Casey's 3rd Birthday!

This past Sunday we celebrated Casey's 3rd birthday with Grandpa and Grandma O. Daddy and I even did our best to make a extra special cake for Casey in the shape of a dump truck complete with buttercream icing. Here are some pictures!

 The cake!

 Animal Planet boat with animals from Auntie Sandra and Auntie Terri-Lyn.

 Wildlife helicopter and animals by Animal Planet from Grandpa & Grandma M.

 A cement truck from Mommy and Daddy

 Mega Bloks Thomas and a Fisher Price Little People Space Ship from Grandma & Grandpa O.

A pedalless bike also from Mommy and Daddy.

Easter 2013

As many people know, we tend to head east every long weekend to the Olfert family farm south of Swift Current, SK starting at Easter. This year was only a little bit different. This year we not only couldn't go straight to the farm, but we didn't even stay the whole weekend as there was so much snow piled in the yard, the men couldn't even get any machines out of the machine shed. Megan, Grandpa and Daddy had fun trying to dig a tunnel in the snow next to the house and Grandpa took the kids sledding on the drifts too.

Here are some pictures of just how deep the drifts are in the farm yard.

Megan beside her snow tunnel

 Farm yard looking west

 Looking north at the garage

Drifts beside the garage

Looking toward the barn

Looking east at the front yard

Hannah-Rose at 6 months

February marks Hannah-Rose's 6 month "birthday"! Here's how she's doing:

Weight: 14 lbs 13 oz.

Height: 43 cm

She gets better at sitting up every day, enjoys watching her siblings play, LOVES the Jolly Jumper and has "graduated" from her infant car seat (aka "bucket") to a "big kid" car seat.

Joint Party 2013

As mentioned in my previous post, Megan and Ethan's birthdays are two days apart and we tend to have a joint party for them. This year, only Grandpa and Grandma O could make it for the party so here are some pictures of the kids with their gifts.

 Megan and her Thomas Kinkade Disney calendar

 

 Ethan opening his gift

 

Ethan and his new Angry Birds suitcase

The boys' collection of Thomas the Tank Engine trains

Megan's Birthday Party

As many of our friends and family know, Megan and Ethan have their birthdays two days apart so we tend to have a joint birthday party for them. Last year when Megan started Kindergarten, we started allowing her to have her own party with her friends from school. This year, Megan decided to have a girls only party with some of her friends from school. Here are some pictures from her party.

 The cake

 A new Barbie

Art supplies and scented lip balm

 

TinkerBell and friends 

 Lalaloopsy doll

Lego Friends

Hannah-Rose at 4 months

This past month, we celebrated Hannah-Rose turning 4 months just before Christmas. Here's an update on how she's doing:

 

Weight: 14 lbs. 5 oz.

Height: 62 cm

We get lots of smiles and squeals these days and she enjoys spending time in the Jolly Jumper. I will try to post a video of Hannah-Rose in the Jolly Jumper soon.

Christmas 2012

This year, we had Grandpa and Grandma O over for Christmas Day. We started the day the way most CRC families do with the Christmas Day service at our church and then came home to have lunch and open presents. In all the excitement of opening gifts, I forgot to take pictures of all the presents the kids got from Grandpa and Grandma. I did get pictures of Grandpa and Grandma with their presents from us and the kids presents from us. Here are a few pictures from our Christmas celebration this year.

 Santa Grandpa and his elf

 Ethan got Hot Wheels Wall Tracks!

 Megan got Perfection!

 A grader for Casey

 A new toolbox for Grandpa

 A dangling giraffe for Hannah-Rose

Wooden shoes for Grandma (decorative of course!)

Hope all of you had a great Christmas with your families!

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