The last week

I know, I know. I have a whole page of vacation photos waiting for me but things are a bit crazy around here and sunny vacay pics will have to wait for a little while longer.   The last few weeks have been a whirlwind of school field trips and work projects and turkey hunts.  Will started baseball practice a few weeks ago and has added in swimming lessons since we returned from Spring Break.  Reina's ballet recital is around the corner and the end of the school year beckons and yikes!  

Both kiddos received a gift card from Toys R Us for their birthdays and last weekend was our first chance to get to the store.  They both had $25 to spend and we anticipated a rather lengthy visit while decisions were made and options pondered.  I accompanied Reina on a leisurely stroll through, baby dolls, stuffed animals, every manner of plastic animal until we came upon the Barbie aisle.  (Glenn and Will headed to Legos, naturally.)  Reina hemmed and hawed and then spotted this: 

 

 Barbie the Baby Zoo Animal Veterinarian.  I think Reina was more interested in the baby koala, monkey and tiger that she later named Cookie, Pickles and Cheese Stick.  (We think Reina was hungry that day.)  Barbie and the baby animals have a place of honor in Reina's room and we still get daily updates on the status of the baby animals.  Glenn and I've decided that perhaps this is Reina's dream job - taking care of exotic baby animals while also wearing high heels and looking glamorous while you do it. 

Will picked Legos - and the only surprise there was how long it took him to choose.  The true dilemma came when the Lego he picked out was a few dollars less than his gift card but then he couldn't find one that was cheap enough to use up the rest of his money.  Oh the problems of the second graders. 

Before the shopping spree, I ran a half marathon in Fort Collins.  There are no pictures of me after the race because it wasn't a pretty sight.  But hey - look at this poster I got for finishing the race.

Glenn celebrated a forty-something birthday this week.  He asked for and received hunting clothes and underwear (really!).  I also surprised him with a UW men's basketball MWC championship shirt.  I told him that he could wear it to the gym but he wants to save the shirt for game day.  We also went out to dinner and Glenn ate dessert.  Big day! 

On Wednesday, Will and I went on a field trip with his class to the Butterfly Pavilion.  Will held a tarantula.  I did not.

 Will started to feel a little puny during the field trip and came down with a springtime cold/asthma thing.  He and I stayed home on Thursday and he's on the mend. 

Reina stuck this note to my back yesterday.  It's made me giggle ever since.  Kindergarten humor and/or insults.  You have to at least admire her correct spelling and penmanship. 

To end our week, we took a walk to a nearby park.  Tootsie and Trigger had a great time - but it really doesn't take a lot for them to have a good time.  Some playground equipment and lax leash laws are all they need for a fun night out. 

More pictures from Florida or This is What Happens When You Take a New Camera on Vacation and Glenn Wants to Use it Too

Well Spring Break feels like it was months ago so I'd better finish writing about our trip before it's completely gone from my brain.  So let's relive the trip one more time. 

 

Great Blue Heron by Glenn.  He took these pictures on our boat trip on a tributary of the St John's River.  It's one of my favorite places to visit when we go to Florida. 

Big alligator!  We saw this guy/girl hanging out on the bank while we were safely in the boat.  Got Will's attention though! 

Oh great, now the pictures are out of order.  Here we are before the boat trip and playing in the park.  I took this picture to capture how big the trees are and how little my kiddos still look. 

Snuggle time - or more like give-me-a-piggy-back-ride-so-I-don't-have-to-walk-time.

Posing for some pictures before the boat ride.  The Florida humidity did amazing things to Reina's hair.  Amazing and gigantic.

We didn't get to pat any manatee this year but we did get to see a few up close.  They come into the spring for the warm water and we lucked out because it was a little chilly that day and we got to see a few.  Will didn't like the scars on the manatee and wishes that boats would stay far away from them.

Anhinga in a tree by Glenn

More alligators. 

Turtles in foliage by Glenn

Some bird in the blue sky by Lucy

Mom and kid by Glenn.  Mom needs a smaller hat. 

So there are more pictures to come of the cruise and the rest of our trip and wow it's already mid-April. 

Toothless, Reina Edition

Toothless!

 This afternoon, Reina lost one of her top middle teeth.  Now this tooth has been a source of drama and much consternation for the last few weeks.  It's been lost for quite a while now and was hanging in there by the tiniest of threads.  It started bleeding earlier in the week which seemed to harden Reina's resolve to keep it in her mouth for as long as possible.  Even the promise of a visit from the Tooth Fairy didn't motivate her to yank that sucker out.  I picked both kids up from school today and on the way out, one of the teachers asked Reina if her tooth had fallen out yet.  About two minutes later, as Reina was eating a piece of Glenn's famous antelope jerky in the car, she yelped, "My tooth came out" and I looked back to see her holding a tooth in one hand and jerky in another.  The gap in her mouth makes her look so much like a big kid, I can hardly stand it.  Unlike her last tooth, there's no sign of the new one coming yet so she has a delightful little vacancy.  She couldn't look more like a soon-to-be-first-grader if she tried.  

The last picture of baby tooth in situ.  And a mom/daughter selfie before my volleyball game Monday night. 

Reina is asleep right now with her tooth and a note to the Tooth Fairy under her pillow.  Ms. Fairy better not let the cold temperatures and snow on the ground get in the way of her travels tonight. 

Florida - informal version, part 1

I have what seems like 1000 pictures on my camera of every detail of our recent Spring Break trip to Florida.  The project of taking those pictures from the camera onto the blog, adding pithy comments and detailing the fun time that we had feels a little daunting at this point.  So I'm going to bite off this big project one little piece at a time.  First up, pictures from my NEW camera phone, no more blurry, cracked lens photos for this family!  

First up, our departure from Denver.  Our flight left at 6:30 a.m., which means we arrived at the airport before 5:00 a.m.  To make things easier, we drove down to Denver the night before.  The kids did a great job getting up so early and heading to the airport. 

Tired yes, but not as cranky as this picture indicates.  At 3:30 in the morning, it's definitely too early to comb hair.

We had a nice flight to Orlando.  The girls sat together and the boys were a row behind us.  Reina and I had an extra seat next to us so she stretched out and we both slept for a little while.  We also played on the Ipad, snacked and watched tv.  Traveling with a 6-yr old is labor intensive but relatively enjoyable.  

Grandpa Pauley picked us up at the Orlando airport and we headed to their house. Right away, we enjoyed the warm sun and the greenness all around us. 

Will finally crashed in the car.  Someday he'll be way too big to use his mom's shoulder as a pillow so I shall document it (and enjoy it) while I can. 

Long-time readers of this blog will remember that we can barely make it through a Florida vacation without a trip to the ER.  Between croup visits and Glenn getting a fish hook stuck in his hand last year, we know our way there by now.  So this year, my main goal was keeping us out of the ER, medical office, etc.  Spoiler alert - we made it!  But on the first afternoon of our visit, Will made it a little dicey.  

Face meets corner of recycling bin, or something like that.  I'm still a little fuzzy on the details even though I was sitting about 20 feet from him when it all happened.  What can I say, he is my kid.  He did get a black eye but he was mostly none the worse for the wear. 

On the second day of our trip, we headed to one of our favorite spots, DeLeon Springs.  We took a boat ride, did a little swimming and enjoyed the sunshine. Many MANY more pictures on the camera so stay tuned. 

Easter photo overload

We just returned from a great Spring Break trip which will be chronicled very soon, once I sort through the pile of pictures that we took. Today is Easter Sunday so let's talk about that!  

We were all still on eastern time so we woke up early enough to play with Easter baskets, make it to church on time, come home, dye eggs and head it to Uncle Matt and Aunt Vicky's house for lunch.  It was a pretty day and we enjoyed an Easter egg hunt in the backyard with Baby Cousin. 

Cousin snuggle time - but she was possibly getting ready to bite Big Cousin's arm. 

Look at this big boy and his dad.  While on Spring Break, we noticed that Will was getting taller and taller.  Goodness it's evident here! 

Close up of two handsome Pauleys.

Baby Cousin and Girl Cousin talking about Easter eggs.  Yummmmmmm.

The sun's in her eyes but she's still my big girl.

Cousins! 

Say cheese!  I can't stop taking pictures of these cute kids.  I may need an intervention.

Baby Cousin and Bailey searching for eggs. 

 So Glenn decided to up the excitement factor for this year's Easter Egg hunt by bringing the nerf gun along and constructing some complicated rules that involved searching for eggs, bringing them back to a 'safe zone,' avoiding nerf bullets, turning over eggs to me (how'd I get roped into this?) if one is shot by the nerf gun and more. The only rule I added was DON'T SHOOT AINSLEY!

What's an Easter Egg hunt without heart pounding adrenaline?

Run for your lives!!!!

No words.

Reina kept trying to renegotiate the rules but gamely played along.

Let's take a break from shooting sports and look at this cute girl! 

We wrap up this Easter post with two cute kids and a photogenic dog.  I think in Tootsie's previous life she was a dog model.  She has an uncanny ability to get in the picture. 

Sibling affection - that lasted about 7.5 seconds. 

Happy Easter everyone! 

Ice fishing with Reina

Last month or January or something like that, Glenn and a friend took Reina ice fishing on a Saturday afternoon.  The cold and ice did not deter our girl from having a great time.  Reina really likes to fish and she especially likes to carry fish around.  Things she doesn't like in regards to fishing include:  being forced to throw the fish back (see last year's trip to Florida) and cold fingers.  On this trip though, she was a little trooper.  And potentially a future ice-fishing model.  

She and her dad fried this fish up for dinner.  After it got a good snuggle of course.  And yes, that jacket was washed almost immediately.

Not sure why Glenn's hat is so tall.....

 

Walking the catwalk with her blue steel

Big thanks to Glenn's friend for these great pictures! 

Happy girl, less happy fish.

A letter to the birthday boy

Dear Will: Today you are eight.  8!   You grow taller every day - you are up to my armpits already.  I can lift you up but it leaves us both in a heap of giggles.  You are a kind, conscientious kid.  We see it at home but we also hear from your teacher that you are a good friend and compassionate to your classmates.  You play with Reina and go along with her princess/baby/pony/kitten games every once in a while, but she usually tags along with your battles and adventures in the backyard.  Will, you are so patient with your little cousin, you show patience with her that I don't see with any other members of our family.  You two played with your Transformers the other night and you were delighted that she was interested in 'boy toys.' 

 

Will, you are still my sports buddy.  You became a big fan of the Cowboys during this basketball season and I'm excited to take you to a Broncos game in the fall.  You've been on more than a couple of hunts with your dad in the past few months and you come back tired but happy.  You even asked for hunting clothes for your birthday this year and your dad immediately got online at Cabelas and ordered you a bunch of stuff.  And by immediately, I mean about 5 minutes after your conversation.  You are also having a lot of fun playing sports.  We just finished the basketball season and you are signed up for baseball and swimming.  You want me to sign you up for soccer too, but I think we are booked up right now kiddo. 

 

You tell me that you want to be a soldier when you grow up but you've also been talking about being a writer and a cartoonist.  You are very interested in World War II, big battles in general, Star Wars, Legos and creative writing (in the poop humor genre).  You have a lot going on in that big brain of yours and we spend a lot of time googling things like "when was the first gun invented" and "how many people died in the Battle of Gettysburg?"  You love "what if" questions, like "Mom, what would you do if we saw a tank driving down our street?"   I still don't know the answer to that one.  What would I do? 

 

Will, you are doing well in school.  You are a whiz at spelling and I'm amazed at some of the math that you are already learning in second grade.  You are figuring out multiplication and division and even starting on fractions right now.  I'm going to have to brush up on my times tables to keep up with you.  You still dislike singing in public but your choir teacher tells me that you bravely sing your parts during class.  I think I'll be able to keep you in line by threatening to sign you up for choir, so keep that in mind buddy. 

 

Here are some pictures from your birthday celebration:  

Opening presents in the wee hours of your birthday morning.  We told you that you had to wait until after 6:00 a.m. to wake us up.  You gave us until 6:15, generous boy.

Surprise - it's a Lego! 

This picture sums up how your sister felt about getting up early to watch you open presents....

Nike socks in focus, birthday boy's face not so much.  Will, your mom probably needs glasses. 

I need to add Under Armour and Nike to your list of "likes."

I have about 30 pictures of you making poses like this one.

This is doesn't have a lot to do with your birthday, but Reina's monkey was hanging out in the living room and I was walked by I almost jumped out of my skin.

Eight birthday candles on some UW cupcakes for the birthday boy. 

So happy birthday, my big kid.  You are a heck of a lot of fun right now and we love you so much.  I think EIGHT is going to be a great year.