Tattoos

The kids each got to pick out their own valentine's to give to their friends this year. No surprise that Ryan picked out Cars ones...with tattoos. It is confusing when he says "can I do my too tats?!?!" "when can I open my too tats??" It took me quite a while before I figured out that "too tats" = "tattoos"!!!!! :) Crazy little boy!! :)

Red Lodge Mountain

On Saturday, January 26, Chris and I decided it was a good time to take Hailey skiing for the first time in Red Lodge. We were at the cabin for the weekend, and had been talking to her about it for over a month...and the mountain got over 50" of new snow in the past week!!! :) Chris left the cabin early to go down a few times himself, and the kids and I left the cabin about 9:00 to drive up the mountain. It was BEAUTIFUL outside...I could not believe it!! Talk about bright blue skies and TONS of sun, and the temp was in the upper 30s!! I don't think we could have asked for a better day for Hailey!!

Hailey, Ryan and I went to the children's center to get her registered, then Ryan & I left to get a good spot to watch for Hailey! At 10:30 I saw a whole bunch of kids walk past the building where we were....but NO HAILEY! After about 10 minutes I called down there and Hailey wouldn't go out...she was in there crying. Chris went to see her, and soon she was out on the mountain to try it ONE TIME! What was suppose to be group lessons ended up being individual lessons.

By the time Ryan and I got up the mountain to watch Hailey closer, she was already down for the first time. I guess she was turning her foot in a little (very common the teacher said), but then the teacher told Chris that she never saw anyone correct it their next time down!!! Yahoo Hailey! And, the teacher also said she was so impressed with Hailey for her first time skiing...she even have control on turning and stopping!! (ahhh....proud mommy still beaming!!) Hailey kept going down with her teacher...but a few times wanted to sit down and rest too. ;)

Her lesson was done at 12:00 and I thought we would be going back to the cabin. But..NO...not Hailey. She wanted to go on "the ride"!! (or the chair lift as skiers know it by). Chris told her that the "ride" only went UP the mountain and she would have to SKI down it. She wanted to...so off they went!! Ryan and I sat back down and waited and waited and waited for them to come down. I thought for sure I would see them come down in a snowmobile, walking, or Chris holding Hailey! But...then I looked up and saw these little pink legs...wide apart, and two purple arms STRAIGHT out...but doing it all on her own!!!! I was SO PROUD of her...she did it!! She went down the MOUNTAIN all by herself!!! And, she wanted to do it AGAIN...so they went back up AGAIN!

Not only did she have fun that day, but she wanted to go again on Sunday!! She was quite upset with us that she couldn't go again. I am thinking we might be getting her a season pass next year! :)

First...I am so proud...a picture of my little skier!

Pictures of Hailey during her lessons :

And pictures of her coming down the mountain. You will probably want to "click" on the picture to make it larger and then look for the pink legs! :) (she kind of has a "star" shape...with her arms out and her legs out too :) )

My two skiers..........how adorable is this picture!?!? :)

Oh...and of course Ryan wanted to go down too...but I think we will wait a year on him. I know if we put skis on him right now he would just ZOOM down the mountain and no one would catch him until he hit something! :) No fear with that boy!! :)

Cookie Fun

A little over a week ago...Saturday January 19th...the kids and I "made" cookies. Well, I got a box of the pre-done ones that just need to be baked for something quick, easy, and fun to do. It was snowing out, and we just wanted to stay INSIDE! Hailey and Ryan were very excited to see the box of cookies. I let each one of them have their own pan and put their own cookies on it. Look at the pictures...Hailey spaced hers out PERFECTLY, but Ryan put his all together! :) I knew he would do that too. Before we put them in the oven we did move his around a little. It was a fun thing...and of course they enjoyed tasting their cookies after they were done! :)

What a mommy LOVES to hear

I heard such a wonderful thing yesterday when I was picking the kids up from daycare..."I have to go potty!!" HALLELUJAH!!!!! The daycare teachers are so impressed with Ryan and how well he has done for only really being serious for a week! He is telling them when he needs to go, and won't have any help...not even from me when I was there! He will tell you "it is my private area....leave me alone...my private area!!" (note...VERY HARD to understand the words "private area unless you know what you are listening for) He is thinking ahead too...asking if the gymnastic building had a potty and where it was. He is upset that places don't have little potties for him though cause "I am potty training Mommy!!" He is so proud...and so are we!!! :) I think yesterday he only had 2 accidents all day!! Great job Ryan!

Potty training update

Well, potty training with Ryan is sure an experience!!! He really started just over a week ago...and is doing AWESOME!! Before he wouldn't dare TOUCH the potty, let alone sit on it! Wouldn't try on a pull-up or underwear either! Now, he will sit on it when you ask him to (well, most times) and only wants pull-ups now and will try on underwear if I really say it nice ;). (I did find that the smallest pull-ups were TOO SMALL for him...he came down the steps the first day saying "mommy, my pull-up is falling down!!" and I could see his tushy-tot! :) but...they can be made tighter thank goodness!! )

We have had a few funny things. The best one is him going #2 for the first time and saying "look at my green bean poopie!!" We did have green beans that night, but not sure why he called it that!!

Last Friday he actually went pee on the potty for the first time at Toddle Town!! Then, yesterday (Tuesday) he stayed dry until nap time!!

He is doing great...but now he needs to learn to stay dry at night and also to TELL us when he needs to go! :) Still, he is making progress, and it looks like he will be trained before summer (he kept telling us AFTER summer before).

Valentine's day greeting

Here is a Valentine's Day poem that they say at daycare...and the kids love it! Ryan usually does/says more, but he was just so excited to get to see the video he didn't care :)

It's potty time!

FINALLY...Ryan is showing a little interest in the potty! :) There is no pushing this kid...he will do it when he wants to that is for sure! Sunday night he finally went pee on the potty (we had to call Daddy and tell him!!). Then, Monday he SAT on the potty for the first time at daycare. I guess he didn't like it, but it is a step in the right direction!! :) He really really tried to go on Monday night (he wanted his ice cream sandwich treat ... it was he special treat for going), but just didn't get the timing right . :) Then, this morning, I let him sit on the potty while I got Hailey up and ready and before I knew it "Mommy, I peed in the potty!!!"

I wonder if he went today at daycare?!? :)

The Little Gym dance/gymnastics performance

Last Wednesday, January 9th, was Hailey's dance & gymnastics show week. There were TONS of girls there...and a lot of parents too!!! The night started out a little slow. First, Hailey had her tap performance. She did GREAT!! They don't do that much, but still fun to see her trying to do it. Then was the ballet show. Hailey started acting all tired, "I don't wanna dance," and all the fun things that come out of her when she IS tired and needs to go home and to bed. :) She pulled the "I have to go potty" card ... even though she went 10 minutes before and MISSED the entire ballet performance. I was anxious to see how the gymnastics part would go given her attitude with the dance part!!

Dance pictures :

Well, thankfully, she WOKE UP and was ready to go for gymnastics. She was running all over, acting as goofy as ever, and had a great time showing off. She finally got up for the headstand, worked on the balance beam and the high bars, and so much more! They really do have fun!! :)




At the end, every girl got a metal. It was a fun night and I was proud of her for doing as much as she did!! :)

Easy Bake Oven fun!

Happy New Year (2 weeks late)!! New Years Day was spent together...at home...relaxing! After we got the tree down, the kids wanted to play with my Easy Bake Oven! :) So, we decided to make the "yellow cake with chocolate frosting." They were so excited....as was I! :) Hailey and Ryan both helped mix the cake mix, but couldn't believe we had to wait 15 minutes for it to warm up and then another 15 mintues for it to cook!! Poor kids!

Here they are, still excited for it! :) And Hailey ready to put the cake in the oven. (notice Ryan is still in his jammies!! He stayed in them ALL DAY LONG and thought that was the neatest thing ever!!)


So...what do you do for 15 minutes when it is baking?!? Since it is JANUARY 1st...EXERCISE!! ha ha They were in my office, saw the weights, and started exercising!! :) Then, they go sit and wait for the timer.


The finished product --> Nothing too special, but it was a lot of fun. Next is sugar cookies and anything else we want to get too! :)

Rapid City Weekend

We left home on Friday morning, and drove to Sheridan for lunch. After a quick nap, the kids were up and watching movies in the car waiting to get to the hotel! :) We got to Rapid City about the same time as my parents (with Emily, Allison & Sarah too). Checked in...and looked at the pool (with the water slide!!). The kids wanted to go swimming, but we decided to eat supper first, then come back and swim! :)

The kids went swimming 4 times (once on Friday, 2 times on Saturday and once on Sunday). I am not sure...but I think Hailey went down the water slide the most and probably 60-80 times!! She just wouldn't stop!! :) Even Ryan went down it (with Chris) and ME TOO!! It was fun! :) Here are a few pictures of swimming.

The 4 "older" kids swimming (Sarah wasn't with them) and Chris scaring Emily when she was coming down the water slide. :)


Hailey (AKA "The FISH") jumping in (the first one in the pool every time!!), and going down the slide.


Look...even I went down the slide a few times!! :)


Ryan surprised us with how much he enjoyed the water! :) By Sunday he was jumping in all by himself and swimming to the edge (all with floaties on of course). He isn't afraid to get his head under the water at all. Of course he did like the hot tub much more than the regular pool!! He was in there A LOT :)


Besides swimming, we did celebrate Christmas while we were there. The kids LOVED getting more presents of course! :) We **tried** to get a picture of all 5 of them, but Sarah and Ryan were NOT INTERESTED in that at all!! The 3 older girls did fine...I love the picture of them! :)


Presents!!! Hailey proud of her new "money" with a "P" on it (she thought for Pilcher, but really for First Premier Bank!! :) ). Sarah had to put her new shirt on right away and her new crocs too! :)


The 5 kids all got similar gifts from grandma and Papa. Ryan with his new crocs ... one side has a rainbow trout and the other side has a buck on it. :)


Funny story with Hailey and one present. She opened the box, and she posed all nice with a smile showing off her gift (the box was a box of mint candy I think). She didn't even look inside!, but sure had a nice picture and a nice smile on her face for not knowing what was in there. I told her to LOOK INSIDE! You can see she was much more excited for the real present!! :)


Saturday night we ordered pizza in for supper, and then I brought some perler bead crafts to work on. Even Becky and Brad made one!! :) The older girls had fun with it...Ryan just ate cereal and Sarah ran around! :)


Then...the unexpected! Papa won a stuffed animal from one of those crane machines for Sarah. Of course all the other kids wanted their own stuffed animal too so there was a mission! I think Brad got the next one. Okay...they should have stopped with just Sarah, but now you have 2...they would have to get 3 more!! :) I don't know the amount of money spent (50 cents for 2 tries)...but we had TONS of laughs trying to get them. Chris wouldn't give up, and finally all 5 kids had their own animals!! (we probably should have just ran down to Wal-Mart and BOUGHT 4 more! :))


As you can tell, we had a FANTASTIC time in Rapid City!! The kids all had fun, the adults had fun (thanks to "a little drink of Christmas"), and it was just nice to ALL be together!!! :) Thanks to everyone for driving and coming..........we are ready for another weekend ANYTIME they are! :)

One last picture of Papa & Ryan....too cute!!

Thanks again, Mom & Dad, for everything!!