September

All of my posts could be titled something along the line of "what happened to insert month here" or "how is it possible that it's almost the end of insert another month here" but that's getting boring so now I'll just label the post for the month that it is. So here we go with SEPTEMBER. Glenn arrived home last week from his third once-in-a-lifetime trip to Alaska. He brought back gorgeous photos and dirty clothes and thankfully, a bunch of moose meat that's on it's way back to us because it was a successful hunt! Will is about halfway through his football season. His game last week was canceled because the other team didn't have players but so far his team has been able to keep just about everybody healthy and no one has had to quarantine. Will's also knee-deep in homework but we are proud of the way he's working hard to get everything done. I'm brushing up on my 9th grade algebra and biology knowledge (thanks Google!) so that I can help with homework. By 'helping with homework,' I mean that Will and I yell at each other until we figure it out or he gives up and decides to just ask his teacher the next day. Here's what's crazy about this kid's brain - as we are sitting down to tackle math tonight, Will glances up at the muted tv where I have the Rockies game on. He points to the visiting team's pitcher and says something like, that guy has the worst ERA in the National League. Can the ability to remember random facts about every athlete in sports be turned into gainful employment? We might find out. Reina is busy with dance classes and comfirmation classes so she has something every weeknight. She's handling the busy schedule well but she's one tired kiddo by the end of the week. She and Glenn are going hunting this weekend for Reina's first big-game hunt. She's ready to go! I know this bordering on the world's most boring update but that's September for you. Sports, school, hunting, work stuff. I've canned a bunch of jam and more applesauce than we can eat/give away in a year. The house still smells like an apple-scented bomb went off but it could smell worse? Sports and kid pictures next time.

First week of school

Shoot! I'm having trouble formatting my pictures and the page is a little messed up so the first day of school post will have to be sans captions. The kids have been in school for a week and besides Covid craziness, everyone is doing well. None of us have Covid right now but there isn't a mask mandate in the schools (right now also) and almost every day I'll get a message from one of the two schools about positive cases and students in quarantine. Both kids are vaxxed so we have that sense of protection but the whole system seems so much more chaotic than last year. But again - I"m not turning this into a Covid rant. Both kiddos had mostly positive reports from their first week of school. Reina is adapting to Jr High wait Middle School pretty well and besides being crankily tired on Friday night, had a good week. She says she likes her English class the most but she's also really liking art. And science. And French/Spanish. Etc. Will is pretty busy with football after school and more homework than last year at night but he's doing well too. This post will include a picture of Coco looking beautiful (naturally), a picture of Charlie looking concerned on the first day of school, Will and Reina in first day of school outfits looking too grown-up (hey I made it through the first day of school without crying!). There are several pictures of Will's first football game. He's #33. One picture shows him getting ready to sack the quarterback and if I'd had my wits about me, I would've kept taking pics instead of dropping the camera to scream "GETTTTTT HIMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!" which he did. There's also a pic of Will trying to get by a kid who's several sizes bigger than him and another pic of Will getting a great block for his teammate to run down the sidelines. Will's team won their first game 38-9 and we just love watching that kid play. We end the photo roll with our beautiful girl looking way to ready to conquer 7th grade.

One Day More

A few years ago, a friend from high school posted that she always sang "One Day More" from Les Miserables on the last day before school started and since I read that, I've always giggled and of course I've had that song in my head all day. (I might even be trying to rewrite some of the lyrics to fit... Tomorrow is the judgment day...... tomorrow is the first day of ninth grade and seventh grade..... one more dawn, one more day ONE DAY MOOOOOOOOOOOORE.) So yes, tomorrow is the first day of high school and the first day of junior high for Will and Reina.  The kids are ready. Glenn's ready. I'm mostly ready.  I drove by the elementary school last week on the way home from work and noticed all of the cars and people streaming in for open house night.  I was struck by the fact that none of my monsters spend their days there anymore.  The days are long but the years are short, right?  So I'm getting in a few extra hugs, going over schedules, making sure first day outfits are ready and let's do this!  I'm also making pro and con lists.  Pro's for going back to school?  The house will stay cleaner, the snacks will take slightly longer to be emptied out, and people will be tired enough at night that bedtime won't be (as much of an argument).  Con's?  The pets will miss them, I will miss seeing them at lunch or getting texts during the day about what snacks can and can't be eaten, and people will be too tired at night to behave reasonably. 

I don't need to spend another five paragraphs bemoaning time and aging and giant teenagers who empty the cupboards on a weekly basis so here's a quick note about the week before last.  Long story short, we were exposed to covid-19 and coincidentally came down with summer colds that we convinced ourselves were covid breakthroughs. I took a mail-in test but while we were waiting for results, Glenn started feeling poorly enough that we took him for a rapid test.  He tested negative, I tested negative and it was just a poorly timed summer cold.  We are back to masking in public places, doubling down on hand sanitizer and hoping that everybody stays healthy and school and school activities (FOOTBALL!!) stay on schedule.  

This time last year, I told myself that I'd take the first day of school off and spend the day looking at pictures and crying but instead, I'm hosting a workshop this week which will probably keep me to busy to cry (hopefully for the workshop participants sake anyway).  We're off to a new adventures and I can't wait to see what the school year has in store.  

Kids at Water World and pet pics

It's been a super weird week but I'm saving that story for another post.  In the meantime, a few weeks ago we took the little monsters, the big monsters, the grandparents, and some friends to Water World for our Official Last Fun Event of the summer.  Well not the Last Fun Event, but maybe the last fun event in Denver?  Anyway, we piled everyone into the car and headed south.  The little monster cousins hadn't been to WW before and none of us had been there since the summer of 2019 because of Covid so we had a great time!  

E talking to his juice box - or talking to me to say 'stop taking my picture'

Where did this grown up girl come from?  

E is not a huge fan of the water and the fact that he walked in up to his knees was very big news. 

Reina and the lazy river 

I didn't get any pictures of Will, or at least any pictures that I'm allowed to post but he was there too and he did a great job with his younger cousins.  He sat in the little wave pool with them and even convinced E to go on a giant inner tube on the "Journey to the Center of the Earth" complete with dinosaurs and lava.  E announced to everyone after the ride that Aunt Lucy had ruined his life by encouraging him to go.  Oh well, I had a nice run as Cool Aunt Lucy but all good things come to an end. 

We recently bought Will a new bed to match is taller physique and a new bed meant new bedding which resulted in a weeks-long search for the perfect comforter and sheet set.  One night while perusing TJ Maxx and sending 10 (TEN!!) pictures to Will of navy and white comforters in all shades and patterns, I stumbled across this welcome mat that had to come with me. I left without a comforter too but later that weekend, Glenn and Will went shopping and came back with the manliest of manly bedding in the form of black and dark gray and I'm just happy that he found one that he likes.  

Since I'm back at the office, the pets and I don't get to hang out like we used to.  We still find time to go to the F I E L D (can't say it out loud where they can hear you) on the weekends.  

A happy bunch post run at their favorite place.

I came upstairs on one particularly hot evening last week to find Coco sleeping in our sink.  While it was a nice cool place to nap, it was also convenient for reminding me that she'd like a refreshing drink 
directly from the tap.  

A rare sighting, a tuxedo cat and a tuxedo dog sharing the same bed.  Soxy still doesn't prefer the dogs be in her direct orbit but for some reason she tolerated it yesterday. 

 

What happened to July?!

 Good grief.  I went an entire month without blogging about this crazy family?   What a difference a year makes, huh?  I have good intentions every night but then 9:00 pm rolls around and I'm soooo tired.  But here we are with an feeble attempt to get caught back up.  

Will's baseball season wrapped up a few weeks ago but that has to be its own post this week because I have so many pictures!  And we're still not completely over the tough ending to the season.  Spoiler alert, Will's team lost to the #1 seed and then lost again the next day and Reina (suddenly a superfan) cried.  

Reina participated in a week-long theater camp and the cast put together a fun little play about a 1940's radio show and a murder!  Gasp!  More pictures of that next time too. 

What else have we done with our July?  Glenn fished a few times, we took some hikes.  Our garden is growing lots and lots of zucchini.  One of the chickens is broody again.  Charlie is still a hot little mess but also still cute.  Trigger got so many weeds stuck in his hair that I borrowed dog clippers from Vicky and shaved him.  No pictures right now but needless to say, I won't be considering dog grooming as a post-retirement profession.  He looked like he'd been attacked but only in certain places.  I started to shave Tootsie's hind end but then Glenn suggested that I put the clippers down so the other dogs were spared the haircut humiliation. 

We laid pretty low for Frontier Days this year.  CFD was celebrating their 125 anniversary and there were a lot of big names for the concerts but we stayed home.  Reina went to the carnival for one night with some friends.  Between the large crowds and the covid variant, we kept our distance.  If this blog serves as a time capsule, we are entering another weird moment in this pandemic.  The Delta variant is racing across the US and case numbers are climbing again.  We know a few people who have been vaccinated but still tested positive.  Their symptoms haven't been bad but they've felt pretty rotten for a few days and have had to quarantine again.  All four of us are vaccinated but at this point, I'm worried about unvaccinated little kiddos and the immunocompromised adults in our life.  And I don't want to get it after all of this careful time!  So it looks like we'll be back to masking in public places and sanitizing our hands every few minutes.  (I want to write a long political diatribe but this is a family blog so I'll just sum it up with ARGGGGGHHHHHHH)

Happy pictures coming soon.  

The rest of June

I've been too tired at night to write but we are having a fun and busy June.  Lots of baseball, a dance recital, gardens in bloom and work have been filling up our time. We've had a roller coaster of weather too - super hot days at baseball and then at the end of the week we are wearing sweatshirts and closing the windows at night. So here's the rest of our month in pictures.  

Baseball!  Will's team has had games a few nights a week with a few weekend tournaments.  The season ends on July 18 so we have some hectic schedules coming up but boy do we love watching this kid play.

Dance recital time!  I have enough pictures for a whole post but here's a picture of our girl in her ballet costume.  She also danced modern and hip-hop this year and more pictures of that coming soon!

Cousin time ! We had a summer kick-off bbq at Fry Farm with the cousins and Hansen grandparents.  Baby cousin doesn't want to snuggle like he used to but he's still pretty darn cute.  

It wouldn't be a summer picture without hail in the backyard.  We had a heckuva storm a few Fridays ago.  The good news is that our hail tent did it's job even though it collapsed in the middle.  Surprisingly, the fabric held and even with the center collapsed, the plants underneath survived.  The flowers and veggies that weren't protected took a beating but, as always, it could have been worse.  We also need a new roof and paint on the house.  Yah for insurance?!

Pauley men!!  Will is about two inches taller than me and as you can see, is creeping up on Will.  They wear the same size shoe now and I wear Will's shoes when I go out into the backyard and don't want to get mine dirty.  Shhh, don't tell him.  

First jam of 2021!  The weather was delightfully cool enough this weekend that I fired up the stove and made some strawberry jam.  Supplies are much easier to find this summer compared to last year so I hope to have a bunch of batches in the cupboard soon.  

Hail from the earlier picture.  Some of those pieces were annoyingly gigantic. 

Will headed off to football camp with the high school team (gasp).  Will traveled to Nebraska with his teammates for a few days.  He had a great time and informed me that he's practically ready for college now because he's stayed in the dorms and gone to practice without us there.  He might be ready but I am most certainly not.  

Charlie and his very favorite bunny slipper chew toy.  It's hard to be a tough guy when you really love chewing on a squeaky fake slipper.  

Reina's Track Meet

A few weeks ago, Reina participated in her last elementary school track meet.  It was the first one that I got to see because I missed 4th grade's event because I was traveling for work and last year it was canceled when school shut down.  But this year, the sun was shining and our girl was at a track meet!  Reina ran the hurdles, did the high jump and was part of the shuttle relay team.  Reina was pretty nervous the night before (she gets that from me!) but she was so much fun to watch.  

Getting ready to hurdle while wearing a mask!  

Post hurdle chit-chat and if you look closely you can see a smile.  

Deep breath before the high jump 

Planning the strategy for the relay.  Just run as fast as you can!  

Reina was disappointed that she missed out on the ribbons but we were so proud of her for getting out of her comfort zone and competing.  That kid is fast when she turns on the heat.  I'm still holding out hope that she'll become my running partner one of these days...even though she's probably too fast for me already.