My, what large ears you have

Reina draws and draws and colors and draws some more.  She draws elaborate cross-sections of houses with purple curtains and pink beds and big rooms for her and her cats and a little tiny closet-sized space at the top of stairs for the rest of us.  She draws a picture of her big cousin's graduation and asks me how to spell "I love my family."  She draws unicorns and horses and babies and most of all, cats.  Cats with giant heads and big pink ears.  Cats that say "meow" under a sky filled with fluffy clouds and butterflies.  Cats that only have 3 legs but maybe it's a perspective thing.  We found out at Reina's parent-teacher conference last week that she's a little hard on herself in the classroom.  She's as smart as a whip and learning everything quickly.  She just gets down on herself when her teacher corrects her, points out a misspelled word, etc.  Frankly, she probably gets that from me.  (My family members are scoffing at the "probably" part of that sentence.)  So I'm trying to find a way to let her know that it's okay to be corrected, that's how we learn. In the meantime, I'm going to keep encouraging kitty pictures and everything else that comes out of that quirky little brain of hers.   

While I was playing volleyball

I took both kiddos to my volleyball game last night.  Will watched me play a few weeks ago but it was Reina's first time in attendance.  Knowing that I'd have to keep her busy and in her seat the entire time, I gave her my phone to play with while I was on the court.  As I went back to serve at one point, Reina yelled "Mom, Mama, look over here!  I want to take your picture!"  Now, this is city volleyball and it's not ultra competitive but I'm also not going to stop my game so a 5 yr old can get her perfect shot.  

Since her sports model wasn't cooperating, Reina created her own fun.

There were 5 pictures almost exactly like this - with the only difference being the intensity of her stare.

The perfect selfie!

I don't know.....her brother's jacket?

She also recorded several minutes of video featuring the exciting sounds of rec league volleyball but the non-exciting view of the floor of the bleachers.  Someday you'll be able to say you saw her early work first.  

Running

I ran a half marathon yesterday.  I've lost track of how many half marathons I've run and I don't mean that in a braggy way, more of a the-years-have-blended-together-since-2009-and-I-really-can't-remember-which-one-is-which.  I know I ran my first half the summer after Reina was born and I've run at least one a year ever since.  In 2010 I did three which was a little insane.  I've done somewhere around 11 or 12 total.  So yesterday's race was one that I had run before but they changed the course this year so it was basically new.  After the Yellowstone half that Glenn and I ran in June (did I write about how much that one kicked my butt? Well, it did.) ended, I wasn't sure if I wanted to run another one this year.  My finish times had been steadily increasing with the past several races and well, that's not a good sign, nor is it helpful to one's ego.  But a good friend wanted to race it and Uncle Matt signed up, so Vicky and Baby Cousin would be there, and that's all the motivation I needed!  The weather was crisp and cool but not too cold. I borrowed Vicky's Ipod and jammed along to the craziest combination of songs I could imagine.  Each new song made me giggle but kept me going.  I finished with one of my better times, a good 20 minutes or so faster than this summer's race.  Yah!  My legs are tired today and a little sore but no permanent damage.  Also yah!  Now I can just get back to jogging with the dogs to make them not so crazy and to help me avoid the holiday pound accumulation. And I'm already thinking about signing up for another one in the summer. 

Halloween postscript

We had a perfect Wyoming Halloween.  There wasn't 3 feet of snow on the ground and the wind wasn't howling 50 mph.  Costumes could be worn with just a jacket over the top, or long johns underneath, and no snowpants were needed.  Reina/Elsa got a little cold after the first round of trick-or-treating so she came back home and helped hand out candy.  Our street is under construction this week so we didn't get many brave souls who wanted to march past the "road closed to thru traffic" sign. After Glenn took the kids out and brought Reina back, Will and I hit a few more blocks with Trigger, who saw a yard with one of those giant blow-up spiders that move and proceeded to lose his ever-loving mind.  He barked and barked and jumped back and barked some more until I finally dragged him away.  Trigger is not a fan of inflatable lawn ornaments.

 

Here are a few last minute photos of Halloween 2014.

Arrrrrrgh matey!  It's a Pirate Jack-o-lantern.  Will picked out the heritage-y orange and white pumpkin and dictated to Glenn the rather complicated pirate visage that he had in mind. 

Reina and I made a kitty pumpkin, naturally.  I think she has the look of Grumpy Cat. 

For trick-or-treating, Will felt like he had to take his costume up and notch and accessorize with a Civil War beard.  Thanks to my eye pencil, Glenn did his best.  Will's costume was a big hit with the grown-ups who answered the trick or treat doors. 

Baby Cousin birthdays and a Halloween Preview

Once again, I find myself woefully behind on blogging duties.  But I'm also behind at work and the house is clean-ish but there are giant stacks of paper needing my attention and the giant cupboard in the bathroom is leaking with expired cough medicine.... so what I'm saying is that at least I'm consistent, right?

 

Anyway, we helped celebrate Baby Cousin's FIRST birthday a few weeks ago.  Her mom and dad hosted a lovely little Broncos themed birthday party - what else could it be, really?  We had such a great time helping the cutest little niece on the planet to celebrate her big day. 

I volunteered to make the cake. I briefly toyed with the idea of trying to make a bundt cake into a Broncos helmet but the look Glenn gave me when I shared that idea convinced me to just add some blue and orange sprinkles and call it good.  Oh ye of little faith. 

We'd barely set foot in the house before someone had somebody else sitting on his lap.  For posterity's sake, I have to point out Ainsley's blue and orange tutu and football leg warmers.  I'm putting those on my Christmas list - if they have them in adult sizes I really need a pair. 

 

We sang "happy birthday" and waited to see if Baby Cousin would embrace frosting and sugar or if she'd calmly ask for a veggie tray.  While it's hard to tell in this picture, the cupcake and frosting was a hit.  See, she is related to me! 

Reina encouraged AP to tackle that cupcake already. 

The great costume dilemma of 2014 finally ended when Will decided to be a Union Soldier.  Have I mentioned that already?  Glenn and Will found a blue button down shirt at Goodwill, I spent a few bucks on brass buttons and yellow ribbon, and Glenn took it from there. 

This sounds a little weird to type, but Glenn has some serious costume skills.  He has a vision and it's usually much clearer and more specific than my vision and he has way more patience to painstakingly glue yellow ribbon. 

The kids' school hosted their annual Halloween carnival last Friday and both kids were a hit.  There were probably 25 other Elsa's but Reina's homemade costume stood up to the Disney creations and she definitely had the Elsa attitude down pat.

I managed to wrangle Reina's hair into a side braid and check out Will's ammunition pouch.  We don't mess around at the Pauley house. 

Ignore the giant mess exploding out of the kitchen in the background and just focus on the sibling affection.  It lasted for a good 10 seconds. 

Happy Halloween! 

A collection of food related items that should be immortalized and a picture of football

The Halloween costume dilemma of 2014 has been resolved.  Will has decided to be a Civil War solider.  I've already ordered a nifty Union cap (I did lobby for him to be a Confederate soldier like his great, great, lots of greats grandfather but we'll go with Union this year) and I think we can do the rest of the costume with stuff we have around here.  Will has requested that we purchase a new gun and knife to go with the outfit but I'm not sure that Target sells muskets. I was lulled into thinking that I still had two weekends left to put all of the costumes together but the calendar reminded me that the school carnival is actually on the 24th so Bronco Baby Mom needs to get her you-know-what together. Yikes!

 

So here's a collection of weird photos that I uploaded to the blog last month and then promptly forgot to do anything with them.  Life is so full and interesting right now and the kids are so darn entertaining.  Instead of writing stories about potty training and other bodily function related milestones, I have hysterical conversations to transcribe and all of these funny little remarks that Reina's makes (did you know her 'boyfriend' is a 5th grader?  That one stopped Glenn in his tracks).  But the problem is I'm either too busy to carve out time to write, or I sit down at 9:22 p.m. on a Tuesday and can't remember a darn thing.  So instead I memorialize random photos from my phone.  And here you go. 

 

I made hardtack. Do I need to say more about that?  Isn't everyone making hardtack these days?   Because Glenn does not like to do things halfheartedly and if one is going to spend 5 days backpacking in the backcountry while elk hunting, one might as well have some hardtack to eat.  It was edible, and not as weird tasting as it looks.  A cross between a flat biscuit and a bland tasting wafer (those are Glenn's words just now.  I asked him to describe the hardtack and he said "a bland tasting wafer but it was really good!"  Nice attempted save, buddy).  The ingredients for hardtack included shortening and flour and frankly that might've been it.  Glenn took it on his trip and didn't starve so mission accomplished. 

Coming to a supermarket near year, "Glenn's bland tasting wafers."  Delicious! 

 

While Glenn was gnawing on a hunk of hardtack, the kids and I were home braving the first real cold snap of the fall.  This was right around Sept 11 and I had 8 pots of peppers and tomatoes and I wasn't ready to say goodbye.  I dragged everything into the garage and crossed my fingers.  The plants did well and we're still eating tomatoes this week. 

I almost turned a space heater on for my plants but even I thought that might be a little excessive. 

This was one yellow tomato plant.  Almost as tall as I am but thankfully not as heavy. 

First snowfall of the year - insert lukewarm yahhhhhh here.  I wasn't ready in mid-September.  I'm a little more ready now but just because I'm tired of doing yardwork. 

Vicky planted these colorful carrots in the community garden plot which we also frantically harvested before the snowfall.  They were delicious! 

Will's football season wrapped up and the Cheyenne Vikings ended with a near perfect record.  Will's already talking about the next sport - basketball - and the one after that - baseball.  He'd like to fit soccer in there somewhere but it might come down to choosing soccer over baseball, or vice versa.  The only thing I know about spring soccer in Cheyenne is that it often involves a lot of snow.  I vote for baseball! 

Reina took this picture, along with 15 other shots similar to this and also super closeups of my face.  She's not as entertained by 7-yr old football as I am so she turns her attention to other pursuits.  Like photography.  With a really old cell phone. 

I'm signing off to go figure out how to make a replica Union uniform out of long johns and sports pants.  Did the soldiers back then wear Under Armor?  I hope so. 

A list of the costumes that the kids are considering for Halloween

Will
1.  A soldier
2.  A policeman
3.  A baseball player
4.  Anakin Skywalker before he becomes Darth Vader
5.  Anakin Skywalker burnt by the lava and soon to be Darth Vader (a bit complicated, that one)
6.  Darth Vader

Reina
1.  Elsa (For the 2 of you who haven't seen Frozen yet, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elsa_(Disney)

With Halloween just 3 1/2 weeks away, I told Will he needs to decide by this weekend so that I can frantically consult the internet and figure out a way to make a Darth Vader costume out of duct tape and jogging pants.  Reina's already suggested that we take her ballet costume from last spring and add a large cape, so aside from figuring out how to make a gauzy, ethereal cape from the sale bin at JoAnn Fabrics, we're pretty good to go on that one. 

Wish me luck.