Basketball girl

Reina the Falcon.  Yes, it's Veteran's weekend so that's appropriate, but as a Wyoming fan, hmmmm.  But blue is her color. 

This is our first weekend of basketball.  Will had practice on Thursday and both kids had games this morning.  Reina was first.  She's the only girl on her team and was the only girl on the court during her game.  She was not too crazy about that.  She's going through a very 'division of the sexes' theme lately.  Not that girls should be cooking, cleaning, etc., more that anything 'boy' is yucky.  She came home in a huff earlier in the week because one of her classmates dared to suggest that Reina's little stuffed bunny was a boy.  The audacity of that kid!  Bunny clearly has pink ears.  So anyway, Reina took a few minutes to warm up to basketball but by mid-practice/game, she was running up and down the court and having a good time.  She made a few baskets during the practice.  The 3-4 yr old games are pretty crazy --- there's not a lot of actual basketball going on but they are getting exercise and that equals long naps so I'm on board. 

Will's first game was right after Reina's and he did a great job!  He made two baskets during the game and his team won 8-0.  I'm pretty sure he's now scored just as many points as I did during my entire high school career.  I was also pretty proud of him for making a few good passes to his teammates and understanding how to play defense.  He's made such strides since last year and the best part is that he's really having fun out there.  Go Celtics! 

The Stoics

So, despite my pronouncement last year that Glenn would be in charge of the juvenile flu shots this year, (remember last year's ordeal?  http://www.williamfrederick.blogspot.com/2012/12/we-call-them-immunizations.html) I made an appointment for both kiddos to get immunized this afternoon.  Will didn't have school and I took the afternoon off to run errands, wash the car, alienate my children, you know, regular Thursday afternoon stuff. After a quick visit with cousin Ainsley, where Will actually patted her head and held her hand this time and sat right night next to me so that he could pat said head and hold said hand, we picked Reina up and headed to the doctor.  I avoided Will's "Reina, you are getting a shot" announcement that caused so much consternation last year by telling her in the parking lot on the way out of the school.  She took the news pretty well and Will was surprisingly unmoved when I told him earlier.  So off we went to the doctor's office.  When it was our turn to be called back, the kids were quiet but calm.  Will volunteered to go first and warning bells clanged in my brain because that's what he did last year, but he sat up on the table, covered his eyes for the actual injection and didn't make a peep.  I was floored.  First graders are the new sixth graders apparently.  When it was her turn, Reina calmly laid back on the table and only was slightly alarmed when she bled a little bit afterwards.  She happily got a sparkly star sticker to put on her upper leg (I barked, "Don't show that sticker to your friends, Reina!") and we went about our afternoon.  What a difference 12 months makes.   I think I'll have Glenn take next year's shift, just in case it's one of those "Have a giant freak-out in even years" kind of event. 

Candy Land and other mishaps from Day 5

A rare sighting of the Bronco Baby Mom but only to show off my healing shingles.

So I missed Day 5 of this whole blogging thing.  I intended to log in and write something but my head was hurting and Glenn told me to go to bed even thought it was only 9:20 and then I took some shingles medicine that would supposedly make me drowsy and it did and then it was this morning.  So there you go.  Worst run-on sentence ever.  But, I'm feeling much better today and the medicine is working its magic. 

Last night before my head started pounding (or maybe it started pounding because of it?) I introduced the kids to Candyland.  They were having a fine old time until Will drew one of the cards that sends you back to the beginning of the game.  He promptly threw down his card, screamed and ran out of the room.  Since my former claim to fame was crying during all of the Broncos' Super Bowl appearances (win or lose), I don't know that I have much to teach my children about not taking things like games and sports seriously.  After a minute, I called him back to the game, helped him calm down (I actually said out loud, "Honey, it's just a game") and we finished the Candyland match in good spirits.  Reina actually won that round but she surprisingly didn't make a big fuss about it.  I come from a long line of hyper competitive people so it's fun to see that spirit carried along to the next generation, even if board games end in tears and screeching. 

Jack O' lanterns

The night before Halloween, we finally got around to carving pumpkins that we bought at the pumpkin patch a few weeks earlier.  Confession time:  I'm not crazy about pumpkin carving.  I hate the slimy guts and the messy seeds.  Luckily Glenn is a champ about getting everything started and both kids love to dive in hands forts to clean it out.  This year, Will wanted a scary face and Reina wanted a kitty.  Glenn is also 100 times more artistic than me so he's also in charge of jack o lantern drawing.  And he does a fine job!  As we were working on the pumpkins I asked Reina if her kitty was a nice cat or a mean cat. She said it was nice but that the kitty had a question.  Kitty wanted to know when we are going to die.  Huh.  Kitty has quite the inquiring mind.  Statements like that generally leave Glenn and I speechless.  But we sure do giggle about it later.

From L-R:  Will's scary pumpkin, Reina's cat and Glenn's guy.  Mine had a feeble W-Y-O carved into it and was a ball of mush by the morning. 

Day 3

Well these titles just keep getting more and more creative huh?  In a desperate attempt to NOT fail at this NaBloPoMo (is that right?) thing on Day 3, I just signed on to the computer to feebly come up with a post topic, but it's 9:39 and my head's aching so this will be another short one.  I don't even have a cute picture to post because my computer and my camera are apparently not speaking to each other today.  Lest this become the official Blog About Shingles, I'll spare you the details and just say that I'm not feeling worse than yesterday so yeah!!!  And Will and Reina have been pretty helpful and funny - Will told me today that my head didn't look too scary. Now that's positive thinking!  I was helping him read tonight and afterwards I wrote him little notes to read out loud like, "You are such a great reader!"  etc.  Well after a few minutes, he asked me to write to him "Who is your worst enemy?"  This was after I asked him a bunch of questions about best friend, favorite food, etc.   Well he giggled and carefully wrote down "My mom."  Once again, that wicked sense of humor is alive in my kid. 

Day 2

Day 2 of my blogging month can be summed up in one word.  Shingles.  I have them.  To keep the rest of this post from being one long string of expletives (this is a family blog after all), I'll keep it short tonight.  But I do have to relate one little Will story.  Glenn took the kids grocery shopping this morning and walked past the book and magazine section as they were getting ready to check out. Will leaned over and warned Glenn, "Daddy, you don't want to read that book, it has sexy in it."

Tonight he saw a commercial for Dr Pepper and asked us if that was soda or one of those "over -21" drinks.  Awwwwww first graders.

1st day of November

Its the first day of November and therefore it's NaBloPoMo when I'll try to blog every day for a month.  Last year I made it to November 22, this year I'll go for the 23rd at least.  Or maybe the whole month - who knows! 

My first post of November is naturally a picture from the last day of October.  We had one of those typical Wyoming Halloweens.  The temperature wasn't too bad but the wind was howling and therefore it was cold.  Will attempted a few houses without his jacket (in spite of my warnings) but he was back pretty quickly to add another layer to his costume.  Reina's sunflower head acted as a sail and almost lifted her off of her feet a few times.  Next year we'll design costumes that look nice over snowsuits. 


I posted this picture on Facebook with the following caption:  Obi Wan Kenobe and his lesser known sidekick, Sunflower Girl.  Bring peace to the galaxy and a trail of glitter wherever she goes." 

After a few blocks around the neighborhood, Glenn and the kids came home and I drove Will and Reina to a few more houses - our friends who hand out full-sized candy bars (for the mommy!) and a stop at Will's teacher's house.  We have a bucket and a half of candy leftover but everyone had a fun night.  Happy Halloween!