Stay home day

Who's most excited about a stay home day?  These three!  

I took this picture yesterday morning after we came back from getting Reina a throat culture.  I found out that the school offers strep tests and get the results back to you within a few hours.  What a great way to save a trip to the doctor's office!  Reina's test came back positive so she's home again today, but feeling much better after a dose of antibiotics.  She should be able to go back to school tomorrow, which is good because we are running out of ways to keep her entertained.  Yesterday, I jotted down some of the questions she asked me:  do Egyptians still have cats?  do I think the zombie apocalypse is going to happen, for reals?  What's the zombie apocalypse anyway?  Does everybody have the same moon?  Today she's perkier and has asked to make a video about how to take care of a cat and remember that one time we made a water park for my barbies with all of those buckets, can we do that again?  Bronco Baby Mom needs a nap.

Sunday

So Sunday.  Reina went to bed with a low fever and woke up with a bigger one.  She crawled into bed with us in the wee hours of the morning and I could feel the heat radiating off of her before I even touched her forehead.  So she's back under the weather and it's been about three weeks since the last bug made her miss a Monday of school.  She and I are probably going to the doctor tomorrow but we'll see how she is in the morning.  So my Sunday plans of errands and yard work and other excitement were put on hold for Reina snuggling, housework and inside chores.

Glenn shot an elk yesterday.  He came home last night with half of the elk and took a friend back today to get the rest of it and bring it home.   I told him when he came back that he had to take a kid and a dog with him on the second trip.  The hike to the elk was pretty tough for any of the kid members of the family but he did take Tootsie. (Special message for Trigger - if you'd stop being such a blankety-blank off of the leash, you might get to go on elk pack-outs too.)   According to Glenn, Tootsie had a great time, never ran off and chased a few rabbits. She's been a snoring, semi-comatose canine since they arrived home.

Trigger says, "So I'm stuck here with you people and the cat?  Great."
Coco says, "whooo-hooo!" 

In between what felt like a mountain of chores to get through today, we made Star Wars jello jigglers because of course we did!  It actually turned out pretty fortuitous because jello was one of the things Reina was most interested in eating, along with 'not feeling good' staples like chicken noodle soup, apple juice and .... Halloween candy.  Funny how that works.

My career as a professional food photographer is still in the infant stages.  

50th day of school

One of us opted out of the 50's celebration because it would involve wearing jeans to school.  

Yesterday was the 50th day of school, and as a celebration, the kids were encouraged to wear clothes from the 1950's.  Reina and I bought the material and a pre-made poodle for the skirt several weeks ago but with Halloween, work stuff and other priorities, (okay, football.  Watching a Broncos game with a mouth full of pins or even a needle in one hand is a dangerous combination) the project was put on the back burner until the night before.  Parenting plus -  I'm teaching the kids about the danger of procrastination.  When it was all done, we had one slightly uneven pink felt poodle skirt and a happy 50's girl.  Reina pulled the ensemble together with a white polo shirt and a high ponytail and ribbons. She wanted saddle shoes but apparently those are hard to find the night before (in your own house). As part of the school celebration, they had a sock hop and several of us are still doing the twist whenever the urge strikes.  I'm hoping there isn't a 60's celebration next week.  

Musings

(Musings:  Fancy word for a collection of random thoughts that I'm going to count as a blog post tonight.  It's also one of Will's vocabulary words this week along with sultry, downy, and clamoring.) 

We had our first snow overnight.  It's one of the latest first snowfalls on record for our corner of the state.  We've enjoyed a beautiful extended fall but we need the moisture and I need a reason to clean up the rest of the yard and garden stuff.  We were all pretty excited to see the white stuff. I took Coco outside for Kitten's First Official Snow Experience and it made her paws cold.  

Tomorrow is the 50th day of school so the kids are encouraged to dress like the 1950's.  Reina requested a poodle skirt a few weeks ago so we trekked off to the fabric store for skirt material, a pre-made poodle, new scissors that are designated for only sewing projects (for as long as that lasts), threat and little tiny cotton balls that Reina had big plans for but Coco has since found and claimed for her own.  Tonight we cut and sewed and glued and the skirt is ready to go.  I asked Will what he wanted to do and he said "jeans."  Works for me buddy! 

Reina told Glenn and I that she should probably start thinking about who she wants to marry.  We told her that she has plenty of time to decide.  After thinking for a few minutes, she told us that she wants to marry a fluffy, white kitten.  Works for me sister! 

Day 3

Well, it's actually Day 4.  But who's counting.  Logging on to record that I measured Will's height and he's officially just one foot shorter than his mom.  Twelve inches until he's looking me in the eye.  I guess it's time to start wearing heels around the house.  And little sister?  Just 5 inches shorter than her brother.  Uh oh.

Pictures from yesterday's post

I'm a lazy, lazy blogger.  Day 2 of this NaBloPoMo and I'm already resorting to a few pictures with captions.  I'm tired!  I stayed up way too late last night watching football highlights, and then a few minutes later, the game was being replayed and of course I had to watch it!  But tomorrow's a new day.  In the meantime...

This photo can be titled, "tired mom riding exercise bike with cat perched on her shoulder."  Coco hears me downstairs on the bike and comes racing in and if I'm lucky I can catch her mid-air as she leaps for my shoulder.  She's happy to hang out there while I pedal along.  Cats are strange.  But oh so photogenic. 

Just a couple of cousins hanging out watching cartoons. 

Reina's last soccer game.  The highlight for her was a clementine decorated to look like a jack o'lantern.  Of course it was.

The Day After Halloween

I'm sitting here on the sofa watching Broncos highlights (Broncos beat the Packers 29-10) while Baby Cousin snoozes on the couch.  Her mom and dad are driving back from the Broncos game. I think she had a fun afternoon/evening hanging with the cousins and our crazy household.  Her presence requires me to tone down my tv yelling and Broncos cheering, but I'll do it for her.  I'm sure Will, Reina and Coco appreciate it too.  More on Baby Cousin in later NaBloPoMo posts.  I have to stretch this one post a day for the month of November thing out a little bit.

So yesterday was Halloween.  Unlike previous October 31 in Wyoming days, this one was relatively mild.  The kids had their last soccer games in the morning, followed by a soccer pizza party.  In the afternoon, Glenn and I jogged in a crazy headwind and got enough of a workout to justify all of the Halloween candy later, although that was just me and I probably should still be jogging right now, 24+ hours later to justify all of my intake.  But anyway, back to Halloween.  We had some friends come over for chili before trick-or-treating. The kiddos climbed into their costumes and this year's weather meant we didn't have to put snowsuits on underneath.  Reina headed out the door with the friends for trick-or-treating and Will went with another friend.  I stayed home and handed out candy.  We had quite a view visitors this year.  Coco was a little nervous with all of the doorbell ringing but she eventually came out of hiding to watch the door. 

So pictures of costumes tomorrow.  They didn't look too different from the carnival a few weeks ago although Reina did get new boots and decided that free flowing hair was a better look for her than braids.  What else is new.