Christmas Eve Eve

 I took December 23 off and we spent the day working on last minute Christmas errands.  The niblings hung out with us for a little while so that Aunt Vicky could volunteer at the mall for present wrapping.  We had lunch and then came back to roll out some sugar cookies.  

Reina is happier than she looks.  

Cousins helped me roll out the dough and bake and then Glenn and Reina decorated later that night.  Some serious artistry happening here. 

We wait until the last minute to put any presents under the tree because several of the four-legged members don't abide by the societal rules of "don't open presents before Christmas morning and definitely don't own presents that don't have your name on them."  When we opened up the box from my Aunt Mary (she always sends cat presents) and put the packages under the tree, it instantly became the hot spot for cat hangouts. 

The face of innocence

Will brought home a gingerbread kit last week so he and tried to put it together.  No pictures because it wasn't exactly structurally sound.  But we had fun.  It reminded me of the days of Lego building and teamwork and all of that good stuff.  It was a sweet way to start off the holiday weekend. 

A weird week

We've had a weird week at the Pauley household.  On Saturday, while walking into the high school (our rival high school) for Will's wrestling meet, I slipped on the one patch of ice in the parking lot and fell like the middle aged person I am and wrenched my ankle.  A lot of drama ensued but long story short, Glenn took me to the ER where I found out I didn't break anything but just sprained it.  For the first time in my life, I have crutches although by this point in the week, I'm feeling much better and don't need them anymore.  

Well that was weird.  And super inconvenient because I had a ton of Christmas chores to get done. 

Yesterday and today, Reina has stayed home from school with a virus that is not covid, the flu or strep.  That's the good news.  She does feel pretty puny and we had to miss the annual trolley/Christmas lights tour but she got some meds for the accompanying ear infection and hopefully she'll start feeling better soon.  I stayed home with her today because she wanted the company and needed someone to bring her sprite and jello every 5 minutes.  

Dress shopping with a teen

 Reina had a school dance at the beginning of December and she wanted a winter-y dress to wear.  She showed me some pictures online and finally on Black Friday, we braved the mall to do a little shopping.  

Our first stop was TJ Maxx because I remember finding cute prom dresses there.  Unfortunately we didn't find anything that passed the Reina Test even though I lobbied hard for these festive kitten overalls.  Holiday!  Velvet!  Cat!  Modest!  

Next we went to our only big department store in the mall and hit the jackpot.  The entire junior dress section was full of moms and teens looking for the perfect jr high dance dress.  Some of the dresses were even on sale.  I really liked this one and Reina didn't mind it so we got it as a church dress but not a DANCE dress.  

Reina and her chaperone on the big night. 

The winner!  She was happier than she looks in this picture. 















 

We are a wrestling family now apparently.

 Will is a couple of weeks into his JV wrestling season.  He's never been on a wrestling team and except for a brief two week camp in second grade (third grade?), he's never wrestled.  He joined to help get him ready for next year's football season.  The workouts are tough, the rules of wrestling are confusing (to me) but he is making it work.  I printed off a 'wrestling for dummies' cheat sheet to take to his first competition last week and he won in a pin after about 30 seconds.  That's one of the fun parts of wrestling - none of these pesky 60 minute games and time outs and halftime and everything.  Just wrestle!  He participated in a tournament this weekend and won 2 out of his 3 matches.  He keeps trying to practice his moves on Glenn and that's probably not going to end well.  Will thinks that Reina should try wrestling next year because there's a girls team too.  Mom has thoughts.  Until then, let's go watch some wrestling!  

Snow Day

UGH it's been way too long since I wrote on this lonely blog.  Fate intervened and we have a snow day today.  A snow day that's exactly 4 days away from a two week Christmas vacation for the kids.  To clarify, today is not a full snow day, it's a virtual learning day which means Will is holed up in his room powering through all of his classes as fast as possible and Reina and I are sitting on the sofa while she works on earth science and I write this post.  Later we'll do some baking, maybe some house cleaning (ha ha ha) and start the Christmas letter.  Glenn is on a work trip and may be there for a little longer than planned if this storm is a bad as predicted.  I'm going to catch us up with one post an hour today.  Here we go!  

Obligatory cute cat picture

Randomness

I'm trying to get back into the habit of documenting some of the minutiae of our daily lives.  This year, I've touched on the highlights of kid sports and accomplishments but when I look back on old posts, I enjoy remembering some of the randomness that takes place in our household.  So that's my goal for November. More randomness.   

We finally had our first snow of the season this week.  We ended up getting between 3 and 4 inches.  Yah for moisture!  I'm saying that now .... check in again in a few months.  

The view from my office as I left work.  It was really starting to accumulate. 

Our chickens have been molting like crazy and they didn't appreciate the snow.  We have two old chickens who lay once or twice a year and three younger girls who lay regularly when they aren't molting, being broody or whatever their current problem is.  

The spectators for my morning workout.  It's slightly disconcerting.  Do they think it's a drive through window?  

Halloween with big kids

Halloween was on a Monday this year which felt weird but we made the most of it. Reina trick-or-treated with a group of friends in our neighborhood.  Will was tempted to go out there but he was home from school because he was feeling under the weather so that made the decision for him.  We had a lot more trick-or-treaters than usual because the weather was mild (it wasn't 10 degrees and snowing) and I enjoyed seeing all of the costumes. Tootsie and Trigger loved greeting the kids and their candy buckets.  Charlie did not.  Charlie's least favorite evening is Halloween. 

Facebook reminded me of the many costumes the kiddos have had over the years.... cowgirls, pirates, slice of pizza, Union soldier, football players and so much more.  This year, Reina went to a school dance a few weeks ago as a 1920's flapper but she needed a warmer outfit so she opted for scary clown face.  

All makeup by the artist.  Nailed it!  

Without any cute toddlers available to dress up in costume, my attention turned to the cats.  Coco as a scary fish.  Eeeek!  She definitely has murder on the mind.  

Thankfully, we still have people in the house interested in pumpkin carving.  Glenn and I grabbed this giant pumpkin at a farm a few weeks ago and it was big enough for multiple faces.    

Happy Halloween!  

 

Reina's Confirmation

 

Reina was confirmed at our church on Sunday.  She's had a different confirmation experience than most.  She started the process during the Covid shutdown, had a lot of zoom classes, then in-person classes and finally confirmation.  We are proud of her and can't believe that she's growing up so fast.  To wrap up their classes, each confirmand was asked to write a statement of faith.  Here's Reina's (sharing with her permission). 

My faith statement, what God means to me.

                To me, God is faith, God is someone that will always be by you in sadness, anger, fear, grief in any emotional state you might be in. God is a friend, a friend you know is there, a friend that you can talk to, a friend you can trust. He understands you, understands when your angry, sad he understands you always. God knows when your hurt, he knows what you’re feeling and is always with you when you are in pain.

God wants me to live my life with no fear, he wants me to be always happy, sadly he can’t always control that, so when I am suffering he wants me to know that he is always by my side no matter what I am going through.

To those who struggle to believe in God, he isn’t mad, he understands, and he is there to lead you through every step until you find the mindset to believe in him, and if you still don’t, he is always there never mad, never sad, he will love you always. He forgives your sins; he accepts your apologies without any doubt because he knows you love him, and he loves you.

When you are under God’s wings you will never fear death you will never fear pain or grief because you know he is always there for you. Joshua 1:9 “Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be that dismayed, for the lord thy god is with thee wheresoever you go.” The verse from the bible is exactly what I’m trying to say.

September

We are in the whirlwind of school, sports, dance, work, gardening, hunting and everything else that can be accomplished in the month of September.  The kids are settling into their schedules.  Glenn and I count down the days until the weekend.  We have a lot of football happening at this house - much to Reina's dismay but she's being a good sport about it.  Will is playing JV and Varsity.  On Friday he got his first varsity start against Laramie and it was very exciting.  These pictures are out of order but here are a few memorable moments:  

Will sacked the quarterback on 4th down and this picture would be less blurry if I hadn't been simultaneously screaming and taking photos.  

Will's first start - he's #28.  He actually got the first defensive tackle of the game but that picture did not turn out at all.  

#28 under the lights.  

Reina's dance season has started and she had to get fitted for new pointe shoes today.  Thanks to technology we were able to do a fitting virtually so she put on her dance clothes and we went down to the basement/gym/taxidermy room and zoomed with a store in Colorado.  I'm so amazed at what she can do in those shoes - look at that balance!  I don't think she inherited that from my side of the family.  

All is well.  Stay tuned for more football/dance/hunting/gardening/pet pictures.  

First Day of School

Yesterday was the first day of school for 10th grade and 8th grade.  And yes, I got a little teary-eyed.  It feels like they are slipping through my fingers but that's a lament for another day.  I couldn't get a group shot because Will is taking 0 hour weights which is a fancy way of saying that he takes a class in the wee hours of the morning and it's weight lifting.  He leaves the house before I'm fully conscious but I rallied to get his picture.  

He's growing his hair out along with the majority of the teen boys in society.  The 80s are back!  

Reina goes to school at a slightly more acceptable hour so we snapped a few photos in the sun and with a cat as an ankle accessory.  

 It's only been two days but the school year is off to a good start.  Will travels with the football team to Sheridan tomorrow and Reina has a slumber party on Saturday.  Whoever agreed to hosting a slumber party on the first weekend after school started was obviously not thinking clearly LUCY.  

Fourth of July

I logged on to write a big post about all of our August happenings but then I saw that I had this one waiting in the draft folder so let's wrap up the Fourth of July!  On August 13!  We headed over to The Fry Farm for bbq and fireworks.  July 4 was a Monday this year so both Glenn and I had to work the next day which is a really boring way to say that we left before the really big fireworks started.  It was a cooler evening and we had fun sitting outside watching the cousins race around.  

Mixed doubles for whatever this game was.

Those are foam swords which I feel like I should mention because this picture makes it look like they are swinging broom handles at each other.  Which they probably have.... just not at a time when I could capture it photographically.  

The cutest 6 yr old in all of Wyoming showing us his box of Pop-Its.

Girl cousins and watermelon mustaches.  

 

Football in June?

Will's had the opportunity to play 7 v 7 football this summer.  He traveled with the high school team to Denver, Boulder and Fort Collins a few times to play.  Glenn, Pop-pop and I took turns going along to watch. What a cool experience!  He played linebacker mostly, a few shots at offense too.  The regular season starts practice in four weeks and we are ready!  

Shirts vs skins (Will) 

Defending the receiver 

This one is a little harder for me - that's Will on the field at Colo State.  Great opportunity but ew.

With that yucky logo in the back but look at the position on defense!  

 

Dance fever

Last month, Reina had her dance recital.  She danced in pointe, ballet, hip hop and hoop.  Both pointe and hoop were new classes for her this year.  I didn't get a picture of her hip hop performance and I could kick myself because it was super fun.  

Reina had her own fan club at the recital. 

Look at my girl on pointe!  This is so much harder than it looks.  She's been working on this since September and has made awesome progress.  

Ballet time.  This was her favorite costume.  

Hoop!  I was blown away by this dance.  Reina made it all look so effortless. 

 Reina isn't sure what dance classes she'll sign up for in the fall.  She talks about wanting more time to do clubs and activities at school, but she also loves dance.  We'll see what she decides.  Reina we just love watching you have fun.  

June

Well that was fast.  June started with the end of the school year and now we are one month into summer 2022 and we have a dance recital, baseball games, 7 v 7 football, a garden, and lots and lots of family togetherness to show for it.  

I'll have to post photos later but Reina had her dance recital at the beginning of the month and it was so much fun to watch her dance.  This year she had pointe, ballet, hip hop and hoop.  Her favorite dance was Hoop and I don't have a favorite because I think she's brilliant at all of them.  Reina has her first big babysitting job this summer.  She babysits an energetic 5 year old boy two days a week and she's discovering all of the joy that is the 5 year old brain.  She's also in charge of making dinner at our house once a week.  One week, she ordered pizza all by herself and this week she made frozen potstickers and potato salad.  We appreciate her enthusiasm and I'm just noticing that maybe she only can serve food that starts with a P?  

Will is playing on two baseball teams and working out with the football team.  He's also practicing driving and napping.  Well, he's not practicing napping, he's an expert.  For his turn at making dinner, he (with Glenn's help) grilled steaks and asparagus and learned to make mashed potatoes.  

Glenn and I are both busy at work.  Glenn's had to travel some and I had a trip to Nebraska earlier in the month.  I'll have more pictures to post on the holiday weekend. If I can take a break from my napping.  

Memorial Day Weekend

We had a nice holiday weekend.  The kids had Friday off so I took the day off and Glenn took part of the day.  We attended a few graduation parties for friends' kids and I started a little bit of our garden.  Reina caught Will's cold so she was in bed most of the day but tested negative for Covid. Phew.  Saturday was gorgeous so we gardened and worked on cousin E's birthday cake.  I bought this fancy pan that can make all of the letters and numbers and I was itching to try it out.   

The first E didn't turn out as planned but the second version (of which I don't have a picture!) was yummy and more solid than this version.  

Sunday was a little cooler and brought much needed thunderstorms.  Luckily, we got to attend E's 6th birthday party at the roller rink.  I'm happy to announce that all of the adults emerged from the skating rink unscathed.  Considering Aunt V and I served cake and treats while on skates the entire time, that's a huge achievement.  

Along with a giant E cake, he also wanted a baseball one.  I was going to make the stripes with frosting but Kindergarten Cousin insisted on red sprinkles.  He and his sister laboriously picked through the jar of sprinkles to find enough red to make the baseball - the blue and white were used on the E cake, naturally. 

Monday was also cool and overcast.  Will and I took E to Murdoch's for his second annual 'pick out your birthday present' trip.  After much dithering, he chose a toy ATV/Camper combo, a small truck and trailer and a wooden knife (that was Will's idea).  The toy section at Murdoch's is getting smaller so if this continues to be an annual tradition, we are going to have to start buying tools and livestock equipment.  Stay tuned.  

Baseball season again

The temperature outside hasn't always felt like it, but apparently it's baseball season again.  Will is playing with a new team this year.  He's actually on two teams.  One team is for the regular season and just plays in town during the week.  The other team is made up of the best players from the regular season teams and travels to tournaments or plays out of town teams.  The regular season was supposed to start tonight but we had a rain out (which was actually great news because we are in a drought!).  The travel team has had some scrimmages but last weekend Will had games in Casper,  I went with Will for the quick overnight trip and had fun watching him play.  

Playing third base

At bat

 

Mother's Day

Today was my sixteenth mother's day and I'm not sure how that is possible.  Insert lamentation about time tick tocking by here.  I told everyone here that I didn't want a present because I bought myself a cakepan that can make numbers and letters last week (yes, it's unbelievably wild and crazy at our house) but that I would like a card.  Thanks to Glenn, they obliged.  

Sweet note from Will and he even used markers!  

Reina knows (and shares) my obsession with Wordle and made me this little gem.  So creative!  

 

So this is happening

Will got his driver's permit a few weeks ago.  Yes, it looks like a mugshot.  Yes, you might want to stay off the sidewalks for a little while until he gets the hang of it.  Honestly, he's doing great.  His favorite parent/driving teacher depends on the day.  I was too encouraging when I drove with him.  He did not need/appreciate all of my "good job buddies."  Glenn accidentally instructed him to go through the roundabout and 'wasn't explaining things very well.'   But so far, so good.  

Spring Break

We've been back from Spring Break for a few weeks but it feels a lot longer than that.  The kiddos and I zipped down to Cabo for a few days with my sister and family and my parents.  Glenn stayed home to hold down the fort and save up his vacation days with his new job.  We missed him and we'll make sure he goes with us next time!  We arrived in Mexico on a Monday and flew home Saturday but we packed in a lot during our time there.  

Reina left her mark on the wall of a restaurant where we celebrated (early) my parents' 50th wedding anniversary!  An amazing accomplishment!  And this is a weird way to acknowledge it but I'll make sure to dedicate a whole post around their actual anniversary.  

This cat showed up at our resort every night around dinnertime and sauntered through the outside dining area to see what was happening.  We may have shared a tiny bite of cheeseburger.  

Down at the marina, tourists pay these guys for the opportunity to feed a sea lion.  It's a pretty sweet deal for salesperson and sea lion if you ask me.  The pelicans don't seem to mind either.  I just observed even though I was tempted to fork over a few bucks.  That sea lion is definitely not starving.  

These four cousins.  Time feels like it's flying by when all of these kiddos just keep growing year after year.  They had a fun time swimming with each other 

A letter to the birthday boy

"Hey Will, let me take your picture with your cake." 

"Okay, but smile this time." 

Pretending to spit on the cake so that no one else will want to eat it.  

Look at that handsome smile.  

Dear Will:  Today you are 15. FIFTEEN! Don't ask me how that's possible.  (I can hear you answering this question with the perfect blend of sarcasm and science, "Well mom, that's how time works.") I just know it's moving all so fast.  You can read this blog whenever you want now so I won't go into embarrassing details about how cute you are when you are snuggling one of the pets or how your sense of humor is both delightful and exasperating, usually in the same thirty seconds.  You probably won't want me to mention that you were  on the honor roll for your first semester of high school.  You also don't love it that we think you are so handsome.  Daily, I'm reminded that you are taller than me by several inches now and I think your dad's next.  Your voice is so low that a few days ago I heard Glenn talking to someone in the kitchen and I thought that a neighbor had stopped by.  Nope, just my kid.  

Will, I hate that I can't find out about any breaking sports news before you do because your phone beats me to it and I only get a hard start when you are either still asleep or sitting in class without your phone handy.  The day the Broncos signed Russell Wilson.... well let's just say that I don't think a lot of studying was happening during your school day.  You are a knowledgeable sports fan and while you don't always have the "hope springs eternal" view of some of your favorite teams, you are always happy when they do well.  

You discovered Wordle a few weeks ago and you like to send me your screenshots of a successful game and you get mad if I give you too many hints.  You've been preparing for next Fall's football season since the last one ended and you have a new baseball season starting up soon.  Your love of all things sport and competition give your dad and I a lot of joy (and heartache sometimes but mostly joy).  We just love to watch you play.  

Happy fifteenth birthday big kid.