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.

Mexico, part 2

The trip to Mexico continued with more jampacked days of fun, sun and surf.  And amateur photography skills.

Little blue tropical birds near our hotel room.  We saw a lot of birds that I can't identify and that we definitely don't see in our neck of the woods.  

And fauna.  

Because other Pauleys sat through a timeshare sales pitch, all of us got to take a tour of a jewelry boutique, a tequila manufacturer and the Mayan ruins at Tulum.  It was a long day, but a fun opportunity to see some new places.  And we met a monkey named Timmy.

Reina and Timmy.  Timmy hung out at the tequila factory and raises money for a wildlife refuge.  He was most interested in the contents of my purse.  Reina was most interested in him.  

I think Will's look says it all.  

Glenn gets a lot of smiles for his "I Love My Wife" tshirt.  The whole shirt reads "I love it when my wife lets me go fishing."  

Reina and the Mayan ruins at Tulum.  Set right above the ocean, the ruins are pretty impressive.  

Hey look, there's the ocean!  

Will and Tulum.  The pictures don't show how crowded the whole area was.  Will and I were walking along the path to another set of ruins and we passed a teenage couple heatedly making out.  Will made a face after we walked by and told me, "Mom, that's disgusting.  He was trying to eat her face.  I'm never going to do that when I grow up."  Fine with me, kiddo.  

Did I mention how hot and humid Mexico was?  

The next day, we headed to an island near Cancun - Isla Mujeres.  Just a short ferry ride away, Isla Mujeres had cute streets and a beautiful beach.  It was definitely one of the highlights for us.  

Next year's Christmas card perhaps?  

Glenn getting ready to dive into a big plate of fresh fish, red snapper to be exact. I had coconut shrimp, Will had pizza and Reina had a cheeseburger.  She's not much of a when-in-Rome eater.  

Part 3 coming soon!

Mexico, part 1

On the day after Christmas, we caught a flight to Cancun to spend a week with Glenn's parents and, brother, sister-in-law and our niece and nephew.  When we left Cheyenne that morning, it was 9 degrees.  When we landed in Cancun, it was not 9 degrees.   We had an adventure getting down there (late planes, sprinting through airports, delayed flights, not enough snacks) and no luggage made it to Cancun with us which at the time was a gigantic pain in my fanny, but looking back on it now, was a glitch that we survived.  I have several hundred pictures to sort through so here's a quick look at the first day or so.  

Mexico is humid.  I think this is after our luggage arrived because Glenn looks cleaner than he did the first day.  And he's probably not wearing jeans or he'd be sweating a lot more.  

We had a tough time keeping this mermaid out of the water.  Hairstyle was courtesy of her cool older cousin.  The kids had a great time on the trip and they have gorgeous mid-summer tans to prove it.  

Will loves the water too - and he actually made a few friends at the pool.  On the last day, he'd been playing football with a group of boys and when he came over to take a break, I asked him if he knew where his friend was from.  Will told me nonchalantly, "He's from India."  I said that was cool and then Will jumped in with, "oh wait, he's from Indiana."  Still cool.  

Vacations can be downright exhausting.  

 Lots, LOTS more to come.

Merry Christmas to All

As Christmas Day winds down, I had to take a minute to memorialize it.  Will came into our room at 5:00 a.m and we managed to get him to doze until 6:00, at which point Little Sister woke up, I started breakfast, Grandma and Pop-pop came upstairs and Christmas morning officially began.  Uncle Matt and Aunt Vicky and Ainsley came over a little later with delicious brunch fixings and we had a fun morning unwrapping presents.  Ainsley even joined UncGenn and Bobo in a Nerf Gun battle.  I should've taken pictures of that. Instead, here's a few highlights from the day.  

Christmas Eve, actually.  The sibling affection was probably for Santa's benefit.  

Coco doesn't care what Santa thinks.  She just wants to smack ornaments off of the tree.  

Christmas morning!  Reina wanted a skateboard for Christmas but I thought she should practice her skills on a scooter first. Luckily, she was pretty excited about it.  Who knew a scooter was such a great inside toy?  At least we have lots of hardwood floors.  

Coco says thanks for all of the toys everybody, but I prefer this cardboard box.  

It's Broncos Boy!  

Reina's eclectic crowd of Barbies got a new beach house.  That is also being overrun by Shopkins.  Don't ask. 

Christmas tradition!  Glenn putting toys together.  Not Legos this year (yet), but Star Wars Micromachines. 

This is a short and woefully incomplete summary of our really nice day but it's snowing outside, the stove is pumping out some heat and there's a new Broncos blanket downstairs with my name on it.  Merry Christmas!

Winter wonderland and Coco's trip to the vet

It's 8 days before Christmas and we have about 6 inches of snow on the ground.  My to-do list is filled with things like Christmas cards, cookies and last minute gifts.  It's beginning to look a lot like Dec. 25

 

I got my upper body workout in this morning shoveling through the drift that blankets our front walk.  Might need to rethink some of the trees we have planted that help Mother Nature deposit snow right where the UPS guy needs to walk to our front door.  Trigger wasn't very helpful.  

A cat-in-the-car selfie.  A calfie?  For the record, I obeyed all relevant traffic laws.  She and I arrived at the vet's office a bit early - it was my defensive move to avoid having to explain to Coco why she wasn't being fed first thing in the morning.  While we waited for the doors to open, we took pictures.  Some of us looked at the camera.   

Coco had a little procedure yesterday that will ensure we don't have any little Coco's running around the house, in case she gets out and gets a boyfriend.  She came through the surgery just fine, a detail that most people could probably care less about but as a bonafide catperson now, I feel obligated to record it.  I had to pick her up early because the vet's office was closing early due to the snow.  She was still a little woozy and drugged up as a result and we had a meow-filled ride home.  Right now she's getting back to normal but I'll be honest, we are all probably enjoying a night of a less-than-usually-wild Coco.  While it lasts.

Two weeks until Christmas, what?

So blogging is taking a backseat to all of the other wonderful holiday stuff that's going on right now and I say that with only a touch of sarcasm and stress.  I'm trying to hard to slow down and enjoy this crazy month but we've had an event or sports practice practically every night since December 1 and Bronco Baby Mom is just trying to keep her sanity together.  So here's a few highlights from the past week.  

Cousins sharing a little snack and some cartoon time. 

Reina's program was earlier this week. I was sitting in a spot that was far enough back that I couldn't get very many pictures and I also tried to just enjoy her performance without trying to record all of it. To give a short recap, Reina was delightful. She loves events like this one. She knows all the words to the songs, remembers all the choreography and expresses herself with glee. It's one of my favorite parts of this time of year.

She was a hip hop elf in this song.  Naturally.

 Have I mentioned how much Coco likes the Christmas tree?  I'm too tired to go open up a new window and read previous posts but suffice it to say that kitty cat loves the Christmas tree.  If she's not lying on Will's backpack or underfoot in the kitchen, chances are she's under the tree.  Along with most of the ornaments from the lower branches but hey cats get to have Christmas fun, too.

Need to work on my focus but there she is.  

Camouflaged cat who wishes she was a bobcat.  

 One more highlight from the week.  We've been listening to Christmas songs on the radio as we run errands and after hearing "Santa Baby," Will pointed out that that song is probably Mrs. Claus' least favorite Christmas song because the singer is too flirty with Santa.  Point well taken. 

A week in just a few pictures

Well the last week blew my post-once-a-day right out of the water.  It's officially the Christmas season and between decorating and cleaning and swim practices and basketball and volleyball and shopping and blahblahblah, I'm swamped.  But the first week of December has been a good one and there are a few people at this house who are very excited for the coming weeks.  The Advent Calendar gets Reina out of bed every morning better than any alarm clock and Coco's new favorite hangout spot in the house is right under the Christmas tree.  I thinks she's part bobcat.  

The weather was warmer this week but when I took this picture last Saturday, it was a chilly night, about 7 degrees or something close.  Cold enough to justify snuggling up to the back of a bird dog and cold enough for the bird dog not to mind.  

On Sunday night, Will and I went to Denver for the Broncos game against New England.  I think the temperature was 19 at kick-off and it dropped a few more degrees while we were there.  We were bundled up pretty good but we still got chilly.  Will was a trooper and we had a great time.  Full disclosure, we left in the middle of the third quarter so we missed the big Broncos comeback and win (!!!) but it was still a fun night.  

Obligatory blurry Broncos selfie.  He's my good luck charm.  

 So here's Coco's new favorite toy.  We accidentally bought a smaller tree this year.  I say 'accidentally' because I really thought it would look bigger when we brought it inside, but I should've been tipped off when I noticed Glenn could carry it into the house with one hand.  But it's a pretty little tree and smells very Christmas-y and Coco looooooooves it.  Right after we set it up, she started racing around the base and jumping up and down and then she curled up underneath. Since we added the ornaments, she thinks its great fun to see how far she can smack an ornament off of the branches.  I'll have more pictures of the decorated tree later but let's just say that this year's tree is mostly devoid of those pretty glass balls and all of the other delicate ornaments are situated up at the top (she hasn't tried to climb it.  Yet.)

Tootsie policing the cat.  

Let the holidays begin!