Random tidbits from September

Here's a collection of mostly goofy and one sweet conversation that I've been wanting to write down. 

First the sweet.  On September 10, I was driving the kids home from school and Will was telling Reina that the next day was a special day.  I asked him if something special was happening at school (thinking ice cream party, etc.,) and he said no.  He said "Well, 11 years ago something really sad happened and some bad guys crashed some planes into a building and a lot of people died."  I was surprised that he knew about 9-11 and came so close to even getting the year right.  Sometimes I dread having to talk about things like that with the kids, but we had a nice conversation about such a sad occasion.  

Okay, so here's the goofy stuff. 

Will brought home a Scholastic book order form and I told both kids they could each pick out three books to order.  Will's were predictably Legos, football and Pete the Cat.   Reina's were a bit more, how shall we say it, eclectic?  We had the regulars:  Barbie Princess Mariposa pink something something, Doc McStuffins saves the day, something involving Jake and Never Land Pirates, Hello Kitty, and then we started to veer off into other places like Bats! (actual title), some cartoon fly who goes into space (huh?), baby animals (naturally), baby animals at night, life size baby animals, another space book, back to Disney with Brave and the gang and then a giant alphabet puzzle to wrap it all up.  I giggled while I was looking through the book order but I realized that is really how her brain works right now.  She loves all of the 'typical girl stuff' and she's usually carrying a purse or a backpack full of pink fluffy things, but she also picks out books about mummies and Egypt when we are at the library and she wants to know about bones and stuff we find outside.  She's a complicated little ball of fire. 

Last week, Reina's class did a taste test with apples and everyone tried a piece and voted on which one they liked best.  While telling me this later that night, she says that she didn't like the green apple but she liked the Rice Krispie one.  Well, I would certainly like a ball of rice krispies shaped as an apple too. I thought maybe she was thinking of red delicious until I asked her teacher about it later in the week - Honey Crisp.  Bingo! 

Her favorite game right now is to sit at our computer and pretend that I'm the boss and she's the worker. I'm supposed to bark out commands like "Get back to work!"  "No more breaks!"  "Don't ask me any questions."  She calls me 'boss' and diligently types away.  It would be a great game except for her constantly bossing me around to be her boss.  "Mom, now you say ....."

Finally, last Sunday I was watching the Broncos game and Will walks in and announces that his new favorite team is the Raiders.  (The Broncos weren't even playing the Raiders that day or I would have kicked him out of the house.  Just kidding.  Sort of.)   The Hansen sense of humor is alive and well in that kid. 

Football, again

Last weekend, we headed over to Laramie to watch the Cowboy football team battle Idaho.  It was one of those typical Wyoming days where we were sweating in the sun at the kickoff, freezing in the rain by halftime and then warm again on the ride home.  This week, we've seen record-breaking rain - we've measured almost five inches at our house.  Wyoming weather is predictably unpredictable.  But back to last weekend. 

 

Reina and the "Cowboy Tough" statue.  I think she's Cowgirl Tough.  The football team runs on to the field at this spot and many players touch the statue for good luck.  It worked last Saturday as they rolled to a big victory. 

Mr. Football.  While he'll never be as obsessed, umm impassioned as I am, I think Glenn has finally turned into a giant football fan.  Between Will's little league games, nail-biting Cowboy finishes and a Broncos team that is off to a good start, Glenn is following all of them.  It won't keep him home during hunting season, but he'll probably at least ask for the scores when he gets home.  Works for me! 

 

Reina and a cool flower planting in the shape of a bucking horse.  The game had a 30-minute lightning delay before halftime, followed by one of those quick but cold thunderstorms roll through.  So by halftime, 1/2 of the Pauleys were done with the game.  We headed home and listened to it on the radio.  One of these days we'll make it through all four quarters. 

Earlier that Saturday, we had Will's football game.  He's a Dolphin this year but he got those nifty Broncos under-eye things (what is the official football term?) at the game he and I went to in August.  Unfortunately, his Dolphins were actually playing the Broncos last Saturday so we had to take those off at the risk of jinxing everything.  Hey - it's only weird if it doesn't work. 

 

All about Will

Alright, file this under 'worst blog pictures,' 'can't you figure out technology, lady?!' and Lazy Blogging but here's today's post.  Will brought home his "All About Me" book from the first few weeks of First Grade and it has to be memorialized here.  And it will probably be one of those items that I pull out in twenty years and think about my crazy 6-yr old and weep loudly.  So here goes.  

 

Seriously I'm not quitting my day job for professional photography.  Can't figure out how to get the shadow out of there.  Can't get the picture to rotate.  Giant blog fail. 

I am 6 yrs old.  And apparently I want a blood red and black birthday cake.  Which his mom can definitely do. 

 

I am good at math.  (He actually really is.)

 

My family has 6 people.  (Huh?  Apparently we need to have a quick biology lesson on what is people and what is not people.  Trigger and Tootsie?  Not people but it's sweet that he counts them as part of the family).  Also Will and Reina have swords.  Naturally.  And check out my hair.  Nailed it! 

I feel happy about Sports.  And so does his momma!! 

 

 

I get scared when 'bullies.'  (Awwwww......)

 

When he brought the book home, he told me that he wanted his picture to be funny.  I think he accomplished that.  I also think he's ready for the zombie apocalypse.  And if he shows this picture to the bullies, I think that will take care of that problem. 

Football

Last weekend was Will's first flag football game of the season.  I don't have any decent pictures of the game, but here's Reina wearing the bag for the fold-up chair on her head.  Will is playing for the Dolphins this year (not the Raiders!) and he's having a great time.  AND he scored the very first touchdown of the season on Saturday.  I was overly excited and texted just about everybody in my address book.  But better yet, he's excited about the game this year and he's paying attention in practice and he's figuring out what football is all about.  It's a great start to the fall. 

A preview of what she'll look like when she dyes her hair blue just in time for senior pictures.

After his football game, Will and I traveled down to Denver to go to a Broncos pre-season game.  He wore his #18 Manning jersey proudly and scarfed down some snacks while stomping his feet to "We Will Rock You" and clapping at the appropriate times.  He's closer to earning a regular season ticket but I stand by my requirement that you can't attend a regular season game until you can go to the bathroom by yourself.  You also have to be able to handle your mother's extreme mood swings depending on how the game is going.  So maybe next year? 

Yep, three 'sports' necklaces but don't let that detract you from the cutest face in all of the West. 

My favorite Will moment of the summer (year?) happened at half time.  About 1000 junior cheerleaders and Broncos cheerleaders took the field and as they were lining up, Will turns to me and asks, "Are they all going to attack each other?"  He was serious and that would seriously be the best half time show ever. 

It does sort of look like a battle formation from way up here.  Atttttttacccckkkkkkkkk!!!

Will's love of pop music continues and on the way down to Denver, I kept the radio station tuned to some #1 top 40 hits blah blah blah and Will told me that each song that came on was his favorite.  The refrain for one of the songs goes something like this "I feel it in my bones, to make my system go, welcome to a new day, to a new day.... etc."  It has a sports anthem-y kind of vibe and Will loves it.  But he sings, "I feel it in my bones, to make my sister go."  Giggles.  I haven't had the heart to correct that one yet. 

The last gasps of summer

A few weeks ago, we traveled to Breckenridge, CO for a long weekend with Grandma and Grandpa Pauley.  We stayed at a very nice resort and had a great couple of days in the mountains.  It was only two weeks ago but it feels like a lot longer than that!  

 

Reina and a pear, enjoying the pool deck.  She had just woken up from a much needed nap and the water was a little chilly for her.  Much to the delight of the young couple sitting next to us, a second after this picture was snapped, she got up and announced that she was going to go sit in the hot tub.  By herself.  All the way across the pool area.  I told the giggling couple that she hardly needs a parent at this stage.  Right. 

Every time Will jumped into the pool, Reina shouted "Cannon Box!!!"  They both have an unfortunate number of commercials memorized.  Need to work on that. 

This is what happens now when I say 'smile for the camera!'  Ham #1 and his sister America's Next Top 4-yr Old Model.  She's got the attitude for it in spades. 

This chalkboard is in downtown Breckenridge and invites visitors to write their favorite thing about the town - the ski lifts, the shops, the mountain trails and now R  E  I  N A  R  E  I  N  A etc., etc. 

Look, it's Adrenaline Boy and his sister "I'm Not Afraid of Anything" including a rickety old piece of mining equipment from which I shall hang out the front window instead of pretending to drive it.  Where are these children's parents? 

At the ol' mine site, there was also a chute/slide for brave kiddos.  Reina went down once or twice but we practically had to peel Will off of it.  Can't wait to get this kid on some skis.

Not quite ready to give little sister a ride on his shoulders.  Oh well, it's probably for all involved and reduces potential trips to the emergency room.  By the way, it was totally Glenn's idea. 

The trip was a great way to wrap up Summer 2013.  The kids are pretty good travelers these days. Will had been under the weather a few days before we left and he actually had a bloody nose in the car on the way down.  Luckily, Glenn was driving so I panicked (a little) and then found a box of wet wipes to throw Will's way.  We stopped a few miles later and finished getting him cleaned up.  Once we were back on the road, Reina calmly tells me, "Mommy, if I get a bloody nose, please don't go ahhh ahhh ahhh ahhha ahhhh."  Well.  

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.