Update on the swingset

I forgot to post an update on the swing set!! Chris and Kari finished it by 3:30 on Sunday 3/22. They had a mission...and they completed it!!!!!!!!!!! The kids were so excited for it to all be done...and were so happy when they finally got the okay from Daddy to get out there and swing, slide, play and be all crazy!

I like the pictures below too. The kids were in the backyard playing soccer together....enjoying being outside and NOT FIGHTING! :) We really weren't able to play too much in the yard last year with the sod being new, so it is fun to see them playing there and it is the perfect size! We love our house and yard! :)

Lions, Tigers, and Bears....

OH MY! Yes, we went to the circus last night. It was a GREAT TIME! The most fun was just watching Hailey and Ryan there. Ryan was in a daze....fixated on the acts. And, it was so hard for him when they had multiple acts at the same time. His little heart was just racing. Hailey loved watching the acts too. They were both asking when we get to go again....it is going to be a long year until it comes back. :)

Here are the kids watching the acts....even the camera didn't make them stop watching!

Since the first time I told them we were going to the circus, we talked about them doing ONE thing there for a special treat. Last year Hailey rode the ponies, but Ryan didn't want to (he tells me know that he told me he DID want to, but I didn't hear him....I think he would have MADE me hear him if he really wanted to!). So, Hailey thought it would be fun to try the elephant rides, and Ryan wanted to try the pony. I really wanted them both on the elephant, but there was no talking Ryan out of the pony ride. So, I got the tickets before the circus began, and Hailey was able to ride the elephant before things got started. She was actually able to be the FIRST person on the elephant so I got good pictures. I talked her into feeling the elephant...but that is about all. I don't think she smiled once...she was scared. But, when she was done...she was excited and loved it. Too bad she was so freaked during the actual ride! :)

Ryan, on the other hand, LOVED his pony ride the whole time! He had to wait until intermission to ride, but he was so excited and happy the whole time. It was great seeing him so happy.

And, one last picture of Ryan. Every time the band played, he was either playing the "air trumpet" or the "air guitar" or even the "air drums." He was having a great time!! Hailey, was more into singing (or trying to sing) the High School Musical songs they played! :)

Conferences

Within the last week, I have had conferences for both kids. Ryan's were too eventful (thank goodness) as he will be in preschool again next year. He is doing great...really knows his numbers and letters, and plays well with the others. Oh...and he is FUNNY too! :)

Hailey's conferences were yesterday and they went well too. It is fun to see her work. She is really sounding words out (bunny was just bune in a book she made...I love that stuff!) and reading and writing great. She is reading at the level she should be at the end of the year so is a little ahead of the curve right now. No complaints or worries about her. We are so thankful we waited until this year to send her to kindergarten. She LOVES everything about school and is doing so well. The only problem I have....she is going to be a 1st grader soon! NO!!!!!

The end of swimming

Both kids finished up their swimming lessons at the college on Thursday, March 26. Ryan finally made it past level 1 and will be moving onto level 2 next time!! Hailey is soooo close to moving to level 5, but she needs to work on her butterfly (and her listening....ha ha ha). The teacher that was helping Hailey could not believe she was only 6 and in level 4 already (and almost in level 5)!! We are so proud of BOTH Hailey and Ryan. They are doing great and it is so much fun seeing them learn and swim so well already!

I thought I would include some fun videos of the kids at swimming lessons too. Here is Ryan doing bobs....I love that he is doing these so good and so many right now. He isn't afraid of bobs! :)

This next video of Ryan means a lot to me. For some reason Ryan has been very afraid of the "noodles" they use during swimming lessons. Most nights he would get out of the water and make up some excuse so he didn't have to use them. So, when you watch the video, know how PROUD I am of him for getting over his fear and using the noodle. AND, he is even floating on his back and doing his "zip - T - down" with his arms. Great job buddy!!

And, one last video of Ryan jumping at the end of his lesson. He loves trying to splash the teachers!!!

Onto Hailey....she started doing this "dolphin flip thing" in the water when she was waiting for the teacher. I did get it on video a little, but it is even better in person! :) She is just crazy!!! and I think she is part fish!! :)

Here is Hailey jumping from the lifeguard stand. The first time she didn't want to do it...then after that she was upset when it was done! :)

And, one final video of Hailey. The one I am the MOST PROUD about...and if you are like me, you will want to play it over and over and over again. It is so fun to watch!! Here is Hailey diving. She is either HIT or MISS on diving. Either they are beautiful (like the one in the video) or they are belly-flops! :) But, when she does get it, they are sure fun to watch. Let me know what you think! :)

No more swimming until June (for Ryan only). I don't know where I will take Hailey for summer swimming yet. There has to be someplace out there that she can go. I would prefer outside, but I think we might need to look to the colleges again since she is getting better! :)

Sleeping

So, I was just checking email right now and this is what I just heard (I had to type it right away)!

Hailey : I want those.
Me : What?
Hailey : You know those pills that were just on the tv? They said they help you sleep. I need those because I don't sleep good.

I don't know what the pills were, but I am 100% sure a 6 year old doesn't need them. Especially one that falls asleep in 2 minutes (at the most) after putting her in her room! :)

Building a swingset

.....take FOUR! Yes, Chris has started (and almost completed) his FOURTH swingset for the kids!! He built one in spring 2005 for Hailey (only to see us move to Montana in fall 2005 and leave it there). Then, in spring 2006, he put one together at the new house. In spring 2007, he wasn't happy that things weren't holding up the way they should, so Costco said we could return it and get a new one if we wanted to. Most people would say NO WAY, but Chris said yes he would do that. Spring 2008 he took the year off from swingsets knowing we were moving...and the fear that he would have to do it again! :) So, here we are, Spring 2009....time for another swingset. He is getting very good at it and knowing how the company does things (they have all been the same kind...just different models since they change that every year). He has said that this is the LAST ONE! NO MORE! So, Hailey and Ryan, enjoy this one as Daddy is done! :)

Chris and Kari worked on it all day today...until almost 10:00 tonight (working by flashlight!!). Just a little bit left to do .... and then the fun will begin! The kids are so excited to have it done (and Chris and Kari are too ;) ).

Crazy carnival fun

Last night (Friday, March 20th) Hailey, Ryan and I got to go to our first school carnival. Hailey's school had it from 6:00-8:30 and both kids were so excited to go! :) We got there a little before 6:00 and Hailey took us all around the school to show us where things were at (she got to help with some things and found out other things during CARE as they were setting up when she was in CARE). If you look at Hailey's pants and wonder what was up with them, it was around 65 outside and she of course was HOT. This is how I picked her up from CARE and I think it was around 120 inside that school with all the kids and parents in there so I didn't make her put her pants back down. ;)

Our first stop ended up being the cake walk....there were only a few kids in there and I thought since we didn't have to wait, we might was well try. Ryan wasn't too sure of it...I had to hold his hand and walk along side him. The kids sat down when the music stopped, and the number called was the one right next to Hailey! So, they tried it again..up and moving around. Then the kids sat down again and wouldn't you know it...it was Ryan's number! There were Perkin's pies, yummy looking cakes with peanut butter cups, etc, but it was Ryan's pick and he picked this big green thing! :) Thankfully we were able to park close to the building because we had to bring the cake outside....I wasn't going to carry that thing around all night long! :)

The carnival theme was the Olympics, so all the games had flags and "sporting events" or something similar. The kids both participated in.....

bowling (in Hailey's classroom so she thought this was very neat!) and golf (Hailey got a hole-in-one the first time she did this!!)

basketball and hockey (Ryan couldn't wait to do this...it was "real hockey" so we had to do it twice! He was holding the stick the right way and go EVERY ONE IN! The lady there was a hockey mom and told me he needed to get in there, and she was wishing she had forms and information to give me! UGH!)


There was more activities, but I didn't take pictures of them all. It was fun seeing Hailey saying hi to all her classmates and having a good time at her school. We will miss Boulder Elementary next year (Hailey only goes there for kindergarten and then goes to a different school for 1st to 6th grades (her regular school doesn't have room for kindergarten right now)). But, we will be back at Boulder in 2010-2011 for Ryan's kindergarten year (yikes!).

St Patrick's Day 2009 - part 2

Another St Patrick's Day post....

So, like in previous years, we were all excited to get up on St. Patrick's Day! The kids were so excited for their green breakfast....green muffins, green eggs, green grapes, and green apple juice. YES, they eat it ALL! And, they ask for it so many times over the year it is funny. It is great what a little food coloring to do to speed up the eating of their breakfast! :)

Oh, a funny thing too from the morning. I put their fun shamrock headband things on their spots, along with two shamrock chocolates that we got at the Red Lodge candy store. When they came downstairs in the morning, Hailey said "The leprechauns were here!! They were...they left us the chocolates!!" She was so excited ... and I was pleases that I put those out there! :) Of course the leprechauns were ALL OVER at school too and it was fun to hear her talk about them and all the fun she had during kindergarten that day.

Unfortunately we were not able to have a green supper like I wanted because we had Girl Scouts and swimming that night. Ryan did get a shamrock-shaped sandwich in his lunch though! :)

The 2 cuties....all set with their green on! :)

And, I did have one more video too from the morning....

60 miles

It is amazing how our activities can vary in one day...and 60 miles. On Sunday, March 15 we spent the morning at the cabin. The kids put on their snow pants, boots, and coats and were busy climbing the mountain behind the cabin (going waaay up) and then sliding down on their bottoms. They LOVED it and did it over and over and over again! I got a picture of them by a huge snow pile on the street by the cabin (as you can tell there is still A LOT of snow to melt there).

We left Red Lodge around 11:30 and in 1 hour we were back home ... and wearing no coats as it was 62 outside! The kids got to go outside and feed our "pets" some carrots since the horses were RIGHT by the fence again. What a difference for one day! :)

"Real Bowling"

Last weekend we went to the cabin...it had been awhile. Chris was skiing with his cousin Brian on Friday and the kids and I got up there Friday night. Brian and Jessica stayed at the cabin on Friday night so it was nice visiting with them.

Saturday (3/14) we wanted to take the kids ice skating, but of course the rink was closed :( . So, we took them to go "real bowling" instead (we have only bowled on the wii in the past!). We have wanted to take them bowling for quiet some time, so this was fun to finally get to do it. Hailey did get to go bowling one time with her CARE program during spring break, but it was Ryan's first time. We ALL had a fun time!

Ryan started out with one frame of pushing the ball down, but that took FOREVER! We were able to use this fun "helper" that the kids put the ball on and pushed it down. MUCH FASTER! :) Ryan was just crazy...running around...wanting to bowl again and again and again. We played 2 games and he was upset when it was over.

Hailey had a great time as well! :) She wasn't quiet into it as much as I thought she was...she was tired. She still had fun and did a great job!

I see us going to the Red Lodge bowling alley quiet often now! :)