Crawling

Brayden has been crawling around for a while now by dragging his legs behind him. But recently he's gotten up on all fours. With all that extra activity, he's lost a lot of his chubbiness. He still enjoys the jolly jumper but it's not as fun now that he knows that he can be more mobile when not in the jolly jumper. Elania loves being "chased" by Brayden. He's now getting into pulling himself up into a standing position. He's pretty shakey though and has had some bad falls.

Backyardigans

We found out that the Backyardigans live show was coming to Halifax and we were lucky enough to get tickets before it was too late. The look on Elania's face when the show started was priceless! I don't think she had any idea that the "real thing" existed. Her cousin Daniel introduced her to the Backyardigans over Christmas and gave her some DVDs. It quickly became her favourite thing to watch. Who would have thought Dora could ever be surpassed? Half way through the show, there was a brief intermission and Mike told Elania that they were coming back. Then she kept telling Jodi, "when the lights go dark, they're coming back." Then after a few minutes she said, "Its getting dark Mommy" but it wasn't. She was wired the rest of the night. When we came back home she was dancing and acting things out in the living room. Due to one over-zealous theater attendant, these pictures were harder to take than the Diefenbunker ones Mike managed to capture during our trip to Ottawa.

After the show, it was raining and Elania insisted that she hold the umbrella by herself.

Snow Play

The last month or so, Elania has really liked to help shovel the snow in the driveway. We've had a lot of snow this winter to shovel. She can't wait to go outside. She'll say to Mommy, "when Brayden goes to sleep, we can go outside and shovel." Or a few times she's been fully dressed (all by herself) in winter attire waiting when Daddy gets home from school to go and shovel.

Bowling

Elania had her first bowling experience last month and loved it. She even got pretty good at rolling the ball down the middle. Brayden somehow managed to take a snooze despite the racket of the bowling alley around him.

Valentines

For Valentines Elania iced her own cupcakes and loved every minute of it! The next morning she requested cupcakes for breakfast. Brayden still occasionally frequents the swing which he is too big, heavy and strong for. When it puts him to sleep it's too hard to stop using it.

Back Home Again

Lately Elania has been wanting to hold Brayden. He seems a little more than she can manage. She also wanted to be like mommy and carry her baby around in a "baby wrap" as she calls it. Brayden went in Elania's highchair for the first time and loved it. Elania is quite possessive so we put him in after she goes to bed. She usually yells "No he doesn't like that" if we let him use anything of hers.

Christmas in Raymond

For the Smith rib night Elania was an angel but needed Dad to be nearby. Grandma and Grandpa Smith gave Elania a pink doctor set. A few days later Elania told us: "I'm a real pink Dr. and grandpa is a real pink Dr." She loved going on the sled with Dallin and Taylor. In the basement, Daniel and she found two cars which they have a lot of fun with (Taylor also was riding a bike around with them). Christmas morning, we put Brayden in the jolly jumper where he soon spotted two of Travis' presents stacked nearby. He worked and worked to try and grab them. Eventually he succeeded and tried to eat the ribbon. We enjoyed our trip even though it was brief. Elania really enjoyed it and still talks about it a lot. The first thing she said when she saw our little Christmas tree back home is "I want a BIG Christmas tree!" She's been quite bored since we've been back.

Christmas in Cardston

Elania had lots of fun meeting new cousins for the first time. Riley (one of her cousins) took a few days to stop saying "she's not my cousin." We went to the Remmington Carriage center and went on a ride around town with aunts and uncles and cousins. After the carriage ride in the snow, Elania saw some other people (who we didn't know) getting out of a car and said, "Look all my cousins!" Brayden tried rice pablum for the first time and kept grabbing the spoon and bowl. She was a shy angel at the Christmas Eve nativity.

Christmas in Nova Scotia

The Sunday before we left for Alberta, we had our own little Christmas rather than haul gifts back and forth. Brayden got an exersaucer which he loves (and so does Jodi as it gives her arms much-needed rest). Elania got some fairy dress-up clothes and a play kitchen with play food. It was so much fun to see Elania excited about Christmas. Last year she was pretty little still and we were all sick on top of that. She wasn't too sure about Santa coming over and saying hi to her at the mall. She is so shy!

Elania makes a new friend

Laura Mooney (one of Jodi's former roommates) came to visit while her husband had meetings in Halifax. Elania was quite taken to her.

Brayden

Brayden storing up for the winter and putting the swing's maximum weight allowance to the test.

Halloween

This year Elania went trick or treating for her first time just around the block. She loved pushing the doorbell and saying trick or treat. She was very observant of the carved pumpkins and cats she saw on the way. Jodi took Brayden and Elania to the library "Tales for tots" with the kids dressed up. Elania wore her ladybug costume all day and didn't want to take it off.

Dentistry Awards Night

Mike was the recipient of 6 awards for his school work last year (2nd year dentistry program) including the highest academic standing (GPA) in his class as well as highest marks in 4 courses. We feel very fortunate that he has done so well in his schooling and can't complain about the award money he received! I'm really proud of his accomplishments.

Turkey Hat

For FHE on Thanksgiving, Elania helped glue together the parts for her turkey hat. We thought that the end result was pretty good.

The Pumpkin Patch

After the pumpkin weigh off, we visited one of the local farms where they grow and sell pumpkins. The guy that started the weigh off tradition owns the farm and grows everything from giant pumpkins to miniature ones. Elania quickly found a pumpkin just her size and wouldn't let go. She even took it to bed that night.

Train Rides

In Windsor, we went to the miniature train rides. All the tracks are made by the owner as are the train cars. Elania was really excited to ride them. After getting off the last ride, she said "Elania so much fun!"

Pumpkin weigh off

On Saturday, the weather was great (23 C or so) and we got up early to drive to the Annapolis Valley to look at the giyant pumpkins and to bring a few home. The Pumpkin weigh off was quite the show. They haul the pumpkins one by one up to the scale with a forklift. The winning pumpkin was 1202 lbs! Second place was 996 lbs. I felt out of place around all those farm folk without a hat on. The biggest watermelon weighed in at 87 lbs. The picture of our family (minus Brayden who was sleeping in the stroller) is in front of the heaviest pumpkin.