Swimming Lessons

For the month of November, Hailey and Ryan were in swimming lessons at Granite Health Club. It was a nice facility and the teacher was very nice too!! And, both kids improved which is always good!! :) Ryan is now able to swim by himself for a few strokes!! He is still scared and says "I can't do it" but the teacher made him try and he did it!! Hailey's strokes continue to improve and it is always fun to watch her!! Not too many pictures ... sorry! :)

First one is of Ryan and second one is Hailey. Good luck picking them out! :)


Here is a good one too...who does this remind you of?!?! It is "mini-me!!!" Hailey wanted to hold the camcorder and recorded TONS of video of Ryan swimming. I was slightly nervous of her by the WATER with it...but she did good. Maybe she will be a photographer when she grows up :)

The new toy

I am so excited about my new toy!!! A new little gadget that will capture the kids growing up, and be fun and easy too! Attention...this is cool. Are you ready?!?! Introducing THE FLIP MINO!!!

This little beauty is so small and compact. It charges connected to the computer. It loaded the videos directly to your computer. It only records for 60 minutes, but that works for me. The only drawback that I see right now is the zoom...not too much of that. However, the size and convenience and COST more than make up for that! Oh, did I mention these babies are NOT expensive?!?! Hard to believe I know!! :) Oh, and don't judge the quality by the video of Ryan below. That video was reduced in size and quality to upload easier. Let me know if you have any questions...or where to buy it...I am excited and love talking about my new toy :)

Stone Soup

It is that time of year again....time for another "Stone Soup" party at preschool!! :) This year it was Ryan's turn, and he was so excited. Every day he talked about the vegetables, the cornbread or making butter...he was ready to have the party!! I got a new toy last night...and you get to benefit from it. Here is a video from my toy (more to come about it later) so you can see Ryan, his stone soup, and the crazy boy he is! Note : He didn't eat the soup or cornbread, but drank 4 glasses of apple juice!! All this talk of the soup and cornbread and then he wouldn't even try it. Not a surprise to me ;).

Here is a picture of Ryan in action during class...right up close having to see the rock! :) And, he got to hold Simba the guinea pig so was very excited about that!!

The first night...

....in underwear!! Ryan did it!!! I so expected to be doing laundry this morning (or last night). He was still sleeping at 7:15, so I woke him up, and he was so excited and happy that he did it! What a good job Ryan! We knew you were ready...and are so proud of you. Hopefully tonight goes just as well :)

Riding the bus

I have been talking to Hailey about riding the bus to school. I wasn't sure if she would go for it...but I wanted to try. It would be easier knowing that she would get to school on time every morning....that we could leave with Ryan either before or after her pick up, and that I wouldn't have to "waste" 1/2 hour on Tuesday and Thursdays between her drop off at school and Ryan's at preschool! Amazingly, she wanted to do it!!! So, I started to make calls. The bus drives right by our house, but the nearest stops are down our street, turn, and then down another block. I didn't feel comfortable making her walk down there by herself. I was happy to get a call back from the transportation director that the bus driver agreed to make a stop at our driveway! yahoo!

Hailey's first day on the bus was yesterday (Tuesday, Nov. 18). She was so scared. We talked about how it is okay to be scared, but the bus driver would make sure she was safe. There were tears in her eyes as the bus got closer to the house. I wasn't sure if she would get on or not. She is one strong little girl. She faced her fear and took the steps to get on the bus by herself. Way to go Hailey!! It was sad watching the bus go away...knowing that Hailey was on there and growing up way too fast! It just so happened that Ryan and I left about the same time and was it a coincidence that we were behind the bus?!?! No. I will admit...I followed the bus! I followed it to the first school (grades 1-6) and then to Hailey's school. I was so happy to see her come off the bus and walk into school. She did it! I did it. We BOTH did it with no tears. :)

When I asked her about it after school, she was of course so excited! She told me "I want to ride the bus again and again and again!" I was hoping for that reaction. She told me she met new friends on there and also saw friends from her after school program too. It worked out great!! We are so proud of you princess!

The last pull-up

Monday night we put the "last pull-up" on Ryan. He only wears them at night and we have been talking about how he needs to start wearing underwear to bed. So, the last one was on. And in the middle of the night Ryan got up ... and went to the bathroom! Not in his pull-up! He actually stayed dry in it. Now I just hope that happens when the underwear are on!!

The Big House

Amazingly we were able to reschedule the trip to the "Big House" to the next weekend (Nov 14-15-16). We all made it there...despite bad roads!! What a great feeling when we were all there inside together for the weekend!! And, it wasn't just my parents, sister and her family. Two of my aunts and my uncle were able to come too! What fun!!!

I think I can safely say that EVERYONE had a great time at the "big house" again this time. We only wish we could have had a little more time there!! The kids all played together so good...no really big fights at all!! And, they LOVED playing outside!! I think the girls went out to play 3 or 4 times on Saturday alone!! Here are some pictures that show all the fun we had.

The girls putting "colored glitter" in their hair. We ALL had to do it!! :) Multiple stops in the hot tub were a MUST! And, coloring and crafts!

The boys taking a little break. Auntie Donna helping Hailey with her pillow. And, Auntie Becky helping Ryan with his. GREAT project Becky!! Thanks so much!

The kids all ready to go out for the first time...and then OUTSIDE! :) Look at how CUTE Sarah is all bundled up to go outside! :)

Of course we had to have a picture of the kids all together...they are growing up too fast!

Here is another one of the kids, and one of our family too.

And, I had to include one last picture of my dad and his sisters. Look at my dad...he said that he was going to smile like Ryan...and DID! :) "CHEEEESE" I know where Ryan gets it from!!! ;)

Dad and Mom...thanks again for the fun weekend! We all had a great time!!

Booed in November

On Sunday, Nov 9th, Hailey went to a birthday party and then I took her back to the library. That is her new favorite place right now. She loves picking out books to read (yes...she is READING!) and movies to watch too. After we got done going there, we came home and she was going to take down the 3 little Halloween signs still by the front door. She came running in the garage, yelling at me, "We've been booed!!!!!!! We've been booed!!!!!!!!!!!" I new Halloween was over...so was confused why she was saying that. She came back carrying this HUGE basket! I was so surprised!! Turns out it was from our new neighborhood association to welcome us to the neighborhood! How nice! It was from a local bakery filled with yummy treats, breads, and goodies. What fun!

Dinosaurs!!!

After Jason's party in Bozeman, we stopped by the Museum of the Rockies. We only had 45 minutes in there, but we had to go in after Hailey gave us the "I have never been in a real museum or saw a real dinosaur before" speech and the puppy-dog eyes!! :) So, we went in. The kids were tired from rollerskating and the party, but did okay. I think they were still a little young, but they did enjoy seeing the big dinosaurs!!



Here is Hailey by the dinosaur head and Ryan looking into a microscope. They did have fun..but would have rather stayed in the kids playroom area instead of looking at the exhibits!! We will try it again in a couple years ;)

Rollerskating

We were suppose to go to the "Big House" in Rapid City the weekend of Nov 7-8-9. However, Lead (where the house is located) got over 40" of snow!!! So, we all ended up staying home...us with a very emotional daughter that was NOT HAPPY she didn't get to see her cousins. However, it worked out good that the kids got to go to the rollerskating party with Ryan's preschool class on Saturday. After that we went to Bozeman to celebrate Jason's 30th birthday (HAPPY BIRTHDAY JASON!) and we even went to the Museum of the Rockies too that day!! It was a busy day! Then on Sunday Hailey went to a classmates birthday party at Chuck-E-Cheese. Almost her entire class was there so she had a BLAST! It was a busy weekend....full of fun!!

Here are some fun pictures of the kids rollerskating!! Ryan of course didn't want to do it too much. Thankfully they tightened the wheels so he was basically just "walking" but it was still a change for him. About 1/2 way through the time, he was going around the rink by himself or with some preschool classmates!!! He is so funny around them too. He would see someone new and start yelling "HI JENSEN!!!!!!!!!!" And then would have to go over and see them. :) Fun to see him with his friends.


Hailey had a great time too! She was out there right away...cruising around with friends from her old preschool class (funny how A LOT of the kids in Ryan's preschool class have older siblings that Hailey went to preschool with!). She also took time to help her brother too (gotta love that :)).


Take a look at Ryan....we are in for some trouble here! There are only 4 boys in his preschool class...so most of the friends are girls (but we know all about the other 3 boys too). Here he is out on the rink holding hands with Hailey (YES...ANOTHER HAILEY!!) and then walking around the snack area, holding hands again! with Jensen. He is really good friends with Jensen...they go to Sunday School together and are best buds! :)

So, the kids were sad we didn't get to go to the big house, but happy we got to go rollerskating!!