Pictures of pets

Our house is still full of pets.  They've all adapted to having the house to themselves all day since I'm back at my office and the kids are in school. The dogs still love a trip to the field and the cats still try to sneak outside unless it's super cold.  Last month, Reina and I had to take both cats and one of the dogs to the vet for their annual appointment.  That trip was as chaotic as it sounds.  But they are all as cute as ever and we humans fight over who gets to sit next to the snuggly dog when it's cold in the evening.  

Reina would love to help me with chores but she's stuck on the sofa until Coco decides to change venues. 

Charlie loves to snuggle even if he's snuggling the back of my neck.  

Coco helping me with my latest sewing project.  So helpful!  

A tale of three pets at the vet. Pet 1 -  Coco preferred to sit on my shoulder facing the wall and (I can only assume) imagine herself in an alternative location.  

Pet 2 insisted on sitting in my lap in the waiting room and darting for the door anytime it looked like the appointment might be wrapping up.  

Pet 3 sat on the examining table and purred.  

Trigger helping me have a lazy Sunday.

 

First week of school

Shoot! I'm having trouble formatting my pictures and the page is a little messed up so the first day of school post will have to be sans captions. The kids have been in school for a week and besides Covid craziness, everyone is doing well. None of us have Covid right now but there isn't a mask mandate in the schools (right now also) and almost every day I'll get a message from one of the two schools about positive cases and students in quarantine. Both kids are vaxxed so we have that sense of protection but the whole system seems so much more chaotic than last year. But again - I"m not turning this into a Covid rant. Both kiddos had mostly positive reports from their first week of school. Reina is adapting to Jr High wait Middle School pretty well and besides being crankily tired on Friday night, had a good week. She says she likes her English class the most but she's also really liking art. And science. And French/Spanish. Etc. Will is pretty busy with football after school and more homework than last year at night but he's doing well too. This post will include a picture of Coco looking beautiful (naturally), a picture of Charlie looking concerned on the first day of school, Will and Reina in first day of school outfits looking too grown-up (hey I made it through the first day of school without crying!). There are several pictures of Will's first football game. He's #33. One picture shows him getting ready to sack the quarterback and if I'd had my wits about me, I would've kept taking pics instead of dropping the camera to scream "GETTTTTT HIMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!" which he did. There's also a pic of Will trying to get by a kid who's several sizes bigger than him and another pic of Will getting a great block for his teammate to run down the sidelines. Will's team won their first game 38-9 and we just love watching that kid play. We end the photo roll with our beautiful girl looking way to ready to conquer 7th grade.

Kids at Water World and pet pics

It's been a super weird week but I'm saving that story for another post.  In the meantime, a few weeks ago we took the little monsters, the big monsters, the grandparents, and some friends to Water World for our Official Last Fun Event of the summer.  Well not the Last Fun Event, but maybe the last fun event in Denver?  Anyway, we piled everyone into the car and headed south.  The little monster cousins hadn't been to WW before and none of us had been there since the summer of 2019 because of Covid so we had a great time!  

E talking to his juice box - or talking to me to say 'stop taking my picture'

Where did this grown up girl come from?  

E is not a huge fan of the water and the fact that he walked in up to his knees was very big news. 

Reina and the lazy river 

I didn't get any pictures of Will, or at least any pictures that I'm allowed to post but he was there too and he did a great job with his younger cousins.  He sat in the little wave pool with them and even convinced E to go on a giant inner tube on the "Journey to the Center of the Earth" complete with dinosaurs and lava.  E announced to everyone after the ride that Aunt Lucy had ruined his life by encouraging him to go.  Oh well, I had a nice run as Cool Aunt Lucy but all good things come to an end. 

We recently bought Will a new bed to match is taller physique and a new bed meant new bedding which resulted in a weeks-long search for the perfect comforter and sheet set.  One night while perusing TJ Maxx and sending 10 (TEN!!) pictures to Will of navy and white comforters in all shades and patterns, I stumbled across this welcome mat that had to come with me. I left without a comforter too but later that weekend, Glenn and Will went shopping and came back with the manliest of manly bedding in the form of black and dark gray and I'm just happy that he found one that he likes.  

Since I'm back at the office, the pets and I don't get to hang out like we used to.  We still find time to go to the F I E L D (can't say it out loud where they can hear you) on the weekends.  

A happy bunch post run at their favorite place.

I came upstairs on one particularly hot evening last week to find Coco sleeping in our sink.  While it was a nice cool place to nap, it was also convenient for reminding me that she'd like a refreshing drink 
directly from the tap.  

A rare sighting, a tuxedo cat and a tuxedo dog sharing the same bed.  Soxy still doesn't prefer the dogs be in her direct orbit but for some reason she tolerated it yesterday. 

 

The rest of June

I've been too tired at night to write but we are having a fun and busy June.  Lots of baseball, a dance recital, gardens in bloom and work have been filling up our time. We've had a roller coaster of weather too - super hot days at baseball and then at the end of the week we are wearing sweatshirts and closing the windows at night. So here's the rest of our month in pictures.  

Baseball!  Will's team has had games a few nights a week with a few weekend tournaments.  The season ends on July 18 so we have some hectic schedules coming up but boy do we love watching this kid play.

Dance recital time!  I have enough pictures for a whole post but here's a picture of our girl in her ballet costume.  She also danced modern and hip-hop this year and more pictures of that coming soon!

Cousin time ! We had a summer kick-off bbq at Fry Farm with the cousins and Hansen grandparents.  Baby cousin doesn't want to snuggle like he used to but he's still pretty darn cute.  

It wouldn't be a summer picture without hail in the backyard.  We had a heckuva storm a few Fridays ago.  The good news is that our hail tent did it's job even though it collapsed in the middle.  Surprisingly, the fabric held and even with the center collapsed, the plants underneath survived.  The flowers and veggies that weren't protected took a beating but, as always, it could have been worse.  We also need a new roof and paint on the house.  Yah for insurance?!

Pauley men!!  Will is about two inches taller than me and as you can see, is creeping up on Will.  They wear the same size shoe now and I wear Will's shoes when I go out into the backyard and don't want to get mine dirty.  Shhh, don't tell him.  

First jam of 2021!  The weather was delightfully cool enough this weekend that I fired up the stove and made some strawberry jam.  Supplies are much easier to find this summer compared to last year so I hope to have a bunch of batches in the cupboard soon.  

Hail from the earlier picture.  Some of those pieces were annoyingly gigantic. 

Will headed off to football camp with the high school team (gasp).  Will traveled to Nebraska with his teammates for a few days.  He had a great time and informed me that he's practically ready for college now because he's stayed in the dorms and gone to practice without us there.  He might be ready but I am most certainly not.  

Charlie and his very favorite bunny slipper chew toy.  It's hard to be a tough guy when you really love chewing on a squeaky fake slipper.  

This week in pictures

This post will not contain any pictures of Will playing basketball because he hasn't been psyched for me to bring my camera to the games.  Tomorrow morning I'm getting up super early to drive to Nebraska to watch him play so he's not going to get a say about me bringing my camera along.  Back to the week.  Will had three games this week and his team went 2-1.  Will got to play in each game and even scored some baskets. 

Reina is eating a snack right next to me right now and delaying going to bed.  That's a daily occurrence for her.  She is counting down the days til her birthday (5!) and going to dance classes.  Next week she's going to try school volleyball and I'm probably more excited than she is.  

Will had a lot of homework this week. One of his projects was to write a timeline of his life with it broken down into eras, periods, etc.  He was supposed to find add some pictures for each section so of course we got on this very blog and found some good illustrations. Like this beachy fellow.  

I think this is 2010ish.  It might also be the last time he was shirtless in public.  

Because Will had two games back to back this week (the third game was actually on Saturday), he ran into a bit of a pickle when he didn't have another dressy outfit for school.  The basketball team dresses up on home game days,  Will has one go-to outfit. This is the point of the story where I feel like I should mention that I offered last weekend to take him shopping for some extras but I was politely turned down.  So Wednesday night, after his game and after everybody got fed, I zipped over to Target to get some extras. I did have to text him some pictures and call at one point to get sizes but I didn't do too badly and nothing has to be returned.  And yes, those our jeans.  That's what passes as dress pants around here.  

I had a pretty busy week at work.  This was the view from my computer's camera during one of my zoom calls this week.  The dogs and I are just one giant pack now and where one of us is, the rest of us have to be. 

Furthermore, the feline members of the family still like to have a few minutes of fresh air everyday, even when it's crazy cold.  With my new office location, they can't just pop in the window because there's a screen. Try explaining that to a yowling cat. 

"Go to the back door!  I can't let you in right here!" 

Glenn's hand continues to heal. All of the stitches are out and the skin is healthy.  He's still working with the OT to get flexibility and movement back but he's a determined guy.  

That's our week.  I've got to go set the alarm for insanely early.  Go basketball!  

How cold is it?

We are having typical Wyoming winter weather this week.  We only have about 1.5 inches of snow on the ground but it's chilly.  How chilly is it?  Well it's 9 degrees outside tonight and inside it's cold enough for Coco to tolerate a little snuggle time with Charlie.  For the record, Charlie loves the cats.  He wants to play with the cats but his version of play is not something that they are interested in participating in.  Soxy usually keeps her distance from him but Coco will let herself be nuzzled for a few minutes before she hisses, swats at him and walks away.  But not tonight.  She let him curl up on the sofa next to him and while he tried to stay awake, he eventually napped too.  

Day 157

 I've had the urge to write on the blog lately, even though there really isn't anything new to report.  We are still preparing for the kids to go back to their school buildings on August 31.  We've received a little more guidance about what the school days will look like, although I'm still waiting to hear more about elementary plans. I just looked up the plan online - masks in the hallways and in common areas.  Cold lunch but they'd like everything to be able to be thrown away (but I'm trying to have more reusable containers!), no drinking fountains so water bottles are a must. 

Back to our planning, all of the school supplies are bought and waiting in backpacks.  Reina just informed me that she wants to trim her bangs again before school starts so we'll add that to the list.  (I trimmed them earlier in the summer after a very careful Youtube search and a couple of helpful videos.)  Will has ordered every single pair of Nike pants currently in production - that's what it feels like anyway - so once those come in the mail, he should be all set.  

Will finished his third day of football practice.  It's been a warm week but the weather cooperated today with practice moved to the afternoon.  It rained for like two minutes but it was cloudy and everything cooled off.  I'm ready for fall weather.  That's one drawback to not being in the office this summer - no air conditioning! 

Charlie got to go to the field tonight for a walk.  It may be anecdotal evidence, but so far on the nights he goes to the field, he sleeps all night in his kennel.  We are back into the days of toddlerhood (puppy edition).  Will he sleep through the night?  Will he wake up at three because he's lonely and make his sad warbling noise that gets louder and louder until someone comes and gets him?  If I let him outside at 3:00 a.m. to go potty, he'll go back in the kennel but only after I offer him a dog biscuit.  As certain people have pointed out recently, he's training me well.  Charlie is zonked out on the rug right now so maybe this will be a sleep-through-the-night night.  

Night night from me, too. 

Day 149

This week is a whirlwind of mostly good stuff but a lot of *stuff* happening.  We are less than two weeks away from school starting.  I think - the school board was meeting tonight but I had to run Reina to dress rehearsals for dance and then decided to give my sanity a break and read the highlights tomorrow instead of listening to it.  Will had another pre-tryouts baseball practice tonight.  He wasn't happy with how he played so we spent part of the night talking about playing fall baseball so he can keep working or just focus on football.  He and I did this while simultaneously watching the Rockies who almost blew a 6-run game in the 9th inning but thankfully (for both my sanity and Will's) won the game.  Reina and I took a late evening walk with Charlie which is becoming our new tradition.  Glenn was here too - just doing chores and looking for side-by-sides online and running Will back and forth to baseball. 

It feels like we are all a little on edge.  It's almost like it was when all of this first started. I think the uncertainty of the next few weeks is affecting us.  Will there be middle school football?  Will the kids make it through a week of school before getting sent home?  Will we all stay healthy?  One day at a time.  Tomorrow the cousins are coming over and that's what we'll focus on right now.  

I keep dreaming about going to back to the office.  In one dream I was really worried about being around too many people.  In the second dream, my boss had brought in a cat and said that we could keep it in the office.  That was super exciting (for me) especially since it was an African Serval cat (google it).  At our staff meeting the next morning (in real life), I floated the idea to my boss and co-workers.  Shockingly, it wasn't greeted with a lot of enthusiasm. I think it would really help with social distancing.... if I had an actual wild animal in my office.  

We found out yesterday that the Wyo Cowboy football season has been pushed back or possibly canceled.  I hadn't cried about COVID related stuff in at least a month but I have to admit that it brought about a few tears of disappointment. I completely respect the need to keep players safe and the uncertainty of the long term health effects that may occur but dangit. I think I needed football on Saturdays to make me feel like things were getting back to normal even though they really aren't.  I'm also mad that we as a society couldn't come together and get this thing figured out.  

So instead of ending this point on an even more downer moment, here's a Charlie story.  I took Charlie on a walk over the lunch hour.  He's getting braver about being out in public and even a little friendly with other dogs we meet.  It was warm at noon but he and I walked for a while.  Finally he laid down under a tree to signify that he was done with the walk.  The only problem was that the tree wasn't in our yard and we were about a mile from home.  Nice try Chuck.  

Day 116 and some pictures

Will was watching me type the last post and when he saw the number of days I put on there, he was surprised. "Has it really been that long mom?"  Yep.  Some days I feel every single hour of those 116 days and then other times, it feels like it's just been a moment since we started staying at home.  But here are at Day 116.  Glenn may be going back to the office next week, his agency has provided a plan for bringing some people back . My office is still telecommuting for the near future.  Our case numbers are still higher than they were a month ago so I don't know what the plan is.  Quarantine and significant budget cuts are making it an interesting time to be a state employee.  

Let's talk about fun stuff!  Glenn and I are taking tomorrow off because Will has an actual baseball tournament!  The first game is at 9:00 a.m. and it's supposed to be hot tomorrow.  We've been using the shade canopy we bought specifically for baseball but I know we'll need it tomorrow.  We had to order some extra tie-down straps and tent stakes that look like they could drill for oil because of the Wyoming wind but it works.  

Reina's art class this week had a Wyoming theme so she's been painting the state flag, a buffalo, Indian Paintbrush and a bunch of fun things.  Tomorrow is Statehood Day so we are all in on Wyoming this week.  Most of the teams coming up for the baseball tournament are from Colorado so I'll have to make sure I'm wearing the attire that clearly states my allegiance.   

What else is going on?  Between Will's baseball practices and Reina's dance classes, our evenings feel a little more like 'normal times' than they did a few months ago.  We still have time for dog walks in the evening and random home projects so things are quite back to normal.  I'm still doing most of our shopping online and doing store pick-up which is probably helping our budget because I'm not distracted by shiny stuff in the sale bin.  

I'm finally getting my camera out a little bit and here are some pictures from our week.  

Will's on first and those pants will never be white again.  I've tried.  One parent takes her kid's pants to the car wash and apparently that does the trick.  I'm not there yet.  

Jogging back to the dugout after crossing home. 

Our reluctant baseball game attendee.  Last weekend was the first time he actually played with a toy during the game.  Picture by Reina.  

Our hail dented camper that we bought last October.  Sigh.  

Momma and twins! 

Day 2

We all made it through the first day of no school, well homeschooling, well more like barely contained chaos with lots of electronic time.  I worked in the morning, Glenn is still under the weather so he stayed home. I came home after lunch to make sure things weren't dissolving into full-blown anarchy.  It was a slightly warm, sunny day so Reina and I took the dogs to the big field for a run.  Charlie (more on him later) found a dead vole and raced around with it until I could pry it out of his mouth.  So Reina had a little bit of a science lesson.  She and also looked at the teepee ring that's still on the prairie, so we added in some history too.  Back at home, Reina dove into math games online and Will grudgingly stopped shooting baskets to work on a spanish website I signed him up for.  Glenn hung up some elk antlers (just what this house needed!) and moved some artwork around.  Reina made a shamrock for the front door, Will shot more baskets and read everything he could find about the first day of NFL free agency.  That counts as reading, right?  

Glenn was worried that there might be a run on dog food, so I headed out after dinner only to find out that the dog food store closed at 6:00 p.m.  I opted for an online order instead but I zipped into Target which was next door.  I grabbed some dog biscuits and a few other essentials - well mostly Easter candy because who knows when I'll go to Target again and even though Easter is almost a month away, we have to have our stash ready.  Walking around Target didn't help my nervousness, it's so strange to see empty shelves where the kids' ibuprofen and cold medicines usually are, plus the tissue, cleaners, paper towels and toilet paper are long gone.  Even the dog food aisle looked a little bare.  I know we are fully stocked here but it's hard not to get caught up in the frenzy.  

Off to bed without reading anymore news, tweets or alerts, just a concerted effort to be thankful for all of this extra time with my favorite monsters.