Football and Student Council

A few Saturdays ago, Will got to travel on the bus for his first out-of-town junior high football game.  He had to be dropped off at the bus at 6 a.m. and the rest of us followed in the car an hour later.  We drove to Scottsbluff for a sunny and hot morning game. 

I took this picture to capture how big the Scottsbluff players were.  Will is the in the black helmet across the line from the giant kid second from the right.  He held his own!  

#54 getting ready for the kick-off 

The whole team getting ready for the start of the game

The offensive line taking the field.  

This is how Will's team does the offensive huddle.  Will's kneeling on the front line. 

Look who agreed to take a picture with his mom!

and his dad!  

The game had a crazy finish.  The score was tied 6-6 when McCormick got the ball back with about 45 seconds left.  They had decent field position but nobody kicks field goals at this level so they'd need a touchdown to win.  None of us parents knew if there was overtime or not.  Will's team moved the ball down to about the 20 with 6 seconds left.  Then the quarterback snapped the ball, Will blocked a pass rusher and the qb threw to the end zone where the receiver caught the ball for a game-winning touchdown.  It should be noted that the receiver caught the ball because his mom (sitting behind me) yelled for him to catch it.  All of us parents were screaming like they'd just won the Super Bowl, it was a lot of fun.

In non-football news, Reina got elected to Student Council!  We are so proud of her!  A few weeks ago, she decided that she wanted to run.  She had to write a three minute speech which she practiced several times at home.  Last Thursday, she got up in front of all of the third, fourth, fifth and sixth graders and gave her speech along with 15 other fifth and sixth grade candidates.  I snuck in and watched her speech and she did an awesome job. She spoke clearly, told a few jokes that made everyone laugh and vowed to bring back the maze to the Halloween carnival.  She found out that she was one of the four fifth-graders voted in on Friday.

Football and public service at the Pauley household right now. 

September and some sideways pictures

Everyone is in bed, except the author of this blog and several pets.  Tuesday nights are usually hectic but we kept everything organized tonight.  The Rockies won a game and I find myself with a few minutes to write about this crazy family.  September is moving a long.  We are in the full swing of dance and piano lessons. I'm taking piano lessons too so Reina and I practice together when we can.  She helps me read bass clef and I help her stay on track or at least not get up and check how much time she has left every five minutes.  Will has football practice after school every day and they had their first game last week.  He has two more games this week and he's playing offensive line and special teams.  Last week, he recovered an onside kick and I was thrilled he touched the ball.  Glenn is in pre-hunting mode (but really when is he not?) with a bunch of big hunts coming up this fall.  I'm busy at work and trying to finish up the gardening season before it snows. 

We are all plugging along.  School is going pretty well for both monsters.  Reina provides me with endless details about 5th grade and Will is typically circumspect about 7th grade.  If I can just be patient for two more years, Reina will tell me all I need to know.  Will is happy to share details about his day but he waits until 9:00 p.m. so that's fun.  Bedtime around here is like it was in the toddler years again, bursts of energy, requests for snacks, trips up and down the stairs 900 times with the added excitement of "You have to sign this permission slip" and "I don't have any clean socks for tomorrow."  

We are getting into a routine and in a few weeks, this will all be normal.  Until then, he are a few highlights of the new school year.  

Will is taking a tech ed class (home ec for us Gen X'ers) and the first segment is all about childcare.  Will had to fill out a questionnaire about his childhood and it made me giggle.  

We've had a rather warm September although the weather might finally be changing.  We thought Labor Day was a good time for outdoor dog baths.  Trigger didn't appreciate our multi-tasking.  

First Day of School

Reina's first day of Fifth Grade and Will's first day of Seventh Grade 

The big day finally arrived. Summer 2019 is officially finished and the monsters are back at school.  I've thought about this day since the last day of school and I admit that I've dreaded it a little bit.  It's hard to believe that our little Bronco Baby is headed off to Junior High and Reina is a fifth grader!  I think I say this on the first day of school every year but I have to repeat it again.  The days are long but the years are fast.

We all woke up early this morning and since I had taken the day off of work (so I could cry at home and not at my desk), I made pancakes and bacon.  Will and Glenn left early because school starts at 7:30 a.m.  Yikes!  Reina and I hung out for a while and perfected her hairstyle (the picture above is pre-hairdo) before I dropped her off.  After I left Reina's school, I golfed with my parents for a few hours and then came home to a quiet house and did a bunch of random chores before picking up R.  I admit to thinking about them both as the day wore on and hoping that everyone was having a good day. 

Reina was super enthusiastic about Fifth Grade and while we were still in the car on the way home, announced that she couldn't wait to go back. She likes both teachers, she has a lot of friends in her class, she likes the book they are already reading, her lunch was yummy, etc. etc. etc.

Will had football practice after school so he came home tired and hungry.  Once he had a plate of spaghetti in his gullet, we heard a few details about his day.  He likes his teachers, lunch was way better than elementary school, he didn't bother with locker, etc. etc. etc.

So on to the second day of school tomorrow.  I think this is going to be a great school year for both of the Bronco Babies.

Lately

It's officially the last week of summer and we are packing in a lot of stuff.  Will has started football practice and Reina is hanging out with her aunt and grandma and friends.  We are packing in all of the last little bits of this summer and here's proof.  

Coco would like for certain members of the family to go back to school as soon as possible. 

Well shoot.  I took this cool pic of Reina at the Rockies game and now it's rotated.  Urgh.  

Ditto for Will.  He was more thrilled to be at the Rockies game than he looks in this picture but hey that's tweenhood.

I canned some peach jam on Sunday and by the end of the project, it felt like it was 900 degrees in the kitchen.  Coco still decided the best place for a nap was the dining room table next to the warm cans of jam.  

7th grade football is happening.

A bunch of stuff that's happened this summer

So it's already August and I'm still trying to figure out how that has happened. We've had a whirlwind of activities since my last post and I'm determined to give each one it's own due.  But in the meantime and for posterity's sake, I'll be lazy and make a list of stuff that's happened lately.

1.  We went on a cruise to Alaska with the Pauley grandparents and saw amazing sights and had a lot of fun family time.  On the way home from the airport, I asked everybody what their favorite part was.  Reina and Will really liked the pool and the on-demand movies in our cabin.  Reina also really liked an octopus that we saw at an aquarium in Sitka.  Glenn's highlight was halibut fishing and I liked seeing a bunch of whales from the ship and the octopus in Sitka.  Pictures and more details coming up!

2.  Will finished up the baseball season and had a lot of fun.  He tried out for a traveling team for next year and he made it.  It'll mean a lot of changes for our family summer but we are excited to see him play. 

3.  Reina's time at theater camp was awesome and she played the part of the Grinch's dog like a champ.  More pictures of that too! 

4.  Frontier Days came and went with Reina spending an evening at the carnival with a friend, Will going to a Post Malone concert and Reina and I watching the rodeo with Aunt Vicky.  Reina and I also watched the parade and she's determined to ride on a float next year. 

5.  We made our annual trip to Water World with friends last week.  The kids are getting braver and braver on the crazy rides that they'll attempt.  Meanwhile, I got queasy on the little dinosaur ride and had to spend the rest of the time on solid ground.  Oh middle age. 

6.  We survived another round of school clothes shopping.  School starts in two weeks and we are all set.  We did some shopping at the outlet mall on the way home from Water World and finished up in town this weekend.  I'm pretty sure I've seen every tshirt Nike has in their fall collection.  Will officially has bigger feet than me.  Reina has had more opinions about her clothing options but she's still relatively easy to please.  Will has a thousand opinions but we managed to find some sales and not completely break the bank.

I don't know if that catches me up or not, but it's a start.  Back to the blog soon with vacation pictures.

Reina's Summer O' Fun

Reina has been one busy bee this summer.  She started off with a week of volleyball camp, then a week of drama camp in the morning and computer coding in the afternoon.  Next was games and swimming in the morning and rock band camp in the afternoon.  Now she's in theater camp for a few weeks. I've felt guilty about her having so much to do but she said she's really liked all of her camps.  

90's day at Rock Band Camp.  I took this picture and sent it to friends from college.  We all agreed that this was pretty much my outfit from 1991-1995.  

 Reina has also been playing softball and her season wrapped up last week with a tournament.  Her team hadn't officially won a game until the first night of the tourney.  They had a win because of a forfeit earlier in the season.  The team hung on and ended up finishing in second place.  Reina didn't always enjoy softball but she tried hard when she was out on the field and she loved hitting the ball. 

The hottest day of the summer so far saw this girl and her team play three games in a row.  

The league had a photographer at the game and this cool picture of my favorite batter was on their social media page.  

Baseball season again

I'm so behind on posting.  I took these pictures almost a month ago.  Notice the long sleeves and warm jackets?  In Wyoming, that could realistically be any night of the summer but the first few weeks of the season were particularly chilly.  Chilly enough to turn on the seat warmers when we got back to the car and fought over who got the first warm shower when we got home.  Will is having a really good baseball season.  This is his last year in CJL - next year he wants to try out for a travel team or he'll move across the street to the Babe Ruth League.  We have loved watching him play baseball. 

Lined up for the National Anthem - Glenn has been helping coach this season too. 

My friend came out to take some professional pictures of Will but in the meantime, here's my shot through the fence.  

I might've told him to smile.  

Getting ready to pitch. 

The baseball season wraps up next week with a single elimination tournament.  We've had more rainouts this year than in previous seasons and I've yet to be at a game and feel too hot.  What a weird summer.