Pilcher Happenings

Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

We FINALLY made it up to the cabin last weekend (December 26-27-28). It has been a looong 3 months since we have been up there. That is just too long! It was so nice to get up there, settled in, and reconnect as a family. The weekend was about spending time together as a family, playing games, coloring, and just having FUN! And, as you will be able to see below, we accomplished that. We always love our weekends at the cabin, and this one ranks towards the tops too!!

Most of the weekend, this is what I was looking at :

Ahhh...fire! We had them going in BOTH fireplaces inside, and Chris and Kari even got one going OUTSIDE on Saturday!! :) The kids did get a little "quiet time" on Saturday afternoon to watch a movie...don't they look all cozy in their blankets. It didn't last long...because they knew after nap they got to go....

SLEDDING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes, the time, the weather, the conditions...they were all perfect for sledding. Off they went! Special thanks to Kari for some of the pictures!! :)

Here is a funny video of Ryan on the way to the sledding hill. Listen to the noises/singing he is making. He is just rocking the sled back and forth. It was so funny. I will apologize for the poor filming, but I was trying to keep up with them since it was funny! :)

Here is Ryan & Hailey going down together...and the second picture shows you a little about the slope of the hill they were going down. Third picture is just a good time sledding by Ryan & me (yes...I did go down too!)

Ryan actually enjoyed sledding more this year than last year. He was most happy when Chris would go down with him. He was NOT happy when Chris would "say" he was going to go with him, and then would push Ryan down ALONE! Take a look at the video below these pictures. You can see Ryan is NOT happy. I soooo wish I would have kept recording! Chris got YELLED at big time by Ryan when he got up! Ryan was so mad at him...I am surprised he went down again! :)

Then there is Hailey....she LOVES the snow!! She was going down by herself no problem! She would rather have Chris with her, but she couldn't wait for him! She would even go down on her stomach. Yikes, Hailey!! Take a look at the 2nd picture....shows Hailey making a snow angel, but also how much snow we have by the cabin! It is sure winter there. And, the last picture is of Hailey being silly on the deck of the cabin. She didn't want to come in like Ryan did.

Here is a video of Hailey going really FAST (mute if children are present!).....

And, I had to put one of her crashing too (she had a really good one....but I didn't get that on video). She of course loved to crash as much as anything else! :)

Here is a video of Ryan and Chris sledding. Watch their ending....it is GREAT! I give them a "10" for that performance and the fact that no one was injured during this event! :)

One last video of Ryan talking about sledding ...

And, one final picture from Hailey....she got you with a snowball! :)

Christmas 2008

Now that was a Christmas to remember!! We had such a fun time, or as Ryan would say it "That real Christmas day...that was EXCITING!" :)

Christmas Eve wasn't too exciting, but still a fun day! The kids and I relaxed at home in the morning. Then Grandma and Papa Buckhouse treated us to lunch at Wendy's and to a movie!! The kids loved it...and so did I! By the time the movie was over, and we got home, it was time to get dressed for church. Both of them enjoyed going to the children's sermon and even getting a ornament. We came home, had snacks and supper, and even got to SEE Santa. Check it out for yourself....that was so exciting for them (and us) and we had a wonderful view of Santa coming right over the rims, right towards our house! LOVE IT!

After supper, we looked at a few lights and then went over to Clay & Marjie's house. Before long, it was time to get back home so we could get cookies and milk ready for Santa!! Hailey even made Santa some candy cane hearts for him to take back to the North Pole! Isn't she just so sweet?!?! :) Time for bed...

We woke up Christmas morning to the kids VERY EXCITED to open gifts! Santa came!! Hailey and Ryan had to take a look at the "Christmas Deer" outside (Papa Buckhouse will like this!) and then they had a little "Christmas Dancing" to do before opening gifts!! :)

FINALLY it was time to get to opening the gifts!! Hailey had a great time opening all of hers. I warned her to take it a little slower this year, and she did!! She opened her gifts very nicely, and then was laying them out all nice and orderly (poor thing takes after her mommy!). The second picture below is of Hailey's gift to me. She made this candy cane reindeer, but it was Rudolf with his red nose! CUTE!!! I think she liked her gifts :) There is a video of her opening her cupcake maker that she really wanted too.

At the same time, Ryan was TEARING into his gifts!! I love this video...they were just getting started and check out Ryan. He skips the stocking and goes right to the gifts!

His favorite gifts were of course the bow & arrow, lollipop, gun, light-up hat like Daddy's for hunting, new camera from Hailey, and so much more. The kid did very good this year!!! :) He had a lot of fun with the presents too!!

Ryan asked Santa for (1) a bow & arrow and (2) a lollipop. So, Santa brought him a one pound Sugar Daddy! HELLO!! Poor Ryan could hardly hold it, but he was happy to get it!! And, as you can see from the other picture below, now we have even MORE pictures taken in our house!! Hailey wanted to get Ryan a camera like hers, so the boy is very happy now! :)

Here is a video of Ryan with his bow & arrow. Think he likes it?!?!

The kids also got scooters for Christmas from Grandma & Grandpa Pilcher, so they went outside to get a little fresh air and ride their new scooters! Summer should be fun with these!!

Christmas night Kari came over with MORE gifts!! Just what the kids needed! :) However, we were able to take some of the gifts out and play more. This picture just makes me laugh. Look at Hailey in her new PINK fishing vest (Kari is jealous ;) , playing with her soccer coach Barbie AND her HUNTING Barbie! Yes, the girl has it all! :)

I told you we had fun on Christmas!! :)

Merry Christmas to each and every one of you. We all hope you had a wonderful holiday and wish you a happy new year as well!

Silly Ryan

This is for Papa B -- here is the picture I took when I was talking to you on Christmas Eve. Yes, Ryan was IN the bucket for his tractors. Little stinker!! :)

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Last, but not least

The last program for the season was at church on Saturday, December 20. They had practice at 10:00 on Saturday, and then their performance was at 5:00. They both did GREAT during the practice and were singing loud enough for me to hear them! Even the director turned around and told me "Hailey has such a beautiful singing voice!" Ahh, proud mommy moment!! :)

Before the performance, I had them pose for a few pictures by the tree. I wanted Ryan to kiss Hailey, but he wanted nothing to do with that! So, finally I told Hailey to kiss Ryan and this is the picture I got!!!

Here is the pretty princess girl!!

And, then I asked Ryan to come and have his picture taken by himself. After a few requests, he finally came and told me "back first" and this is the picture I got. Then, I got him to turn around and got a nice picture again!

Finally it was time to get to the church!!! Look at my pretty angel (for the 3rd year) and my super-cute shepherd!! How cute are they!??!!!

A close-up of Hailey (she is so pretty, if I do say so myself!!).

And, Ryan in his cute outfit too! How adorable can he get?!? :)

And, finally they got to sing!! They both went up there great, and sang their songs so wonderful! We are so proud of them!! What a fun night! The first picture is of Ryan (way to the right side) and the second picture is of Hailey (in the middle).

And, finally a video of them singing!! Excuse the crazy camera movements, but I was trying to actually watch it, and take pictures with my camera too! :)

Kindergarten program

Friday, December 19th was Hailey's kindergarten program. There are 5 classes at Boulder, so they ended up having 2 performances so that all the parents could come and watch. As you can see from the first picture, Hailey found us and was very excited! They sang quite a few songs, and even a poem too. It was cute watching them with their hand motions, etc.

Here is the video of one song....Hailey is standing next to her good friend Seday and you can see them playing and goofing off in the video of them singing. Look for Seday moving around and then you will see Hailey too. :) Hailey did FANTASTIC and it was fun to see her and her classmates all together and having a good time!

Here is Hailey's class (they are on the far right) and then one of all 5 kindergarten classrooms.

Great job Hailey!!! We are so proud of you!! :)

One more program to go...the church one on Saturday!

3 programs in 3 days

Last week was the week of Christmas programs. We started it out on Thursday, Dec. 18 with going to preschool for Ryan's program there. He was so excited to have mommy there...then got all excited again when Grandpa showed up (and had to show Grandpa all around as it was his first time there!)...then was even more excited that Daddy came too!! :)

Even before all that, I had to take a picture of Ryan before preschool. What a stud!! Look at him in his Christmas shirt, "Daddy" jeans, and of course his new belt. HANDSOME!!

The concert was so fun. Ryan had no problem standing by his class and singing along. In fact, during the last song, Ryan and his friend Keatin (also in his Sunday School class too so they are buds!) were singing SO LOUD! It was quite funny! :) Here is the video of them yelling...umm...singing :)

Here is Ryan and McKenna! Cute friends!! And the second picture is Ryan singing (Keatin is in the red next to him).