Dance fever

Last month, Reina had her dance recital.  She danced in pointe, ballet, hip hop and hoop.  Both pointe and hoop were new classes for her this year.  I didn't get a picture of her hip hop performance and I could kick myself because it was super fun.  

Reina had her own fan club at the recital. 

Look at my girl on pointe!  This is so much harder than it looks.  She's been working on this since September and has made awesome progress.  

Ballet time.  This was her favorite costume.  

Hoop!  I was blown away by this dance.  Reina made it all look so effortless. 

 Reina isn't sure what dance classes she'll sign up for in the fall.  She talks about wanting more time to do clubs and activities at school, but she also loves dance.  We'll see what she decides.  Reina we just love watching you have fun.  

Traditions!

 A few nights ago, we all braved some chilly weather and took a trolley ride around town to look at Christmas lights.  It's a tradition we've had for the last few years, 2020 excepted.  The younger cousins picked a spot between the two older cousins naturally.  We saw some crazy light displays which is always just a little more fun watching it through the eyes of the 5 and 8 year olds.  The Christmas spirit is in full force!  

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.  

Dance Dance Dance

Last weekend was Reina's dance recital.  This year, she took three classes - ballet 4, Jazz 2 and Hip Hop 1.  She's a dancing girl.  She had three programs last weekend, one on Friday and two on Saturday.  Throw in a 5k race that she and I did on Saturday morning and a brother's baseball game and it was one busy weekend.  

Reina's hip hop class danced to music from Back to the Future.  The recital's theme was music and movies from 1989.  I jammed out.  

Reina had a 'speaking' part in the dance.  

On Saturday, Almost-Kindergarten Cousin's class danced too and it ADORABLE.  They danced to "Don't Worry, Be Happy."  Vicky and I got the giggles every time the pre-dancers came on stage because someone would freeze in the lights, someone would forgot the dance and wave to family members and anytime they formed a circle, the poor kid at the end would get whipped because of physics. 

Getting ready to make a circle

Finding the right mark on the floor 

Reina's jazz class danced to a Debbie Gibson song from 1989.  Months ago, Reina was telling me about the dance and when I asked what the song was, she confidently told me "Electrocute."  I thought about that for a few weeks and couldn't remember any song like that from 1989.  When I asked her to sing it, we figured out that it was "Electric Youth."  Frankly, the song is much more enjoyable if you sign it as 'electrocute'.....

My jazzy girl 

Reina's ballet class danced to an Enya song and it was so pretty.  Reina and I both thought this outfit was the prettiest.  I just love watching her dance. 

The first week of summer break is almost complete.  Both kids had sports camps this week, basketball for Will over at UW and Reina did a volleyball camp at the community college.  They are diving into this summer with a lot of enthusiasm and happiness to have a break from school.  There's also a significant reluctance to pick up after themselves or learn cursive (one of my projects for them for the summer) but we'll tackle that one next week. 

More basketball and more family visiting!

Last weekend, we had an amazing visit with the Dunlap aunts and Uncle Doug.  It was such a nice treat.  I had to work a little bit more than I wanted to but we still managed to do some shopping, eat some delicious food courtesy of our new Uncle and just hang out. It was almost like a little mini-vacation in January.  When we weren't shopping or eating, we also watched a certain almost 12-yr old play some basketball.  I don't know how but I managed to not take a single picture all weekend but luckily Aunt Vicky had my back.  

Post-game picture.  A little reluctant but that's basically what amounts to a smile from a pre-teen. 

Will's team is sponsored by CRMC which just happens to be where Aunt Vicky works and where she's getting her treatment.  Go CRMC!

Uncle Glenn on snuggle duty.  It''s hard for me to admit but the Baby Cousin likes Uncle "Gen" more than me!!  What?!  

cutie alert!  

On Sunday, Reina and I along with Grandma and the baby cousins went to see "The Kid Who Would Be King."  I'm always up for a King Arthur tale and this one was a lot of fun.  It was a little scary at times and I had to cover Baby Cousin's eyes.  I could tell when it was really scary because he wouldn't bat my hand away.  Preschool cousin spent most of the movie on Grandma's lap.  Reina and I have been dissecting the story all week and now I have to find her a good King Arthur book. 

Now we are back to real life.  We'll have to find something fun to do this Sunday because no one gives a fig for the Super Bowl.  Go Rams?  Will has to make a diorama about China and Reina is busy planning her upcoming birthday/slumber party.  Stay tuned......

Weekend stuff

Another week in December is wrapped up.  Yesterday, Glenn cheerfully pointed out that Christmas is two weeks from Tuesday and yiiiiiikes.  I need to get a move on.  The shopping is getting close to being done but the Christmas card is currently two lines of gibberish in a draft word document, none of the presents are wrapped, none of the packages are even in boxes to be mailed and every morning I race to move the Elf on the Shelf before someone in the house wakes up and looks for her.  So there's a lot going on.  On Saturday, Reina and I met Aunt Vicky and Grandma and the cousins to see the unveiling of a new playground in the mall that Vicky helped fundraise for and we also squeezed in some shopping.    

Aunt Vicky, Reina, Spiderman and an unaware Grandma.  

Unicorn girl doing the floss.  

Another shot of the serious Spiderman. 

Another one of my daily chores every morning is to pick up all of the Christmas ornaments that mysteriously fall off of the tree during the night.   

What (who) could possibly be the cause?  What a conundrum! 

Finally, this picture popped up in my FB feed over the weekend and I was instantly transported back to our first Christmas as parents and these two sitting under the tree.  Be still my heart.  

A letter to the birthday boy

I took this picture last month at the Louisville Slugger Museum.
He's holding a famous player's bat...I'll have to ask him which one.
He remembers stuff like that now.

Dear Will:

Yesterday you turned 10 years old.  A decade!  You've been on this planet for a decade.  Well, a decade and 38 1/2 weeks or something like that.  Your dad and I have marveled all month about the last ten years and how fast they've flown by.  its will!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Well, that's what I get for walking away from the computer for a few minutes.  We'll leave it in there for posterity.  Back to the birthday letter.

The baseball sign.  Your smile says, "is that all I'm getting?" 

For your birthday, you received a Harry Potter shirt that your sister picked out and a wand that lights up.  I found you a cool baseball sign for your wall and your grandparents sent you clothes and money from one side of the family and a case for your Kindle and a baseball glove from the other.  You got cool earphones from Aunt Vicky and Uncle Matt and Nerf stuff galore from the Nebraska relatives.  You celebrated with a bunch of friends, a sister and the baby cousins at a local arcade.  For two hours, you all ate some pizza and an ice cream cake (you didn't want me to bake!!) and played video games.  There was a lot of 'bro' and 'dude' and other tween-isms but we all survived. I even beat your dad at a marathon game of air hockey.

Why didn't I get pictures of the air hockey?!  Here are some tweens.  

And a 3-yr old.  3-yr olds can play video games too Bobo!  

Little sisters and little sisters of friend's even got in on the action. 

The highlight of your birthday?  You got your own phone.  We told you a few years ago that you couldn't have a phone until you were 10 and boy did that seem like a long way off when I told you that. Dad and I went shopping a few weeks ago and picked yours out.  We told you that it would probably be an old fashioned flip phone and we tried to keep your expectations low.  Your dad had a great idea to hid your phone in a box of cereal in the kitchen and we'd call the number when you were done opening all of your presents.  I couldn't last as long as he wanted to - the look on your face when you opened your last present was more than I could handle.  When you heard the new ringtone, your face lit up and you dove through the Cheerios looking for your present.  My next blog post will just be a list of everything you've texted me in the last 36 hours.  It'll be riveting.

A boy and his phone, a love story.

Will, you are a sweet kid.  While I was cleaning up the kitchen tonight, you and Reina were playing a game. I'm not sure of the details or the plot but your name was "Xavier."  You two have your moments but there's nobody she looks up to more than her big brother.  I hope you'll remember that.  Your cousins think you are pretty great, too.  Baby Cousin thinks you are pretty funny and Toddler Cousin wants to marry you.  No pressure there buddy.

She was delighted to wear your jacket at the wedding.  

 Will, you are less than enchanted with school at times but when you bring your report card home or when we work on math together at night, I see how sharp you are and how hard you are working.  You've already read 1,000,000 words this school year.  A million words!  That's amazing.  You just finished the sixth Harry Potter book and I've suggested a slight break before you tackle the last one. I'm not sure if you'll take that advice or not.  You and I are reading the Secret Garden together right now and while there aren't any wizards or wands in this one, you seem to like it so far.  You also read sports books and gave a report earlier in the month on Honus Wagner.  Not many other students would pick a player who's last game was almost 100 years ago.  When you aren't shooting hoops in the driveway, you are throwing a baseball up against the house in the backyard.  Soccer starts in a few weeks and baseball will overlap into the summer. It's always some season at the Pauley household.

Happy birthday big kid.  Double digits, I still can't quite wrap my mind around that.  You made me a mom a decade ago and I'm so very thankful for that.  I hope this year is a great one for you and I can't wait to see what happens.

I wondered why the battery in my camera died so quickly

The monsters and I traveled to Louisville, KY last month with Aunt Vicky and baby cousins for our aunt's wedding.  Pictures of everyone dressed up and looking fancy and meeting new family members and hanging out with everyone else are coming soon, I promise.  In the meantime, as I was pulling photos off of my camera, I realized why my camera battery didn't last for the entire weekend. See for yourself. 

A selfie with a full sized Canon.  

Will's Subway sandwich, artfully arranged.  

Louisville buildings directly across the street from Subway.  

Sister pushing stroller, aunt and mom and some pretty blue columns a block from Subway. 

Sister, most of mom and a Sprite.  

Toddler cousin loves her Bobo.  

Perhaps it's time for Mom to go back to the eye doctor? 

Interesting combination of giant baseball and Civil War statute?  

We see you!  And sister. 

Naturally.  

Cool composition kid. 

Gatorage mustache birl.  

I giggled.  I love Will's selfies. 

Baby cousin and the a hotel bathroom sink bath.  

Bridges in Louisville from the backseat of the rental minivan. 

John Legend.  ?  

Sleeping sister.

Drained battery aside, it sure is fun to see the trip from his perspective.