Halloween 2014

This year for Halloween, the kids all had different characters for costumes. Megan went as Rapunzel from Tangled, Ethan and Casey were their favourite video game characters - Mario and Luigi, and Hannah-Rose got to be Elmo. Elmo definitely got the most comments from the other trick or treaters and their parents! Megan occasionally got mistaken for Princess Peach from the Mario Bros. video games.

Here they all are on our front step just before leaving to go trick or treating!

Spring Break 2014

This year for Spring Break, we went with Grandpa and Grandma Olfert down to California. We flew into the beautiful San Diego Airport and stayed at the equally beautiful Lawrence Welk Resort. We had a few cloudy days along with several hot, sunny days. One unfortunate incident that happened was that our stroller - which we gate checked- had the front wheels broken off which meant that we had to buy a new stroller for the week. While in sunny California, we visited Legoland, Disneyland and the San Diego Zoo along with a trip to the Carlsbad Premium Outlet Mall and Huntington Beach. Our resort had several swimming pools but we really only visited the one which had a waterslide which Megan went down 25 times one day. Here are some photo albums I created on Facebook with pictures from our trip. There are so many pictures, I thought it would just be easier to share the links to the albums. Enjoy!

General California Pictures

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152361089585645.1073741832.605405644&type=1&l=3db0a86452

San Diego Zoo

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152361067005645.1073741831.605405644&type=1&l=b1a20216f2

Disneyland

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152360657880645.1073741830.605405644&type=1&l=790df4b1a1

Legoland

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152360631850645.1073741829.605405644&type=1&l=111ae1a2f9

Happy Birthday Megan!

8 years ago, we were blessed with a baby girl who has made our lives richer for her birth! Now, 8 years later, she has grown into an amazing girl who loves school, makes friends easily and has shown an enjoyment in multiple sports. She is a helper with her younger siblings and loves them very much! Here is a slideshow I put together with a snapshot of the past 8 years! We love you very much Megan!

Christmas 2013 Part 2

As I previously mentioned, we did Christmas twice this year. Here are pictures from Christmas Day in Drumheller with all the Olferts.

 Megan's gift from Grandpa and Grandma - skates (Grandma oopsed and put Ethan's skates in Megan's gift bag) and a Crayola projector

 Hannah-Rose's gift - a musical activity table

 Casey's gift from Grandpa & Grandma - a helicopter and John Deere toys.

Ethan's gift from Grandma and Grandpa - Disney Junior Guess Who?

 

Megan's gift from Katie - Scribblenauts for Nintendo 3DS

Christmas 2013 Part 1

For Christmas this year, we did it twice for the kids - once at our house where the kids opened their gifts from us, their aunts in Ontario and each other and once in Drumheller where they opened gifts from their Olfert cousins and Grandpa and Grandma Olfert. Here are some pictures from Christmas Eve at our house and then Christmas Day in Drumheller I will put in the next post.

Christmas Eve

 The girls in their dresses from KPea.

 Casey and his helicopter Hector Vector from Planes (the movie)

 Ethan and his plane Echo (also from Planes)

 Megan and her Anna doll from the movie Frozen

 Ethan and two more Planes characters - Chug and Skipper

Hannah-Rose and her Cabbage Patch Kid Liam "Leanne" Marina

 

 Megan and her Ariel toddler doll

Megan and her Easy Bake Oven

Ethan got Hot Wheels Wall Tracks and Casey got a Playmobile Fire Station

Trains!

Towards the end of September, Heritage Park, a local attraction that features life at the beginning of the 20th Century, hosted Railway Days sponsored by Canadian Pacific. As we have two train crazy boys, it was an easy decision to make as "Day Out With Thomas", which is hosted in the spring can be very expensive whereas for Railway Days, we only had to pay regular gate admission. Megan enjoyed the day too as she has some interest in trains but isn't as train crazy as the boys. Here are some pictures from our day at Heritage Park.

 One of two steam engines they had running that day.

The other steam engine.

Checking out one of the old train carriages that are on permanant display.

 

No trip is complete without a train ride! 

 

Everybody enjoyed the train ride!

Saying Good-bye to Crawling!

It's official! We are done with the crawling stage for the last time! Hannah-Rose is now walking more than crawling. I'm starting to feel a bit misty-eyed over this "small" but significant milestone. I managed to capture some video of her walking. Enjoy!

First Day of School!

It's that time of year again! Time for school to start again! This year marked another first in our family - 2 kids in school! That's right! Ethan is now in Kindergarten all day on Tuesdays and Thursdays like Megan was and Megan is in Grade 2. Both are enjoying school in their own way and I am enjoying the quiet that comes with having only 2 kids at home. I forgot to take my camera with me to school when I took the kids for their first day so I got a couple pictures after they got home.

 Grade 2!

Kindergarten!

Labor Day weekend at the farm

As typically happens in fall, we headed out to the farm for the beginning of harvest and the last long weekend before the start of school. The weather held for the weekend so lots of work got done on the fields and many tractor and combine rides were had along with rides in the new-to-us Gator!

 Sitting nicely with Grandpa at supper

 Ethan sneaking chips

Hannah-Rose the cool chick!

Casey in the tractor with Grandpa

Ready for a ride in the Gator!

Coming in from the field in the Gator!

Hannah-Rose is 1!

It never ceases to amaze me how quickly the first year goes by! That's right! It has now been 1 year since we welcomed Hannah-Rose to our family and what a year it has been! As many people know, all the kids were delivered via c-section and unfortunately due to some unknown infectious agent, my incision took 5-6 months to fully close after Hannah-Rose was born. 

This year we chose to take the birthday celebrations to Drumheller and had it at Grandpa and Grandma's. We were fortunate to have a nice hot sunny day in Drumheller and took the kids to the spray park after the party was over. Here are some pictures from the day!

 Yummy hot dog lunch!

 Ice cream cake!

 Minnie Mouse chair

Toy from Grandpa and Grandma

 

3-in-1 Zebra to help with learning to walk!

August Long Weekend

As usual, for the August long weekend, we escaped the confines of the city and headed to the Olfert family farm in Saskatchewan. The kids as always had fun spending time with Grandpa and Grandma along with some cousins that are near by and Grandma tried to teach Ethan how to ride a two wheeler.

 All the girls in a "birds nest"

 4 little birdies!

Grandma trying to help Ethan ride a two wheeler!

 Hannah-Rose in the sandbox

Tractor ride with Grandma!

More Summer Pictures

As I mentioned in my last post, we drove out to Ontario for the beginning of summer to visit family out there. While out there, we took a trip into Kitchener and spent some time at a spray park there with the boys and Hannah-Rose while Megan spent time with her cousins. Here are some pictures along with a few milestones that Hannah-Rose accomplished this summer.

 Ethan enjoying the cool water

 Even the aunties got in on the fun!

 Hanging in the shade with Grandpa and Grandma

 Climbing the stairs at home!

Climbing the climber without help in the backyard!

Summer holidays!

This year for summer holidays, we drove out to Ontario, taking 3 days to get out there and 3 days to come back driving through the States. We had nice weather for the almost 2 weeks we were out there. We were fortunate enough to be able to spend the first week of our vacation at Wasaga Beach and were at the beach for 4 of those days. The kids had fun playing in the water and biking around the park where we were staying with their cousins. Megan and Ethan were able to greatly improve their biking skills as a result. Here are a few pictures from our vacation.

 Corner Gas anyone?

It's still there!

 Casey and his bear Brad

 Hannah-Rose on the beach

Ethan playing in the water

 

Cousins!