A letter to the birthday girl, one day late

Dear Reina:

Today, you are 7.  No one in the history of the world has been more ready to be 7.  Did I write that last year about turning 6?  The night before your birthday, as I was tucking you in, you told me that you couldn't wait to be 7 because you could finally touch the ceiling fan.  I tried to hide my stumped look as you rattled off a list of other things that were great about being 7 and I wracked my brain trying to figure out the connection between ceiling fans and 7.  The only thing I can think of is at some point you must've asked to touch the ceiling fan and I said "oh, you have to wait until you're 7."  Who knows what I've assigned to 8, 9, 10, etc. I guess we'll find out together!

So back to your birthday.  You woke me up at 6:05 - Daddy was on a work trip.  We usually can't drag  you out of bed before 7:00 a.m. so it was obviously a special occasion.  We trooped downstairs with your brother and you opened up your presents.  You got the Shopkins that you wanted, a purple/pink Nerf gun so that you can battle Will and your dad, some clothes, your very own cookbook and cooking tools and roller blades.  Your grandparents gave you a penguin shirt and slippers and art supplies and jewelry and Aunt Vicky is taking you on a spa date.  I think 7 is starting off pretty well.

Reina, you are a delight.  I can't think of any other word that describes you better.  You are smart and interested in a wide range of topics from cats (naturally) to Egypt to old houses and olden times and weird tv shows featuring characters that are like the second generation of all of the Disney movies or something along those lines.  You are reading like crazy and recite signs and billboards to me as we drive down the road.  You'll watch Broncos and Cowboys games with all of us and you get upset when you hear people talk about Peyton Manning retiring.  You like to go hunting with your dad and Bobo but you also like to snatch a few hours of a "girls' day" with me and we go to Target and watch Frozen for the 9000th time and sometimes we paint nails.

You love your cousins and all of your family members and you draw pictures of all of us on adventures. I think you are a wonderful artist and the table is covered with your masterpieces as I type this letter. There's a lot going on in that brain of yours and I can't wait to see what comes next.  Happy birthday sweet girl, we love you!

Super Bowl Champs

Shortest blog post in history but it wouldn't be the Broncos Baby Blog without this announcement.  The Broncos won Super Bowl 50 tonight!!!  We are all pretty excited. I was too excited to take any pictures besides the poorly framed, odd, awkward shot of Will dancing after a Broncos touchdown and Glenn doing um something. The game was exciting, nerve-wracking at times but with a perfect ending.  I had to wait until I was 25 to see my first Broncos Super Bowl win.  I'm so delighted that my kiddos didn't have to wait that long.  Go Broncos!

Snow Day!

Tuesday morning we woke up to the phone ringing at 5:30 a.m. to announce that due to adverse weather conditions, schools were closed for the day.  Certain members of the household rejoiced, when the woke up later.  The older residents had to wait a little longer to find out that we had a two-hour delayed start so that was a pleasant surprise.  It takes a major storm to shut down our jobs and 10 or 11 inches of snow isn't going to do it.  But we worked out a plan to switch off kid duty and enjoyed our snow day.  

Reina didn't let the frigid temperatures deter her from getting outside.  Will was busy watching the NFL network.  

Our neighbor and his snowblower made quick work of our front sidewalk.  We need to make him cookies!  

All bundled up and starting to lose interest in being outside .... after about 7 minutes.  

Let's get Tootsie out there and buy a few more minutes.  Tootsie says "ummmm ok." 

Wait a minute?!  

If a dog can say "neener neener neener, I'm outside off-lease and you aren't" Tootsie is saying it right now.  

 So Snow Day 2016 is in the books.  With the way this winter is going, it might not be our last.  Coco, Tootsie, Trigger, Will and Reina are super excited about that.

Football family

Well, this isn't called the Bronco Babies Blog for no reason.  We have some serious Broncos fever going on right now and the whole family is getting into it.  The Broncos won the AFC Championship on Sunday and for once, all four of us were sitting in the den watching the game.  Reina usually wanders in and out but this time she had a stomachache and wanted to sit by me during the game. Once or twice she might've told me, "Mom, you just said the D word."  Guilty.   In my weak defense, it was a nerve-wracking game that wasn't decided until there were 12 seconds left.  The Broncos were underdogs and most of the media had predicted a Patriots blowout.  The Pauley household was very glad the so-called experts were wrong.  

Remember last week when Will took off all of his Broncos clothes?  This time, he wore all 6 Broncos shirts that he owns, including the one on top that's probably a size 4T.  

Reina dressed herself for Sunday School in this ensemble.  I've never been more proud.  

I think this was Saturday's outfit.  I like her style!  

In non-football related news, Reina brought home a packet of schoolwork that will undoubtedly provide blog-fodder for the next several weeks but I had to put this one up right away.  Reina wrote a story about our trip to Mexico and here's her version of me waking her up to leave for the airport.

So I have a beehift

Last week, I stayed home with Will one day as he battled a bad cold. I don't think anyone was happier to have us home than Coco.  She was happy to have the dogs inside to play with/boss around for the door and she was a little too interested in my laptop while I tried to get a few work projects taken care of.  Have you ever tried participating in a conf call with a cat perched on top of your keyboard?  Yah, me neither.

As ye reap, so shall ye sow. Or something like that.

On Sunday, the Broncos played the Steelers in the divisional round of the playoffs.  Now the Broncos have been to the playoffs for most of the years that this kid has been cognizant of football.  Now, I've always liked the idea of having a couple of football fans around the house to watch games with me and Glenn has certainly become Super Fan since we got married (there's a particular place on which to sit in the den that seems to influence the outcome of the game if he's sitting on it...) But I'm still the one who stomps around the house after a bad loss and cheers loudly enough to scare both cats and nieces when things are going well.  So let's talk about the game on Sunday.

The Broncos were predicted by most experts to win  and Will knew that because he spends a lot of spare time reading sports articles on my phone, his dad's phone and the Ipad.  Want to know who played Seattle in 2013?  Will probably knows.  What to know the Broncos highest score ever?  Will looked that up yesterday.  Reina shows interest but more in the variety of "who are we cheering for" and that's okay with me.  But then there's Will.  He woke up on Sunday and wore his #22 jersey to church (it's gameday and there are special dress code dispensations for gameday), came home afterwards and added his Broncos pj bottoms to the ensemble.  We sat down to watch the game and everything was alright for a while.  The Broncos settled for two field goals in the first quarter and we started to feel a little antsy.  Pittsburgh scored a touchdown and suddenly the Broncos are down 7-6.  It didn't get better in the second quarter and I can't even remember what precipitated it but Will ripped off both is lucky jersey and pants and proceeded to yell about the game, the team, no touchdowns, disappointment, etc., etc., etc.  It wasn't even halftime yet.  He sat on the sofa in his underwear and grumbled while I tried to give the pep talk of "there's still a lot of game left, we believe in our team, it's not over with yet, etc. etc. etc."  All I really wanted to do was take off my lucky Broncos shirt and sit next to him about pout.

So the second half started, the Broncos started playing a little better, or maybe the Steelers played worse.  At some point, Will's jersey came back on and the Broncos pulled off an ugly win and move on to the AFC Championship next week.  Will was deliriously happy and is all ready to cheer them on again.

My parenting dilemma is this:  do I punish him for his lack of faith in the team or do I credit him for turning the game around?  It's only weird if it doesn't work.

Go Broncos.

Mexico, part 2

The trip to Mexico continued with more jampacked days of fun, sun and surf.  And amateur photography skills.

Little blue tropical birds near our hotel room.  We saw a lot of birds that I can't identify and that we definitely don't see in our neck of the woods.  

And fauna.  

Because other Pauleys sat through a timeshare sales pitch, all of us got to take a tour of a jewelry boutique, a tequila manufacturer and the Mayan ruins at Tulum.  It was a long day, but a fun opportunity to see some new places.  And we met a monkey named Timmy.

Reina and Timmy.  Timmy hung out at the tequila factory and raises money for a wildlife refuge.  He was most interested in the contents of my purse.  Reina was most interested in him.  

I think Will's look says it all.  

Glenn gets a lot of smiles for his "I Love My Wife" tshirt.  The whole shirt reads "I love it when my wife lets me go fishing."  

Reina and the Mayan ruins at Tulum.  Set right above the ocean, the ruins are pretty impressive.  

Hey look, there's the ocean!  

Will and Tulum.  The pictures don't show how crowded the whole area was.  Will and I were walking along the path to another set of ruins and we passed a teenage couple heatedly making out.  Will made a face after we walked by and told me, "Mom, that's disgusting.  He was trying to eat her face.  I'm never going to do that when I grow up."  Fine with me, kiddo.  

Did I mention how hot and humid Mexico was?  

The next day, we headed to an island near Cancun - Isla Mujeres.  Just a short ferry ride away, Isla Mujeres had cute streets and a beautiful beach.  It was definitely one of the highlights for us.  

Next year's Christmas card perhaps?  

Glenn getting ready to dive into a big plate of fresh fish, red snapper to be exact. I had coconut shrimp, Will had pizza and Reina had a cheeseburger.  She's not much of a when-in-Rome eater.  

Part 3 coming soon!

Mexico, part 1

On the day after Christmas, we caught a flight to Cancun to spend a week with Glenn's parents and, brother, sister-in-law and our niece and nephew.  When we left Cheyenne that morning, it was 9 degrees.  When we landed in Cancun, it was not 9 degrees.   We had an adventure getting down there (late planes, sprinting through airports, delayed flights, not enough snacks) and no luggage made it to Cancun with us which at the time was a gigantic pain in my fanny, but looking back on it now, was a glitch that we survived.  I have several hundred pictures to sort through so here's a quick look at the first day or so.  

Mexico is humid.  I think this is after our luggage arrived because Glenn looks cleaner than he did the first day.  And he's probably not wearing jeans or he'd be sweating a lot more.  

We had a tough time keeping this mermaid out of the water.  Hairstyle was courtesy of her cool older cousin.  The kids had a great time on the trip and they have gorgeous mid-summer tans to prove it.  

Will loves the water too - and he actually made a few friends at the pool.  On the last day, he'd been playing football with a group of boys and when he came over to take a break, I asked him if he knew where his friend was from.  Will told me nonchalantly, "He's from India."  I said that was cool and then Will jumped in with, "oh wait, he's from Indiana."  Still cool.  

Vacations can be downright exhausting.  

 Lots, LOTS more to come.