What a girl!

Last night was the final night of swimming lessons for January. We were talking in the car how Hailey is at level 3 and Ryan is at level 1 (there are 6 levels total and kids cannot start level 1 until they are 4 years old). I tried to tell them how they have to stay at the same level for quite some time before they move on. Hailey said she wanted to go to level 4, but I really wasn't expecting anything from her. She is one of the smallest in level 3 right now, so I didn't think she was ready for level 4. Ryan was doing great in level 1 and I thought he would probably move on to level 2. Was I surprised when....Hailey advanced to level 4 and Ryan is staying in level 1!!! I was so excited and proud of Hailey. LEVEL FOUR!! NO WAY! She is going to be swimming in the 12 ft deep end of the pool the whole time now! OMG! The girl also found out that she LOVES to swim to the bottom too! :) I am so excited (and nervous), but know she will do great! For Ryan...well....he needs to work on his front float a little bit more, and I do think that the teachers in his class wanted him around for another month! :) Both girl teachers LOVED him....and he LOVED the attention too :) Oh my little fishes...

Swimming Lessons

Here are a few fun videos of Ryan and Hailey at swimming lessons last night.

Ryan before lessons....he got a haircut and also broke out into dancing again!

Here is Hailey goofing off while she was waiting. She really enjoys swimming under the water now and going down to the bottom.

Here is Ryan doing his bobs (his way of course) and also trying to learn how to tread water. For some reason he always wanted to put his face in the water (sound like Hailey to you!??!). It was funny and the teachers were having a good time. :)

Here are 2 last videos. At the end of lesson times, both groups take time to jump in the pool. Ryan's teachers were having fun with him (he enjoyed it too). And, Hailey's teacher was trying to get her to jump in crazy, but she didn't want to. She was jumping into the 12 feet deep end!! :) She didn't get to dive this time, but maybe next time! :)

Crafty Hailey

Here is a little video that Hailey wanted to star in. She was so excited when she figured out how to do this at CARE that she just had to watch herself of the camera! :)

MLK and the President

Last Monday was Martin Luther King Jr day. Last Tuesday, we got a new president. These are both very important days, but nothing I really expected the kids to know too much about. However, they surprised me!

On the Thursday before MLK day, I was talking to Hailey and Ryan in the car. I told Hailey she didn't have school on Monday and asked if she knew why. Of course she knew why! :) She told me all about MLK and what he did. I was so proud. My little girl got it! She told me "it doesn't matter what color your skin is." Wow...I was so proud of her. Then Ryan told me about it too. He said that "the people had poky things and were all together." I took that as the people were holding signs during MLK speech. Wow. Not too bad for a 4 year old! :)

Then on Tuesday night we were coming home and I thought I would see if they talked about the president at all. Sure enough they did! Hailey told me that they actually got to watch it on tv live, and knew a few things about President Obama (even the name which first came out "ROCK Obama"). Again, my heart was so full of pride and joy over my little girl learning this stuff! And, Ryan knew the presidents name too! He was so proud of himself.

I recorded the following videos a few days later. Nothing too exciting for them, but I wanted to get it on video :) Notice in Ryan's video...he starts dancing. There is this one little dance we do not know where he got it. BUT, every time I pick him up from daycare, he will see me, stop, and start patting the side of his tummy. What a strange little kid! :)

Skiing in Red Lodge

On Saturday, January 17, Chris and I finally were able to take the kids skiing. Hailey went 3 times last year and LOVED IT! This was Ryan's first time skiing...ever. For the group lessons, the kids have to be 4 years old, so Ryan just made it! :) I was a little worried about how busy the mountain would be. It was a wonderful day.....all sun and 45 outside! PERFECT!!! It was busy, but the lessons weren't full at all. Hailey actually only had 2 other kids in her class, and Ryan had a few more, but he had multiple teachers helping.

Hailey's class started by going down the practice area and then they decided that was enough. Off to the chairlift they went!! :) They actually got to go down twice and she of course loved it!


Here is a video of Hailey skiing. Look for the pink coat with the mittens hanging down from her coat. I don't know why she didn't have them on, but oh well :)

I was a little worried about Ryan. I didn't think he would do that good...thought he would fall down and throw a fit. But, it was so much better than I could have ever imagined!!! He did FANTASTIC!! He only went down the hill 3 times ... but he was already trying to stop and TURNING too! I can safely say...HE LOVED IT! He was so happy and excited .... and MAD that he had to stop and go back to the cabin! :) We promised him that next time he could go all day, but he wanted to go more THAT day...or the next day. He didn't want to wait, but had to this time.




Here are some funny videos of Ryan skiing. I love the last one. Poor kid knows how to stop (pizza), but doesn't have enough muscle in his legs to actually stop! The teacher though he did great for a 4 year old, but just needs to get a little stronger. :)

The kids continue to ask when they can go skiing again. For some reason I am seeing season passes in our future! :)

R-Y-A-N

Ryan has been busy trying to learn things...since he hears Hailey repeating things, asking how to spell words, etc. I was excited when he finally got our phone number down last weekend. It used to be 6555-8820. He couldn't get rid of that last "5"! :) Finally he got it!

Then he moved onto his name. At the cabin, he told me he knew how to spell his name. So, being the good mommy I am, I asked him "how?" To which he responded :

"R - O - T - N"

Oh my goodness....If that doesn't make you laugh! :) I told him he was EXACTLY RIGHT!!!!!!!!!!

The next night, he wanted to try it again. This time he told me

"R - T - Y - N"

LOL! Right on again, in my opinion, but getting closer! :)

Finally a few nights ago, we tried it again. I was anxiously awaiting what would come out of is mouth, but this time it was right :

"R - Y - A - N"

Way to go Rotten...oh...sorry...Ryan :)

A little preview

Here is a preview of the post I will write later...it will be a good one...and will have videos too !:)

Loose ears

Last week, Ryan and I were on our way to pick up Hailey and had a conversation similar to this :

Ryan : Look Mommy, my ear is loose.
Dawn : Your ear is loose???!
Ryan : Yeah, it is loose. It is going to fall off and then I will get my big ears in.
Dawn : (laughing) Oh Ryan, you don't lose your ears. Only teeth.
Ryan : YES YOU DO!
Dawn : No, sweetie, you don't.

multiple "no you don't" "yes you do" and then finally...

Ryan : YES YOU DO...that is just the way the world is.

It's that time of year....

time for GIRL SCOUT COOKIES!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hailey is a daisy this year and this year they decided to let the little girls sell cookies too! So, yesterday Hailey and I were able to go walk around the neighborhood and meet some people and sell cookies. It was 60 (yes...SIXTY DEGREES ABOVE ZERO) outside. I don't know if there will ever be another year that we can say she got to sell cookies while not wearing a coat, and riding on her scooter! :) She actually LOVED going and asking people and wanted to do more, but we had to stop (I don't want to have to deliver TONS of cookies!). We were also talking about bringing the cookies and collecting the money, and Hailey thought she should get to keep all the money! :) I wish! :) She is growing up too fast!

The 1st of many

Can you tell from the picture what happened to Hailey on Friday night?!?!?!? =D

Well, if you are blind, I will tell you. She lost not only her FIRST tooth, but also her SECOND tooth on the same night...within 5 minutes of each other! Needless to say, she was excited!!!

We were on our way to the cabin, and decided to stop by Subway for supper since it would be too late when we got there to make anything. We were almost done, and like most every night, Hailey was playing with her loose teeth on the bottom. The two middle ones were so close to coming out...but just not quite there yet. We talked about getting to the cabin and taking a video of it and having Chris try to pull it out. Hailey even agreed to this! However, she must have pushed it just the right way because it started bleeding. I told her it was going to come out...just pull it out. She didn't want to, but she tried and OUT IT CAME! I wish I had my camera...she was so scared, excited, happy, nervous...fun times! Chris took a picture on his cell phone and sent it out. We were so excited...what a fun time and we were all there!! :)

After the excitement went down a little, Hailey put her fingers in her mouth again to wiggle her other tooth. I told her to try to pull it out. She tried, and you can tell it hurt, but it stayed in there. However, she must have done something because now that one was bleeding too!!! I told her she had to try to get it out...and she tried one more time and OUT IT CAME! TWO TEETH so close together!??! HOW FUNNY! :) Now she was just about jumping out of her seat (and Chris was beyond grossed out and Ryan was too busy eating Cheetos to care). Chris took yet another cell phone picture...I am sure the recipients thought that was funny to get two in one night! We cleaned up a little and were ready to leave, when the lady sitting by us came over and gave Hailey a dollar and said "Here you go sweetie. You are going to have to buy something soft to eat!!" Loosing two teeth, and getting a dollar...Hailey was SET!! Now she wanted to call the world and tell them about her teeth! :)

We got to the cabin...both teeth made it without getting lost...and she decide to see if the tooth fairy would find her at the cabin. She said if she didn't that was fine and she would try again when she got home. We put both teeth in a glass of water (and in a baggie so they wouldn't spill) and put it next to her bed. Ryan was FREAKED OUT about having the tooth fairy come in...he didn't want that at all. Too bad buddy! :) Hailey was excited to go to sleep so she could wake up! :)

Chris and I woke up to Ryan telling us that the tooth fairy DID come...and then Hailey told us the same thing. She got $6....$5 for the 1st tooth and $1 for the second tooth. She was so excited. Ryan of course wanted her to share her money! :) She is anxious for the other 2 loose ones to come out now! :)

The 2 little teeth....and in the glass for the tooth fairy.


Ready for bed...and THE TOOTH FAIRY CAME "see...she DID find me at the cabin!"