Hailey's "Un-birthday"

Hailey has been waiting and waiting and waiting for her "un-birthday" at school. Finally on Friday, May 29th it was her day! She was very excited and woke up knowing it was her "un-birthday" and she even got to use her birthday plate for breakfast!

At school she got to wear a crown all day long, use a special chair at her desk (see both in the first picture bel0w), be the line leader all day long, and just little things like that....all that mean the world to a kindergarten-er! :) She also got to bring treats in!! :) She wanted to bring ice cream, so we got little cups for the class. She passed them out (and got to pick helpers for the spoons and napkins!) and then walked around the class to ask if they wanted sprinkles on it or not. It was a HIT! :) Then, after snacks, Mrs. Jensen brought out the "birthday cake." Complete with lit candles and singing of "happy birthday" it was so nice. Then she got to open the cake and pick out a present from Mrs. Jensen.

I think she had a great day! :) What a special way to celebrate all the summer birthdays!!!

Happy "un-birthday" to you Hailey! :)

Soccer awards

On Wednesday, May 27th we had one last gathering of the soccer team. What a surprise when EVERYONE showed up (again...minus Seday, but we knew she wouldn't be there... :( ). The girls all got to sit together, eat their pizza and have a fun night. Then they all got a metal and a certificate. Ahhh....what fun things for a 6 year old to get!! :)

Great job again Hailey!

Memorial Day fun

After the tball game, we spent the night playing in Billings, and then everyone went up to the cabin on Saturday (didn't go home until Monday!). The kids had a great time.....doing what you ask??! Here, let me show you! :)

We went to the zoo to check on our "friends" that we haven't saw since the fall. We had to find the bears (Bo and Blueberry) and our favorite Levi the coyote! :) They were there and the kids were excited to see them. Too bad it was SO WINDY and COLD outside! It was actually colder in town than it was at the cabin (I think that was a FIRST!). They also painted "coyote prints" on the kid's cheeks and they thought that was very cool!

Looking at and trying to feed the deer! :)

There was some quiet time in the cabin and Ryan introduced Owen to the Leapster. Hmmm...maybe a bday gift idea?!?! :)

Then, on Sunday afternoon, we had a "party" with Tim, Owen, Kari, Grandma, Papa, Great Grandma, Maureen, Jeremy, Carleen and Rich. It was so FUN to have all of them up there and just visit and play! :) There were many games of "horseballs" and a little drinking too ;). Hailey was excited when she saw Carleen working on knitting a scarf and she wanted to try. God bless Carleen's heart....she let Hailey work on it for a looong time. Hailey loved it and I think I know what she will be getting for her bday ;). My little crafty one!!! Doesn't she look all cute!?!? I also look at this and remember my Grandma Buckhouse too. She would have been proud of Hailey as well.

Carleen also took time to play with the boys ... bowling on the deck! :) The 3 kids were busy outside ALL DAY long. When we finally put them to bed at 9:00 they all CRASHED! It was a fun day, full of good times, lots of laughs, and fun memories. Perfect!

Tball with Ryan and Owen

Uncle Tim and cousin Owen were able to come to Billings for a fun weekend over Memorial Day weekend. Hailey and Ryan LOVED having them here and had such a fun-filled weekend! :) Friday night Hailey had a tball game so it was fun that they got to come to that (they were able to come to a game last year too and she LOVES having fans there!).

Here is a picture of the coach (ha ha....Chris) pitching the ball to Hailey during the game. Click on the picture to enlarge it and look for the ball. :) She did hit it too!!

After the game, there was a little playing and practicing with Ryan and Owen too. They used the pink bat, but didn't seem to care too much. I didn't get a good picture of Owen hitting (sorry buddy!), but here is one of Ryan. He LOVES to play "baseball" and asks to play almost nightly in the backyard. Next spring he will LOVE being in tball!! Watch out everyone!! :)

The last soccer game

Wednesday, May 20th was the last soccer game of the year. It was actually "ok" out for the weather so it was a nice way to end the season. Hailey really started to get more aggressive with her playing and the whole team was really getting into the game now. I wish we could keep the same team in the fall and build on their skills and the friendships, but I know Hailey will want to have playdates with these girls because they are so fun! :) Here are a few fun action shots from her last game.

A last picture of her spring soccer team (minus Seday who is in England right now! :) ). What a great group of girls!!!

Preschool Party

One year down.....one to go! How can Ryan really be done with his first year of preschool?!?! I can honestly say that he LOVES preschool. He is constantly asking to go there more days and always has something good to say about what he did (his job, who brought snack, if he shared his snack with Simba (the guinea pig), etc!). I am worried how the summer will be...might just be too long for him :)

The end of year party is always a good time. They started by singing some songs for the parents. Ryan was right there...in the middle between a whole bunch of girls...singing away! :) Mighty cute!! After their songs, they each got a metal and a certificate (and a picture of the class too). He was very proud! :) (of course Chris and I were too and made sure to tell him that!!)


He enjoyed his snack with his friend too....and then got a little time in with Simba before it was time to say good-bye until the fall! :) He is SO EXCITED to go 3 days/week in the fall, but I am beginning to dread it. It will be my last year with a preschooler. After that they will both be "school-agers." Why are they both growing up so fast?!?! Slow down kiddos...mommy isn't ready for this yet! :)

Fishing opener 2009

After all the fun and the busy schedule on Saturday, May 16th, we decided to head to the cabin. We haven't been there for over 2 months (Chris traveling made it tough to get up there) and weren't going to go because we thought there would be TONS of snow still. To our surprise most of it was gone! We had a few piles around the cabin (that was expected), but the roads weren't as muddy as I thought they would be. AND, it was in the high 60s there!!!!! It was amazing!!!

We decided to see if Wild Bill was open...and it was! The kids got to go fishing for their "fishing opener 2009." Hailey was a maniac casting! I was so amazed at how good she did. Her first cast went half way across the lake! And she was using her big fishing pole too!! :) This was Ryan's first time using his new big fishing pole. He didn't do as good casting, but tried to do it. Didn't matter...that boy has Chris "fishing gene" in him!! He caught the first fish, the second fish, the third fish and then finally Hailey did catch one! :) They both had a great time (and Chris and I did too!). Oh...and we got to have almost the entire lake to ourselves! It was PERFECT! :)

Time to go FISHING! :) Hailey's first cast of the season.

Chris helping Ryan cast, and the first fish of the season. He was SO EXCITED!!! :)

Poor guy...fishing is a lot of work. He just had to sit down :)

Hailey got tired of fishing on the bridge, so she ventured down the shore a little and found another spot to fish at. :) Hmmm...no bites down there so she came back to the bridge where Ryan was catching his fish....and then she got one! :)

After we got home from fishing and had supper, Chris heard some turkeys. He had brought up his turkey call for hunting and tried to "talk" to them. IT WORKED!!! They were gobbling back to him!! :) And they didn't stop! So, we took off on a walk to see if we could see them and "talk" to them more. Right outside the cabin (and I mean RIGHT OUTSIDE THE CABIN!) we found these tracks....looks like "Mike" isn't alone this year!! Come on Mike...we want to see you again!!! :)

Here is Hailey when she was talking to the turkeys (they were talking back to her too!). Then, after we got as close as we could to them, we all stopped and tried to get them to come see us. I don't know....maybe it was the DOGS barking at the cabin right behind us or the lady that came YELLING out of the cabin "listen to those turkeys!!", but the turkeys weren't interested in getting closer to us. What a fun time and experience for the kids. They loved it (and I have to admit...I had fun too! :) ).

Busy day

On Saturday, May 16th we had a SUPER BUSY DAY! It started at 8:00 am with a pancake breakfast to support BALL (Boulder Arrowhead Little League). Yummy! Then there was a parade of athletes at 8:30. Poor Hailey. She got sick on Friday night and was not feeling too good on Saturday morning. Surprisingly, after we left there to go to the zoo to meet her Girl Scout troop, she was feeling much better! :) They had a fun event planned at the zoo as their end of year event, but unfortunately Hailey had tball pictures so we had to leave after only 1/2 hour. It was so nice outside too....it was tough to leave. But we couldn't miss pictures!! :)

Hailey and her friends going around the zoo (Blythe, Seday and Hailey). Blythe lives in our subdivision, and Seday lives in the neighboring subdivision and all 3 were in the same class at school!).

Our little t-ball'er again! :) Chris was one of the coaches this year, and Hailey loved that! :) Their team did SO GOOD! I couldn't believe how the kids just kept improving so much over the season.

Cute Ryan

Why is Ryan smiling so much?!!? Because his sister just "styled" his hair!! :) SPIKED!!! :) He was so excited and happy and it shows. Thanks Hailey!! :)

Movie Night

After soccer on 5/6, the kids got home and it was time for getting ready to bed. Nothing new there. Only thing is....they decided to bring down TONS of their stuffed animals to have "movie night" for everyone! :) How fun...and they weren't fighting so I was very happy! :)