Busy place

Wow...I think June is the time for visitors here in Billings!! I was able to have a surprise visit from my good friend Amy on Wed, June 17th. I haven't saw Amy since my wedding....so the visit was long over due, and we only had a couple of hours to visit, but it was wonderful!! :)

Then, yesterday my friend Laurie from college was driving through Billings (from WI to Bozeman) and stopped to see us. We haven't saw each other since 1998!! It was fun to meet her CUTE little boys and her husband too! :) She has such a wonderful family, but I so wish they were closer. Ryan and Blake got along so great and Ryan keeps asking for them to come back!! And, Hailey loved little Eric too. :)

Last night Matt was here too for a few hours on his way back to Rochester. I tell ya, it is BUSY HERE!! And, it doesn't end there. On Wednesday 7/1, Kris, Eric, Hanna and CJ will be here for a couple days. I cannot tell you how excited the kids are for that one (and ME TOO!). Then, the guys from Rochester fly (and some drive) out for the hiking/fishing trip in Red Lodge. Then, the Smoley family will be here sometime after that. Then.....well.....who knows!! :) Who will be next??! Let us know if YOU will be coming for a visit too :)

Sweet girl

After swimming one night, we went out to eat at Old Chicago and the kids got balloons. When Hailey got home, she started writing a note on a piece of paper. I will let her tell you about it....

Just like new

One of the things that Chris has been wanting to have done for some time now is to get the cabin refinished. With the new house, we didn't have the time or money to do it last year. This year, the money to have someone do something for us went to the landscaping at the house. So, he agreed to do the work himself (he didn't want to by any means!!). And, thankfully, Kari was able to help TONS. We couldn't have done this without her....so THANK YOU VERY MUCH KARI! :) We love you! :) They started the process to sand the cabin and found it to be so much more than planned. Then, the weather didn't help...who knew we would get RAIN for a MONTH in June!?!? And SNOW too! Last weekend, they were able to get the sanding completely done, and were able to stain it on Saturday and Sunday (nice way to spend Father's Day, don't you think!?!?). Doug was able to help too on the weekend...thanks Doug! When we got to the cabin on Saturday, it was 1/2 stained. It looked fantastic!! :) By the time we left on Sunday late-afternoon, they had it all done once, and needed a second coat on one area. Then, Doran was able to go back up there on Monday and Tuesday and painted the trim on the windows and doors.....THANKS Doran! Now, we just need to do a little more paint, get new gutters, and this project will be D-O-N-E! :)

Chris and Doug working hard at staining the front....doesn't look like any fun! :)


Here is the before (well...more of a "during"...it is all sanded, but not stained yet) and an after!


The cabin really does look like NEW now! :) Great job Chris, Kari, Doug & Doran! :)

Father's Day 2009

Chris has been working an INSANE amount of hours lately for work...and finally got a break to go to the cabin to finish the staining of it...and we went up on Saturday to spend a day at the cabin too. So, Sunday morning it was Father's Day (6/21) and we were happy to be with him. Hailey wanted to make him breakfast in bed. This is tough since Chris is usually the first one awake at the cabin (but the lack of sleep the previous two weeks helped him sleep in a little). We were able to talk him into staying in bed and waiting for his heart-shaped pancake and orange juice. Nothing fancy, but it was a fun thing to do.

Happy Father's Day Chris! Thank you for being such a terrific father to the kids! :) We are all so lucky to have you in our lives! :)

And, of course, Happy Father's day to my dad and to Doug too! :)

Soccer Camp

The mornings of June 15-19 Hailey was able to attend a soccer camp sponsored by a local church. I wasn't sure if she would like it or not, so was anxious to talk to her after the first morning. She surprised me....SHE LOVED IT! :) That made me so happy! :) She was excited to go EVERY DAY and especially loved having time with her new friend Megan (who happens to be the daughter of my really really good friend Anne....what a coincidence :) ). They had a great week for playing and she got a lot of exercise (and went to bed really good at night!). I am glad I signed her up for it! :)

Here she is on the last day of the camp when ALL the kids got to play in a game for a few minutes (well, they were split up by ages of course). Look for the crazy one with the light purple skirt on (towards the middle of the picture) ... her hair is in a pony too.

And, finally, a picture of her and Megan. Really good friends with such a short time together (kind of like Megan's mom and me ;)).

Another little fish

I have another fish on my hands!! Over the course of two weeks (6/8-6/19) Ryan was in swimming lessons at the outdoor pool (poor Hailey wanted to go so bad, but she is beyond their teaching levels, so for once she had to sit and watch). Ryan really was acting like Hailey during these lessons....constantly with his face in the water, trying to swim, doing floats, etc. He loved it every night. It is so nice not having to force him or try to talk him into getting in the water...it is more like begging him to get OUT of the water! :) He did great, improved during the lessons, but will continue to be a sunfish again in August when he has lessons again. :)

Look at the little flirt! :) And, him practicing his back float.

Does it look like he is having fun?!?! :) The second picture is him working on his front float.

At the end of the two weeks, they always let the kids "jump in" via these mats. Last year Ryan didn't really like it and had to hold the teacher's hand the whole time. Not this year! :) He went right in!! :)

What did Hailey do while she waited?!?! Plenty of whining, and asking when he would be done...but also a few nights of picture taking and games were a good choice too. Notice the game she is playing...anyone remember those?!!? She is lucky I gave it to her...I wanted it for myself ;)

All I want for Christmas...

Take a look at Ryan below in the first picture. Notice anything?? Look closer.....around his mouth....his right upper lip. Swollen. The little stinker was holding a bucket and I think running at daycare and fell. The bucket won. Ryan got up and had a nice bloody mouth and a swollen lip. I haven't told you the worst part. Look at the last picture. You can see he has a cut in his gums by his two front, top teeth. Yes. He knocked them BOTH and now BOTH TEETH are loose. One of them has been just a little bit loose for almost a year now, but now they are both REALLY loose! :( Poor kid...he is going to be without his two front teeth for YEARS!

He is doing okay with the pain right now. I think it is tough for him to eat....but he is making it through. And, at swimming last night, he told his teachers that he couldn't do a bob since he hurt his teeth. Excuses, excuses. At least he got over that and was back under the water before we knew it.

I hope the pain goes away for him...he doesn't like it and I don't either. Poor guy!



Oh, and Hailey is NOT PLEASED that Ryan will likely loose his 2 front teeth before her! :) I think I saw her wiggling her teeth to speed up their departure! :) The race is on.....

Summer soccer camp

This week (6/15-19) Hailey is able to go to a church-sponsored soccer camp in the mornings from 9-12. I was nervous dropping her off yesterday ... she only knew one girl and she was in a different age group. However, last night she told me that she just LOVED soccer camp! :) That just made me smile!!! :) She was excited to get a new orange jersey to wear ... and a new water bottle. It is fun to see her have fun, meet new kids, and enjoy being active. She really does enjoy soccer ... which is great! :) Guess she will be playing again in the fall!

Here is the sign she made for today (the other side of it was from yesterday.....it said "first day of soccer camp" and she made the paper look like a soccer ball) -- updated to say "Second day of soccer" (she told me after I took the picture that she forgot to put "camp" on there :)). And, a picture of Hailey ready to go to soccer camp!!

Sleepovers

So, I would have bet money that Hailey would be the first one to go on sleepover at a friend's house. It isn't like she doesn't want to. However, Ryan's friend McKenna wanted him to sleep over on Saturday night (6/13) and he wanted to go...so we let him! :) Hailey, of course, was NOT PLEASED with this. However, I was able to deal with her since she had a birthday party at the Reef (waterpark) AND a tea party with friends on Sunday and Ryan didn't have anything. And, I think she was pleasantly surprised how much fun she had being the only kid home! :) We made cookies, played a lot of games, went for a bike ride/walk, and goofed off! :) She even told me that she liked it when Ryan was gone :)

OH...and Ryan had a lot of fun too! :) He made it through the night and enjoyed his time at their house. In fact, I think he wanted to stay longer! :)

I have a .....

FIRST GRADER!!!!!!!!

Friday, June 5th was Hailey's LAST day of kindergarten!! How on earth is that possible?!?! She is so ready though. Her teacher said the same thing too. We will continue to practice her reading and writing this summer. She is reading at a first grade level and hope to only improve that over the summer too. And, she LOVES to write little books/stories with actual sentences and a story about something too! They are fun to read! :) So, if anyone needs something to get her for her bday, she would love a ream of copy paper, a journal, books, etc. She loves that stuff! :)

Hailey, my dear girl, Daddy and I are SO PROUD of you and cannot explain how we love to see you grow and learn. You are doing so good at school and we love that you get excited to go every day. Enjoy your summer and we love you so very much. Thank you for being our special little girl! :) WE LOVE YOU! :)

Here is a picture of Hailey with her cake (she loves the little graduation cap on top of the cake) and also a picture of her cards and gifts. I didn't get a picture of her balloon....oops :) I cannot believe she is going to be in FIRST GRADE! :)