Halloween 2012

This year was probably the first year that I can remember where we had to put snowsuits under the kids' Halloween costumes and the first where I took a 2 month old Trick or Treating! Here are some pictures from that night.

Our little "zoo" - Ethan the cow, Casey the monkey, Hannah-Rose the (unhappy) lamb and Megan the unicorn

First house of the night

With Natasha, our favourite babysitter!

Hannah-Rose at 2 months

Well, it's been two months since Hannah-Rose came to complete our family. As you can see, we have been a bit busy since her arrival. In the last two months, she has grown quite a bit and we are getting lots of smiles these days. Here are her current stats:

 

Weight: 12 lbs. 2 oz (almost double her birth weight!)

Length: 28 inches

 

Suffice to say, she is a very happy, healthy girl and greatly loved by her sister and brothers!



Baptism of Hannah-Rose

This post really should have been put up before the last one about Thanksgiving but here it is anyway! As anyone who knows our family knows, the Christian Reform Church baptises children and babies. All our children have been baptised in the first 2 months of life. Hannah-Rose's baptism was part of our church service near the end of September. We were blessed with warm weather for the weekend and were able to sit out in the backyard with family and friends without needing jackets. Not all family members were able to come but we appreciate that we could have some family with us! Here are some pictures from that weekend!

 

 

Getting ready before church

 

 Mom and her girls

 



 

Hannah-Rose 

 

Grandma M and Hannah-Rose

 

Grandma O and Hannah-Rose

 

The Olfert side

 

 

Our family!

 

The Mantel side

 

The cake



 

A piece of trivia about the beautiful gown Hannah-Rose wore- it was purchased by Jason's parents and used to baptise Jason, his older brother, two sisters, Jason's two nephews and three nieces in addition to our four, making Hannah-Rose the thirteenth baby to wear the gown.

Thanksgiving 2012

As has become our family tradition for every long weekend, we left the big city for the family farm in Saskatchewan for Thanksgiving. Hannah-Rose was a good traveller on the way out as she slept most of the way, waking for a feeding and diaper change when we stopped. As no one lives at the farm year round anymore, the house was also closed up for the winter. The kids got lots of time with Grandpa and Grandma before that happened and Hannah-Rose seemed to adjust well to the new environment. Thanksgiving Monday saw a few flurries fly through the sky before we left and I managed to get at least one picture of the snow flying!

 

 

 

New sandbox courtesy Uncle Ryan!

 

Grandma reading to the boys

 

Grandpa and the girls

 

Little farmer girl!

 

Casey's favourite garden tractor!



Deja Vu!

I know I have posted with this title before and it was a comparison between Megan and Casey. This time it is Megan and Hannah-Rose! We recently had some cool weather that allowed me to dress Hannah-Rose in some of the cold weather clothes that I had saved from when Megan was a baby. I remembered taking pictures of Megan in one particular outfit and jumped at the opportunity to try and copy the picture with Hannah-Rose! Here are the pictures! Let me know who you think is which girl!

 

 

 

 

Girl #1

 

Girl #2



Basement Development

 

This year, we decided to finally develop our basement, especially as we were becoming a family of six. Here are some pictures of the progress so far.

 

 

Megan's future room

Megan's room



The hallway

Future rec room

Rec room looking toward the stairs

School!

As many know, Megan has started on her long journey through school as she attended kindergarten last year. Now she's in Grade 1! We are almost through the first week of school and Megan is doing well. I neglected to take my camera with me to take a picture for her first day of school so here is a picture of her waiting for the bus for her second day of school!

 

 

Waiting for the bus!

 

The boys came to the bus stop too!

 

On the bus!



A new baby!

As many of our friends and family know, we have been expecting a new member of our family to join us this August. On August 21, at 12:34 pm, Hannah-Rose Lorraine Mantel was born weighing in at 7 lbs 13 oz, 3 oz heavier than her big sister. Delivery was a bit rough on mom and baby but both are doing fine now!

 

 

 

Hannah-Rose

Megan and Hannah-Rose

 

Casey and Hannah-Rose

 

Ethan and Hannah-Rose

 

Hannah-Rose and Daddy

 

Hannah-Rose

 

The whole family

 

Mommy and Hannah-Rose



August Farming

As has become our family tradition for almost all the long weekends between spring and fall, we once again packed up the kids and headed to the farm for the August long weekend. Due to a sudden death in the family in December, we were a man short for farming this year and chose to hire out some of the more particular jobs such as spraying. Here are some pictures from our weekend at the farm.

 

 

Megan driving Casey on the garden tractor

 

Daddy and Ethan

 

The sprayer that we hired to help out with harvest preparations.

 

Grandma and Casey on the other garden tractor

 

Having fun swinging

 

Megan the farm girl with her pink Riders hat, cut off jeans, and her brother's shirt

 

Casey and Daddy in the tandem (yes he's there!)

 

Megan and Ethan helping Grandpa with the swather.



Celebrating the Stampede

As many people know, this year was the 100th "birthday" of the Calgary Stampede. As such, we decided to take the kids downtown to watch the parade. Due to the heat of the day, the length of the parade and several other factors, we didn't stay long. We also chose to let the kids stay up really late one night in order to watch the special fireworks they had in honor of the 100th Stampede. Here are some highlights.

Taking the train to the parade

Pre-parade entertainment

The official start of the parade

Stampede Showband

Ian Tyson - parade marshal

Fireworks presented by TransAlta Utilities for Light Up the City

More fireworks