Farming

This past weekend we went out to the Olfert family farm near Swift Current to help with seeding. The kids had a great time out at the farm with Grandma and Grandpa O. Megan got the chance to help feed some lambs at Art & Wanda's. She really enjoyed doing it and would love the opportunity to do it again. Megan also enjoyed playing with 3rd cousins Bianca and Sofia. Ethan "helped" Grandpa with the sprayer by "checking" to make sure he was doing things right. There were so many pictures to choose from for this blog, I had to make a slide show.

Random Pictures

Here are a couple random pictures of things that have happened around our house recently.

Ethan cuddling with some stuffed animals in a laundry basket.

Enjoying some chocolate chip pancakes.

Montana Trip

As many of our friends and family know, we recently drove down to Bozeman, Montana for a friend's wedding. We took many pictures on the way there and the way back. I have posted the highlights on Facebook. Here is the link to the album:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=114516&id=605405644&l=185a6a1abf

Walking!!

The weekend before last, Ethan finally decided to start walking. Here is some video of his efforts.

Mommy's Little "Helper"

I think this video is self-explanatory.

Skiing with Grandpa

This past weekend, we went out to Panorama for the annual ski trip with my family. This year we decided to introduce Megan to skiing. Grandpa was the preferred person to teach this in Megan's opinion. Here is a picture and video of Megan and Grandpa skiing.

Megan's Past 3 years

I've been working on a slideshow of our lives for the past 3 years since Megan's birth. I've finally gotten it finished and I hope you enjoy this tribute to our little girl.

Birthday Party

This year we had a joint birthday party for both Megan and Ethan. I have put together a slideshow of the highlights from the party. Enjoy!

Christmas with the Mantels

As many of you know, this year we spent Christmas with Jason's family in Ontario. We were fortunate to fly out before the airports were closed due to snow. I have finally put together a slideshow of some of the Christmas Day highlights.

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)