Skiing

Sunday, the kids and I piled into the car and headed up to Snowy Range for a day of skiing.  The mountains have had some good snow recently and since we didn't get out at all last winter, we decided to take advantage of a long weekend and go skiing.  This picture paints a rosy picture of our day and that's how we'll go ahead and leave it.  But someday when the kids are middle-aged and possibly flipping through this blog like we do with our old fashioned photo books they might remember this as the day that mom completely lost her cool when Reina inexplicably couldn't get her ski boots on (boots that fit perfectly fine the day before), how at one point both mom and Reina were yelling and Will was trying to be the calm one and later suggested that he would now refer to Reina as "fat foot" which actually made her laugh, mom threatened to drive back home like fifty times, Reina finally got her boots on, everyone skied a bunch, mom and Lucy fell getting off the lift at least 50% of the time and the last time, the lift operator had to stop the entire lift to help mom get up and then Reina was worried mom had a concussion, Will had to ski by himself most of the time because he went down runs that were more advanced and he needs to go skiing with friends rather than moms and sisters, and a bunch of other little things.  But hopefully they will also remember a mom who wanted them to have fun doing some of the same activities that she liked to do and even a bad day on skis is never a completely bad day.  

January Snow Day

 We had snow in the forecast this week which was great news because it's been an unusually dry and warm fall/winter so far.  I was skeptical that we'd get any moisture.  I was pleasantly surprised when the snow started yesterday afternoon and quickly started to accumulate.  The temperature dropped and an email from the school district indicated that today might be a virtual learning day if the weather continued to deteriorate.  Then the state offices closed at 4:00 pm so that we could all get home (that RARELY happens!) and we settled in for a chilly night.  

 

Short hair dogs love fluffy blankets. 

The phone rang at 5:05 a.m. apparently (I slept through it) but Glenn woke me up and I checked the messages and schools were closed for in-person learning but it was time to fire up the Ipads for virtual class.  State offices were open but our agency got permission to work from home for the day.  This level of detail is probably unnecessary so I'll jump ahead to the highlights.  It was like March 2020 again - wheeee!  Reina tackled her classes and needed help from time to time with technology and algebra.  Thankfully she handled her health vocab list on her own (estrogen, pituitary gland, puberty, etc. etc.).  Will was pretty independent but wanted help with a sports marketing project and how can I resist the words sports and marketing?  I squeezed some work into the day but ended up taking some vacation time because it was hard to juggle everything without losing what little bits of sanity I have left.  

We ended up with a good amount of snow (7 to 10 inches in town) and some crazy temperatures - negative 3 this morning and right now it's back in the 30's.  

This girl captures my energy today.  Also, she kept sitting on my laptop whenever I stepped away.  Cold and hungry.  It's me!  

Snow Days

I have to say, I'm a little tired of writing about historic events that we are experiencing from the confinement of our house, but here's another one.  We are digging our way out of the biggest snowstorm our community has experienced since 1979.  We officially had 36 inches of snow from Saturday to Monday.  The kids have Snow Day #3 tomorrow.  Government offices are closed but Glenn and I are working from home.  It's wild to see how much snow is on the ground.  

Reina on top of the pile from cleaning off the driveway. 

Reina sledding down our street before the plow came through.

Will helping Glenn shovel on Monday after the snow started to taper off.

Glenn taking on the sidewalk. He shoveled a path and took on the driveway and then our neighbor came over with his snowblower and helped finish it up.  We are taking him a gift card as soon as we can get out! 

I've had to teach an online class this week so I've missed some of the shoveling and clean-up.  This afternoon, Glenn sent me a message while I was in my class that our grocery store pharmacy was giving out COVID vaccines to anybody who could make it there.  When my class finished up at 3, I put on my snowboots and walked about 2 miles to the store.  On my way there, I kept telling myself not to get my hopes up because there were a lot of people who could easily get to the store because the roads were opening up.  Most of the roads have been plowed but there's just been about an 8 foot wide path cut so only car can get through at a time.  I was able to walk on the road for most of the route, but I did have to slog through some big drifts.  I made it to the store and stood in line behind one other person.  I was handed a clipboard, filled out some information, waited a few more minutes and got my first vaccine.  I knew it was real when the clerk handed me my vaccine passport with a note to come back in April for round 2.  And yes, I got a little teary-eyed.  I'm so glad I can stay healthy and help keep everyone else healthy too.  Even better?  Glenn shoveled a little path to get his truck onto our road and came and picked me up so that I didn't have to walk back home.  It's mostly uphill on the way back so I was happy about that.  Plus, I did a little post-vaccine celebration grocery shopping and stocked up on some items that we were running low on.  All of the roads have been closed in and out of town so store shelves were pretty bare but I grabbed some goodies to tide us over until things open up for good.  

Definitely not Spring yet

We are on the tail end of an epic snowstorm, even by Wyoming standards.  As of about 4 pm today, the National Weather Service reported that we had 30 inches of snow in Cheyenne since yesterday morning.  That's more snow than we've had in a 2-day period since 1979.  Yikes!  At our house, we've lucked out a little bit.  Our power has stayed on so we've had heat and been able to cook.  Glenn shoveled a path for the dogs to go outside and do their (ahem) business.  He also made a path to the chicken coop after I waded through waist deep snow to take them food this morning.  The chicken girls are warm and snug too, and not interested in venturing outside of the coop, thank you very much.  

The dogs, while appreciative of Glenn's hard work, were confused because they usually don't take bio breaks in the front yard.  

Before the shoveling.  

Reina working on a diorama about ancient Japan.  Yes, those are pajamas and yes it was the middle of the afternoon.  Snowy days have different rules.  

The literal calm before the storm. I took this picture Saturday morning.  The storm arrived a little later than forecasted so I took the dogs to the field for one last run to tire them out.  An inordinate amount of my time is spent figuring out how to tire out the dogs.  

School is canceled tomorrow.  Glenn and I don't get a snow day but we do get to work from home.  We'll both probably have to take a little bit of time off to shovel the driveway.  Roads are pretty impassable right now but we'll have to get out eventually.  This moisture will certainly help our drought situation but wowzer, I wouldn't have minded it being spread out over a few more weeks.  

Felt like Spring but it's probably not

It felt like Spring today, well Spring in a normal climate.  Spring in Wyoming is usually marked by nice days, then a snow storm, some wind, another nice day, a hard freeze and then Summer.  So maybe it is a typical Spring day in Wyoming.  But we made sure to enjoy the weather.  I wanted to work in the garden but the compost bin is frozen so that'll have to wait a while.  We did some yard work and I took the dogs for a long field run so it was a good day.  

Tootsie is alive, just really tired.  

Charlie is scared because someone has a camera

Trigger and a giant leftover moose bone 

We finally convinced Charlie to enjoy the sunshine

As the day went on, I felt a little off-kilter. I think the weather was reminding me so much of last March when everything shut down and we stayed at home for weeks on end.  I know the pandemic is not over  yet, even though more and more people are getting vaccinated. I hope Glenn and I get a call soon.  
 

The rest of the month

We had some really cold temperatures last weekend.  At one point before I went to bed on Saturday night, it was -18 and that was without the wind chill.  We made it through with lots of extra blankets for humans and inside pets and hot water bottles in the chicken coop.  The temps have warmed up to normal 20s and 30s this week but we have spring on our minds, even if we have months to go.  

We grow cotton in Wyoming! In February! 

Trigger loves his Glenn. I took this picture on Valentine's Day and thought it was especially fitting. 

Here's the COVID update.  I'm still working from home with chickens who want to come in the house.  Numbers in Wyoming are as low as they've been since last Fall and that's reassuring.  Glenn and I and the kids are still pretty far from getting a vaccine but we're glad that more and more people are getting it.  We were reminded this week that COVID is still an issue when we found out that a few boys from the basketball team are quarantined because of positive tests.  Will isn't quarantined but he sat by one of the boys on the bench the day before the quarantine started but everyone was wearing masks.  I'm keeping a close eye on Will this weekend which he adores (sarcasm.)  He loves when I remark on every cough and sneeze and ask him how he's feeling every few minutes. The team is pretty disciplined at wearing masks during the game and especially on the bench so I'm hopeful that Will is going to be okay.  The end of the season tournament is next weekend so we are all hoping that no other kids get infected and the team can finish out the season.  Will had his best game this week against their cross-town rival.  His team lost but Will made two free throws and played some really good defense.  I didn't scream when he made his free throws which is a win-win for everybody.  

 

The First Week of 2021

Well I can't mince words here, but this is a family blog, so I'll just say that the first week of 2021 has been a doozy.  A real doozy.  But everybody is fine and healing, for which we are really grateful.  So here's the story.  

Last week, Glenn had a few extra days off so he and Reina headed to the middle of the state so that Glenn could try to fill his elk tag and Reina could do a little rabbit hunting.  They called frequently to give me an update on their adventures and Reina was having a terrific time.  They drove our side-by-side all over, visited a run down cabin, scouted for elk and yes, even hunted some rabbits.  They were planning on coming home Friday afternoon.  Friday morning (Jan 1), I was on the treadmill when I got a call from Glenn.  They had an accident in the side-by-side and Reina was fine but Glenn thought his hand was broken.  I could hear the pain in his voice, he was definitely hurt.  We made plans for me to drive to meet them so that I could help him drive home.  Reina was a brave girl.  She helped me figure out if Glenn could still drive, she called me with updates on where they were on the highway and she kept asking Glenn questions to make sure that he was okay and not feeling faint.  Glenn said she peppered him with questions about all of his favorites (color, food, movies etc.) to keep him talking.  

While they started to drive towards home, Vicky came and got me and we took off in my car so that we'd have an extra driver to bring back Glenn's truck.  Vicky called one of her doctor friends while we were driving to get some advice on what we should be looking for in deciding if Glenn could make it all the way back to Cheyenne or if we should take him to the ER in Laramie.  The decision was easy to make when we caught up to them on the road.  Not to be too gross, but you could see inside Glenn's hand, through his glove and down into the stuff under the skin.  I thought it looked a little like sweet and sour chicken but it was clear that Glenn would have to stop in Laramie.  Plus, his lips were the same shade as his face which is never a good look.  Vicky drove him, I drove a worried Reina and we headed to the ER.  

Luckily the ER wasn't very busy so Glenn was taken to a room right away.  He was giving an IV and warm blankets to ward off shock.  The doctors and nurses had to cut off four layers of hunting clothes to work on his hand but Glenn would want me to point out that it was an old jacket and it's also an excuse to have to buy new hunting clothes.  (Side note, when I was texting Glenn's hunting friends to let them know what had happened, more than one expressed significant concern that he was wearing his expensive KUIU jacket.)  Shockingly, when the x-rays came back, there were no broken bones, just a lot of debris from the ground and his glove in the wound.  The doctors determined that Glenn had to be sent to the hospital in Loveland so that the surgery to clean everything out could be done by a hand surgeon.  Because he was hooked up to IVs and on serious pain medicine, he'd have to go in an ambulance.  

We stayed to watch Glenn be loaded into the ambulance and then we headed back to Cheyenne.  Glenn was able to call me later that night when he was settled in the hospital.  I helped Reina get settled into bed after one of the hardest days of her 11 years and we all slept a little fitfully.  

Saturday morning, I got up early and headed down to Loveland so that I could talk to the surgeon before Glenn's surgery.  At that point, there was concern that Glenn might need a skin graft on the hand but they wouldn't know until they did the surgery.  They also thought he might need a wound vac, which would result in more days at the hospital.   When I got there, Glenn was chatty with the nurses, like Reina chatty.  He didn't ask them their favorite colors but Glenn on narcotic pain pills is a sight to behold.  The surgeons also regaled us with stories of other ATV-related incidents they've seen from Wyoming residents.  Let's just say, we were some of the luckier ones.  Glenn went into surgery, I went for a walk and waited for the text saying he was in the recovery room.  

I met with the surgeon in the waiting room when Glenn was done and we got the best news possible.  No skin graft, no wound vac and he could go home as soon as he ate some applesauce and drank some ginger ale.  We got in the car about an hour later and headed home. 

Glenn's had a rough recovery.  He had some side effects from the antibiotic and an issue with his inner ear causing a lot dizziness and nausea but today it looks like he's finally turned the corner.  As he told me tonight, he finally feels like regular Glenn with a hurt hand. He'll go back to the surgeon next Friday and then hopefully a full recovery after that.  

All's well that end's well.  I had to take some time off this week to help Glenn but working from home helped make that a little easier.  Glenn and I watched the events of Jan 6 unfold together and I'm thankful for companionship during that weird/bad day.  The kids are back at school and Reina has bounced back from her hard day and even had a story to beat all other stories about "what I did over Christmas break."  

Finally, we have amazing friends and extended family. We've had dinner deliveries, and calls and texts checking on Glenn.  Vicky and a friend even came over and helped me clean my house which basically brought me to tears. Not because it was so dirty and I was embarrassed... well maybe a little bit... but mostly because it was one less thing that I had to worry about.  

So that's our first week of 2021.  It can only go up from here.  

Day 182ish

Here's a big list of stuff that happened this week. 

1.  It snowed! And froze!  We ended up with just a few inches of snow but some cold temps at night so the gardening season is officially finished.  My flowers in pots and some odds and ends survived in the garage so we'll have a little bit of color to get us through the fall... or until is snows again. 

2.  We made it through another week of in-person school!  Reina and Will are both doing well.  They have a lot of homework at night and by the end of the week, they are both pretty tired.  Reina's dance classes start back up this week and Will's football season is still going strong. 

3.  Speaking of football, Will played some defense yesterday and recovered a fumble on the 1-yd line.  It was so exciting!  He did the right thing by falling on the ball instead of trying to scoop and score but oh man, it would've been fun to watch him get a defensive TD . 

4.  Glenn was gone most of the week on a work trip.  It was the longest we've all been apart since this whole thing began back in March.  I missed his company and the extra driver for school runs.  The kids miss his calming personality when mom is losing her you-know-what.  

5.  Glenn and I ran a race yesterday.  It was a fundraiser put on by Aunt Vicky to benefit projects at the hospital.  Glenn ran the half marathon and I did the 10k.  The race takes place on a buffalo ranch and it's gorgeous scenery with a lot of hills.  I was slow, Glenn was a little slower than he wanted to be but we both finished without barfing and made it back in time to catch most of Will's game.  A win-win for everyone.  

On to a new week!  

Day 116 and some pictures

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

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

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

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

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

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

Jogging back to the dugout after crossing home. 

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

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

Momma and twins! 

The Weekend and Day 106

Saturday, we had a break from baseball so we packed all of the humans and the dogs into Glenn's truck and headed to Guernsey, a small town about an hour and half from Cheyenne. I've driven through it many times for work but I'd never stopped at the reservoir. The kids were excited to swim so that's where we headed first.   

I posted this picture on instagram with the caption "who are these giant kids following me around?"  But seriously, who are they?  It's like actual teenville around here.  

I tried to work on my action photos and got this blurry gem of Reina jumping in.  Now I just need to work on focus.  

Trigger had a best day ever.  He loves water and retrieving stuff out of the water, swimming after kids in the water, etc.  I have a picture of Charlie on my phone who was not having his best day.  Not a fan of the water but we got him to swim a few times.  

Hubba.

After the kids swam for a few hours, we headed over to Register Cliff and then drove a few miles to see the Oregon Trail wagon ruts that are carved in the sandstone.  It's pretty amazing to think about traveling across that country in a wagon while we are cranking the air conditioning and drinking a root beer float.  

It was a nice Saturday.  It felt nice to get out of the house and out of town, even for just a few hours. 

Day 85

Day 85 was another Monday, but at least this time there was no kid schoolwork involved.  I'm working on a project to collect resources for people who are very stressed and even suicidal so my work life has been a little heavy lately.  I did have kids coming in from time to time to ask about snacks, lunch options, how much more electronic time they had and hey-mom-check-out-this-dance-I-just-made so those were nice diversions. 

Will is digging school being out and he finds ways to stay occupied during the day (watching old sports highlights, reading about sports, looking up statistics about sports and practicing sports in the backyard.)  Reina is a little tougher. Once she ran out of electronic time today, she was as the kids say "all up in my business" or my little 'butt barnacle' as I fondly refer to her during quarantine.  I suggested art projects, reading, cleaning her room (oh mom, you are so funny) and she finally agreed to spending some time playing with my make-up and drawing.  I'll sacrifice a few eyeliner pencils if it means I get 30 minutes of total silence.  She spent her time drawing the character Cher from Clueless, a bonafide teen movie that she watched with her big cousin last week.  Since Clueless is in fact based on the Jane Austen book Emma and it's also one of my favorite 90's movies, this is a project that I can fully support.    

We had a good old fashioned busy (but lovely) weekend.  We got to watch Will play his first baseball games. He had some good hits and drove in a few runs.  When he was playing third, he had a liner glance off his glove and bonk his head but he bounced back up and stayed in the game.  I did not run on to the field after he hit the ground and I'm not sure he fully appreciates my restraint.  I did ask Glenn and the other people around us "did that hit his head" about 50 times but he's fine. The coaches and umps checked him out thoroughly and while he didn't appreciate me gazing at his pupils the rest of the day, he felt fine.  At the ballpark, ti was fun to watch some games with the grandparents in attendance and little cousins running around.  It felt like summer - especially when the weather went from chilly, to sunscreen, back to chilly and get out the umbrella.  Oh Wyoming.  (It's 37 degrees as I type this and so far we've had rain and hail tonight.  There's snow on the summit but let's hope it stays there.) 

Reina is back at dance class a few days a week, with social distancing and mask wearing.  She had a class on Saturday morning and then she played with the cousins during baseball. In the afternoon, she went to a little birthday for our neighbor's granddaughter.  She and Reina play about once a week and on Saturday, the other grandkids were there too so Reina had a gang of girls to run around the backyard with, it was good for her mental health and they all get along well.  

One of our on-going projects lately has been to paint the vanities in the kids' bathrooms.  We spent a big chunk of Sunday getting that done and hanging up new light fixtures.  I'm happy to report that Glenn and I did that (it was mostly Glenn) without arguing or electrocuting anything.  Victories! 

Besides tonight's hail, this has been a good start to another week.  

Day 3

A shorter update today because I'm tired!  Glenn stayed home again but he is feeling better and is heading back to work tomorrow.  I worked in the morning and then came home this afternoon.  We had a chilly but sunny afternoon so Reina and I walked the dogs and looked at all of the shamrocks in the windows.  A post on FB suggested that everyone put up a shamrock so that kiddos could look for them while they are all home from school.  It was a nice show of solidarity, too.  We're all home and doing what we can to keep those little brains busy! 

Since it was so sunny this afternoon, I took Will for a little driving practice on a dirt road not too far from our house.  For all the grandparents reading this blog, the dirt road is almost devoid of other vehicles and mostly just straight lines so it's a great place to practice.  He was slightly hesitant to go, mostly because he wanted to play videogames but once we got out there, he was enthusiastic.  We were only out for a few minutes but no vehicles were harmed and my blood pressure stayed within acceptable limits. 

Back home, Reina and I toured a little bit of the Louvre online and looked at Egyptian stuff.  Will practiced some Spanish, we cooked dinner and then Reina and I tackled whole wheat snickerdoodles.  Stay tuned for the review on those tomorrow.  With all of us being home for three meals a day, it's truly amazing how many glasses this family goes through. 

Wyoming had more positive Covid-19 cases today, I believe we are up to 15.  State offices are still open but we assume we'll be getting direction to telework soon.  I worry about the impact on our small businesses and restaurants but I also feel strange doing so much to keep the kids isolated, only to go into an office myself everyday.  Luckily, we can spread out and we are all making a concerted effort to keep everything clean. 

So that's day 3.  We're keeping our spirits up and the pets are delighted to have everyone home. 

Basketball

This is turning into a kids' sports blog.  We have other things going on but I don't take pictures of piano practice, homework, dance classes and house cleaning.  I'm definitely not taking pictures of me slowly jogging around the neighborhood with two dogs pulling my arms off.  How about a picture of Glenn working hard to clean out our giant freezers?  Or the kids fighting about whether the Lego Batman movie is connected to the first Lego movie?  No one wants a picture of that.

So basketball is it.  Will's 7th grade season started right after Christmas break.  He's on the B team and their first game was last week.  He scored 4 points, had one foul, a couple of steals and he hustled.  It was a lot of fun to watch.  The game was in a town a few hours away.  I travel to this town frequently for work so it was a nice change of pace to drive there for basketball.  This week he has two games and a couple of practices.  It is definitely keeping him busy. 

#41 on the court, #1 in our hearts. 

In-bounding the ball - when did he get so tall?  

Waiting for the quarter to start.  

 The rest of our month is well underway.  Glenn and I start volleyball this week which is always fun.  The weather is typical for January but today we had a few hours without wind and it was delightful. 

Oh hey - here's a fun thing that happened this weekend.  Glenn and I went on a date to a comedy show with Vicky and Matt and a bunch of friends.  We had a delicious dinner and then watched a few comedians.  It was a lot of fun and a great way to get out of the house in the gloomy winter. 

Glenn and his giant steak 

Thanksgiving Post

We are all sitting together in the den with a warm fire in the pellet stove.  It's chilly outside and we have a bunch of snow on the ground.  We had a delicious dinner with the Frys earlier this afternoon and we're still stuffed.  Okay fine, we did just have another round of turkey sandwiches and salads and one of us ate the praline topping that was leftover from the pie.  It was also delicious. 

So while we are sitting here watching a movie, I'm asking everyone for their annual list of thankfulness.  Here we go. 

Reina is thankful for her 'loving family' and when I said 'be serious please,' she said "I am."  This mom stands corrected.  Reina's favorite thing that she ate for Thanksgiving was the homemade cranberry sauce. 

Will is thankful for Wyoming football and sports in general.  Will's favorite food today was the green bean casserole. 

Glenn is thankful for his family and wild places to pursue his hobbies.  Glenn's favorite food was the jalapeno dip that Aunt Vicky made for the appetizer. 

I am thankful for this messy house and all of the creatures living in it and I'm especially thankful that our dear Aunt Vicky is winding up her treatment in a few months and growing some hair back and thankfully I'm just happy that she's here with us.   My favorite food today was the turkey, pumpkin cheesecake and the aforementioned praline sauce. 

Happy Thanksgiving from our house to yours!

Sick days and snow days

We've had a wild week at the Pauley household.  (How many times have I started a blog post with that sentence?)  Last Wednesday as I was getting ready to head to Laramie for a presentation, I had a call from the school nurse.  Reina had a sore throat and wanted to come home. I zipped over to pick her up, took her home, went to Laramie, gave my presentation and drove home in the snow.  Glenn was keeping an eye on her.  She didn't have a fever so I thought maybe she was just having an off day.  About 10:30 pm, she barfed.  I thought "well maybe it's just the pain medicine I gave her that upset her stomach."  And then she barfed again and again and again until 8:00 a.m.  She's usually very stoic about being sick but this one hit her hard.  I would doze off only to be woken up by "MOM I NEED YOU I BARFED" many times. I should clarify, I'm happy to be there for her and I know these days won't last forever but boy did we both need some sleep when morning came.  Long story short, she had all of the symptoms of influenza or strep but she'd just had the flu shot and the strep test was negative and she slowly started to feel better.  So far, no one else in the house has caught it and we are hoping it stays that way. 

The day after Reina came home sick, Glenn had to endure one of those events that happens when you turn 50.  The big colonoscopy. I think it's safe to say that the days leading up to the test were harder on him than the actual procedure.  As someone who likes multiple fruits and veggies every day, being on a low fiber diet was tough.  The last 24-hours when he could only drink clear broth were even more brutal.  I knew he was hungry when he picked giant burgers for dinner the night after his colonoscopy.  He's happy to report that all of the tests came back normal and his dr (supposedly) told him that Glenn had the cleanest, most magnificent colon he'd ever seen. 

Yesterday, the weather took a turn and we started to get quite a bit of snow.  As I was driving home from work, I had a call from the school - this time with the automated news that classes were canceled for today.  There was much rejoicing from the younger members of the household who know get a 6-day break for Thanksgiving.  Just when I was wondering how I would juggle my work day and their extra day off, I received a text saying that State Offices were also closed.  I didn't necessary 'rejoice' but I was happy to not burn a vacation day.  Glenn was already sleep so he didn't find out the exciting news until 6 a.m. 

We had a fun snow day.  Glenn and I did some extra chores.  Reina played with a girl next door.  Will ventured outside for some fun in the snow and we all watched a movie.  It was a nice relaxing way to kick off this fun week. 

We built a Lego gingerbread house for Christmas decorations this year.  I mostly put it together but Will helped with the tricky parts.  At one point, I couldn't figure out where a piece was supposed to go and Will took a look at it and told me in a serious voice, "wow Mom, these really are big boy Legos." 

The snow out our front door this morning.  

The dogs' idea of a perfect snow day

Soxy's too 

Out big kid laying face down in a snow drift.  He wanted to jump off of that shed but Glenn put the kibosh on that before I even heard of the plans.  Phew.  

Halloween with a bunch of side photos because that's who I am now

Halloween was a few weeks ago and it was a fun one this year.  Sometime in the next few weeks I will edit this post and fix the photos but that time is not tonight.  This was the first year that Will didn't dress up or trick-or-treat.  After I finished sobbing, I accepted the situation.  The kids didn't have school on Nov 1 so he and Glenn went hunting.  It made sense and it was nice to not have two giant bags of candy in the house for weeks but still.  My little skunk-costumed baby is now a don't-need-trick-or-treat tween.  At least Reina shows no sign of being done with Halloween.  Yet.  

The weekend before Halloween, Glenn and I went to a really fun Halloween/birthday party for some friends who know how to throw an awesome shindig.  Costumes were a must so we spent a few weeks brainstorming and decided to go as Bugs Bunny (Glenn) and Elmer Fudd (me).  I think we nailed it.  Glenn was way more into his costume than I anticipated, he even made felt feet.  He also made me wear his hunting boots because they were more authentic.  It was a lot of fun to dress up and hang out with fun grown-ups.  

What's up Doc?

A few days before Halloween, Reina and I took the little cousins to the Halloween carnival at Reina's school.  Reina dashed off with friends so I got to take A & E around to all of the events in the classrooms.  They were both pretty into it and not scared like previous years.  Toddler Cousin wasn't a fan of the inflatable costumes - there was one T-Rex in particular that he did not appreciate.  But it helped me enjoy the holiday through littler kid eyes plus they got to go home to their parents at the end of the night and I didn't have to bathe anyone.  Yah!! 

Reina took this picture while we were driving to the carnival.  Apparently Batman is never off duty, even when he's strapped into his carseat. 

Reina's costume was self-designed this year.  She decided to a ghost/zombie tween.  She even had a skeleton cat to carry around.  Her makeup was all her own and I think she nailed the look.  Remember when she was a cute little garden gnome?  Or a sunflower?  Sigh. 

Getting ready for trick-or-treating.  She did wear shoes.  

WIll's Jr High Football Season

In news that is not shocking, I'm so behind on the blog again.  October flew by and my resolve to post every day in November is already four days late.  So let's get caught up where we can.  Will's first Jr High football season finished up last month on a cold afternoon in Laramie.  Seventh grade teams don't have a play-off but as luck would have it, the top two teams played each other on the last game of the season.  Will rode the bus to Laramie with his team, but Glenn and I drove over. When we left Cheyenne, the temperature was in the upper 50's.  By the time the game kicked off, the wind was howling and the temp had dropped at least 20 degrees.  Unsurprisingly, Glenn had all of the appropriate layers of clothing on his person, I patched together some blankets from the car and mismatched gloves. (Glenn would want me to point out that he urged me to wear long underwear but I scoffed.  Scoffed!) But this post is not about the weather, it's about our favorite offensive lineman - #54.  

7th grade football players don't need tights mom, get real.  

Will got some time on defense this time around too.  He's lined up to the left of the orange #25

That's our boy in the center of the huddle

Hanging out with one of his good friends

Protecting his qb 

Back on the O-line

Will had a pretty good season.  He learned a lot playing guard and tackle on offense.  He recovered a few kick-offs on special teams and he got some defensive time in too.  I don't think he anticipated being an offensive lineman but he worked hard and earned a starting position on A team that he kept all season.  Glenn and I developed an appreciation for the offensive line and it's funny but it's really changed how I watch college football and the NFL.  No one pays much attention to the o-line unless they mess up.  When a team has a great offense, the credit goes to the qb or the running back, and it's easy to forget the role that the blockers play.  Okay, that's the end of my Will's #1 fan speech.  It was a pleasure watching him play and we can't wait for the next season. 

Reason #350 why this isn't a food blog

While finishing up dinner tonight, Glenn pointed out that just about everything in the soup pot was something that we had harvested.  With the exception of one Yukon gold potato, the carrots, onions, purple potatoes, tomatoes and moose meat were either from our garden or from Glenn's recent hunt.  Okay, the salt and spices were from the cupboard because we aren't that hardcore (yet?). 

Moose stew - by all accounts, it was delicious!  My food photography on the other hand.... 

This year, we had a lot of gardening ventures happening.  Besides our shared plot at the community garden, we also carved out more space in our backyard for a raised bed.  We had pots of peppers and tomatoes, too.  The community garden was one of the best ones we've had.  We had more cucumbers than we could handle, spaghetti squash, potatoes, beans, peppers, peas and tomatoes.  Oh and beets!  At home, we grew pumpkins, more cucumbers, beets, onions, carrots, two cabbages and one magnificent kohlrabi.  Our summer started off extra chilly but we had good moisture and heat as the summer wore on.  We finally hard our first frost last week, so the season is officially done.  

Pie pumpkins - I think they are called Connecticut field pumpkins?  They went crazy in our small spot.  Any that grew outside of the fence became victims of our curious chickens.  

I didn't thin the carrots and so I ended up with a bowl of pinky-sized carrots.  They are really sweet and crunchy but have a slightly-disturbing finger vibe. 

 I should clarify that while the gardening season is done outside, inside the house, we are still working away.  Vicky and I picked these tomatoes (and more!) a few days before the frost and brought them in to try to ripen.  Vicky has at least half this much at her house.  These are more tomatoes than we've ever grown but we needed just a few more weeks to get them ripe.  I checked on mine today and some are starting to ripen but I'm also looking at recipes for green tomato pickles.  Yum?