First Day of School 2013

Today we sent a 6-yr old off to FIRST Grade and a 4-yr old to her last first day at Montessori.  This morning was definitely less tear-filled than last year (to clarify - I was the only one who cried last year).  In fact, we didn't even linger in the first grade classroom for very long, we just dropped off his backpack and then walked out to the playground and that was it!  Will has been excited to go back to school for weeks now, and I think the first day met his expectations.  We are really excited that he has a great teacher and he's in a terrific school. Reina was not as excited for the new school year but she was looking forward to seeing some of the handsome (her word) boys who were gone all summer.  And, it's amazing to watch her write her name and any other word she feels like copying.  She's interested in Egyptology of all things and cats, naturally.  Here's to another great school year!

Summertime and the living is peas-y and other stuff

Reina really likes to help out in the kitchen.  And by 'helping out' I mean, 'grabbing spoons and stirring like a whirling dervish and ignoring mom's pleas of - watch out, that's hot! or asking every 3.5 seconds, is dinner ready yet?'  But sometimes she really is helpful.  We've been receiving a bounty of fresh veggies from friend's garden and to prevent everything from slowly rotting in the vegetable drawer, I'm trying to cook something fresh every night.  I'm also getting ready to try to can on my own (!!) so we'll see how that goes.  Anyway, here's the little pea-picker-upper.  She took this job very seriously.  

 

I'm so behind on the blog and have a bunch of new pictures to upload but I'm tired and it's Sunday night and blah blah blah.  Weekend before last, we went camping again. 

Trying to capture just how packed the backseat of the truck is, while also trying to get a nice picture of sibling togetherness.  Failed on both accounts. 

The new favorite camping game - fold Reina up in the lounge chair.  Even Tootsie is trying to get in on the action.  

Speaking of the Toots, guarding our campsite. 

BREAKING NEWS!!  Glenn eating a marshmallow!!!  A toasted marshmallow that he will shortly smush together with chocolate and two graham crackers.  Glenn eating sugar!!! 

Hands down, my favorite picture of the summer.  A girl and her dad.  In all actuality, she's probably bossing him around or instructing him on his role for the latest episode of Baby, Pony, Princess starring Reina Pauley.  But for this moment in time, it's a sweet picture. 

Well, we officially have one more week of summer 2013.  As Glenn mentioned today, we've been "living large."  Not 'large' like spending lots of money and driving fancy cars around, but more of a doing something every weekend and hardly having any time to take a breath or do a load of laundry.  (His definition of livin large makes me giggle).  After all the camping and outdoorsy stuff,  I spent a few more days home with Will after he caught an influenza-like virus, according to the drive-thru doctor that we visited.  So far (KNOCK ON WOOD) none of the rest of us have caught it, but it's certainly thrown the last few weeks of our summer for a bit of a loop.  Side note, I took him to the doctor after the Rec Camp counselors called to tell me that instead of participating in that day's activity (party fun house with bouncy castles, carousel and giant outdoor playset), he was sitting quietly staring off into space.  And he wasn't hungry.  Someone call 911!  After a few days, he perked up and now he's feeling better and I'm hopeful that there won't be anymore sick days for quite a while. 

This weekend, we took a trip with the Pauley grandparents and we had a great time - more on that later.  I did realize this weekend, however, that Will has been walking around for the last few weeks with the belief that Reina was adopted.  Huh?  In the car, out of the blue, Will asks something like "How old was Reina when she came to live with us?"  It took me a few questions of my own to figure out what he was talking about.  A few weeks ago at Frontier Days, we ran into the woman who watched Reina before Montessori, and I introduced her to the kids as "the lady who took care of Reina when she was a baby."  Mr. Literal took that and ran with it.  Forget the fact that you have to look at the color of the clothing in their baby pictures to figure out who's who, AND for a while Will was convinced that he and Reina were in my tummy at the same time and he just got to come out first, he still decided that she was adopted.  I hope that I sufficiently cleared up that little mystery but who knows what's next.  He's reached that delightful stage were you have to watch what/who you are talking about because he's always listening.  And getting ready to ask some wierd questions.  Next time:  Reina and Papraham Lincoln. 

 I have a lot to write about but that will have to wait for another day this week. 

Frontier Days

Frontier Days was a few weeks ago and as usual, we had a pretty great time.  Mainly because Aunt Vicky and Uncle Matt live close enough to the Park that we can park in their driveway and then a few blocks to all of the fun.  It's amazing what a difference that makes to my level of enjoyment.  NOT having to drag two tired, sweaty, GRUMPY kids (and Glenn) 12 blocks back to the car or waiting in line for the shuttle bus makes me very happy.  This year, we had our usual afternoon at the carnival and then the next day we went to the parade and then Will and I went to the rodeo - a first for him.  More on that shortly. 

 

The carnival.  For a comparison shot, look at this picture from 2011 http://www.williamfrederick.blogspot.com/2011/08/frontier-days-2011.html.  (Side note - Where have all of the little Bronco Babies gone? They were so cute!  Now they are all long-legged and angular and even more opinionated.  Whimper.)

 

I posted this picture on my Facebook account with a lament about how that expression terrifies me for the future.  If that's not a "parttttttyyyyyyy!" face, I don't know what is.  And she's driving a pink, sparkly 4-wheeler.  Watch out, Sturgis.

On further reflection, the expression in the previous picture might be due in part to the giant bag of cotton candy that she ingested.  Even though this is most certainly not my first Frontier Days, I forgot that the ticket people couldn't take credit cards and so we had to wait for Glenn to show up with his wallet.  We killed time by eating cotton candy.  Because nothing's more fun than waiting for someone to show up, while you are trying to corral a bunch of hopped up kiddos worried about missing all of the fun and who have no time to listen to your reasoning as to why you don't have more cash in your pocket. 

Speaking of fun, Will finally graduated to the big kid rides this year.  You'd have to inject me full of opiates to even get me through the gate of this ride but there he is, all ready to go.  He had a big smile as he flew higher and higher in that little seat.  Brave big kid.  Later on, there was only one ride that he climbed into and then changed his mind before it started up and it was one that I was even more worried about then the Flying Swings of Mayhem (or whatever they are called) so I helped him shimmy off. 

"I'm not afraid of anything."  We think that's going to be Reina's first tattoo.  Thankfully her height prevented her from joining more rides but she scrambled through this fun house as many times as she could.  This spinning wheel/floor thing at the end had her a little panicked (not that she would admit it) but the nice carnival operator guy slowed it down so she could fling herself through. 

Let's not comment or linger on the fact that she looks so comfortable and happy clinging to that pole.  Let's just talk about what a natural she is horseback and how we need to get that cowgirl a pony.  Or a zebra.

The next day, we all trooped down to my office for our annual viewing of the parade.  Since we didn't have Grandma's house to entertain us beforehand, I had to take everyone with me and find things in my office to keep a 4 and 6-yr entertained for an hour and a half.  It looked like a bomb had gone off in there by the time we went outside for the parade. Once we got outside, we still had a few minutes to kill so I gave Reina my phone to take pictures in an attempt to keep her busy.  While this was happening, the wind blew up and Will got a boulder lodged in his eye.  Well, it felt like a boulder to him.

A birds-eye view of the parade outside of my office.  If the bird is approximately 36 inches tall and flightless.  There were about 10 other shots like this one except the proportion of her finger to actual picture gets larger and larger.  But hey, she was entertained. 

After the parade and the removal of the speck from Will's eye thanks to my awesome co-worker and her desk drawer full of eyedrops, Will and I headed to the rodeo.  Or 'the radio' as he kept referring to it.  You might be wondering how Reina took the whole change of plans and oddly enough, she didn't mind missing the rodeo because she got to go to the dentist!  Yeah, I don't think many people would view that as a fair trade-off but she does, and that's all that matters.

So back to the rodeo.  Glenn participated in a focus group a few months ago to give feedback on our annual Frontier Days celebration, which is ironic because as far as locals go, our participation is pretty light.  Every once in a while, we'll go to a concert and maybe one of the pancake breakfasts but we're usually laying low. But he received two free rodeo tickets as thanks for his participation so off we went.  Will was fairly entertained, even though this picture makes him look like he was asleep.  He was interested in the cowboys and the animals but his favorite part, unsurprisingly, was the snacks.  He started off with a sno-cone and a few bites of my candy apple, moved on to lemonade and then wrapped it all up with a big serving of nachos.  He eyed the ice cream cones on our way out but I wasn't too jazzed about sitting up all night with a queasy first grader so we passed. 

He was bored by one of the events to he proceeded to fill in all of the blanks of the program with random numbers and notes.  I remember thinking at the time, "he's a little tired today, I hope he's not coming down with something." 

Turns out, I'm psychic.  He missed most of this past week with a sinus infection/summer cold that moved into this chest and gave him one of those great seal barks that sound so healthy.  After a few days of medicine and lots and lots of couch time with his mom, he's feeling much better.  Just in time for Water World. 

July's random tidbits

Glenn whispers to me after getting the kids out of the bath, "I washed Reina's hair with the dog shampoo.  Don't say anything to her."  That's the kind of month we are having, folks. I wore sunglasses to work on Friday morning that had the left lens missing completely. I remember wondering why the glasses weren't as dark as they usually were as I drove to the office. I didn't notice until I went to put them on before leaving for lunch.  But Reina's hair looks shiny and we won't have to worry about fleas anytime soon. 

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Will and I went to the rodeo last week for Frontier Days.  He kept (and keeps) calling it the 'radio.'  Now I do, too.

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Someone close to us is expecting a baby in the fall and the kids have naturally been curious about the whole situation.  They've seen her tummy growing over the last few months.  They've talked to the baby (well, Reina shouted HELLO BABY!) and expressed excitement (and dismay - Will) when we found out that the baby is a girl.  A few weeks ago, I had picked Will up from rec camp and we were driving to pick up Reina.  It's our few minutes of the day to chat alone and he usually gives me the highlights of whatever adventure he was on that day.  So, we're in the car and he's a little quiet.  He finally pipes up, "Mom, I want you to tell me how that baby got in Blankety Blank's tummy.  I know you know and I want you to be serious."  I respond with deafening silence and then, "Well, buddy. I know you are curious but it's hard to explain" BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRINNNNNNNNNNGGGGG I am interrupted by the sound of my cell phone ringing (safe driver note:  through the bluetooth in my car) and I answer and by the time the call is finished, Will's on to another topic.  Saved by the bell!  But I'd better come up with an answer that is age appropriate (for both me and him) and I'd better come up with it soon. 

More Wyoming summer fun

We went camping last weekend and it was so fun to get out of the heat and away from the (mild) bustle of town.  It's Frontier Days this week so traffic is double (which means it takes me 15 minutes to get home instead of just 7, plus we hadn't been camping since June's lake trip so off we went.  On a recommendation from a very trusted source (sis and bro-in-law), we headed to campground high up in the Snowy's and it was lovely.  We managed to secure the last camping spot and we had a great time.  We hiked and fished and cooked stuff over a fire.  We also came close to freezing because we (okay, I) foolishly didn't pay attention to what we might need for camping at 9000 feet.  We had just about everything we needed except for a jacket for me and one more sleeping bag for the camper.  But we made it home without losing any fingers or toes so yeah! 

Hiking with swords.

 

Sunday morning breakfast.  Reina says "look mom, I'm drinking coffee!"  She looks pretty natural, huh? 

 

Not coffee, just milk.  Because the last thing Reina needs is a big jolt of caffeine.  Okay, that's really the last thing the rest of us need is for Reina to have a big jolt of caffeine.  She might feel differently.

So the adventures in learning how to ride a bike continue.  Will is sooooooo close.  Glenn let go of the seat a few times.  And then Will would veer dangerously horizontal to the ground.  But he's getting there. 

I don't know that we'll have too many more summers of the green John Deere truck.  Both kids are getting so big and the truck seems to be shrinking.  Whimper. 

It's mid-July already and summer is slipping away.  We will try to squeeze all of the fun that we can out of this last month and a few weeks.

T-ball and a sleepy girl

It's been a hectic few weeks at the Pauley household.  Do I always start blog posts off with that sentence?  Anyway, we've been busy, blah blah blah.  Glenn and I ran a race this past weekend.  He did great. I survived the 13.1 miles, barely.  It wasn't my slowest race but it was darn close.  The kids have had a few sleepovers with both sets of grandparents and everyone survived that experience. 

We're finishing up the last week of the kids' t-ball season and can you believe that it's the middle of July?  How did that happen? 

Here's Will lining up to knock the ball out of the park - or at least over the infield's head.  On his next up to bat, he actually hit the first pitch and it was awesome!  (The coach pitches three teams to each kid and if they can't hit the pitch, they get to use the tee.  Incidentally, for each of Reina's turns at bat she just tells the coach that she wants to hit it off the tee.  Girl knows what she wants.)

Not bad form although it's looking a little golf-y, which will probably make the Grandpa's excited.

I included another shot of Will batting but I want to direct your attention to the little blonde in the red shirt in the background.  That's the Bronco Baby sister who's paying zero attention to the game (she's on second) and instead is directing all of her attention to the (older) second basemen on the other team.  Sigh. 

I was cleaning off my camera phone and found this picture.  I'm not sure when or why I took it but I love it.  It completely captures Reina right now.  She goes and goes and goes and goes and says "I'm not tired!" and upon waking up in the morning announces "I don't think I'll take a nap today" and fights and fights and fights it, but when she's sleeping, she looks
like this. 

The kids have been a lot of fun, if a little crazy, lately.  Summer is in full swing and we have nightly negotiations/fights/tantrums/battles over bedtime and the (perceived) agony of us pulling them away from all of the seasonal fun that is surely happening outside. At day camp,  Will is swimming like a fish and sporting a tan that would be the envy of many a teenage girl.   And his pasty mom.  I'm also jealous of his schedule.  He swims on Monday, roller skates or bowls on Tuesday, visits a park on Wednesday, sees a movie on Thursday (more on that in a minute) and goes to another park on Friday.  In between are lots of snacks, an art project every once in a while and lots and lots of sunscreen.  Reina goes to the park, has gymnastics on Friday (she does somersaults until she topples over with dizziness), colors 100 pieces of paper a day and lectures me on the rainforest and tree frogs on the car ride home. 

Last week, Will saw the movie "Chimpanzee" at the theater.  Glenn and the kids watched it on a cold Saturday last winter, but I was doing something else that day and I was also worried about anybody watching it because (Spoiler Alert) - the mom chimpanzee dies at the beginning.  In fact the whole plot of the documentary is how the baby chimp is 'adopted' by the alpha male.  In a further tangent, I actually tried to watch it later by myself but couldn't make it to the part where the mom is killed.  And people wonder why I don't hunt?  Anyway, I asked Will about the latest viewing when I picked him up afterwards and he reminded me that he'd already seen it, but that he liked the movie.  He talked about the mom chimpanzee getting killed but that the little baby had a new stepdad at the end.  I love how Will's brain works. 

Boys' Camping Weekend

Last weekend, Glenn and Will headed up to the mountains for an overnight backpack trip, no girls invited. (Which was pretty fine with us girls because the thought of backpacking one of us into the backcountry makes me twitchy and I have flashbacks of carrying Reina all the way from the far end of Disneyworld to the front gate.)  But I digress.  So the boys filled a backpack with the necessities (doritos) and headed out. 

 

An awesome self portrait that is my new favorite picture of the two of them.  Yes Will looks like a professional basketball player but hey, he's out in nature and enjoying it. 

Guarding the campsite, naturally. 

Fishing!  And now, that's not a wad of chewing tobacco in his mouth, just a granola bar.  He's a multitasker. 

Home sweet campsite.  Glenn says that a big thunderstorm rolled through in the middle of the night and it rained and thundered for a few hours.  But Will slept through the whole thing.  Glenn did not. 

Armed and dangerous?  Dangerously adorable! 

By all accounts, it was a successful first backpacking trip. Nobody bled, nobody complained about wanting to come home.  There was a lot of hiking and wildlife watching (a moose and her calf!  But from the safety of the truck for that one!) and bone collecting.  We have the scapula of something currently sitting on the end table downstairs.  There was a lot of the aforementioned dorito-eating along with freshly caught fish for dinner.  Will slept in the truck all of the way home so that's surely a sign of a good weekend. 

For the record, the girls had a nice time, too.  We gardened and napped and went to the movies where we didn't eat doritos but a big box of Skittles instead.  On Sunday we went to church, bbq'd at a friend's house and painted our toenails.  We don't have any pictures but we do have sparkly feet.