3,000 Sit-up Challenge

So the other day my sister-in-law called me up and asked me if I wanted to see how long it would take to do 3000 sit-ups. Apparently Britney Spears does 3000 in one week, which is about 450 a day. And since we all want to be just like Britney... I said yes. So we agreed to put tickers on our blogs and have a friendly little competition. You can feel free to join us. Denise is on board already. We are starting on Tuesday. (Fortunately, I did read your blog before starting today, Mandy, but that was a creative way of trying to get ahead!) Any kind of sit-up counts as long as you are working your abs (getting up off the couch or out of bed doesn't count though!) If you want to put a ticker on your blog just click on the one on my blog and follow the instructions. According to my sister-in-law I am quite competitive but I think she is more competitive. We are even competitive about being competitive! Hee Hee! Good luck everyone!

Girls Will Be Girls

Hannah is such a girl already! She loves to pretend that her changing pad is her purse. She proudly walks around with it on her shoulder.

Sha also loves brushing her hair with anything that resembles a brush. She is using a bottle brush here:

I don't know if I'd say this is typical "girl" stuff but the picture was cute so I had to include it. She has grown tall enough to open the pantry so now she can get her own breakfast. We just have to teach her how to get out of the crib by herself and I'll be able to sleep in!

Like two peas in a...laundry basket?

Hannah and Taylor going for laundry basket rides. Taylor spends Mondays and Fridays with us while her mom goes to work for Hannah's grandpa.

Transformation!

So we have been doing some work on the outside of our house this summer. Here is the before picture:














And after:














Jason repainted the garage doors white, and we tore up the old landscaping and replaced the half-dead, spider-filled shrubs with new little plants:

Camping!!!

A couple of weekends ago we went camping in Merrit with Dan, Mandy and Dahlia and Tony, Rebekah, Rowan, Quinten, and Malachi. What can I say about this weekend? It was dirty, it was tiring, and... it was fun. We would have liked to have a shower or two probably, and a whole lot more sleep would have been good but we had a good time catching up with friends. Hannah's first experience with camping when she was 2 months old did not go well. We cleared the campground after the second night and we ended up in a hotel the third night -- so, needless to say, I was nervous about this adventure. All things considered she was very good this time. She slept well for the most part. I was amazed at what she could sleep through. I think she was the only one who slept through Dahlia's crying, but, of course she woke up crying five minutes after Dahlia calmed down! Now I can laugh about that but in the middle of the night... well no one got much sleep between those two little ones' "schedules". Oh, I have to mention that the three boys (Rowan, Quinten, and Malachi) are great kids and they were awesome with the girls. Both girls were completely taken with them and they could make them smile even in the grumpiest moments! Wonder what will happen in about 16 years;) So here are some pictures of the "compound".














Hannah just hangin' with Mr Janzen. And Jason having a cuddle with both girls.


We also got a chance to go to the beach and play in the freezing cold water. The girls were not daunted at all by the cold, although Hannah did not stop shaking for ten minutes after and Dahlia got really sick that night. Hmmm... maybe we should have been worried about that water!

Well I can't get blogger to upload any more pictures and I am giving up and publishing this post without the other pictures. Is anyone else having this much trouble with blogger? The whole last month I have barely been able to post anything. Any suggestions?

Hannah's First Birthday Party!

So, finally after many frustrating tries with blogger, here are some pictures from the "little" party we had for Hannah. If I counted right there were 26 people here for it and that was just some of her family! She was a bit overwhelmed at first but in the end she had lots of fun with her cousins and Jason's cousins -- it was really neat to have Jason's aunt and uncle and cousins join us unexpectedly from Fort St John.
Hannah had just woken up from her nap when everyone showed up - no wonder she was overwhelmed!
She got some fun gifts. Including a vacuum cleaner which she is almost as afraid of as the real one.



















She was curious about the little fire on her cake. You might be able to make out the scared looks on the faces behind her. She was fine by the way. Playing with fire will have to wait for another day. Following are some pictures of some people who were there.

"My Summer Vacation" by Julie W

Last week we went with my (Julie's) parents to a cabin on the Chilliwack river. It was a really nice little cabin with stainless steel appliances and hardwood floors -- not really roughing it I guess. You can see the main room (kitchen/living room) in these pictures. In the evening we set up a little theatre in the main room using a sheet and a projector. Outside there was a very tame bunny that was probably someone's pet at one time. It endured Hannah chasing it around and it loved our gift of carrots. Hannah decided that she wanted to try some bunny food and sat down to munch on the grass. We went to the beach at Chilliwack Lake one day. Hannah surprised us with her boldness as she march right into the ice cold water. She didn't even get upset when she fell in face first. She also had her first adventure in a canoe!
She also loved splashing in her kiddie pool which was way too cold to actually go in.

All in all it was a good time. Vacations are definitely not as relaxing as they used to be, with a toddler wanting to eat everything in sight but we had fun.