Hannah is a big girl :)

I usually don't let Hannah drink from cups that don't have a sippy spout because she usually pours the drink all over herself. But tonight Hannah insisted that she wanted a 'big girl' cup (she saw a Dora cup in the cupboard when I opened it). So tonight Hannah sat in her booster seat at the table and she managed to drink a whole cup of juice without spilling any of it! She was very proud of herself :) She sure is growing up...



This afternoon Dave was out in the 'man shed' in the back yard getting something and he knocked the hedge trimmers off the wall. They fell down and smacked him right in the forehead! He has a couple of cuts and a big lump... I wanted to take a picture of his banged up head and he wasn't very impressed about it :) You can't see the big lump well but you get the idea...



I bought my first Christmas gift today for Victoria... so I have officially started my Christmas shopping! Yay!!

Vancouver Giants

Tonight we went with some friends to the Vancouver Giants game. It was Hannah & Victoria's first hockey game. Hannah really liked it although she did get startled by the horns a few times. We had really good seats, right up against the glass so the kids were able to see all the action. There were a few fights right in front of us and Hannah yelled out for them to 'play nicey' it was funny :) Victoria slept through the first period, was awake and watched the second and the went back to sleep during the third.

A friend of a friend lent me a Baby Buddha baby sling to use for Victoria... I tried it out tonight at the game and it was really comfortable to wear. Victoria also was really comfortable in it... she curled up against me and slept most of the time.

We changed the girls into their PJ's in the car before we left and they both fell asleep on the drive and both went right into their beds when we got home. It was a nice evening out for everyone... I think we'll go again soon :)


Hannah, Tysen & Madison posing with a polar bear ~&~ Hannah saying 'Cheese'

Hannah, Victoria, Dave & I in our seats ~&~ Tanya, Victoria & I at the game

Victoria in the baby sling with me outside the Pacific Coliseum

Catching up...

I haven't blogged in several days... I think I may be experiencing withdrawals :) Hannah has been busy with her classes and activities which makes me (her personal chauffeur) busy too. Swimming lessons start again next Friday so that is just one more thing to add to our crazy weeks :)

My parents got back from their trip down to the States and they came over to visit Hannah and Victoria on Tuesday night. I guess they visited us too but I know that the main purpose of their visit was to see the girls. They missed them while they were away. Hannah really missed her Buggy and Papa too... she phoned and left several messages on their machine for them while they were gone. My parents called from the hotel one night to talk to Hannah and their phone bill was almost as much as the hotel stay!! What a racket those hotels have got going on for long distance calls! My mom called me once collect so I can't wait to see my phone bill when it comes! Hannah and Victoria got spoiled by Buggy and Papa as usual... they made off like bandits with all the stuff they brought them back.

Wednesday I asked my mom to come by and babysit the girls in the morning so I could go grocery shopping. I am sticking to my promise to myself to not take my children to the grocery store after the last 'episode'. Wednesday evening Hannah went to Mother Goose and ran around like a wild animal instead of sitting and participating like the other children in the class. She was very disruptive and out of control for most of the class. I was so embarrassed by her lack of ability to control herself and listen to the instructors... I hope they don't kick her out of the class! I am still left wondering when the 'terrible two's' will end.....

This morning it wasn't raining for the first time in a while so we got ready early and walked over to the park. I put Victoria in the baby swing and she seemed to like it. Hannah and I took turns pushing her but then Hannah took off and ran out of the park. I had to practically toss Victoria into the stroller and chase after Hannah. She ran down the hill and was heading for the drainage ditch, I stumbled and fell down while running after her and I actually ended up rolling down the hill! At least when I fell it distracted Hannah enough that she stopped running and didn't end up in the ditch. That was the end of what was supposed to be our fun morning at the park. Hannah cried the whole way home because she was in big trouble and when we got home she said she won't run away again (ya right).

I did manage to get a picture of Victoria in the swing before Hannah charged off...



I also uploaded this picture of Hannah wearing the same bunny suit the first time she went in the swing at the park. This was taken in November 2005 when Hannah was the same age (about 3 and a half months).

Meadows Maze

Today we all went to a birthday party for my friend Tanya's mom. They had a BBQ at Meadows Maze which was a nice idea as there was lots to keep all the kids busy. We went once during the summer and had fun so it was nice to make it back one more time before it closes for the season.

There were hayrides, barrel car rides, a huge tube slide, petting zoo, pony rides and a train that took you through the corn maze. We chose not to actually walk the maze because it takes over an hour and that would have been to much walking for Hannah (and me because I am still so stiff and sore from yesterdays Amazing Race!).

Victoria was pretty happy about all the attention and cuddles she was getting from all of the adults that were holding her all afternoon. She was pretty tired and had quite a long nap in the stroller afterwards. Hannah was running around all afternoon with all the 'big kids' they were all very nice to include her as she was the youngest one out there playing.

It was a long day for everyone and Hannah crashed in the car on the way home as expected. We had to wake her up when we got home to give her a bath because she was filthy from all the dust and dirt at the corn field. After her bath she fell asleep right away and Victoria was right behind her :) I think I am going to follow their lead and head to bed now too....


Dave & Hannah and Hannah & I on the barrel car ride... very bumpy!!

Tanya & Tysen on the barrel car ride & Hannah using the pulley to feed the goats

Victoria getting ready for a snooze in the stroller :)

Our Amazing Race!

Today was the annual 'Family Day' for Dave's work... this year it was held at the Greater Vancouver Zoo. The weather was looking a bit sketchy this morning when we arrived but it actually turned out to be a nice day! We had a nice picnic lunch and then we participated in 'The Amazing Race' that was put on for CAPTIN's families... so much FUN! I am exhausted... I haven't ran like that in a long time :)

We teamed up with Summer, Justin and their 2 boys. It was quite an adventure as we both had 2 kids and double strollers to race with! Hannah was really into it and kept yelling 'Go faster!' as we were running the race... let me just say jogging and pushing a stroller with 2 kids in it was HARD even with Dave and I taking turns. I reclined Victoria's seat in the stroller all the way back and she actually slept the whole time!! I was so surprised because the stroller was really bouncing and bumping over hills, trails and train tracks the whole time.

We had pit stops, detours and road blocks just like on the TV show. It was very helpful that I know my way around the zoo well and have pretty good knowledge of zoo animal facts :) For one of the detours we had to cover pine cones in peanut butter, yogurt and bird seed to make treats for the animals... YUCK. We sprung to the front of the pack after some 'resourceful' antics on my part. One of our tasks was to board the North American Wilds Tour bus and at the end of the tour you had to answer a trivia question to receive your next clue from the driver. Well when we got to the bus there was a line up of foreign exchange students (about 20 of them!). I knew the rest of the teams were right behind us so I ran up and asked the leader if I could go in front of them in line. I told them we were in a race and they let us jump to the front of the line. We literally got on the bus as the doors were closing behind us and the rest of the teams were left to wait for the next bus except one group of boys that followed us :) After exiting the bus we had to race... and I mean seriously run to the next stop (at the other end of the zoo!). We managed to keep up near the front of the pack for the rest of the race and we ended up finishing in 2nd place!!!! Pretty good considering we had 4 kids and 2 double strollers in tow :)

We all got T-shirts plus a gift basket filled with gift certificates and some other goodies. It was such a fun day and we all worked well as a team :) Hannah even ran part of the way and flashed a cute smile and said 'please' to help get us ahead in the bus lineup.



Dave and Hannah at the starting point of our 'Amazing Race'

Hannah at a 'pit stop'



Here we are 2nd Place winners!!! Not too shabby :) But I am so tired....

Not a Superstore Fan...

FYI : I am NEVER going to the grocery store with both of my kids again! I know I have said this before but I am serious now. I needed to pick up 3 items from the grocery store because my brother is coming over for dinner tomorrow and I have a serious craving for some roast beef and yorkshire puddings. Usually I try and go to the grocery store in the evening when Dave can watch the kids but I thought picking up only 3 things would be manageable, so I went this morning instead.

As soon as we get there Hannah starts asking to ride in a cart instead of the stroller. I am trying to 'pick my battles' with her right now so I got a buggy and put her in the toddler seat on the top. I left Victoria in her car seat and put her in the bottom part of the cart. Good things I only needed a few things because my kids were taking up almost the whole shopping cart!

I decided to go to Superstore because I wanted to look at the new children's clothing department that everyone has been raving about and get Hannah some slippers because it is starting to get cold and she won't leave her socks on in the house. Well Superstore's shopping carts don't have those little seat belts to strap your kid in with... what is up with that?? I mean you have to pay for your plastic bags, pack your own groceries and bring your own seat belt?

Anyways as soon as we get in the store Hannah starts standing up on the seat, jumping around and yelling 'look at me!' I calmly (seriously I was still calm at this point) told her to sit on her bum to which she said 'No!' Big surprise there as that is her favourite word... still. I asked her again and she started to get into tantrum mode. I tried to tell her she had to sit down so she wouldn't fall out of the cart and get hurt etc. she continued to yell and scream. I would like to know how exactly you are supposed to reason with a two year old. After the 'reasoning' didn't seem to work I then try to pull her feet back through the leg holes in the cart and get her to sit on her bum. Then she starts screaming on the top of her lungs 'It's MY bum!' and 'Mean Mommy!' Right at this point Victoria starts to scream and carry on too... oh what fun!

I continue as fast as possible through the store to get a roast, some carrots and a jug of milk. The whole time I am having to strong arm Hannah in the cart as she is trying to jump out while I try and console Victoria who is still crying. Hannah kept grabbing things off the shelves and asking to buy cookies then screaming and kicking at me when I put the things back. It was a total horror show!

After I get to the check out the cashier actually has the nerve to ask me 'How are you today?' as my children are screaming so loud she actually had to raise her own voice so I could hear her! Are you kidding me?? Is it not obvious to this woman that I have just left my sanity in the produce department?? I pay for the stuff and as I am power walking my cart of cry babies past the customer service desk I notice a sign that says 'Cart seat belts available at Customer Service'. Thanks alot Superstore but what are you worried that someone is going to steal all the cart seat belts if you leave them on the carts??? Grrrr!

OK so I feel better now that I have got that all off my chest, who knew blogging could be so therapeutic? But I am not going to feel bad for Hannah having cold feet tomorrow... after all she would have some slippers if she had behaved herself :)

Tot Gym

This morning was Hannah's first day back to Tot Gym since the summer break... she really missed it. We usually go every Tuesday and Hannah gets to run wild around the gym with her little group of friends that we meet there. It is a great way for her to burn of some of her extra energy... and she always has a super long nap when we get home:)

Getting ready to get there on time this morning (now that I have 2 kids) was a bit of a challenge! I wanted to try and get there a little early because it is sometimes hard to find parking at that time in the morning and I didn't want to have to park on the street and walk with both of the kids. I thought I was doing good, I had our bag packed and both girls dressed (in matching track suits of course) with a bit of time to spare. But while I was putting Victoria into her car seat she threw up all over herself and me! So I ran upstairs to get cleaned up and change Victoria into something else. After getting Victoria dressed again I went to find Hannah so I could get the girls into the car and I found her alright, playing with a jar of Vaseline! She had Vaseline all over the place... and that stuff is hard to wash off!! We did finally manage to get out the door and meet up with our friends in a relatively timely manner... I still think that Hannah smelled like Vaseline but nobody said anything... thanks guys!

After Tot Gym we had hot dogs for lunch at the little snack shop in the community center... this is Hannah's favourite treat after we go to Tot Gym. This way she has lunch before we leave... she usually falls asleep in the car on the way home because she is so tired from all the running around :) Today was no exception... she crashed before we even left the parking lot and I carried her up to bed when we got home.

After getting Hannah into bed I had a bit of time to play with Victoria. I put her on her back on the floor and went to make myself a cup of tea, when I came back she was on her tummy! I had to question myself... did I put her on her tummy or her back when I put her down?? So I put her back on her back and she wiggled around for a moment and then she rolled over onto her tummy!! She kept doing it over and over... it was so exciting for her :) Now she can roll over both ways... won't be long now until I can't leave her in one place without her rolling away on me!

Totally Two

I took Hannah to her first 'Totally Two' class this morning. She seemed to enjoy it... she really liked using the paint and glitter. She has never painted before so she was really interested in it. I liked the fact that she was making the big mess somewhere else and not at home :)

She made a couple of crafts (a crocodile hat and a sparkly tooth), played with play doh, sang some songs, listen to a story and played a parachute game. She was a bit quieter than normal during the class because it was all new to her... but she hasn't stopped talking about it since we came home!

A Quiet Weekend...

Victoria turned 3 months on Friday... it sure has gone by quickly! She is really starting to get interested in her surroundings now, whenever Hannah comes up to her she always breaks into a great big smile :) Tonight she grasped a toy for the first time and held it in her hands while looking at it.

Saturday evening we took the girls to White Spot (Hannah's favourite) for dinner. Hannah ate almost her whole Pirate Pack! She made her own dip... a mixture of ketchup, honey mustard and zoo dip... it looked gross but she dipped all her chicken and fries in it and gobbled it up. After we left the restaurant we went to Captain Kid's Fun Centre a new play place I saw advertised in the paper. It was not as good as I had hoped... the toddler area was really small and only had some blocks and a small slide, the bigger kids area looked fun but it was overrun by alot of older kids that were out of control. Hannah wasn't even in the place for 5 minutes before some big kid pushed her down and she got trampled by a herd of kids playing football. After that Hannah was terrified and crying uncontrollably, she kept screaming 'home' and 'car' and running to the exit door. We couldn't get her to calm down and we ended up having to leave. She cried all the way home. Even the staff members were getting knocked around by these kids! It was just a couple of young teenage girls running the place and they didn't seem assertive enough to keep the bigger kids under control.

Today is Sunday and we all spent the day just hanging out at home... cleaning the house, doing laundry and all that fun stuff. Tomorrow is the start of all of Hannah's fall activities... things are going to be busy!

Here are some new pictures of the girls... plus I finally took some new pictures of Stallone, Abby and Pistol too!

Goosey Class was Fun...

Last night was Hannah's first Mother Goose class since the summer break (Goosey Class as she calls it). She had alot of fun and really got into singing the songs, clapping her hands and following along with the actions. She seemed to behave herself a bit better this time... I guess she is just that much older and her attention span is a bit longer :) Towards the end of the class she was getting a little restless and started to lose a bit of interest... I guess that is to be expected. She goes to Mother Goose every Wednesday evening now for the next 10 weeks and Victoria gets to tag along with us too, she seemed to like all the singing going on around her.

Since Dave is working nights this week and sleeping during the day I have been trying to take the girls out in the mornings so the house is a bit quieter for him to try and sleep. The weather has been nice all week so I have been trying to take Hannah and Victoria to a different park each day. Hannah has been enjoying the change from our usual park. I usually bring a blanket for Victoria to lay on and pack a picnic lunch for Hannah and I to share.

Today we went to Brookswood park... they have just renovated the playground and Hannah really loved the new climbing wall and merry go round. There is also a small water park there too, Hannah fell in the biggest puddle and got soaking wet. I didn't pack a change of clothes for her so she had to ride home in just a pull-up. Victoria was sucking her thumb and laying on the blanket where she fell asleep for most of the time we were there!





Tomorrow we are meeting Tanya, Tysen and Joshua for lunch at McDonald's... Hannah is excited. She loves to play with Tysen, she talks about him all the time!

Here I am AGAIN...

I really didn't want to post twice today but I just had to put these pictures up! This afternoon Hannah got up from her nap and Victoria was still sleeping... I went downstairs and Hannah was following me but then she got sidetracked. I was waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs and when she didn't show up I went back up to find her. This is what I found....

Yep that's right... Hannah went into Victoria's room and climbed into the crib with her!! Awww she really does love her doesn't she??? Then after I kicked Hannah out of the crib she ran into her room and wanted me to put Victoria in her 'big girl' bed and take her picture again...

I love when they do cute things like this :) It is so much more fun then the tantrums... LOL

A Morning at the Park

Dave is now on night shift for the next 2 weeks... it is one of my favourite shifts because I get the bed all to myself and I don't have to listen to him snore :) When he got home from work this morning at 8:45 am Hannah, Victoria and I were all just getting up! It worked out well because Hannah went downstairs with Dave and had breakfast and I fed Victoria upstairs and then got ready myself.

Around 9:30am we traded off and Dave went to bed for the day and I got both girls dressed. I decided to take them over to our neighbourhood park so Dave would have a quiet house while he fell asleep. Hannah met a little boy at the park who was about the same age as she is. While they were playing I chatted with the little boy's mom, some adult conversation is always a bonus! Hannah wanted to push Victoria in the swing... I tried to put Victoria in it but she is still a little too small for it yet.

We stayed at the park for about an hour and then walked home and had some lunch. Hannah went for her nap right after eating lunch, she was pretty tired from running around and it was pretty hot outside today.

I also put the crib aquarium on the side of Victoria's crib the other day... she is fascinated with it. I just uploaded the picture of her watching it.

Getting Organized!

Well today I decided to tackle something I have been putting off for a couple weeks... cleaning out and organizing the girls' closets. When we were in the States a few weeks ago I bought Hannah her new 'fall wardrobe' and some new things for Victoria and I had yet to put it all away. If you are thinking.... 'fall wardrobe' for a 2 year old??? Then you really don't know me at all!!

So I got up this morning and sent both the kids downstairs with Dave so I could spend the whole morning cleaning out their closets without distractions or 'help' that really isn't any help from Hannah. I packed away all Hannah's too small, too short and 'I'm tired of seeing you in this' clothing away into boxes for Victoria to grow into. Then I sorted and hung up all of her new stuff, went through her dresser drawers and gave them all a once over as well.

When I finished with Hannah's room I started on Victoria's room where I did the same thing, packing away too small clothes for a future kids swap meet sale and lifting out the next sizes of Hannah's baby clothes for her to start wearing as well as putting all her new stuff away too. I can't get over how much Victoria has outgrown already!! It is really weird to see all of Hannah's old outfits on her... I remembered which pair of sleepers that Hannah wore to her first set of shots and I dressed Victoria in that same sleeper when I took her for hers last week. I know, I'm so corny :)

All in all it took me about 2 hours to get it all done and it is sure is nice to feel organized again...