Hallie and Ella in Hawaii! (The girls were in such a rush to get in the pool the first day-Ella took off her cover up and had her suit on backwards! It took a while to get her out and convince her to turn it around-it didn't bother her!)

Peter, and I had a really fun "becation" in Hawaii with Hallie and Ella. It took us a little longer to get there, but we had a great surprise visit with Mary and Dan and their kids in Vancouver- overnight with no luggage! The next day us and all our luggage arrived in Oahu, and straight to the pool we went, and played in the pool and ocean all week. The girls got along great most of the time, and had so much fun together! Hallie learned how to swim on her own, and Ella lived in her life jacket. The girls missed Claire so much- they were always thinking of her, and wanting to buy her things. They were cheering when our plane was landing in Calgary to see their Claire! Peter and I missed her too, but it would have been hard to have her there- plus she got spoiled by all her Grandparents, and Great-Grandmas at their houses. Nonna had a hard time giving her back! We all missed her, but enjoyed being busy swimming, shopping, eating, and some relaxing with Hallie and Ella!

Easter

Easter

We had a great time at the cabin over the Easter weekend. The highlight was obviously the Easter egg hunt! Lots of candy for the long ride home! The girls were so excited for some cousins to finally arrive for our last night there to hunt with, and then have a fun ski day together! Claire was in love with baby James, but so gentle, and tried to be so helpful, and get him what he needed, it was really sweet. We also have some neat pictures of a night when it was just starting to snow in our backyard with a group of deer walking through.

CLAIRE IS 1!

Claire's first year has flown by! She is such a pleasure to have in our family! Her big sisters just love to play with her and help take care of her, they think she is the greatest little doll! She is so much fun, very friendly, sweet and playful. She loves to smile and wave, and dance, and giggle, and play chase. She loves her sisters, her "Daddy", "Ducks", and "UH-OH"- when she drops something, or finds something on the floor. She is such a good little girl- she loves to wander around and find fun things to play with, she sleeps and eats so well! She was so cute at her birthday parties, and thouroughly enjoyed her cupcakes! She loves to play with all her her cousins-big and little! She loves her grandmas, and grandpas, aunts and uncles too. Hallie was so thrilled to lend Claire her BIRTHDAY GIRL party hat, but for most of Hallie's attempts Claire swatted it away, so it was a real feat for her to keep it on for some pictures! We love you Claire!

Claire's first birthday!

the girls had a great halloween! they went to a couple parties, dressed up for school, then the mall, then the trick or treating on our street! almost a week long event! they were all so cute, and had a great time in their costumes. yesterday grandma got hallie and ella ready to trick or treat, and even put mascara on for them! they loved it, although ella was going nuts rubbing her eyes when it was time for the group shot at the mall. there were cute cousins and friends at the mall, it took ella a few minutes to figure out that paige was underneath that pirate costume! they got so much candy! while ella was eating orange pancakes, and hallie was SORTING through her loot, we had visitors pop over to our house. more cute little cousins! a skunk, an elephant, a zebra and a monkey, and grandpa too! what a busy FUN night!

HALLOWEEN!

I can't believe Hallie is 5! She had a great party with lots of family and friends, and a beautiful sunny day! It couldn't have been nicer (except for the bead up the nose mishap after most of her guests had left! Good thing Poppa was there to get it out for us! I think Hallie thought is was there for life! Her cousin Paige claims the bead just jumped up Hallie's nose! - She does get in real close to smell everything!) thank you all for making it a memorable day for Hallie.
Then on her birthday Claire and I found her at reccess playing on the big spinning tree with all the big kids, and brought in cupcakes for her kindergarten class! She really likes school now- especially riding the bus! If I drive her to school now, she thinks she can go without a seatbelt-just like the bus!
We also have Claire getting big so fast. Another mishap is documented in this slideshow- one involving Claire twisting the top off a jar of diaper cream-and having her way with it! We are learning that Claire's way is always straight to the mouth! She sis crawling all over and standing herself up against everything! She is so sweet and a lot of fun! She loves laughing at her sisters.

Hallie turned 5!

HOME AT LAST!

They did it! They survived the first day of kindergarten and pre-school! Ella's day was much less traumatic, but still she was hesitant to enter her classroom, once in, and found her cousin Parker, she was a lot more at ease. The night before she said "I don't want Mom to come with me, cause I know Parker, and I'm not scared of him." She was so excited, especially to wear her new school clothes! I asked her who else she played with, and she said "I don't tell them my name, I just play with them." There are 3 Ella' in her class, so they wanted to call her Ella D, but I know she sometimes take offense to nicknames, so I tried to clear it with her, and she shook her head-no. Ella boo was a no go too, but she grinned and nodded when I said "Ella Marie". She told me one of the other Ella' cried the whole time "and she didn't even get hurt"! Her only complaint was no snack-Hallie told her all about snack, but it was a short day, so she''ll have to wait for next time!
Hallie was the only lucky girl to have a cute little sister waiting and waiving to her as the bus pulled up. They were excited to see each other after a long day for Hallie. She was all smiles, and asking Ella all about her day at preschool. She said she had fun, "but I did't get much time to eat my lunch, I could only eat my nitchyvan". She was hungry, but happy to be home playing with Ella, and waiting to greet Claire when she woke up from her nap! She later confessed to having a pretty hard day, and feeling lonely at school. Our hearts were breaking for her, but we convinced her to go back, her friend from her primary class will be there next day, as staggard entry days will be over. She had no complaints about the bus, and sat with a new friend on the way home. She has been talking about riding the school bus since she could talk!