Memorial Day Weekend

We had a nice holiday weekend.  The kids had Friday off so I took the day off and Glenn took part of the day.  We attended a few graduation parties for friends' kids and I started a little bit of our garden.  Reina caught Will's cold so she was in bed most of the day but tested negative for Covid. Phew.  Saturday was gorgeous so we gardened and worked on cousin E's birthday cake.  I bought this fancy pan that can make all of the letters and numbers and I was itching to try it out.   

The first E didn't turn out as planned but the second version (of which I don't have a picture!) was yummy and more solid than this version.  

Sunday was a little cooler and brought much needed thunderstorms.  Luckily, we got to attend E's 6th birthday party at the roller rink.  I'm happy to announce that all of the adults emerged from the skating rink unscathed.  Considering Aunt V and I served cake and treats while on skates the entire time, that's a huge achievement.  

Along with a giant E cake, he also wanted a baseball one.  I was going to make the stripes with frosting but Kindergarten Cousin insisted on red sprinkles.  He and his sister laboriously picked through the jar of sprinkles to find enough red to make the baseball - the blue and white were used on the E cake, naturally. 

Monday was also cool and overcast.  Will and I took E to Murdoch's for his second annual 'pick out your birthday present' trip.  After much dithering, he chose a toy ATV/Camper combo, a small truck and trailer and a wooden knife (that was Will's idea).  The toy section at Murdoch's is getting smaller so if this continues to be an annual tradition, we are going to have to start buying tools and livestock equipment.  Stay tuned.  

Pre-Christmas activities

I'm trying to get all of the 2018 blog pictures up here before the end of the year, which is just a few days away.  Eeek!  We are having a nice week full of family time and lots of hanging out.  Glenn and I went back to work today but the kiddos were entertained by Christmas stuff and grandparents.  Here are a few things that have happened in the past few weeks. 

I have baked my butt off the past few weeks, pardon the indelicate expression.  Besides the German cookies that are part of the Pauley family tradition, the kids and I made some sugar cookies to decorate. I also made a few batches of chocolate covered pretzels for Reina's school party and neighbor gifts.  When I made the sugar cookies, the kids were really interested in picking out shapes and decorating.  Will insisted on the Christmas pig seen in this picture.  I guess there were farm animals at the manger?  

Christmas cookies and ye olde fashioned Christmas pig!  

We have had some wintry weather and even had a little bit of snow over the weekend. All three pets chose the couch that's directly across from the stove for a warm nap.  Smart pets. 

A few weeks ago, Will had his science fair at school.  Parents were invited to come by and watch the kids give their presentations.  Will did a good job on his presentation and even made eye contact with me when I took the picture.  No smile, but a (slightly) enthusiastic thumbs up.

Will's groundbreaking scientific experiment involved hammering nails into different types of wood to see which one was the hardest.  

A few Saturdays ago, Will and I zipped down to Denver for the Broncos game.  Will's streak of only attending winning games ended abruptly and you can imagine how thrilled he was about that.  Spoiler alert:  not thrilled at all.  Despite the scoreboard results, he and I had a fun evening together that involved a pedicab ride to the stadium and lots and lots of french fries.  Here's hoping 2019 brings more W's for our favorite teams. 

We still love the Broncos!  

Cleopatra's birthday party

On Sunday, we had Reina's Cleopatra-themed birthday party.  It was exhausting and the kids blew threw all of my planned activities within the first 20 minute (of the 2 hour party - next year Glenn says we are putting 90 minutes on the invitations), but everyone had a great time.  

To fulfill the Cleopatra theme, we had to get a little creative.  I wasn't sure how to throw a party around the theme of a queen who may not have been the nicest person on the planet and certainly made a dramatic exit.  We ended up going more Egyptian than strictly Cleopatrian but when Reina becomes a world famous archaeologist, she can throw her own historically accurate birthday celebration.  

So here's what we did: 

One pyramid made out of rice krispies.  It had a rough-hewn look and leaned a little bit.  It's how I imagine the real pyramids must've looked when they were being constructed, except they weren't as delicious.

Cleopatra (notice the eyeliner and eye shadow?) blowing out six candles.

 We also had several mummies roaming around the house, thanks to Glenn and his toilet paper skills.

Glenn took his mummy duties very seriously.  Good thing TP is breathable.

Reina's BFF and his perfect mummy imitation.

The party guests made Egyptian collar necklaces thanks to some stick-on jewels and a bunch of gold poster board. My original plan involved bracelets made toilet paper rolls, jewels and a big can of gold spray paint. After an hour at the craft store, I psyched myself out and settled on something that didn't involve a big can of gold spray paint.  The new carpet thanks me. 

Besides the rice krispie pyramid, we also had a Lego pyramid courtesy of big brother.  Of course, no Egyptian era pyramid is complete without a couple of storm troopers to guard the entrance. 

So the party was a success.  The birthday girl was happy.  All of the party-goers went home wearing eye liner and talking about lots of toilet paper.  So far we haven't had any calls from confused parents.  Glenn took a nap before the last party guest left.  Will was a big help bother before and after the party.  The birthday girl enjoyed her day and already has big plans for next year. 

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! 

The Fourth

The holiday weekend was so epic that I have to break it up into three different posts.  Lots of pictures and anecdotes and one very disappointed dog.  Without further ado, here you go! 

 

On Friday, we started the holiday with a bang and a morning visit from Baby Cousin!  She hung out with us for a while and it was lovely having a baby in the house again.  Look how big she's getting!  When she first arrived, I told the kids to run upstairs and bring back some toys that she could play with.  Reina brought the fisher price barn and assorted animals.  Will brought a 1000-something piece Lego Star Wars tank thing that took Glenn an inordinate amount of time to put together.  So lovely of him to share.... but Will! 

Baby Cousin says "Get in my belly giant Lego thing!" 

This chair has been a staple in many Bronco Baby Blog pictures and now it has a new occupant.  Right before nap time, she became disenchanted with the many toys and cousins willing to entertain her and I was trying to bake the World's Weirdest Looking Blueberry Pie (stay tuned) and needed just a few more minutes to wrap it up.  So one baby chair, measuring spoons, straps from the baby chair and a slight worried look gave me just enough time to finish up the pie. 

Lady, I don't know what your problem is but you've got about a minute and a half before this situation becomes very serious. 

After nap time (just Baby Cousin's and not mine, sadly), it was lunch time!  Since her last visit, Baby Cousin enjoys a wide array of big kid food and some of us found that fascinating.  Some of us also took their job very, VERY seriously. 

Reina would still be feeding Baby Cousin right now if I hadn't finally pried that spoon out of her hand.) 

 

The pie!  It tasted alright but it definitely wasn't going to win any beauty contests.  After seeing a picture on FB, my uncle christened it the "Motor Oil Pie."  No matter how hard a I try, I cannot master the pie crust.

 Fourth of July evening, we headed over to Matt and Vicky's for mostly-legal fireworks, a delicious barbecue and a front row view of the city's fireworks show. 

Reina insisted on dancing a self-choreographed sparkler performance.  That dress was floor length last summer.  Growing girl! 

Smoke, fireworks and hours of entertainment. 

Coming up, July 5th! 

Birthday cookies and catching up on a few photos

 

Will's birthday is on Tuesday so that means it's time for more bizarre baking projects.  Much to everyone's relief, I ordered an Angry Birds cake at the grocery store but he needs cookies to take to school and when I asked him what kind he wanted, his immediate reply was "angry birds."  Naturally. I thought, "how hard can it be?" and turned to the internet for an easy answer.  Well the answer is actually, "pretty dang hard and you'll also stump the art teacher/grandma in attendance."  She searched for ideas and we found one that didn't look too difficult. I can't even post the link to the original recipe because... well... our's are different.  We'll leave it at that. The good news is that they taste great and they have the kindergartner's stamp of approval.  I hope someone emails me this picture this time next year and says "just buy some cookies at the store!"   

 I think Will's posing in this picture and I snapped it too late to get his lightsaber form or whatever it was he was doing at that moment. But I included the picture because this is also his "Really Mom? Really?" look that he gives me whenever he's (a) not happy with my answer, (b) irritated by my lack of knowledge about Jedi's, Star Wars, weapons, wrestling, etc. and/or (c) slowly coming to the realization that I'm not the smartest person on the planet.  Dangit. I had a good run there but apparently my time as an expert in the house is quickly coming to an end. 

This is the first but I'm sure not the last picture of siblings and rabbit ears.  Reina's overly ready for sunny weather. She wanted lots of pictures of her sunglasses and flower combination.  Girl knows how to accessorize. 

Will isn't actually pushing Reina to the ground, it just looks like it.  When fashion shows and warfare demonstrations intersect. 

Milestones and meatloaf

There have been a few minor milestones this week that I wanted to make sure that I captured. Here's Reina's first ponytail! If she's anything like her mother, ponytails will (fortunately? unfortunately?) become a big part of her fashion strategy. (Aunt Vicky's going to love to read that sentence!) Anyway, Reina's hair is finally getting long enough to pull back all around and she even willingly let my try this little experiment. I think it makes her look very grand and mature. Look at the hair color? The next time I get my haircut, I'm going to take her with me to the salon and tell the beautician to make my hair look like Reina's. I wish! The other milestone this week is that Will is finally no longer wearing Pull-ups at night. I know, I know, another post about bodily functions. This is a pretty big deal for us though. It's taken him quite a while to get the hang of it and we're not totally in the clear yet, but last night he made it the whole night without any accidents and I'm hoping for the same thing tonight. Man, he's going to cringe when he reads that sentence in a few years. MOM! How embarrassing! With Reina's accelerated potty training plan, we could be a diaper free house by summer. Hard to imagine...

I have several New Year's Resolutions this year and most of them fall under the exercise/weight loss genre but one of my goals is to cook something new each week. We have been in a pretty big rut meal-wise for the last few years, well actually since March 19, 2007, but that's beside the point. We eat fairly healthy food but we don't change it up. So I decided that if I could cook one new recipe a week, maybe we'd find some new favorites to add into the rotation. Last week was the bœuf bourguignon and while it was delicious, the 6+ hour prep time makes it not incredibly practical for everyday meals. Sunday, I tried the meatloaf recipe from The Pioneer Woman Cooks cookbook which was a very thoughtful birthday gift from my very thoughtful sister. Despite the evidence presented in this picture, the meatloaf turned out pretty well. It's definitely not a low-cal recipe (BACON!) but it was tasty and the kids liked it too. Next week, I think I'll try something with chicken. We are getting crazy around here!

Happy New Year!

We start off the year with some heartwarming sibling togetherness. The kiddliwinks have really been playing together lately. They chase each other around the living room and laugh and giggle and shriek and entertain each other for several ... minutes. Then they move on to joint Lego building or serve as medics and use the new doctor kit to give everyone in the room a check-up and a shot or two. Not everything is rosy, play time often interrupts into (unhappy) shrieking and a quick tug-of-war over a toy or tears because of some perceived injustice. But for the most part, they are having fun together. The recliner has become the number one spot for watching movies and they'll both climb up and settle in. It's hard to believe that another year has come and gone. 2010 was a tougher year than the past few but we made it through and we have a lot to look forward to in 2011. Glenn pointed out that this will be the year that we really start to move out of baby-land. We'll be getting rid of the crib and changing table in the next few months and we'll have a preschooler and an almost preschooler on our hands. We're planning a visit to Glenn's parents in Florida in the spring and hope to take the kids hiking and camping this summer. Will's going to take swimming lessons next week with Aunt Vicky and Reina wakes up in the morning and hands you her diaper before she gets out of bed. Lots of changes and exciting events coming up. One last note about 2010, I continued my tradition of starting the New Year off with a dirty condition and this year I chose Julie Child's Beef bourguignon as my experiment. Surprisingly it turned out well. It's not a quick meal by any stretch of the imagination but it was tasty and allowed me to break out the cast iron dutch oven that Santa brought me on Christmas. Happy New Year!

It's Christmas!

Christmas morning dawned bright and early in the Pauley household. Will was stirring when Glenn asked him if Santa had visited our house last night. Will popped up immediately awake and ran down stairs to check things out. His face doesn't look very happy in this picture but he was pretty excited by all of the packages. Reina's just wondering if someone is going to comb her hair... The unwrapping began in earnest and both kids demonstrated their aptitude in this area. Will was excited for just about every present that Santa brought. There were a few muttered "but I didn't ask for that..." (we're working on his manners!!) but overall, he handled it pretty well. He was delighted to find some new legos, a Buzz Lightyear outfit, more cars and a cowboy belt and pistol. Santa brought Reina a Jessie doll which was a huge hit. She also received an artist's easel, a hand-made doll from Aunt Vicky, a tea set, books and kitties and all sorts of odds and ends. Santa also brought her a medical kit and she's showing some aptitude for taking people's vital signs. I'm a little concerned about her bedside manner - she seems to enjoy giving shots and cackles after each injection. I don't think that's the attitude you look for in a physician... We had a nice day. After the guests left later in the morning, we all settled down with new toys and books and spent the rest of the day enjoying our laziness. We introduced Will to that age-old tradition that is the Star Wars Trilogy (episodes 4, 5 and 6 - old school style) and he was pretty interested although he kept getting the good guys and the bad guys mixed up.

We had unusually warm weather for Christmas in Wyoming so we did venture out for a walk later in the afternoon. I thought Ballerina Barbie was a little under-dressed but I couldn't convince her to put a coat on.

When we came home, I made oyster soup for Glenn and I and it (surprisingly!) turned out well. It's not what you could label a low-cholesterol or low-calorie food but it tasted pretty darn good.

Now everyone's asleep and curled up with their new toys. Glenn's even upstairs reading the manual for his new GPS unit and I wouldn't be surprised if the GPS is curled up next to him too. We hope that you had a very Merry Christmas and I can't wait to see what the New Year has in store for all of us. Hmmmm, maybe we'll start with a haircut?

birthday parties, robot cakes, and ear tubes, oh my!

It's been quite a week - and it's only Tuesday!


Last Friday, we took cupcakes to Will's preschool to celebrate his birthday. For birthday's, parents are supposed to bring in a poster highlighting your kid's first few years. Here's my feeble attempt - Glenn drew the fire truck. I baked about 40 cupcakes the night before. While I was downstairs running on the treadmill and Glenn was giving Reina a bath, we were hit by a cupcake bandit. This nefarious felon licked the tops of 8 cupcakes before making his escape. Any ideas who that could be? Apparently, my instructions to "don't move any of the cupcakes" wasn't clear enough. Here's Will getting the globe to begin the Montessori birthday celebration.
Any guesses as to what's happening in this picture? His classmates sang happy birthday and Will turned the same color as his shirt.
Cupcake time!
Sunday, we celebrated Will's birthday with a couple of his friends and one giant scary robot cake. It was the first time he had some friends from school over to visit and it went surprisingly well. There were very few tears and no blood. Will received some great presents and he's been very busy for the last couple of days playing with everything.


Awww, Glenn's sitting at the kid's table. I think they were either debating healthcare reform or how much they love cheetos.
More party guests!
ACK! It's the scary robot cake! For posterity, I have to point out that this cake took about 5 hours to assemble and decorate. We went through 3 jars of frosting, too. Yum. Here's what it was supposed to look like. How did I do?

Today, Will and Reina had minor surgery for ear tube placement and Will also had his adenoids taken out. Grandpa Hansen aka Pop-pop came with us to help with the logistics. Both kids did pretty well. Reina didn't even cry when she woke up from the anesthetic. She did cry when Pop-pop handed her over to me but stopped just as quickly when I handed her back to him. She and I are going to have a discussion about that. Will was pretty upset afterwards. The adenoid removal isn't invasive but apparently leaves you with a pretty sore throat. As luck would have it, both Toy Story movies were re-released today (thank you Pixar!) so Aunt Vicky picked those up for us on her lunch hour. Needless to say, it's been a quiet afternoon. Glenn and I are both hopeful that this round of ear tubes will end our streak of ear infections for the near future.