Ice skating anyone?!?

While in MN visiting Tim, Kendra, Owen and Mason for Valentine's Day, Grandma and Papa Pilcher brought back a fun present for the kids....ICE SKATES! There is this cute ice skating rink in Red Lodge that we want to try, and now can since the kids have skates. They are both so excited to try it and even had to try their skates on at the cabin! :) Hopefully the ice lasts until we can try it at least once ;)

Way to go Hailey!

She finally did it!! On Monday night, 2/23, Hailey rode her bike with just 2 wheels...no training wheels!!! SHE DID IT! She was so excited and so were Chris and myself! She needs to practice a little more, but now it should be easier for her. In the past, the kids haven't been able to ride their bikes that much. We are so busy and gone most weekends. So, we made it a priority to work on it with her more since she really wanted to learn. We took out the old, smaller bike, and it didn't take long for her to get it (of course I was wondering how long it would take...or if she would ever get it). We were SO PROUD of her again! Way to go Hailey!!! :) Now she wants to ride her bike ALL THE TIME :)

Weekend at the cabin

We were finally able to get back to the cabin last weekend. Chris has been gone traveling for work, so the kids and I have been home for the last 3 weekends. So, it was time to get back to the cabin. We got a little snow in Billings on Friday, and Red Lodge got 9" of snow...so we knew what we would do on Saturday....SKIING!!

Ryan was able to do his "full day of skiing" like he asked for. This consisted of 2 group lessons...10:30-12:00 and 1:30-3:00. He did FANTASTIC! No complaining at all and he loved every minute of it. It helped that it was over 45 degrees outside, all sun, and no wind! PERFECT!! His teachers said he needed to come back again soon....they could tell Ryan loved it and they wanted him back ;) However, he was pretty tired when we got all done and wasn't too thrilled about walking back to the car. ;)



Hailey...she is a wonderful story herself. This is what I saw 10-12 times on Saturday....

That is her and Chris going up the mountain. YES, they spent the day going down together. No lessons for her (well, she did learn TONS, but Chris was teaching this time). And, she was skiing without her bungee tying her skis together! She started out just coming straight down, really slow. By the second time down, Chris had her following him down...zig-zaging across the mountain. It was so exciting to watch! She did SO FANTASTIC! Their trip down the mountain started at 30-40 minutes. By the end of the day, they were going down in 10-15 minutes!! Chris said there were times that he had to work hard to catch up to Hailey!! She loved it...and improved so much. I think we have a little skier on our hands! :) Here are pictures of her in action.

And, finally a few videos. Remember when I got the video camera I told you the zoom isn't good. Therefore, it is very tough to see Hailey in her videos. Just look for all the pink, and also she usually wasn't wearing her mittens, so they are hanging down from her coat! :) You will probably see her at the end, and then you can play it again and try to find her at the beginning :) Good luck!

Here is Ryan ... I didn't get the best videos of him as I was too busy watching Hailey :) Sorry buddy!

And, here is Hailey. Her first video is about 1/2 way through the day...she was skiing crazy! :)

And, here is another video of Hailey. This was her last run of the day...and she almost ran right into the rack of skis!!! She got a little talk of slowing down after this one! :)

It was a FUN day for everyone...and the kids were exhausted! :) After supper, a treat of ice cream at Scoops!, and a nice warm bath, the kids got to watch a movie in their room. At 9:00, Ryan came in the living room at the cabin and told me he thought it was time for bed! No arguments here! I put them in their beds, and they never moved until almost 8:00 am! :)

Valentine's Day 2009

What is not to love about Valentine's Day?! Pink, red, hearts, flowers, love, CANDY...we love it all here! :) The kids started their day with the usual Valentine's breakfast....pink heart pancakes with sprinkles, strawberries and pink apple juice. YUM!

After that, we were able to just relax around the house, play, watch cartoons, and finally get ready to go to the airport to get Chris. Here is the card they got for Chris. Hailey has been singing "who let the dogs out?" for quite a while now, so when we saw this card, we had to get it. I think we have heard it a good 30 times...if not more! :) I love their dancing!!! :)

Here they are with their valentines flowers and gifts.


And, a nice wish from them (even though it is a little late :) )....

Home Depot Day

On the first Saturday of the month, Home Depot has a project for kids to do (Thanks KRIS for telling us about it!!). Since the kids and I were in town on Sat, Feb 7, we thought we would try it out! We got there and what FUN we had. It was easy, nice set up, cute project, and FREE! And, the kids of course LOVED it!

Here they are at Home Depot still, wearing their orange aprons (cute!!), and showing off their finished heart trinket boxes.

After that, we went to buy paints so we could really finish them. We didn't paint them until Sunday, but I was so proud of both of them. Hailey's looks fantastic and she took her time on everything. Ryan, believe it or not, took his time a little too. It looks much better than I thought it would! :) Let me know what you think. :)

Superbowl Sunday

Sunday, February 1, 2009...........SUPERBOWL SUNDAY! The kids were all ready....and then Ryan asked "why aren't the Broncos playing?!?!" :( Sorry buddy...but we will still support them today! :)

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! :)