"Knee" surgery

Last week, I went in for a hysterectomy.  It's a surgery that I've been wanting to get done so it was elective and not an emergency situation.  And this is probably more detail than most readers of this blog want anyway.  I'm a week out and I'm feeling decent.  Still pretty tired and relying on pain pills but I'm feeling better everyday.  This point of this post though is to memorialize a little story about Will.  He wasn't comfortable referring to my surgery by it's correct name so he decided just to tell anyone who asked that I had knee surgery.  Knees...uterus....potato....potahto.  

The Last Day of 2020

I don't have it in me for a long, emotional post about this year.  It is what it is.  We are all still here, along with all of our grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins.  We still like each other a lot - we've survived all of the togetherness, home-schooling, working-from-home, weird schedules, canceled vacations and loads of stress.  I know that the turning of the calendar won't result in drastic changes for 2021 but some days it feels like maybe just maybe there's light at the end of the tunnel. 

In 20 years, when I look back on this year, I hope I remember all of the sweetness, too.  The daily walks with dogs and Glenn and a kid or two.  Will and his games on Madden that became our sports when there were no other sports to watch.  Reina and I reading The Ickabog and Glenn and I watching videos of hunting on Instagram.  Yes, I really did that last part.  Zooming with friends and walking outside in the cold with Vicky and cousins.  Hikes - so many hikes when Alena and then Ben came out West.  Reina asking me during a work presentation if she could have hot dogs for breakfast - the consensus of the group was a resounding "YES."  Glenn ironing fabric for me while I made masks and the little assembly line we had with Vicky and friends to get the masks made and delivered to the Foundation.   Our twice a week takeout dinners to help local restaurants and fine, some chain ones too.  Sometimes you just really need soup and salad from Olive Garden.  Socially distanced baseball games and watching the men in the family pace when Will came up to bat. Group texts with friends that helped me see it was normal to want to cry over Jr High math.  Will's elaborate back stories for all of our pets that change daily (Charlie used to be a quarterback for the Denver Broncos, our cat worked at the ball drop in NYC, Tootsie was in Isis....) 

I have many other things to be thankful for but I'm done writing because I plan on ending this year with Netflix and the Ipad and some brownies that are just out of the oven.  Here's to a boring 2021.  

Will wrote Thanksgiving letters too!

I was trying to declutter the counter yesterday and I found two envelopes with 'mom' and 'dad' written in Will's handwriting.  Turns out he wrote thanksgiving notes to his parents last week too!  I don't think he was going to point it out.  I think he was just cleaning out his backpack and that was the result.  But look at the results:  

Dear Dad, thank you for always being there for me and teaching me lots of life lessons. 

Thank you Mom for always helping me in my life and providing me with food and shelter everyday of my life.  (Mine has two hearts drawn on it.)

I'm not going to quibble about the wording of 'food and shelter' and how it makes it sound like something that I'm contractually obligated to do and instead I'll just focus on the two hand-drawn hearts while my own melts a little bit.  He might be a teen but he's still our boy.  

Day 92

Another Monday!  Glenn and I are still working from home.  The weather started off cooler than expected and hazy because of the fires burning in the West (not a good sign for so early in the summer!).  I had to go to the office for a few hours this morning.  The budget news for state government continues to be scary, but just like everything else in this time, we are taking it day by day!

Reina got to spend the afternoon with Grandma Hansen and they had lunch in the park, played with water colors and went to TJ Maxx (naturally).  Will had batting practice tonight so I took him and Charlie and I walked while he practiced.  After that, Glenn finished putting up the towel racks in the bathroom goodness this post is excruciatingly boring. We painted the bathroom this weekend!  When I think about all of the house projects we've finished up during this quarantine time, it's pretty amazing.  And there are still more to tackle.

I got to see Coco use her cat tent as a hamster wheel to chase another cat out of the yard tonight.  Now the moths are brazenly landing on me while I try to type.  So gross.  I think even the cats are tired of catching and eating them because there are soooo many this year.  So many. 

I thought of my daily silver lining earlier today but now I've forgotten it.  Reina and I are reading The Ickabog every night, was that it?  Will and I are going through a 'pun' phase where we send each other texts and memes and include Pop-Pop because he's always up for a good pun.  Oh I know what it was!  Glenn has a thing for true crime murder shows and I do too!  I always knew that I did but his is a new appreciation that he discovered while exercising in the basement over the lunch hour.  He finds random channels on our cable and while they sometimes veer towards the gruesome (mob killings, etc.), today's was just a good old fashioned marital murder.  We both watched for a while but he had to go back to work before the murderer was revealed.  It was the wife, duh. 

So there you go.  A bit weird to end on spousal homicide but it's a Monday.  Oh wait, let's end on Will's report card.  It arrived today and he was two percentage points away from all A's for the year!  He ended up with an 89 in Spanish and an 89 in Honor's World Geography.  He had all A's for the second semester and we are really proud of him for making a commitment to his academics.  Bring on 8th grade!

September and some sideways pictures

Everyone is in bed, except the author of this blog and several pets.  Tuesday nights are usually hectic but we kept everything organized tonight.  The Rockies won a game and I find myself with a few minutes to write about this crazy family.  September is moving a long.  We are in the full swing of dance and piano lessons. I'm taking piano lessons too so Reina and I practice together when we can.  She helps me read bass clef and I help her stay on track or at least not get up and check how much time she has left every five minutes.  Will has football practice after school every day and they had their first game last week.  He has two more games this week and he's playing offensive line and special teams.  Last week, he recovered an onside kick and I was thrilled he touched the ball.  Glenn is in pre-hunting mode (but really when is he not?) with a bunch of big hunts coming up this fall.  I'm busy at work and trying to finish up the gardening season before it snows. 

We are all plugging along.  School is going pretty well for both monsters.  Reina provides me with endless details about 5th grade and Will is typically circumspect about 7th grade.  If I can just be patient for two more years, Reina will tell me all I need to know.  Will is happy to share details about his day but he waits until 9:00 p.m. so that's fun.  Bedtime around here is like it was in the toddler years again, bursts of energy, requests for snacks, trips up and down the stairs 900 times with the added excitement of "You have to sign this permission slip" and "I don't have any clean socks for tomorrow."  

We are getting into a routine and in a few weeks, this will all be normal.  Until then, he are a few highlights of the new school year.  

Will is taking a tech ed class (home ec for us Gen X'ers) and the first segment is all about childcare.  Will had to fill out a questionnaire about his childhood and it made me giggle.  

We've had a rather warm September although the weather might finally be changing.  We thought Labor Day was a good time for outdoor dog baths.  Trigger didn't appreciate our multi-tasking.  

6th grade program or The Last Time You'll Catch Will Singing in Public

I was worried that Will wasn't dressed up enough in his short sleeve polo and khaki pants but I didn't put a fight because frankly I've learned my lesson.  However, the minute I stepped into the gym, my worries were for naught because even from this small sample size, you can easily see the uniform of choice for 12 yr old boys.  

Last night was the 6th Grade Program and the official Beginning of the End of the school year.  Will's last elementary music program, suppressed sob sob.... I'd say it's the last time we have to argue about dress clothes but who am I kidding.  That's going to happen for at least another decade.  Will had warned us (well, me specifically) that the program might make us feel a little sad because they were singing a bunch of Disney songs.  I didn't need to hear "You've got a Friend in Me" to get teary-eyed about the fact that my little Bobo is headed off to junior high next year, but seeing him with his arms around these boys I've known since they were nervous little kindergartners.... well let's just say that a little bit of moisture seeped out of my eyeballs. 

Ladies and gentleman - that's Will singing and doing the hand signs.  DOING THE HAND SIGNS! The group was singing "Be Our Guest" from Beauty and the Beast and it was adorable.  

Will participating in the kick line for the grand finale of Be Our Guest!  A KICK LINE?!  

Singing "Hakuna Matata" and having scarf trouble.  

I love this picture because without any type of photo touch-up, Will has crazy vampire eyes and looks like he's about to cry/fly off into the night.  

"Under the Sea" with bubbles!  Bravo!  Encore!  

 I didn't get any good pictures of the grand finale because I just ended up watching my kiddo sing with his friends and soak in the moment.  We have about a month left of 6th grade-ness and then it's on to the summer.   I have a lot of happy memories of the last seven years and I can't wait to see what he does next. 

Snow Day #2

For the first time in decades, we had another snow day!  The sun came out but we have at least 14 inches of snow on the ground and the wind is still blowing so everything is shut down.  Here's a lazy blogger's recap of the day. 

Will needed a pie for school today because it's PI day (3.14) and he doesn't like regular pie so I found a recipe for a chocolate chip pie.  It looks less than edible but hopefully it tastes good! 

Trigger is feeling much better and he takes a lovely selfie.

We were all out shoveling and didn't want Coco to miss out on the fun.  She stood on the porch for about 15 seconds before she wanted to go back inside. 

I call this The Reluctant Shoveler.

Less shoveling and more climbing on the giant snow pile.

He asked me to take this picture.  Reina was outside too, but she managed to avoid the camera. 

Glenn wearing a neck warmer on his head instead of a stocking cap because why not.  While I was on a work call inside, one of our neighbors offered Glenn their snowblower and Glenn TURNED HIM DOWN.  When I came outside, I had no qualms in asking to borrow it back.  Glenn wants me to memorialize that he was trying to build character for our kids.  I was hoping to not spend all day shoveling the driveway.  Plus, I'd never used a snowblower before and it was quite fun! 

The view to the chicken coop.  Our girls are warm and dry inside the hen house. 

Inside the coop it looks very disaster-movie-ish.

Glenn shoveled everything out because he is a good chicken Dad. 

The front walk after reluctant shoveling, the neighbor's snowblower, Glenn's brawn and a little bit of sunshine. 

Back to work tomorrow, which most of us are happy about. 

Early Turkey Dinner

Last week, the kids' school hosted their annual early Thanksgiving dinner. I had another friend describe it as turkey slurry over instant mashed potatoes but honestly, I'm just there for the pumpkin pie with crunchy crust dessert thing. It's delicious.  Oh, and I'm there to spend quality time with my favorite monsters, of course. I've had other friends tell me that fifth grade was the start of when they were no longer invited by their children to attend but Will was happy that I was showing up.  He and Reina have different lunch periods this year, which worked out well because I was only about halfway through my meal when Will's bell rang and it was time for Reina to come in.  During Will's lunch, we made changes to our fantasy football team.  And by 'we made changes' I really mean that Will undid all of the changes I had already made and made his decisions.  But we are in second place in our league so I should probably just keep my mouth shut.  

He did turn down my request for a selfie and was not super excited about this picture but at least I can prove that we had lunch together!  

 During Reina's lunch, we opted to head down the hall to the art room where it was a little quieter and we could chat.  She picked a table by the window so we could look out onto the playground.  Fancy!  We talked about her day and her plans for the afternoon.  I had to head out of town for a work trip right afterwards so it was a nice treat to get to spend a few minutes with them both.  And there was pumpkin pie. 

Someone is happy to take a mom selfie!  

Veteran's Day Concert or A Series of Pictures of Will Looking Uncomfortable

The fifth-grade classes at Will's school performed in a Veteran's Day concert last night.  The students were instructed to dress nicely and Will agreed to wear his suit jacket "one last time" because it's getting a little too short in the arms.  I bought that jacket in late January and he has grown like a weed.  He wouldn't agree to a tie, just a button-down shirt.  Also, a little gel in the hair completed the look. 

It's a well-known fact on this blog that Will is not a fan of singing, singing in public, being on a stage, smiling while on a stage, or any of the rest of it.  He told us about the concert a few weeks ago and when I asked him Monday night what songs they would be singing, he replied with "songs about American, Mom."  Duh right?  The kids sang The Star Spangled Banner, America the Beautiful, Amazing Grace and My Country Tis o' Thee.  A few of the kids recited some lines about the branches of military service (Will opted out of that project).  It was very patriotic and a good reminder of what Veteran's Day is all about.  

I had my zoom lens on my camera but the light was a little low so these pictures are blurry.  But I think they appropriately chronicle Will's experience.  

Glenn and I started giggling right away. Will was in the back row, smack dab in the center and looked like he'd rather be anywhere else.... 

He did sing, or at least mouth the words.  

Is there an escape hatch on the stage floor?  

Wait, I believe that's somebody singing!  

Oh buddy. 

The students were given battery operated candles for "Amazing Grace" (tangent - mom crying alert) and Will's flickered on and off which led to him shaking it aggressively whilst not singing.  Good stuff.  

Let's go ahead and file this one under "things that will make him angry at me in the future" but oh Will, we love watching you sing, even if you are hating every minute of it.  You look so grown-up up there and I appreciate you participating in something because it's the right thing to do, even if it's way outside of your comfort zone.  And thanks for helping us remember what Veteran's Day is all about. 

The rest of the summer

Before I get to highlights from the rest of our summer, I have to document a few interesting conversation topics that came up this weekend.  And I thought toddlers had great conversation topics.  

1.  From Will:  Do we know anyone who was the victim of a pyramid scheme?  Follow-up:  Who's the most famous person who was the victim of a pyramid scheme?  (For posterity's sake, my answers were no and I don't know, google it.  I still need to follow-up on how he learned about pyramid schemes and/or what he thinks pyramid schemes are.) 

2.  From Reina (less of a question- more of a statement).  After volunteering to help me try on  a bunch of new shirts and without a hint of snarkiness or malice, "I'm going to help you look ATTRACTIVE!"  

3.  From Will:  Who's the Pope?  (Asked during church, naturally.)  

So let's talk about the rest of the summer.  We didn't get to do much actual camping but we did have a great day up in the Snowies during the long holiday weekend in July. 

Snow!  In July!  Glenn and the kiddos caught a fish in this lake while I hiked by myself for a few glorious minutes and napped in the truck.  It was a lovely day.  

Will and his fish.  Trigger and little sister were a little jealous.  

Tootsie and Reina and snacktime.

Earlier that weekend, I took a Friday off  of work and we spent a day at the zoo with cousins and friends.  It was a great day to be at the zoo, nice temperatures but overcast skies so it didn't get too hot.

Reluctant sibling posed picture.  

Toddler cousin looking at bears.  I think this is when I asked her "what's the bear doing?" and her reply was "I don't know" said in the tone of 'Lady, I'm not a wildlife biologist how would I know what the bear's doing?' 

Refraining from comment.  

Reina spent part of one morning at my office while we waited for the Frontier Day's parade to start.  She kept herself busy coloring and drawing pictures.  When I finally looked up, I discovered she had redesigned my business card. I think the State Seal should be a cat face. 

Will participated in 4-H shooting sports since February.  In early June, they had their annual county shoot where the kids compete for the chance to go to the state meet.  Since this was Will's first year, we didn't pay a lot of attention to the competitive side of shooting sports.  Glenn was happy for Will to learn more of the safety skills and techniques.  We signed up for county shoot and spent part of a Saturday morning watching Will participate.  Turns out he's a pretty good little marksman and he earned second place in his age group for air rifle.  Baseball interfered with the schedule for the state competition but maybe next year?

Red ribbon!  

Last weekend, we wrapped up the summer with a trip to see the Rockies play the Cubs in Denver.  Pop-pop, the Cubs fan this season, came with us.  It was Wyoming night at Coors Field so we all received cool UW colored Rockies hats.  The brim is too curved for Will's tastes but he agreed to wear it for one night.  Unfortunately, the game didn't go well for the Rockies and Will's competitiveness necessitated a walk around the concourse when the game got particularly bad.  He simmered down when we found a kid's booth where he could pitch to a fake catcher and have his pitches tracked on the radar gun.  In spite of the score, we had a fun evening at the ballpark and ironically, the Rockies beat up on the Cubs the next day.  Will and I watched it on tv and he begged for a return trip to Coors Field before the season ends.  We'll see.  

Take me out to the ballgame.... 

Baby Boy Cousin

Back around Christmastime, I took this picture.  A nice family shot of grandkids and grandparents right?  It's also the scene of Pop-pop receiving some big news.  See Grandma and grandkids found out at Thanksgiving that Baby Boy Cousin would be making his appearance in late spring, but Pop-pop was on a big trip and had to wait to find out when he got home.  So when Aunt Vicky took this picture, instead of saying "say cheese!" she said, "say.... 'Aunt Vicky is having a baby!' I love Reina's expression the most, besides Pop-pop's (who still hasn't fully grasped the news.)  Surprise!  

Baby Boy Cousin is a delight. He's handsome and healthy and pretty chill.

Uncle Glenn and BBC on his second day on the planet.

I got the chance to stay with Vicky and BBC on the night after he was born and it was exhausting but so cool to get to spend time with a NEW newborn and his super hero mommy.  He was very sweet and liked to be cuddled, especially in the wee hours of the morning.  I was crazy tired the next day but it was completely worth it.

We had some serious eye contact going on, he was probably amazed at the giant shadows under my eyes.  

So BBC is one month old and I still haven't wrangled all four cousins together for a group picture but that's my goal for July!  Everyone looking at and smiling at the camera.  I can dream right?   Toddler Cousin has adjusted pretty well to her baby brother and Will and Reina are delighted with the new addition to our crazy family.  Reina really enjoys the babysitting role and Will always says he doesn't want to hold the baby or anything like that, but once he's within arms reach, Will is holding his hand or rubbing his blonde hair.  So yes, I need to get that picture taken.  Everyone is growing up so fast!

She made a word search for the Tooth Fairy

Reina lost her seventh tooth on Friday at school. I only know it's her seventh because she told me.  She's been keeping track.  This tooth came out in a particularly crunchy but delicious apple.  The tooth made it home safely and Reina spent a chunk of Friday night working on a project which will play an important role in this story.

So fast forward a few hours to Friday right before bedtime.  Glenn is goose hunting for the weekend so Reina jumps at the opportunity to sleep right next to Mom.  She puts the tooth under her pillow along with a note to the Tooth Fairy (TF for expediency's sake.)  She also leaves a pen for the TF to use which should have alarmed me but didn't.  Last time, she asked TF a few questions in the card, oh isn't that cute, etc. etc.

I stay up way too late watching chic flicks and finally go to sleep with a niggling feeling in the back of mind that I'm forgetting something.  Fast forward a few short hours and Reina is waking me up at 5:50 to announce that she's going to see if the TF visited.  Uh.  Oh.  I quickly point out that since it's still dark out, perhaps we should give the TF a little more time and hey since you are up, why don't you go downstairs and watch cartoons?  Keep in mind, this kid does not see this side of 6:00 a.m. on any other day besides a SATURDAY. Oh the irony.

She skips downstairs, I stumble out of bed, grab a handful of change off of Glenn's dresser and stuff it under the pillow.  Grab the tooth and the card and the pen and read the note "Dear TF, do you ever use baby tooth fairies for your work, circle yes or no...."  I flip the card over and notice that she's put together a GAME for the TF, a word search to be exact.  Knowing that the clock is ticking and she could come bouncing back up the steps at any minute, I scramble to complete the word search (cat, bog probably should be dog working on the b's and d's, tooth (OBVIOUSLY) and love (awww).  The word search is actually a little tricky at 6:00 a.m.  Maybe I was tired or maybe she's the next Will Shortz of word searches.  I finish it, jam it back under the pillow and jump back into bad.  Sure enough, about five minutes later she's back to check under the pillow.  Yah for $2 in quarters and a completed word search and yes the TF does use baby tooth fairies (maybe should have thought that one through a little more) and the rest of the Saturday continued with far less drama but still not enough sleep.

This kid.

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.

Reina's Thanksgiving Speech - a Preview

Sitting at the Thanksgiving table (from left to right):  Pop-pop, Grandma, Will, me, Reina, Daddy, Aunt Vicky with Baby Cousin in the carseat and Uncle Matt.  I love our strapless formal Thanksgiving Day dresses and Reina's long blonde hair.  And Will's shirtless or wearing a white shirt?  Will is rarely shirtless, especially for such an important and cold celebration.  And where are all of the cats?!

Stuff Reina and I did today

Coco is pretty ready for Reina to go back to school.  

Reina stayed home today. She's on the mend but if I follow the no-school-for-24-hours-after-a-fever rule, she wasn't ready to go back to school.  In fact the fever kept popping up today even though her energy level was similar to those of people who run ultra-marathons, or drive those bicycle taxi things, or Coco during her non-sleeping time, well you get the drift.  Reina had spent most of Saturday and Sunday on the couch so I guess I couldn't really blame her.  So, in mostly chronological order, here's a list of activities from today. 

1.  Watch cartoons together and talk about how Fluttershy and that other pony with the purple mane are partnering to solve a problem involving the little dragon thing or something like that.  

2.  Spend a few minutes in blissful silence whilst entranced by something (appropriate) on the internet.  

3.  Run a couple of errands and pick out some pumpkins for carving at a later date.  Marvel at mom's strength in carrying two pumpkins at once.  (Thank you, thank you very much.) 

4.  Discuss whether or not squirrels are affected by poison ivy.  This question came out of the blue, obviously. 

5.  Decorate the front door for Halloween.  Get a wild hair (Reina) and decide to take a piece of cardboard and draw a tombstone and R.I.P. which gets transposed to R.I.9. which makes it even more adorable.  

6.  Color for about 30 seconds before getting bored and deciding to make one of those rainbow loom bracelets. 

7.  Watch a video about how the rainbow loom thing works because the actual instructions were misplaced months ago. 

8.  Successfully make a blue and purple bracelet and immediately lose interest in making another one. 

9.  Snacks.  Lots and lots of snacks. 

10.  Watch videos of people playing with toys right out of the box.  Yes this is a thing and apparently very popular. 

11.  Act surprised when Will comes home because is it really late afternoon?  

12.  Cheerfully take your own temperature every 15 minutes or so and report on the results.  

13.  Snuggle the cat.  

All joking aside, it was a nice day with my girl.  When I stop worrying about multi-tasking or getting much else done, she's great company and I appreciate the fact that she was sick this week and not last week when I was up to my eyeballs with work work.  Now if we can just keep the rest of the family healthy. 

Stuff Will got to do today: 

1.  Go to school.

2.  Get a flu shot.

3.  See the full trailer for the new Star Wars  movie.

So not a bad day after all.  

Strep

Reina and I are hanging out today because she has strep.  In July.  I know.  When I asked the doctor the chances of Will catching it, she just smiled.  Stay tuned.  It's Frontier Days week so all in all, not a bad time to be stuck at home.  Reina was fine until yesterday morning when she mentioned her throat hurt when she woke up.  By mid-morning, she had a fever that continued to climb.  She even asked if she could rest after church which sent off giant warning bells.  Reina never asks to rest. I took her to the doctor this morning where she tested positive for strep but she's already feeling a little better.  Her throat still really hurts but not enough to stop her from talking and asking me questions.  Here's a sample from today:

"Mom, when Malificient is being evil, does she wear shoes?"

"Mom, when you were 16, did you get to wear a bra?"

"Why do people die in Africa?"

"If I brought a man home who needed a place to live, would you let him stay with us?"

I'm exhausted.

When you try to take a 7-yr old's picture

Will was all dressed up for the UW game yesterday and I thought he looked so grown up that I wanted to take a quick picture before we walked out the door. Okay, I was also surprised that he chose jeans all by himself. 

Smile buddy! 

I said "smile" not whatever it is you are doing.

Oh, okay so it's going to be the one of those battle pictures. Naturally. 

Nevermind.  There's my cute kid. 

Kindergarten chatter

Reina is still all aglow with love for Kindergarten. I realized late last week that two years after the fact, I'm finally finding out all of the little details about a kindergartner's day.  Who teaches what, when they have art class, what kind of questions people ask. See Will was pretty tight-lipped about general activities.  I'd get a lot of "I don't know" or "I don't remember" when I'd ask questions.  That's still true today but the good news is that in two years, I'll find out about second grade activities!  But back to Reina.  On just the 10 minute drive home today, I found out the following:

1.  Reina got a cut that required a bandaid.
2.  Someone ate a snack on the bus and that's against the rules.
3.  Someone was swinging on the playground and thought they were going to barf.
4.  Someone in Reina's class likes the color pink and has two dogs.
5.  We used to have three dogs but now we just have two dogs.
6.  Will did not sit by her on the bus and on the playground he was walking backwards and accidentally ran into her which caused her to bleed.  (The walking backwards part is not disputed by Will but he does argue that she didn't actually bleed, her skin was just a little scratched.)
7.  She got a book from the library about a baby who can do a cartwheel on the back of a unicorn.  Isn't that crazy?
8.  Today's letter was "e" and both elephant and eagle start with the letter E. 

There's a lot going on in Reina's big, beautiful brain. 

Degas, eat your heart out

Reina is a prodigious artist. She brings home sheet after sheet full of all of the ideas floating around her brain: the entire plot of the movie Frozen, a drawing of her family including her pet ants (a story for another day), Tootsie and Trigger, ice cream, etc. While we were in Florida, she drew her first ballet picture for Grandma Pauley. As the date nears for her big recital in May, she has ballet on the brain. Here's her latest work:

Reina's ballet masterpiece

We have the audience in their seats. They are so captivated by the performance that their heads are floating in the air.  The yellow squigglies on the side of the page are the doors and the stairs naturally.  Notice the ballerina leaping through the air?  That's Reina.  The quadrupeds on either side of the dancers are unicorns accompanied by a herd (?) of Easter eggs.  The gentleman in the red hat is not Abraham Lincoln, as I erroneously assumed, but rather a Nutcracker.  Well it is a ballet painting!   I think it compares well to this one - http://www.edgar-degas.org/The-Rehearsal-Of-The-Ballet-Onstage.html.  Besides, I think we can all agree that Degas could have used a few more Easter eggs in his painting.  And a unicorn.  

Football

Last weekend was Will's first flag football game of the season.  I don't have any decent pictures of the game, but here's Reina wearing the bag for the fold-up chair on her head.  Will is playing for the Dolphins this year (not the Raiders!) and he's having a great time.  AND he scored the very first touchdown of the season on Saturday.  I was overly excited and texted just about everybody in my address book.  But better yet, he's excited about the game this year and he's paying attention in practice and he's figuring out what football is all about.  It's a great start to the fall. 

A preview of what she'll look like when she dyes her hair blue just in time for senior pictures.

After his football game, Will and I traveled down to Denver to go to a Broncos pre-season game.  He wore his #18 Manning jersey proudly and scarfed down some snacks while stomping his feet to "We Will Rock You" and clapping at the appropriate times.  He's closer to earning a regular season ticket but I stand by my requirement that you can't attend a regular season game until you can go to the bathroom by yourself.  You also have to be able to handle your mother's extreme mood swings depending on how the game is going.  So maybe next year? 

Yep, three 'sports' necklaces but don't let that detract you from the cutest face in all of the West. 

My favorite Will moment of the summer (year?) happened at half time.  About 1000 junior cheerleaders and Broncos cheerleaders took the field and as they were lining up, Will turns to me and asks, "Are they all going to attack each other?"  He was serious and that would seriously be the best half time show ever. 

It does sort of look like a battle formation from way up here.  Atttttttacccckkkkkkkkk!!!

Will's love of pop music continues and on the way down to Denver, I kept the radio station tuned to some #1 top 40 hits blah blah blah and Will told me that each song that came on was his favorite.  The refrain for one of the songs goes something like this "I feel it in my bones, to make my system go, welcome to a new day, to a new day.... etc."  It has a sports anthem-y kind of vibe and Will loves it.  But he sings, "I feel it in my bones, to make my sister go."  Giggles.  I haven't had the heart to correct that one yet.