to see if I ever posted those pics.  Sigh.)  Anyway, we had a lovely Thanksgiving this year.  We drove to Aunt Vicky and Uncle Matt's house with a pie, rolls and some cranberry sauce and feasted on all of the trimmings.  It was delicious as always and we had a fun time hanging out.  The weather was unseasonably cold so when we came home, we curled up next to the pellet stove and watched movies and football and started Christmas lists.  It was a nice start to the holiday season. 

Each Thanksgiving with all four cousins, I've tried to snap some good pics for the grandparents.  This year, I gave up without much of a fight.  It was not the day for picture taking.  Maybe we can recreate these in a decade or so.   

Reina, the cat, Everett in an almost chokehold, Will trying hard and Ainsley.  

Okay everybody - just look at the camera for one second!  The cat cooperated this time.  

I love watching baby/preschool cousin eat with a giant spoon.  Don't bother asking if he wants a smaller one.  He's a big kid!  

I can't wait to do it all again in 10 days.  Ten! 

Pictures of Reina singing exuberantly

Last month, Reina's class put together a pageant to honor Veteran's Day.  They sang a collection of patriotic songs and recognized the various branches of the Armed Forces.  It was a lot of fun to watch and we always like to see Reina singing. 

Look at that grown-up girl! 

One of the songs was sung by battery-powered candlelight.  

Belting it out.

Time for some choreographed flag waving to "You're a Grand Old Flag."

Reina had a speaking part - I think she spoke about the Army  She nailed it - spoke confidently and didn't trip up.  

When I was a kid, I had a tape player and one of the tapes that I owned featured Mickey Mouse and friends singing a bunch of patriotic songs.  Whenever I hear "from the halls of Montezuma..." I instantly think of Goofy and Pluto and Mickey.  But I still know a lot of the words so I can sing along with the Fifth Graders every year.  We love watching Reina sing! 

Thanksgiving Post

We are all sitting together in the den with a warm fire in the pellet stove.  It's chilly outside and we have a bunch of snow on the ground.  We had a delicious dinner with the Frys earlier this afternoon and we're still stuffed.  Okay fine, we did just have another round of turkey sandwiches and salads and one of us ate the praline topping that was leftover from the pie.  It was also delicious. 

So while we are sitting here watching a movie, I'm asking everyone for their annual list of thankfulness.  Here we go. 

Reina is thankful for her 'loving family' and when I said 'be serious please,' she said "I am."  This mom stands corrected.  Reina's favorite thing that she ate for Thanksgiving was the homemade cranberry sauce. 

Will is thankful for Wyoming football and sports in general.  Will's favorite food today was the green bean casserole. 

Glenn is thankful for his family and wild places to pursue his hobbies.  Glenn's favorite food was the jalapeno dip that Aunt Vicky made for the appetizer. 

I am thankful for this messy house and all of the creatures living in it and I'm especially thankful that our dear Aunt Vicky is winding up her treatment in a few months and growing some hair back and thankfully I'm just happy that she's here with us.   My favorite food today was the turkey, pumpkin cheesecake and the aforementioned praline sauce. 

Happy Thanksgiving from our house to yours!

Sick days and snow days

We've had a wild week at the Pauley household.  (How many times have I started a blog post with that sentence?)  Last Wednesday as I was getting ready to head to Laramie for a presentation, I had a call from the school nurse.  Reina had a sore throat and wanted to come home. I zipped over to pick her up, took her home, went to Laramie, gave my presentation and drove home in the snow.  Glenn was keeping an eye on her.  She didn't have a fever so I thought maybe she was just having an off day.  About 10:30 pm, she barfed.  I thought "well maybe it's just the pain medicine I gave her that upset her stomach."  And then she barfed again and again and again until 8:00 a.m.  She's usually very stoic about being sick but this one hit her hard.  I would doze off only to be woken up by "MOM I NEED YOU I BARFED" many times. I should clarify, I'm happy to be there for her and I know these days won't last forever but boy did we both need some sleep when morning came.  Long story short, she had all of the symptoms of influenza or strep but she'd just had the flu shot and the strep test was negative and she slowly started to feel better.  So far, no one else in the house has caught it and we are hoping it stays that way. 

The day after Reina came home sick, Glenn had to endure one of those events that happens when you turn 50.  The big colonoscopy. I think it's safe to say that the days leading up to the test were harder on him than the actual procedure.  As someone who likes multiple fruits and veggies every day, being on a low fiber diet was tough.  The last 24-hours when he could only drink clear broth were even more brutal.  I knew he was hungry when he picked giant burgers for dinner the night after his colonoscopy.  He's happy to report that all of the tests came back normal and his dr (supposedly) told him that Glenn had the cleanest, most magnificent colon he'd ever seen. 

Yesterday, the weather took a turn and we started to get quite a bit of snow.  As I was driving home from work, I had a call from the school - this time with the automated news that classes were canceled for today.  There was much rejoicing from the younger members of the household who know get a 6-day break for Thanksgiving.  Just when I was wondering how I would juggle my work day and their extra day off, I received a text saying that State Offices were also closed.  I didn't necessary 'rejoice' but I was happy to not burn a vacation day.  Glenn was already sleep so he didn't find out the exciting news until 6 a.m. 

We had a fun snow day.  Glenn and I did some extra chores.  Reina played with a girl next door.  Will ventured outside for some fun in the snow and we all watched a movie.  It was a nice relaxing way to kick off this fun week. 

We built a Lego gingerbread house for Christmas decorations this year.  I mostly put it together but Will helped with the tricky parts.  At one point, I couldn't figure out where a piece was supposed to go and Will took a look at it and told me in a serious voice, "wow Mom, these really are big boy Legos." 

The snow out our front door this morning.  

The dogs' idea of a perfect snow day

Soxy's too 

Out big kid laying face down in a snow drift.  He wanted to jump off of that shed but Glenn put the kibosh on that before I even heard of the plans.  Phew.  

Halloween with a bunch of side photos because that's who I am now

Halloween was a few weeks ago and it was a fun one this year.  Sometime in the next few weeks I will edit this post and fix the photos but that time is not tonight.  This was the first year that Will didn't dress up or trick-or-treat.  After I finished sobbing, I accepted the situation.  The kids didn't have school on Nov 1 so he and Glenn went hunting.  It made sense and it was nice to not have two giant bags of candy in the house for weeks but still.  My little skunk-costumed baby is now a don't-need-trick-or-treat tween.  At least Reina shows no sign of being done with Halloween.  Yet.  

The weekend before Halloween, Glenn and I went to a really fun Halloween/birthday party for some friends who know how to throw an awesome shindig.  Costumes were a must so we spent a few weeks brainstorming and decided to go as Bugs Bunny (Glenn) and Elmer Fudd (me).  I think we nailed it.  Glenn was way more into his costume than I anticipated, he even made felt feet.  He also made me wear his hunting boots because they were more authentic.  It was a lot of fun to dress up and hang out with fun grown-ups.  

What's up Doc?

A few days before Halloween, Reina and I took the little cousins to the Halloween carnival at Reina's school.  Reina dashed off with friends so I got to take A & E around to all of the events in the classrooms.  They were both pretty into it and not scared like previous years.  Toddler Cousin wasn't a fan of the inflatable costumes - there was one T-Rex in particular that he did not appreciate.  But it helped me enjoy the holiday through littler kid eyes plus they got to go home to their parents at the end of the night and I didn't have to bathe anyone.  Yah!! 

Reina took this picture while we were driving to the carnival.  Apparently Batman is never off duty, even when he's strapped into his carseat. 

Reina's costume was self-designed this year.  She decided to a ghost/zombie tween.  She even had a skeleton cat to carry around.  Her makeup was all her own and I think she nailed the look.  Remember when she was a cute little garden gnome?  Or a sunflower?  Sigh. 

Getting ready for trick-or-treating.  She did wear shoes.  

WIll's Jr High Football Season

In news that is not shocking, I'm so behind on the blog again.  October flew by and my resolve to post every day in November is already four days late.  So let's get caught up where we can.  Will's first Jr High football season finished up last month on a cold afternoon in Laramie.  Seventh grade teams don't have a play-off but as luck would have it, the top two teams played each other on the last game of the season.  Will rode the bus to Laramie with his team, but Glenn and I drove over. When we left Cheyenne, the temperature was in the upper 50's.  By the time the game kicked off, the wind was howling and the temp had dropped at least 20 degrees.  Unsurprisingly, Glenn had all of the appropriate layers of clothing on his person, I patched together some blankets from the car and mismatched gloves. (Glenn would want me to point out that he urged me to wear long underwear but I scoffed.  Scoffed!) But this post is not about the weather, it's about our favorite offensive lineman - #54.  

7th grade football players don't need tights mom, get real.  

Will got some time on defense this time around too.  He's lined up to the left of the orange #25

That's our boy in the center of the huddle

Hanging out with one of his good friends

Protecting his qb 

Back on the O-line

Will had a pretty good season.  He learned a lot playing guard and tackle on offense.  He recovered a few kick-offs on special teams and he got some defensive time in too.  I don't think he anticipated being an offensive lineman but he worked hard and earned a starting position on A team that he kept all season.  Glenn and I developed an appreciation for the offensive line and it's funny but it's really changed how I watch college football and the NFL.  No one pays much attention to the o-line unless they mess up.  When a team has a great offense, the credit goes to the qb or the running back, and it's easy to forget the role that the blockers play.  Okay, that's the end of my Will's #1 fan speech.  It was a pleasure watching him play and we can't wait for the next season. 

Reason #350 why this isn't a food blog

While finishing up dinner tonight, Glenn pointed out that just about everything in the soup pot was something that we had harvested.  With the exception of one Yukon gold potato, the carrots, onions, purple potatoes, tomatoes and moose meat were either from our garden or from Glenn's recent hunt.  Okay, the salt and spices were from the cupboard because we aren't that hardcore (yet?). 

Moose stew - by all accounts, it was delicious!  My food photography on the other hand.... 

This year, we had a lot of gardening ventures happening.  Besides our shared plot at the community garden, we also carved out more space in our backyard for a raised bed.  We had pots of peppers and tomatoes, too.  The community garden was one of the best ones we've had.  We had more cucumbers than we could handle, spaghetti squash, potatoes, beans, peppers, peas and tomatoes.  Oh and beets!  At home, we grew pumpkins, more cucumbers, beets, onions, carrots, two cabbages and one magnificent kohlrabi.  Our summer started off extra chilly but we had good moisture and heat as the summer wore on.  We finally hard our first frost last week, so the season is officially done.  

Pie pumpkins - I think they are called Connecticut field pumpkins?  They went crazy in our small spot.  Any that grew outside of the fence became victims of our curious chickens.  

I didn't thin the carrots and so I ended up with a bowl of pinky-sized carrots.  They are really sweet and crunchy but have a slightly-disturbing finger vibe. 

 I should clarify that while the gardening season is done outside, inside the house, we are still working away.  Vicky and I picked these tomatoes (and more!) a few days before the frost and brought them in to try to ripen.  Vicky has at least half this much at her house.  These are more tomatoes than we've ever grown but we needed just a few more weeks to get them ripe.  I checked on mine today and some are starting to ripen but I'm also looking at recipes for green tomato pickles.  Yum? 

That time Vicky and I took two cats to the vet

How was your Monday?  Did you take two cats (who aren't best friends yet) to the vet?  No?  Well then your day wasn't nearly as entertaining as mine.  Coco was due for her annual check-up and Soxy hadn't been to our vet yet so it made sense to schedule them at the same time.  Once I realized the logistics were going to be tough, my amazing sis volunteered to come along and help wrangle cats.  

We dropped R off at school and we headed out.  Vicky took a great video of two cats howling in the backseat and we had that as our musical accompaniment as we drove across town.  I kept Soxy in the cardboard carrier we had leftover from Coco's previous visits and let Coco sit on laps or seats as she saw fit.  Soxy kept peering through the wholes in the cardboard with her eye and it was a little freaky - like a pirate cat or something.  

Okay.  Yes I do recognize that this is one whole post devoted to a visit to the vet but really, it's one of the more entertaining moments we've had and it was really fun to go with Vicky who is still fighting her battle with breast cancer but is feeling good enough to accompany cats that she is not legally responsible for to the doctor.  What's more fun than that?!  

So thrilled.  So very very thrilled. 

Once inside the exam room, I let both cats out while we waited to see the vet.  Soxy was brave and explored the room. 

Love this picture - she looks like she's getting ready to read her file on the computer.  

I didn't know she could stand on her hind legs to check out the shelf.  

 Meanwhile, Coco was not in the mood for exploring. 

Still not thrilled.

Both cats got up to date on their shots and both had a clean bill of health.  I took both dogs to the vet last week and they need a supplement for their joints and one of them (Tootsie cough cough) needs a little diet.  But not the kitties.  They are fluffy and healthy and I'm hoping that their shared traumatic experience will help them be better friends.  Or at least to stop fighting in the middle of the night.