Johnnie Sarah Helena and Isabelle

2007-11-27T14:26:00.000-08:00

FORGET CRAWLING, I WANT TO WALK!!

Isabelle has started crawling this week but soon got bored with it. She is now pulling herself up onto anything she can get her hands on.

2007-11-22T08:19:00.000-08:00

IZZY BEING BUSY : )

Isabelle loves our computer power cord! I don't know how many times I've had to pull her out of here but we had to do something about it. We pretty much figured out that out of sight out of mind really does work. So I usually cover up the red light and she could care less about it. So funny!

Isabelle's life goal right now is to get up on her feet. That is all she tries to do. Here she is making her 100th attempt : ) It won't be long now!

2007-11-21T06:20:00.000-08:00

WOW HAVE I EVER BEEN SLACKING ON THE BLOGGING. SORRY GUYS!

So it has been about a month since our last clock in and so much has changed! This week Isabelle is starting not only crawling but yesterday I walked in to get her in the morning and she was standing up in her crib. Just two weeks ago she could hardly sit up on her own. She will be walking before a year for sure! I think she is looking like Johnnie more and more everyday, too. It's crazy!

Helena and her friend Kadin and Helena sitting in front of the saddle dome where the Calgary flames play

Johnnie and I have been doing well. For awhile we were in a small competition to get in shape and loose some weight.......and attempt a healthier diet. And I think we've acheived all that. He goes to the gym three times a week and I have been going to aquasize at the pool. Plus I joined the weight watcher plan which has been a great experience . This is probably the first time we've taken our health into consideration and we have been feeling great!

Helena is doing very well! She is now fully potty trained which is sooooo lovely. I've notived that we don't go through a whole bag of diapers in one week now. So nice! I'm still a little nervous about taking her out though. Usually when she has to go she needs to be in the bathroom within 10 seconds. Ah well we'll figure it out. Helena has really fallen in love with puzzles and building blocks. She is such a wiz at puzzles. She can put them together so fast and she loves building towers.

2007-10-25T19:24:00.001-07:00

HELENA'S NEW HAIR CUT

I've been really wanting to grow Helena's hair out but it has been so hard. What with Isabelle pulling half of it out, just dealing with the knots is just not worth it for the time being. So yesterday I took her to the hair salon down the road. The lady was awesome with her and Helena did so well sitting for her (even listening to everything she told her) So she got her bangs cut (properly for the first time ever :) and she did some trimming around the edges to clean up some of mommy's mistakes. Now it should grow out properly (If mommy can leave it alone...haha)

These are the only shots I could get so far. She is so hard to snap photos of. She thinks it's so funny to run and hide and having a digital with a delay doesn't make it much easier.

2007-10-23T22:42:00.001-07:00

JOHNNIE'S BIRTHDAY

Johnnie playing his birthday present. Helena joining in for some fun :)

Yes, I love balloons and used many today.

I thought for fun I would do a Christmas theme. Christmas lights and music included :)

Even a tree like cake :)

2007-10-23T22:36:00.001-07:00

AN ARTIST IN THE FAMILY??

So this is one of Helena's first official pieces of art. One of the few times she has drawn some of her family and friends. I think it is so amazing what they pick up and how their minds work. On this page she drew a rainbow (on the left) Her family.. Isabelle on the left (first circle) then herself, Johnnie and then me to the right of Johnnie. The top right hand corner (in blue) is a whale and the top left (green circle) is our friend Bobbie. Just thought I'd post. So interesting :)

2007-10-23T22:32:00.001-07:00

ENJOYING THE FALL

Helena playing in the leaves. This year we had quite a few leaves in our backyard so it made for a big beautiful pile to jump in :)

2007-10-12T12:47:00.000-07:00

OUR PRETTY LITTLE BUTTERFLY

Isn't she so sweet! I love this costume. I think I might get the same one for Helena. She loves it too.

2007-10-10T13:19:00.001-07:00

RANDOMS!

Our friend let us borrow her jolly jumper and Isabelle loves it. Sometimes I wonder if she's going to launch herself right out of it. Such a great toy!

This Thanksgiving weekend we went for a little hike with our friends. Here is Helena and Kadin slowing down for a second for us to grab a shot of the two of them. They have so much fun together.

Isabelle all ready for the walk

Thanksgiving day at our friend's place. I love that they both have knitted sweaters on. So cute :)

2007-09-30T13:10:00.000-07:00

ELBOW FALLS

This weekend we did some sight seeing and ended up at Elbow falls. I'd post photos on the blog but there are so many so if you'd like to view them please click on the link below. (Facebook is much easier to post when there are a lot of them) Thanks everyone for checking us out :)

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=24422&l=a5489&id=707710864

2007-09-24T09:06:00.001-07:00

WHAT I HAVE BEEN KEEPING MYSELF BUSY WITH

Now that we have been in Calgary for almost two years, I feel that we are some what settled and lucky to say that we have some awesome friends here. And I have been able to start a lot of fun projects on my own as well as with my girlfriends. A couple of weeks ago a friend and I got together and she has been teaching me the basics of sewing. As you can see from the above photo I can now make throw pillows with zippers in them. I think I would like to try slip covers for my chairs next and maybe a dress for Helena. We'll see how that goes..haha

Another project. This used to be a toy box with a cover but it eventually broke so I flipped it upside down and put a cushion on it. Now when we have home group there will be extra seats :) Quick and cheap fix!

Here is another one of my addictions. Scrapbooking!! And I have an awesome group of ladies who are really into it. (And have all the fun gadgets) Yesterday after church we were invited over for scrapbooking (the guys watched the football game) and then supper. Eight hours of heaven (and only two pages done..haha). We had a great time.

Johnnie joined the gym down the road and I joined a kick boxing (taebo) class with one of my friends (Sorry no photos :) We go twice a week at 9pm and well, it kicks our tail. Such an awesome workout and loving it so much. Only four more classes though :( I don't know what I'm going to do without it. I look forward to it every week.

Starting in October I have joined up with a bunch of ladies from the church, a cooking group. We get together one night to plan our menu and then we take a whole Saturday and we cook two weeks worth of meals for our own families. I am so excited about this because I'm not such a great cook so I think this will help me a lot with great recipes and well, getting some good tips! I cannot wait for this to start up!

In a couple of months I will be taking in a little boy full time. This will be so great for us as I can help out financially but still be a stay at home mom. So I feel this will be a really fun year for us. We've connected with an awesome church, great friends and we are hoping to have a down payment for a house by next summer.....maybe in the maritimes :) We'll see what God has in store for us. We are still missing home.

2007-09-19T21:43:00.001-07:00

SOME UPDATES

Well, I can officially say that it feels like winter here. This morning it was actually snowing. You think as Canadians we would be used to it but I'm always so surprised when it snows for the first time. It has been ever so chilly here so it was bound to happen. Things are well here with us all. Isabelle has her first two bottom teeth now and is enjoying peas, sweet potato and her cereal. Chicken wasn't a very big hit and fruits I am still working on. She's not a fan of the sourness. Helena is well and busy as usual. We started potting training this week and she is catching on very quickly. Rewarding her with a gummy bear after each time using the potting is really speeding up the process..haha

They will be the best of friends when they are older. They already play so well together. Helena is the only one that can make Isabelle laugh uncontrollably.

Helena loooooves to help me bake......and wear her princess dress. I think this has been the best investment toy wise so far. It is requested every morning. She is so funny.

Isabelle and Me

2007-09-08T18:22:00.001-07:00

2007 MASTERS AT SPRUCE MEADOWS

Helena being a horsie!

Helena's friend Mya being a horse as well

Getting a little distracted having fun

2007-09-04T11:36:00.000-07:00

FOR UNCLE GREG!

These outfits were actually both intended for Helena, but as I was going through some of the girls stuff the other week I came upon this little red jumper that Helena's uncle Greg gave to her as a gift from Equador. Seeing as Helena fits into her other dress now from Equador I thought I would try and get some photos of the girls together. So this was the best I could do. Helena thinks it's a game to run away from the camera and hide so you can imagine how many photos I had to take just to get these ones. I hope you like them!

2007-09-04T08:32:00.000-07:00

HELENA'S DRESS

I think when I was about Helena's age I pulled something off like this. Rubber boots and a dress. This happens to be one of Helena's new things. She wants to wear this dress everyday. What was I thinking pulling this out of storage?! Well, atleast I don't have such a hard time finding something for her to wear now :)

Doing her twirls!

2007-09-04T07:57:00.001-07:00

OUR FILL OF CAMPING FOR ONE WEEKEND!

This weekend we "spontaneously" decided to go camping at Ol' MacDonald Campground. Well a little last minute. Johnnie has wanted to try this campground out for awhile. I was just not so ready for this weekend. We left Friday afternoon and drove about 2 hours north. Because it was the long weekend we were unable to get a regular spot therefore we were in the overflow area. Pretty much just an open field with picnic tables and fire pits. We got there, set up and headed out for some grub. Arriving there wasn't too bad. Helena immediately made friends with our neighbors and they played tag most of the night. Johnnie did the cooking on his gourmet cooking burner :) Hot Dogs.

Notice the clouds behind Johnnie's head.... Yeah the calm before the storm. We should have clued in right then. After supper we then headed off to bed. I was welcomed by a nice big juicy spider on my bed. I was thrilled. Getting to sleep was no problem for all of us as we had a long day and we were pretty beat. It wasn't until 1am in the morning the fun began. I woke up to loud thunder and rain pouring down on my head (the fly broke loose) Isabelle and I had to do a quick maneuver to avoid being soaked. I can't remember the last time being so scared. It rained so hard and it sounded like the thunder was going to hit us. I thought we were going to be ripped from our tent with some horrific tornado. (The stuff that goes through your head when you are scared) I didn't get much sleep after that. Morning finally arrived and the sun peaked out long enough for breakfast and then it started to rain again. We were out of there in less than an hour. A toddler and a baby in a tent all day.....might be a little insane.

Our home for the night

Enjoying supper

Getting ready for bed

Still in one piece come morning

Isabelle konked out

2007-08-29T20:11:00.000-07:00

HELENA'S THIRD BIRTHDAY!

Isabelle and her rosy cheeks. Yesterday she got her immunization shots so she has been a little under the weather.

Another Horse! I don't think she could ever have too many horses. She picked this one out herself.

Cinderella

It's party time. Helena loved all the balloons.

Princess theme was a hit!

Helena's cake

2007-08-29T08:17:00.000-07:00

WATCHING THE AIRPLANES COME IN!

As we had a play date to go to with some time to spare before we stopped off to watch the airplanes land. And what a treat. We got to see two fighter jet take off. I've never experienced that before and I must say, everyone should. When the jets turned on the engines and were taking off the table we were sitting on was shaking. It was soooo loud too! It was awesome! In this photo Helena is wathching one of the planes Johnnie flies come in for a landing.

The fighter jet waiting to take off. We usually hear these ones from our house and they are loud as it is in the air. Can you imagine the take off? It was pretty intense. Helena loved it. The second one she was a little scared of the noise.

2007-08-25T20:07:00.000-07:00

FUN AT THE AMUSEMENT PARK

Today we went to one of the amusement parks just outside the city with our friends. Here are some photos of our day. The first one is of Isabelle of course. She was so happy all day. I couldn't believe how good she was. I think she was entertained constantly by all the people, noises, and rides.

Having a lunch break

Helena and Kadin riding the big rig. Soon as the ride started they had figured out how to get out of their seat belt and were goofing around. They are quite the characters when they are together.

Helena and Kadin flying. They were screaming and giggling the whole time. People were actually laughing at them. They are so funny together!

I wonder why this was one of Helena's favorite rides??

Lunch!

2007-08-22T07:53:00.001-07:00

WINTER ALREADY?? FEELS LIKE IT TO ME :)

All smiles and giggles. I have been blessed with such happy, funny, creative girls!!

Isabelle has been growing so much lately (As do most babies:) So it was time to do an upgrade on her clothes. She has grown out of her 3-6 months and even some of her 6-9 month clothes so yesterday I went through Helena's old items (although most of them were hardly ever used) It was like Christmas all over again. All kinds of new and pretty things for Isabelle to wear. Beautiful fall dresses and sweaters! (Thanks Mom Monette!!) I even pulled out the winter wear. I think our summer is officially over. A high of 14 degrees on the Thursday???!! And the trees are already turning colors!

Isabelle's standard. She loves munching on her two fingers!

Pretty blue eyes. She liked her hat too although she couldn't quite figure out what was on head.

Last night I was reading some stories to Helena and she wanted to read one more (of course :) so I said she could get one more. She stood up on the bed, put both hands to one side (like a superhero about to take flight) and shouted," To the rescue!!" and launched herself across the bed. She made us laugh so much. She is so funny and so random. I don't know where she comes up with this stuff.

2007-08-20T11:08:00.001-07:00

MULTI PURPOSE SHAVING CREAM

Helena loved finger painting with shaving cream. It entertained her for quite awhile. It's messy but she had a blast....and it wasn't that hard to clean up :)

2007-08-20T11:00:00.001-07:00

THE WEEKEND!

After a long day we decided to stop and get some pizza on the way home!

Walkingn downtown around the skate park. The biggest half pipe we've ever seen.

A long day for Helena. The market and then a stroll downtown

Isabelle holding her own :)

2007-08-16T13:17:00.001-07:00

RUNNING AND THEN TO THE PARK WITH MY BEAUTIES

Helena loves slides and today she was pretty proud to be able to climb up as well as go down by herself.

Isabelle hanging out :)

Me with the girls before heading out for my run.

My setup for the double stroller. Helena loves going in this and bringing her toys with her to play!

Mom and Isabelle watching Helena go down the slide. Two fingers in the mouth is the norm for Isabelle now. It's pretty cute!

2007-08-16T06:35:00.001-07:00

FOOD TIME

I have officially started Isabelle on cereal now. I've given it to her once and awhile before but this week she now has about a tablespoon about three times a day. I think she's eating it. Seems like most of it ends up on her face and everywhere else but at least we are getting into our routine. I'm not sure if I'm going to make my own baby food this time. It just seems so much easier to have jars already to go considering it seems like we are always on the go ourselves. I was able to make homemade baby food with Helena for about three months and I'm glad I did. It was an interesting experience.

So yesterday we officially started our running group. Well, actually it was more of a power walk but very happy that we got out! A group of us (mostly from our home group) we're wanting to get together once a week to run and then we'd be accountability partners as well for the rest of the week. I REALLY enjoyed this because last night didn't even seem like it was exercise!! We walked about 4 and half kilometers. I think next week we are going to squeeze in some running into the routine. I highly recommend this to anyone!! Fun stuff.. Over and out..

2007-08-13T17:16:00.001-07:00

SORRY FOR THE DELAY!

Hey everyone! Sorry it has been soooo long since we last posted on our blog! We were away on vacation of course to the maritimes for a couple of weeks. We had an awesome time and it was so hard leaving :( Wish we could still be there! When we got back our computer died on us for awhile. We thought we got it fixed but I think we were a bit scammed! We had to reformat it ourselves so we no longer have e-mail for the time being (long story). The only thing on our desktop right now is the internet. It looks pretty weird.

So what is new with us?? Well, not too much really. As we are home now we are back into the swing of things. Busy as usual :) The girls are doing very well. Isabelle will be six months pretty soon and I can't believe it! I really thought I was going to be pregnant for the rest of my life (it usually feels like that to me :) She is doing well to sit up by herself in her high chair and can Helena ever make her laugh. It's so funny! They already play so well together. Helena is doing well and making Johnnie and I laugh all the time. Her new saying is, "Hey, I have an idea" and then she actually tells us her idea. Crazy!

Johnnie is doing well and keeping active with work. It's amazing all the things he has been getting done and the things he has to deal with. Such a hard worker. He's enjoying soccer. As a matter of fact he's playing right now. He got some new cleats the other day and he was pretty excited to wear them tonight. They are pretty flashy. Bright red :) It's a good thing they run a lot because it feels like it is going to snow tonight. Ouch! It has barely been making it over the twenties. The other day was only 15 degrees. I kept wanting to turn the heat on.

Well, not to much else new here. Started working on learning how to sew. I took out about 20 books from the library and I have been "trying" to teach myself how to sew. I've figured out how to sew hems and buttons with my sewing machine. I made my first throw pillow cover the other day. I was so proud :) Anyway, enough rambling. I will make sure to post more photos!

2007-07-06T09:52:00.001-07:00

OUR TRIP TO LAKE LOUISE

The view! We couldn't believe that it was actually that color!

Helena Checking out the water temperature

Judy And Helena

My favorite photo of the day. It just looks so cute and pretty at the same time

Helena and Moi

Judy and Helena

2007-07-02T07:27:00.001-07:00

Helena And Her Tent :)

2007-07-01T17:52:00.001-07:00

Another Day At The Beach :)

We have been very spoiled by our friends inviting us to the beach. Already this summer we have been to the beach quite a few times. What a treat :) Here, Helena and her friend Kadin take a minute to dry off and then they were off again. They are so cute together.

2007-06-25T09:19:00.001-07:00

TUMMY TIME

Isabelle is getting more and more stronger everyday. Yesterday when we were out she was trying to pull herself up in her car seat. She was getting so frustrated that she couldn't sit up. If she is sitting on your lap she can hold her head quite steady. I almost think she is starting to get her first teeth. She seems to be chomping on everything. I just had her for a checkup on thursday and things are going well. She is now 14 pounds 1 ounce.

2007-06-24T08:14:00.001-07:00

SOME RANDOMS FROM YESTERDAY

Yesterday was a pretty relaxed day. Johnnie was not feeling well so he slept quite a bit of the day. As did the girls. We all finally got moving and out of the house for a bit around 5pm. Johnnie had received a gift certificate from a co-worker so we went out for a very nice dinner. Probably the best pasta I've had in a long time. Helena even ate (thats been a challenge lately) We then came home and did some more relaxing. A perfect weekend day :) I tried to get some shots of Johnnie to post but he wasn't having it. Sorry guys.

2007-06-23T10:42:00.000-07:00

CAROLINE'S BABY SHOWER

Last night we had a "Caroline" shower. After the baby is born her family is putting on quite a large baby shower for her back home so as our home group, we wanted to have some kind of shower for her. We thought instead of getting her baby stuff that we get her some things to pamper herself with (can't forget about mom). It was really nice and I recommend the idea to anyone! Such a treat! Sorry for those who didn't make the picture. We should have taken the group photo earlier.

2007-06-21T17:07:00.000-07:00

HELENA'S NEW SUIT!...AND CAP

Today was a gorgeous day and Johnnie and I were invited to the beach. Helena's bathing suit was a little small so we got her a new one...and it came with a bathing cap. I thought she'd never keep it on but I had a hard time getting it off (she loved it so much). I forgot the camera so I took a couple of shots when I got home. Enjoy!

2007-06-17T22:03:00.001-07:00

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!

2007-06-15T06:41:00.001-07:00

Looking Pretty Cute

Hey everyone! Sorry for the delay on updates. I'll try to get some more photos up and running this weekend if I can. Last night I just couldn't resist taking some photos of Isabelle sleeping. She looked so cute and peaceful. The past three and a half weeks the three of us girls have been quite sick. Colds, flu back to cold and now a nice cough to boot. I can't wait for us to be healthy again.

Not to much else new here with us besides being sick. I think this weekend we are going to try and cool our jets and just stay home and relax. We tend to go go go and then be so exhausted by the end of it. Johnnie has been working double time the past couple of weeks (They had their big 50th anniversary party last night) And now that the new building is up and running too there are a lot of things to sort out which is partly Johnnie's job to do. So he is keeping nice and busy and learning lots and lots :)

The girls are doing great! Isabelle is on formula now which I think I already mentioned. I was really torn about switching her over because I really wanted her to be breast fed but her on the formula, she's a totally different baby. She used to be very fussy (and I'm being polite here:) but now she is the most content little girl. Both Helena and Isabelle go to bed around 9pm and sleep into about 9am(Isabelle will wake up for a few minutes to get a snack) Now I feel guilty for having such an easy job:) Helena is doing great. She looooves to color. I think if I let her she would just color all day. The other day she drew me a picture and I asked her what it was. She told me it was pizza bums. ( She loves to help out making pizza on buns....or for her bums:) Get her to sing hot cross buns. It's so funny. Oh and I've been letting Helena stay up to watch So you think you can dance. She loves to watch them aaaaand she loves to dance with them. It is soooo cute. I really should video tape it!

Hmmm, I think that is pretty much it for now. Hope all is well for everyone and we'll be seeing some of you really soon!! Can't wait!

2007-06-09T10:56:00.000-07:00

CUTE

2007-06-07T14:12:00.000-07:00

OUR PRINCESSES!!

The girls both received these beautiful matching dresses in the mail a week or so ago from Debbie. Don't they look precious in them?!! Thank you so much! Helena is really starting to enjoy wearing dresses now that she coming on to being three years old.

Not to sure about this one although she is very pretty to look at :)

Isabelle is getting so strong now. She can hold her head up no problem.

I think she looks more and more like Helena every day. Now that she is on formula 100% (I lost my milk over the weekend, or atleast what was left of it. I don't think I was ever producing enough milk since Isabelle was born. She is way more content on being bottle fed) she is getting a little on the chubby side. I think she looks so cute!!

2007-06-03T19:47:00.000-07:00

NORTH CARIBOO RETREAT

The beautiful house boat we stayed on. The biggest of the three.

Enjoying our last morning in BC. What a beautiful view. You couldn't have asked for better weather!

The top of our boat.

2007-06-03T19:41:00.000-07:00

One of the other house boats we boated with.

Johnnie out on the water. The water was beautiful. A lot of people actually went swimming.
Hanging out. The guys were actually jumping from where they stand in this photo.

Relaxing around the campfire

2007-06-03T19:24:00.000-07:00

Look at this kitchen. Goooorgeous!

In the kitchen!

Sittting by the hot tub

View from the plane. The rockies

Landing in Salmon Arm. We ended up taking the plane Johnnie usually flies. It was a lot of fun!

Another plane that the group took

2007-05-29T13:37:00.001-07:00

YEAY VACATION!

Here is what we will be doing this weekend and what we will be staying in. The one house boat that Johnnie and I will be on will be the one with the hot tub. That should be really nice. Can't wait!

2007-05-28T13:21:00.000-07:00

SOME RANDOMS

2007-05-28T09:54:00.000-07:00

Couple Of Updates!

I love our backyard in the summer. Nice and lush, especially for Calgary.

Our little sleeping Beauty

Mommy and Helena