Off to Ontario

Hi! Just crazy me doing one last blog post before heading out for a few days. Joy and I have the privilege of traveling to Ontario for the wedding of a friend. We fly from Calgary tomorrow afternoon. Josh and Hope are heading to Mum & Dad's farm for the Easter weekend. Joy and I return on Tuesday and I'll update my blog again sometime after that. :o)

Tummy time in the crib while I was doing something at that end of the hallway.
Bright blue eyes. :o)
Ahhh. Both girls contained for a minute or two. :o)
As always... "Hold Joy's fung-er."
I saw Joy playing with this music box earlier in the day, so thought I'd put it there for her again.
It only lasted a brief minute... but I think she was hungry. ;o)
Getting some Vit D while I prepared supper.
"Are you gonna share that container with me or not, Hope?"
I left the girls with Josh over breakfast this morning so I could get a but of concentrated time in on the packing for our trip. Four people heading two directions, each set having a girl in diapers takes a bit of work!
"Daddy picked these toys for me to play with Mum. Isn't life great?"

Here's a couple little videos of the girls at play. :o)

I thought it was a fun coincidence that the Josties "What Happy Is" was playing in the background. Such happy times, raisin' little one for Jesus. :o) Check out the song on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6uP5AkskmE if you haven't heard it. :o)

Granny and Uncle Avery come to see us

Saturday dawned cloudy after a day of snow on Friday, but things were still happy in our house with a day off at hand and the anticipation of Granny and Uncle Avery arriving later in the day.

Our little girl coming up the walkway...crunching some shovel misses of snow as she goes.
Returning with Daddy who treated me to breakfast from The Loft and coffee from Tim Hortons. What a sweet guy! The break from the kitchen was very much appreciated. :o)
Chillin' at the piano with the girls.
Love it. Just love it.
That's our mini-van!!! After a half a year of looking on and off the Lord led us to the van He had for us, a 2010 Dodge Caravan. It was a lease-back vehicle, so we got something almost new for a not-new price, which was fantastic for us! A personalized licence plate is something I've always wanted, so it's extra special to have one on our mini-van. NEWSONG was the word the Lord gave me for the plate, and it was even available! We thank Him for the new blessings He is revealing in our lives through our two daughters and our church family.
One of the things I like most about the van is the sunk-in trunk. It makes grocery loading sooo much easier. The two sliding doors are also awesome, and the built in rear-view kids mirror is fun too. Hope loves it.
Denver and Foremost here we come. :o)
My Mum and Avery were taking in some of the AHEA convention in Red Deer on the weekend (http://www.aheaonline.com/) and came to see us afterwards.
I was soooo relieved that Joy took well to Mum. I was praying she would, because when Hope was this age she wanted nothing to do with my Mum, nor anyone else for that matter. Joy does play strange a little bit, but thankfully not all the time.
Chewing again....
After Saturday night baths with Granny, Hope got a new book from Granny.
They had fun discovering it together.
It has 4 little stuffed animals, each with a Velcro patch on one side, and there's places for them in the book.
Meanwhile, Uncle Ave gets the littlest one all snuggled up and ready to nurse herself to sleep.
Sunday afternoon baby blues chased away at the piano.
She was getting into it... :o)
Then she started singing along with herself...
Such a sweetie.
After Hope's nap she got into her head that she wanted to go play in the snow with granny, who was of course, happy to oblige.
Building "the great wall of backyard" with last years plant boxes.
Hope really wanted to come show me.
So Granny lifted her across the snowdrift so Hope could show me her snow and have me dump it for her.
'Twas a fun hour for them. Mum said Hope even slid down the snow drift on her backside. Pretty good for cautious Hopey-Doo.
Hanging out together...
A smile and a thumb!
Then it was tummy time in the living room.
Everyone was entertained by the shape ball. :o)
I think Mum was snapping her fingers to get Joy to look up.
Busy little hands...
Alright "1... 3... 2!" (as Hope says) "Everyone look at someone!!!" After all.... who says you all have to look at the camera anyways?
Granny helping Hope brush her teeth. Hope was being a pickle about going to bed, so Mum put Hope's pants on her head like a hat to distract Hope from her grumpies. Then, Hope thought Granny should put the pants-hat on her head. When I went to check on Hope before I fell asleep I found she was still wearing it. :o)

Hope you enjoy the videos of Mum and Ave interacting with the girls. :o)

Home Time Vol V

Another week at our house finds both the girls enjoying the new-to-us baby accessories. As you can see, Hope fits the Bumbo too. :o)
She likes to read while sitting in it.

Gotta love those overalls. :o)
Hope - gotta love on her sister. :o)
Frozen peas for an after-naptime-snack in the Bumbo, or the "Bumbi" as Hope calls it.
Yum, yum. Hey - it's a great way for little ones to eat veggies.
And to complete the experience, Hope wanted to go in the bouncer... again. :o)
Playtime after bath in matching onesies. Lorrie got us some new 3-6 month ones for Joy and I picked up an 18-24 month one for Hope at the swap meet. Funny that the firstborn got the second-hand and the second born got the new in this case. :o)
Hope was laughing! Really, she was... saying "Hi Joy, Hi Joy!" This picture makes it look like their torsos aren't that different in length. Could be. I haven't exactly measured. I do know that Joy is very long in her torso from the way she grows through her tops. :o)
Just love Joy's happiness with Hope.
And Hope still loves holding Joy's hand, or Joy "fung-er" as she calls it. That was the way Hope first interacted with Joy when she was born - by holding her finger. It is still what Hope asks for most of the time. :o)
Another playtime in one of Joy's toys.
This time she thought her dolly needed to sit on her lap in the bouncer. I think she even told it "shhh, shhh." She's been into telling me "baby needs Hope" and off she'll toddle to find the baby so she can take care of it. :o) Pretty cute.
After dinner playtime with Daddy. Looking at Mommy...
Looking at Hope. Nice tongue there Joy.
Daddy loves his little girls.
Just how many fingers can she fit in her mouth at once? :o)
Playtime on the nursery floor. This was Friday morning, and we were planning on having company for dinner in the evening, and I needed to do a few things to get the house in order. So I asked Hope if she could play with Joy while I attempted a 5 minute cleaning of the bathroom.
With Joy securely on her lap Hope looked up at me, pointed to the bathroom and said "Mommy go clean toilet." :o) And I did. :o)
Chewing again....