Playing with Cousins

While we were out visiting Jason's family over Christmas, Megan and Ethan had many opportunities to play with their cousins Jeremy and Jorja. Here are a few of the best pictures.

Hiding in the tub Grandma uses as a toy box.

Megan "riding" Jeremy the lion.

Megan and Jeremy playing "Tackle".

Ethan and Jorja playing.

Megan and Jeremy "racing" on their hands and knees.

Olfert Christmas

This year, we did something different for Christmas with my family. As we couldn't get together at my parents, we had my parents over to open gifts with the kids at our house. Here are some shots of the kids with their gifts.

Megan and her new Read-A-Story system.

Grandma O admiring her new pictures of our family.

Ethan and his John Deere toys.

Megan and her toddler Cinderella doll (aka "Cindy")

Megan showing off the tiara and earrings that came with Cindy.

Updates

Dear Friends and blog readers,

I'm sorry I haven't updated in the last month, but as December was a busy month for us as we have been spending about the last 3 weeks with Jason's family, I haven't been able to blog about Christmas yet. I promise that I will be updating our blog soon after we get home and resettled. We've enjoyed our visit out in Ontario and have had some interesting times that I'll try to blog about once we're home.

Jocelyn

Calgary Christmas

Since we're going out to Ontario this year for Christmas, we decided we would have a bit of a Christmas at our house first. Here's a little video of Megan decorating the tree. I hope to post a slideshow of her decorating as soon as I figure out how.

Trouble!!!

We recently went to visit my parent in Drumheller. While we were "hanging out" during the day, Ethan decided to check out the newspapers that were laying out. Apparently, he found them really fun to take apart!!

Ethan at 9 months

Last Tuesday, we took Ethan to the doctor for his 9 month checkup. Here are his most recent "stats":

Height: 76 cm

Weight: 19 lbs 15 oz.

Halloween

I know it's been almost a week and a half since Halloween, but I'm finally getting around to blogging about Halloween this year. Originally, we thought that Megan would be Pooh and Ethan would be Eeyore, but Ethan outgrew the Eeyore top before Halloween so here's who he went as instead:

"I'm ready to go trick or treating, Mom!!"

"Is it time to go yet?"

This year, we went trick or treating at the mall as well as around our neighborhood and collected lots of candy. We'll see if Ethan will want to be Pooh next year and maybe Megan will be Minnie Mouse.

New Adventures

Since we got the Jolly Jumper, Ethan has figured out how to do a few things. Such as:

Climb stairs

and pull himself up to stand.

Suffice to say, things have gotten alot more interesting at our house lately.

Jumping

We recently borrowed a Jolly Jumper in a frame from my brother and sister-in-law in Okotoks. I thought it would be a good thing to get as Ethan seemed to like jumping. He has proved that this was a good move. He really enjoys spending time in the Jolly Jumper.

I can Sit!!!!

Well, the day has come that I doubted would actually happen! Ethan can now sit on his own and is able to get into a sitting position from laying on the floor without assistance. Here are a couple pictures of him sitting up on the living room floor.

"Look Mom! No supports, no Bumbo!"

"Yes, what would you like?"

Adventures in Crawling

Now that Ethan's crawling (sort of) he likes to get into all kinds of interesting places. This is one that I couldn't resist taking a picture of.

Halloween Preview

Recently, we decided to see if Megan's Halloween costume from last year still fit.

As some who have been following our blog for the last while may remember, Megan was Pooh for Halloween last year. She is definitely interested in being Pooh again this year. We just need to find a sleeper the same yellow as the costume for her to wear underneath.

This was Megan's first Halloween costume. Since it was a very unisex outfit, we thought Ethan could use it this year. This way, we can take Pooh and Eeyore out trick or treating.

Hanging Out with Grandma Mantel

Recently, Jason's parents came out for a visit. On one particularly warm, sunny afternoon, we decided to play in the yard on the swingset.

Megan and Ethan swinging.

Grandma pushing Ethan.

Megan the cool chick swinging.

Learning to Crawl

Now that Ethan's almost 7 1/2 months old, he's starting to figure out how to crawl. He's mastered rolling over and is currently doing the "army crawl" on his tummy. Here's a video of his crawling.

On the Farm

As many people know, my family has a farm in Saskatchewan in the Swift Current area. We went out there for the long weekend/ harvest. The kids really enjoy the time out there. I recently found out that this farm has been in my family for almost 90 years. I hope that it will continue to stay in my family for many more years.

Here are some pictures from our weekend at the farm and the trip home.

In the kitchen at the farm, preparing Ethan for some food.

"Can I drive, Mom? PLEASE?!"

In the tractor with Daddy and Grandpa.

Going around the field with Daddy and Grandpa.

"This is FUN!!"

Megan sleeping in the van on the way home.

Trip to the Zoo

Last Thursday, we went to the zoo with our Moms group. We were able to see all the baby animals that had been born. Megan also enjoyed playing in the Kinsmen playground. Here are some pictures from our day at the zoo.

Our first stop and meeting place was the playground.

The baby gorilla.

The mama gorilla.

The baby giraffe (a girl).

An idea of how tall the baby giraffe is compared to her mother.

The baby elephant (she's now 1 year old).

Sleeping with a Full "House"

This is a sample display of all the "buddies" Megan thinks she needs to sleep with. As you can see, there's barely room left for her.

Random Displays of Cuteness

Ethan at 6 months

height: 68 cm

weight: 17 lbs 1 oz. (approx. 7 - 8 1/2 kg)

Camping at Waterton

Last weekend, we went camping in Waterton National Park. We chose a spot in the Waterton townsite campground. Despite the fact that this was a campground in Waterton, there were plenty of deer and ground squirrels to be seen. Here's a picture of how close to our campsite one deer came.

Ethan hung out in the sling while we went for a walk.

Megan dipped her feet in the lake near our campsite.

More mule deer.

Going to the Stampede

This past Saturday, we took the kids to the Calgary Stampede. We only went for a couple hours but made sure we took in some of the kids' midway. Megan wasn't quite big enough to go on many rides by herself so I went on the rides with her.

Megan enjoyed riding this bumblebee ride.

This motorbike ride she was allowed to go on by herself.

We also took in a bit of the Enbridge Stage by the Saddledome.

This group was made up of former Stampede Marching band members.

Here's the same group performing with the Stampede Marching band.

Happy Birthday.....

..... to me!

So tired.....

I think this picture is pretty self-explanatory. :)

Ethan at Four Months

It's official! Ethan is now four months old. Yesterday we went to the doctor for his checkup. It was a good checkup. Here are the current stats:

Height: 63 cm

Weight: 13 lbs 15 oz.

I'm pleased to say he's doubled his birth weight (6 lbs 6 oz) with some weight to spare.