Casey at 4 months

Today we took Casey to the doctor for his 4 month checkup and here are the results:

Weight: 15 lbs 5 oz

Length: 25 1/2 inches (just over actually)

According to the growth charts the doctors use to track these statistics, it puts Casey in the 50th percentile for weight and 75th percentile for height which means he's of average weight for his age and a bit on the tall side heightwise.

A Piece of History

We recently had a visit here in Calgary from a piece of World War II history in the form of the Mynarski Memorial Lancaster, one of only two flight worthy Lancasters left. This Lancaster is normally kept at the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum in Hamilton but for some reason that I am not aware of, it was decided that it should come west and Calgary's Aero Space Museum would host it for 9 days. We went to see it the first night (I think) and here is a link to the album I created on Facebook with all the pictures that were taken.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=250554&id=605405644&l=3f4bb570fd

Hopefully I'll be able to post a video of the plane flying soon.

Casey

I've noticed that Casey likes to stand so I decided to bring up our exersaucer from the basement. As you can see, Casey thinks this was a good idea! He enjoys it for short periods of time but I'm sure he'll enjoy it more as he develops his muscle control.

Farming Again

This year for the July long weekend, we once again escaped the city. This year we took off for the Olfert family farm in Saskatchewan. As usual, the kids had a blast with Grandpa and Grandma and tractor and truck rides. We also took in some of Swift Current's Frontier Days. Here are some pictures.

Megan driving the garden tractor with Grandpa

In the grain truck with Daddy and Grandpa

Hanging out in the grain truck while it's being loaded

On the "Monkey ride" with Daddy and Grandpa

The train ride which neither kid wanted to get off of!

The last ride they were able to have before the rain came!

Casey at 2 months

Well, time has flown once again and Casey is now 2 months old! We went for his 2 month checkup recently and here are his current stats:

Length: 23 inches

Weight: 12 lbs 11 oz.

We have also now moved him out of the bassinet and into the crib. He did really well in the crib his first night and I don't know that he even knew he was in a bigger bed!

My Monkey Boys

In celebration of Casey's baptism, most of Jason's family came out for a visit. They brought many gifts (mostly clothes) for Casey as well as Megan and Ethan. One of Jason's sisters, Terri-Lyn, found a really cute monkey sleeper for Casey. Since Ethan also has a monkey sleeper, I thought I'd post pictures of the two boys in their monkey sleepers.

My boys in their monkey "jammies"!

Olfert Grandchildren

As mentioned in my last post, we recently celebrated Casey's baptism. We were fortunate that everyone of the Olferts could make it along with most of the Mantel clan. As a result, my parents took the opportunity to have a picture taken with all their grandchildren- all 6! In order here is who is who in the picture:

Back row- Micah, Katie, Megan, Devun

Front row - Grandma, Ethan, Grandpa, Casey

Casey at One Month

Things that have occured in the last month:

Trips to the doctor for weighing and checkups

A trip to the farm

Going to church

Getting baptised at church

Meeting family and friends

I recently took Casey for his one month checkup at the doctor. While I didn't get his length, I am happy to report that he is a healthy 10 lbs 10 oz and already growing out of his 0-3 month sleepers. I will try to ensure that I get length and weight at his 2 month checkup next month.

Our Newest Member!

As many of our friends and family already know, we have added a new member to our family! Last Friday, April 23, Casey William Mantel was born weighing in at a healthy 8 lbs 3 ozs at 2:19 pm.

Easter 2010

This year for Easter, we took a trip out to the family farm outside Swift Current to prepare it for the coming seeding season. The kids had a great time out there (as usual) and even had an Easter egg hunt courtesy of Grandma. Here is a slideshow with some of the highlights from the weekend.

"Little Einsteins"

For those out there who are familiar with Disney's children's programming, this will look familiar to you. Megan and Ethan are fans of the show "Little Einsteins" in which 4 friends and their rocket have various adventures. What is happening in the picture is the kids are pretending to "power up" Rocket like on the show. It was too cute not to capture.

"Blast off!"

Birthday Celebration 2010

As many of you know, we recently celebrated Megan and Ethan's birthdays. As we have done in the past, we had one party for the both as their birthdays are only 2 days apart. I have finally managed to put together a slideshow of the highlights from the party. Enjoy!

Random Holiday Pictures

I've been meaning to post more pictures from our time in Canmore and have finally managed to put together a slideshow of pictures. I have included some more pictures of Ethan on the ski hill from his day skiing.

Playing Catch-Up

I guess it's time to catch up everyone with what's happened to the Mantel family since my last post after we had Christmas (early) with Jason's family. On December 25, we took our family up to Drumheller for Christmas with the Olferts. Megan and Ethan enjoyed opening their presents from Grandpa and Grandma and their cousins. Megan received a new Barbie with a horse from Devun and Ethan received a Little People Playset from Katie.

For New Year's, we took our usual family trip out to the Canmore area for skiing. As we had bought Megan a helmet for skiing/skating, we made sure she went skiing at least once. Her reviews of skiing are mixed (sometimes she's willing to go again, sometimes not) and we also thought we'd see what Ethan thought of skiing. Turns out Ethan is possibly going to be our daredevil on the hill. Here's a video of Ethan going down the hill with Jason.

Megan Skiing

Both Megan and Ethan got to go skiing this past week when we were staying in the Canmore area. Here are some pictures of Megan skiing with Grandpa (her favourite ski buddy!).

Skiing with Grandpa

Ready for skiing!

Mantel Christmas 2009

This year we started our Christmas celebrations early as Jason's parents came out from Ontario to have a Christmas celebration with us here! We decided to open presents Saturday night and Megan was more than happy to finally open presents! It took Ethan a couple presents to get the hang of opening them, but I think he enjoyed it too. Here are some pictures of what the kids got for Christmas from the Mantels (Jason and I also received gifts but I wanted to focus on the kids).

Ethan's "New" Bed Update

Unfortunately, the "experiment" with Ethan changing to a bed from the crib was short-lived. As of Friday morning (EARLY). Ethan is back in the crib. We will try this "experiment" again next year.

Ethan's "New" Bed

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, Megan is now in a twin bed which allows Ethan to have the toddler bed. Yesterday, I finally took down the crib and put the toddler bed in it's place knowing Ethan would choose the crib over the bed when given a choice. We had no problems getting him into bed last night as he didn't seem to realize he could climb out as well as in. He slept well all night and only got out this morning after Jason checked on him. Naptime was a different story this morning as I tried several times to put him down and leave him only to have him get up out of bed. After delaying naptime for about an hour and rocking him for a few minutes, I was able to get him into bed for a nap and take this picture.

Goofing Off

We recently "upgraded" Megan's bed for her (which she is loving!) from the toddler bed to a twin. We used the frame of my old canopy bed and just added a mattress, boxspring, sheets and comforter to make it "new" for her. This morning, I caught them laying like this together in Megan's bed. I knew I just had to get a picture! :)

Halloween 2009

Here are Megan and Ethan ready to go out Trick or Treating.

Halloween Preview 2009

This year, we decided to let Megan have a choice in what costume she was going to wear for Halloween. After many mind changes (and some firm decision making on the part of Mom and Dad) she decided Snow White was a good costume. This allowed Ethan to be Pooh. After looking through several stores, we finally found a sleeper Ethan could wear under the Pooh suit that matched. So here are some pictures of what Megan and Ethan will look like for Halloween.

First Snow

As many people know, this past week we got a relatively good dump of snow here in Calgary. Megan was really excited for the snow so she could build snowmen and make snow angels. Ethan seemed to enjoy the snow too. Here are some pictures of the kids playing in the snow.

"I'm ready to come in Mom!"

Megan and Ethan playing in the snow.


Ethan ready to go outside.

Wasaga Beach

While we were in Ontario, we took a trip up to Wasaga Beach where Jason's parents have some vacation property. Here is a slide show of some of the pictures from our time there along with a video of Ethan chasing seagulls.

At the Safari

As many of you know, for our holidays this summer, we went to visit Jason's family in Ontario. While we were out there, we took a trip to the African Lion Safari which was near where his parents lived. I have put together a slideshow of some of the pictures from our trip there.

Matching Shirts

Not that long ago, we found these "matching" to do list shirts in one of the quality children's clothing stores we shop at.

Megan's shirt:

Eat Candy

Look Cute

Hug Mummy

Ethan's shirt:

Make a mess

Act innocent

Hug Daddy

A New Niece!

This past weekend, we welcomed baby Sarah Lynn Mantel to our family. This is a new cousin for Megan and Ethan. We're looking forward to meeting her when we go out to Ontario later this month!

Anniversary Weekend

This past weekend, Jason and I celebrated our 5th Anniversary. We celebrated by having my mom pick up Megan and Ethan so we could have a kid free weekend. As part of our celebration, we went out for supper and a movie on Friday and went on a cookout horseback ride on Saturday. Here are some pictures from our ride.

Chief Mountain

A deer spotted on the way

Jason on his horse Wrangler



The cookout site

Jason's self-portrait

Me on my horse Norman

A view of the path we rode along

Jason's horse Wrangler