Lately

It's officially the last week of summer and we are packing in a lot of stuff.  Will has started football practice and Reina is hanging out with her aunt and grandma and friends.  We are packing in all of the last little bits of this summer and here's proof.  

Coco would like for certain members of the family to go back to school as soon as possible. 

Well shoot.  I took this cool pic of Reina at the Rockies game and now it's rotated.  Urgh.  

Ditto for Will.  He was more thrilled to be at the Rockies game than he looks in this picture but hey that's tweenhood.

I canned some peach jam on Sunday and by the end of the project, it felt like it was 900 degrees in the kitchen.  Coco still decided the best place for a nap was the dining room table next to the warm cans of jam.  

7th grade football is happening.

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. 

Snow Day

For the first time since I think ... 2009?  we all had a snow day.  Schools have been canceled a handful of times over the years but the State rarely shut down.  Glenn or I would usually have to take a vacation day to stay home with kiddos in the snow.  When I picked up the kids from school yesterday, the temperature was near 50 and the sun was shining when my phone rang announcing the closure for the next day (today) because of an expected blizzard.  When Glenn and I woke up this morning, it had been raining on and off all night but there wasn't a hint of snow on the ground.  I came downstairs to check my phone and to my surprise, there was a text message announcing that state offices were closed.  Almost simultaneously, the snow started falling and the wind started howling.  It is blizzard city around here.  

The view from the phone window.  We've rarely had snow build up on the windows like this.  

The view from the back window.  We have some crazy drifts in the backyard and it's still snowing.  

 Glenn snuck in to work for a few hours this morning.  I had a nice leisurely jog on the treadmill, did some work online, watched old mystery tv shows with Reina, watched another Hunger Games movie with Will, cooked, baked, cleaned up the kitchen, got our taxes ready for the accountant and watched basketball. 

Will needed a pie for school tomorrow (3.14 day).  He doesn't like regular pie so I found a recipe for a chocolate chip pie.  Yum!  Hopefully! 

A few minutes ago, we got another message that school is cancelled tomorrow also. I feel like I ran through all of my fun activities for the kiddos today.  Tomorrow I'm strapping them to the treadmill to burn off some energy.  Maybe they'll learn cursive.  Stay tuned. 

Amelia Earhart by Reina

Last month, Reina had to write a book report on a t-shirt.  She could've picked a mystery, historical fiction or a biography and she chose "Who Was Amelia Earhart" as her book.  Reina enjoyed reading about Ms. Earhart and her tshirt was delightful - she decorated it with a drawing of Amelia and some scenes of her life, the fact that she liked to play football with the boys, she once rode a sled under a horse, she had a yellow car that she liked to drive fast and of course, a deserted island where she might've ended up.  Just like Reina's Pilgrim project, she came home with a good grade and a stack of comment cards from her classmates.

"I enjoyed listening to the part when ...."
You dressed up.  (Mom's comment - Reina wore a homemade by Grandma pilot's helmet and her swim goggles since we didn't have any aviator goggles.)
She was in the rases
It cud hurt her eyes (why pilots had to wear goggles, I'm assuming)
She was nuve fun (I have no idea)
Reina said the football
She played football because I like football
She needs goggles so the wind doesn't smack her in the eyes.
She needs goggles so the wind doesn't SMACK her in the eyes.  (Reina made a big impact with that one)
You told us about the horse.
When she died
setting
You talk about the rolocoster
She made her own roaler coaster.
the fact
She liked playing with the boys.

"I would like to learn more about..."
Nothing
How did she crash
I like your presentesnen
New sne pipe (again, no idea)
Amelia Earhart
Amelia Earhart's deth
What body part got hurt.
Amelia Earhart
good plus 22 exclamation points
not much
findings
the rolucoaseter
the boys.

I love this peak into second grade brains.  A mixture of curiosity and morbid-ness.  Can't wait to see what the next project is.

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

Anhinga in a tree by Glenn

More alligators. 

Turtles in foliage by Glenn

Some bird in the blue sky by Lucy

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

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

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. 

Sometimes when we are really bored....

We put shirts on the dogs.  Or in this case, dog.  Poor Tootsie, she's so patient with our shenanigans and much to well-mannered to throw a fit about being stuffed in a 5-yr old's shirts.  But she also spent the rest of the evening (in a huff?) upstairs, avoiding me and anymore bright ideas I might have had to entertain the younger set. 

I can't think of a perky title to describe the blah-ness that was last week

So after I optimistically ended last week's update with "actual pictures and me not whining...." Reina was sick on Thursday and Friday, Will picked up the virus on Friday night through the rest of the weekend and even today I'm not sure any of us (except the hunter) are 100%.  But we are going to be healthy for trick-or-treating, darnit! 

So the kids and I were pretty much housebound fighting off this thing and Glenn was hunting in Idaho over the weekend. He left when I was feeling better mid-week, before it rained down on everybody else and he was a calm voice on the other end of the phone when I was at the end of my rope on Saturday. The kids and I did spend a little time at Will's school's Halloween carnival. Will didn't get to go to his last football game on Saturday and he was a little disappointed by that.  We spent the weekend watching Halloween movies and taking medicine.  We did leave for a little while to drive around and look at Halloween lights.  Hey - I was desperate to get out of the house.  Plus, we bought a new car last week, something I haven't blogged about yet.  It's a cute new Ford Escape with all sorts of fancy doodads inside.  And satellite radio. 

On Friday, the kids and I went to Will's school for a Halloween carnival. I had an inkling that Will wasn't feeling quite right but we forged ahead.  Looking back at this picture, you can see how droopy his sad eyes are.  Poor little feverish ninja. 

They had different activities (bean bag toss, fishing, mini-golf, cake-walk, etc.) in each room so we made the tour and won some prizes. 

A cute little black cat kept us on our toes and man does she want that to be her 'big-kid school.'  I've said this before but if she could get into kindergarten right now, she'd be there in a heartbeat.  So until Fall 2014, she'll have to make do with holiday carnivals and the ring toss. 

Back home, Will staked his claim on the couch and Reina 'helped' me with chores.  Here's what happens when a 3-yr old helps you sort laundry. I guess I should be happy that it wasn't mine. 

 On Saturday afternoon, I was trying to get Reina down for a nap while simultaneously watching "South Pacific."  I spent many an evening in high school watching old movies and musicals with my parents (I know, I know, that speaks volumes doesn't it?) so I know all of the words and can sing-along.  So Nellie is singing the praises of their delicious champagne and Reina turns to me with a shocked look on her face, "Why is that girl drinking shampoo?"  I'm still laughing about that one today. 

So when the movies were over and we were a little stir crazy, we turned our attention to the dogs.  It's not officially Halloween until the dogs are humiliated.  Ladies and gentleman, the bride and groom! 

The bride wore a fit-to-flare dress with Chantilly lace and intricate beading.  The groom wore... a perplexed expression.  Actually, the groom wore his kicky little tuxedo shirt the rest of the evening after I forgot to take it off.  Tootsie discarded her veil and skirt as soon as I said "okay, all done." 

Happy Halloween.

I give it five minutes

(I preface this blog post by saying that Glenn asked me to go easy on him. I'll try to, I really will.) Glenn spent a good portion of this three-day weekend sorting Will's legos. Tired of finding pieces in every container in Will's room, Glenn bought three fishing tackle boxes and TACKLED the Lego situation. He painstakingly sorted through thousands of little plastic pieces of Lego and came up with an ambitious system. This box, for example, contains car parts, windows, pieces with 2 lego connector things, tools, pieces with 1 lego connector things, hinge-y parts, something else that I don't know what to call it and flat pieces that serve no real purpose. The other two boxes contain an assortment of body parts, pieces with 3 lego connector thingies, slanted pieces, Star Wars paraphernalia, animals, furniture, clothing (yes, we have Lego clothing pieces) and much, much more. This project took quite a while. Yesterday afternoon, Glenn was finally ready to unveil his organized masterpiece to Will. You know Will, the one who actually plays with the Lego's? I could hear Glenn's presentation from my spot in the kitchen so I raced upstairs to capture the moment.

"Okay Will. This is where the heads without a body go. Here's where you put the pieces that look like police car lights. This space is for connectors. Did you get that?" "And here we have the obtuse angles fit in with the trapezoidal connector pieces, not to be confused with the bottom half of those little mermaid legos."

Yeah. I gave it five minutes. Surprisingly the Super Detailed Organization System is still in place today but that's mainly because Will found other stuff to keep him entertained.

In other news, Reina wore her church dress all day on Sunday. Good thing it's machine washable. Doesn't she look like a little Degas ballerina? Wilder hair of course and a less docile expression. And the Degas wasn't holding a pear.

Finally, Glenn and Uncle Matt took Trigger bird hunting this person. The good news is that he retrieved some of the birds. The better news is that he's been very, VERY tired the rest of the day. Too tired to chew on stuff he's not supposed to and tear around the house like the Tasmanian devil. I wish he could bird hunt everyday.

Well at least we won't have to worry about in-laws

We had a weird milestone of sorts this morning in the Pauley household. Will officially proposed to Reina. Well, to be fair, I think his actual words were "We are going to get married someday, right Reina?" Her response was "ehhhh...."

I'm relaying this story for two purposes. One: to embarrass him when he's 13. Two: to remember to mention this story in the toast at his wedding. "Sorry new Mrs. Pauley but you should know that you weren't actually the first person that Will wanted to marry."

Will has weddings and relationships and couples on the brain lately. Besides Reina, he also wants to marry a cute little blonde in his class. I asked why he wanted to marry her and he said it was because she has long hair. Typical. He suddenly knows the terms "girlfriend" and "boyfriend" and any two people of the opposite sex on the television are suddenly coupled in a romantic relationship, instead of say, detective partners or people talking in line at McDonald's. "Is that her boyfriend?" "How come his girlfriend is shooting a gun?" Yeah. No more Law & Order episodes left lying around.

********

When he's not plotting his nuptials, Will still has pirates on the brain. It's been cold and windy outside so we are stuck in the house after dinner. Tonight, Will and Reina talked their Dad into pulling them around the upstairs in a laundry basket. That's no ordinary laundry basket, mind you. That's a pirate ship. Complete with a princess-in-peril and her baby (?). That's one tough baby. Doesn't the pirate ship hauler look completely enthused? My camera has a special function that manages to capture Glenn looking dour and in pain whenever possible. He was having fun, I swear!

A few minutes after I snapped this photo, I was downstairs and heard Reina shrieking so I came up to investigate. Turns out the two were supposed to be taking turns riding solo in the pirate ship and it wasn't Reina's turn, hence the loudly vocal dismay. I catch Will and Glenn at the top of the stairs discussing the merits of taking the pirate ship down the stairs. Not, downstairs but DOWN THE STAIRS. I calmly and politely reminded Glenn of the trip to the ER earlier in the summer after Will rode the exercise ball DOWN THE STAIRS. After some rational discussion, I agreed that they could attempt a very controlled pirate-ship-down-the-stairs maneuver. After a short but bumpy ride, Will made it to the bottom of the stairs unscathed and cheerfully informed me, "See mom, I'm not bloody!" Yup, that's we measure success around here. No one got bloody. Hooray.

A facial hair extravaganza

The following is a very special blog post brought to you by co-authors, Glenn and Lucy. A few months ago, Glenn came back from a 10-day trip to Alaska looking like this: He decided to try to grow a beard and Lucy didn't object, although she did feel like she was sneaking around with her boyfriend Jake, a lumberjack. That was an especially odd feeling to have while standing next to Glenn at church. The beard started to fill in pretty quickly. Before we knew it, we had reached Full Beard status. Here's Glenn's interpretation of Full Beard: Rugged but sophisticated. Looks equally good at a logging camp or a poetry gathering. It adds a bit of earthiness. Commonly worn by prophets and the homeless.

Lucy's interpretation of Full Beard: We won't have to hire anyone to dress up as Santa Clause this year.

So after a few weeks of Full Beard, Glenn decided to scale back to the Goatee, or Goat as it's commonly referred to around here. Glenn's interpretation on the Goatee: Has a sporty look but a level of unpredictability to it. It's tough yet approachable. I may be interested in what you have to say or I may punch you. Commonly worn by athletes and bouncers.

Lucy's interpretation: In order to adequately immortalize the Autumn of Facial Hair, we had several photo shoots in the front yard (as you can tell). In this photo, the goatee is relaxed yet serious. Or wait, maybe this one is friendly and frisky. I can't tell. The goatee is very complicated. Well, nothing lasts forever and so it goes for goatees. I woke up last Monday to this guy:

Yep, that's Glenn with a handlebar mustache. He asked me if I wanted to go ride motorcycles after work. I said no, but that I would be interested in helping him rob a stagecoach.

Glenn's interpretation of the handlebar mustache: Few things better say, "I have no idea what the opposite sex finds attractive." Wearer is extremely self-confident or dim-witted. Most commonly worn by bikers or cowboys.

Well, our journey with Facial Hair must come to an end. But not before we unveil the final stop on this wild ride. Beware, this last look is not for the faint of heart. Glenn's interpretation of the Hitler Mustache: Either a die hard Charlie Chaplin fan or deranged, with a potential cannibalistic streak. Either way it is not recommended to approach this person. Or wear this look to work.

Lucy's interpretation: Please, just shave it off as fast as you can and don't you dare leave the house looking like that.

Well, it's a few days before Thanksgiving and Glenn is back to his clean-shaven self. I'm happy to have his face back and the money we are now spending on shaving cream and the various accessories is at least not being spent on therapy for our children. Besides, there's always next hunting season. Civil war beard? Fu man chu? Neck hair? Stay tuned!