We had our first snowfall a couple of days ago. AB kept running to the window and looking at it. She and I even went on a walk to the store while it was snowing. It didn't last long but it was beautiful to watch while it was here.
Again, so sorry for leaving the same old blog post for almost 2 month. Yikes! That is way too long. Do any of you ever feel like you can't quite catch up? That's how I've felt lately. With being a wife, a mom of two, packing up one home, unpacking in another, helping with our church and the holiday season upon us I can't seem to keep on top of it all. Unfortunately the blog has been sliding lower and lower on the priority list. But the good news is it moved to the top tonight! Why? Because I can't do my Christmas shopping at 11pm (since I don't do much of it online) and I also can't take a Christmas card picture because I am the only one still awake. Maybe I'll try to start tackling those tomorrow. Maybe. ;)
Annabelle celebrated her 3rd birthday on October 3rd. I can't believe she is 3 already!! She is growing so much! She knows all of her letters and most of her numbers (we don't practice those as much). She LOVES puzzles right now and is really good at them. She loves loving her brother (sometimes a little TOO much). She throws tea parties for her animals and babies and is a really good host to them. She likes playing with other kids but also enjoys playing by herself. She likes dressing up in her lady bug wings and running through the house yelling "Fly, fly, fly!" She sings A LOT! She'll sing about anything, really. A few weeks ago she was singing about us all being buckled up in the car. It's pretty funny. She likes taking baths, except for the part when I pour water over her head... she doesn't like that at all. She loves bedtime stories and wants daddy to tell her one every night. She loves being outside. And we love her!!!
Another things that AB is interested in is trains, the real ones on the real tracks. She's not so interested in playing with train sets. Whenever we here a train going by she gets so excited and a few months ago we told her that sometime we would take her on a train ride. Well that made her really excited so we decided to take the Amtrak down to Tacoma for her birthday party. The week before we went all she could talk about was the train she was going to take and eating her birthday cake. Those were about the only two things on her mind. Train, cake, train, cake, train, cake.
We ended up having such a fabulous time on the train. I don't know who loved it most- me, Trev or Belle! Jack didn't think much about it as he slept most of the time. Annabelle loved looking out the window and we rode by a pumpkin patch and beautiful waterfront. We enjoyed time to read, play with stickers and just talk to each other. It's so fun not to be strapped to a seat for the entire time, which I think was Belle's favorite part.
Daddy and daughter enjoying the train ride
Checking out the sites.
We stayed at Grandma Kay and Grandpa John's while in Tacoma. They surprised us by having a beautifully landscaped backyard! It was amazing! And of course I didn't get any pictures of it as a whole. When we were there a month before it was all dirt so it was amazing to see the transformation. Annabelle really loved it because she could run around and play in it, which wasn't as fun to do when it was all dirt. In the picture above I think she is taking in the all the beauty of the yard from atop one of the rocks.
Some family and friends came to a little party we had for her. Above are AB's friends Caitlyn and Charlotte. The girls played together for hours that night and they all got along so well. Quite impressive for a group of 2 and 3 year olds. ;)
Happy Birthday sweet girl!
Our little red head sounds asleep... he does that a lot these days.
Before Jack was born we ventured out to City Park in Lynden for the first time since they redesigned the park. It is such a great park! They have a side for older kids and one for younger kids. It is completely surrounded by a fence so you feel safe letting your kids run around the whole place. There are slides, bars, nets to climb, ramps to run up and down, a tire swing, swings and more! Annabelle actually enjoyed playing on the side for bigger kids. They even have a tunnel slide which Trev said was pitch black inside for at least half of the ride, but Belle had no fear! She just kept going down the slide whether dad was going with her or not.
Belle is quite the climber. She usually wants to try and climb anything around her... whether it is a net, a toy, a person, a chair, etc.
Crossing the monkey bars with a little (okay, a lot) of help from dad.
It has been one crazy week and we are finally settling into life as a family of four. It started with our sweet little boy being content to stay in the womb days past his due date (I guess that is why they refer to it sometimes as a due month). We were going to try and let the little guy come naturally but our plans are not always the plans the Lord has in store for us. We found out last Wednesday that my Grandma Bernice passed away, whom we loved her dearly and will really miss. It is something that we knew would happen in the coming months, but was still a bit of a shock when it actually happened. Obviously, I wanted to be able to attend the funeral and what added another twist to the events was that Trev would be officiating the funeral service. My dad had asked him months before if he would be willing to do this when my grandma did pass and Trev was honored at the request.
We decided the best option was to induce labor. We would then know when we were having the baby and would give us a few days after having him before we would need to head to Tacoma for the funeral. We went into the hospital on Friday morning at 6:30am to start the induction. We waited around for a few hours for another mom to deliver so we would be assured a room and a nurse. They started me on petocin at about 10am and we delivered our sweet boy just before 4pm that afternoon. It was a fairly smooth delivery and I only had to push for about 20 minutes!
We are so thankful that Jack has joined our family and Annabelle is quite taken with him. She always wants to check on him when he is sleeping, hold him, hug him, kiss him and help burp him after he eats. We praise the Lord for our healthy son and for seeing us through this past week. Trev did a wonderful job speaking at Grandma Bernice's funeral and it was great to see many family and friends and introduce them to Jack when he was only 4 days old. Thank you to everyone who was praying for us. And a special thank you to my mom who spent a few days with Annabelle loving and caring for her while we were in the hospital. Thank you!
Oh, and did I mention that Trev also started his class for seminary last Thursday and he is speaking this Sunday night at our church? I think Trev wins the prize for most things to do in one week in our family. We spent a lot of time in prayer this past week and we praise the Lord for answering our prayers and helping Trev prepare the funeral service, complete some classwork, prepare a sermon and welcome a son into the world and take care of his wife and daughter! I love you, sweet husband! You're the best!
Annabelle really really really loves her little brother Jack. Sometimes when we tuck her in at night she asks if Jack can lay next to her. Boy is she excited when he is next to her. She'll shower him with kisses and laughter and he seems to be pretty happy with the sisterly love.
Occasionally in the morning we will let AB lay next to Jack in his crib (with adult supervision of course). All of a sudden the crib seems so much cooler to her after months and months of not having to sleep in it.
Our handsome little man sleeping soundly.
One of Belle's favorite things to do is put on shoes way too big for her. Yesterday she was walking around in a pair of Trev's crocs, up above she is in my snow boots, sometimes she wears my slippers or any other shoe that is out that looks kind of fun to walk in. She makes me laugh. 
Okay, so I know this is a really random picture. AB and I were playing with playdough today and she was naming things I should make. So I made this caterpillar and elephant. I was kind of impressed that I could tell what they were when I was finished!
We had our first snowfall a couple of days ago. AB kept running to the window and looking at it. She and I even went on a walk to the store while it was snowing. It didn't last long but it was beautiful to watch while it was here. 
Again, so sorry for leaving the same old blog post for almost 2 month. Yikes! That is way too long. Do any of you ever feel like you can't quite catch up? That's how I've felt lately. With being a wife, a mom of two, packing up one home, unpacking in another, helping with our church and the holiday season upon us I can't seem to keep on top of it all. Unfortunately the blog has been sliding lower and lower on the priority list. But the good news is it moved to the top tonight! Why? Because I can't do my Christmas shopping at 11pm (since I don't do much of it online) and I also can't take a Christmas card picture because I am the only one still awake. Maybe I'll try to start tackling those tomorrow. Maybe. ;)
When we were down in Tacoma we also went to Point Defiance Zoo with grandma and grandpa. We had so much fun! They have really improved the zoo since I went as a child. They had a great kids play area and some wonderful exhibits. We say a tiger, elephants, camels, penguins and more!
Grandpa John, Jack & Grandma Kay
We brought the stroller for Jack to use but Annabelle wanted a ride (in the infant seat!) and I could resist the photo op.
Annabelle celebrated her 3rd birthday on October 3rd. I can't believe she is 3 already!! She is growing so much! She knows all of her letters and most of her numbers (we don't practice those as much). She LOVES puzzles right now and is really good at them. She loves loving her brother (sometimes a little TOO much). She throws tea parties for her animals and babies and is a really good host to them. She likes playing with other kids but also enjoys playing by herself. She likes dressing up in her lady bug wings and running through the house yelling "Fly, fly, fly!" She sings A LOT! She'll sing about anything, really. A few weeks ago she was singing about us all being buckled up in the car. It's pretty funny. She likes taking baths, except for the part when I pour water over her head... she doesn't like that at all. She loves bedtime stories and wants daddy to tell her one every night. She loves being outside. And we love her!!! 
Daddy and daughter enjoying the train ride
Checking out the sites.
We stayed at Grandma Kay and Grandpa John's while in Tacoma. They surprised us by having a beautifully landscaped backyard! It was amazing! And of course I didn't get any pictures of it as a whole. When we were there a month before it was all dirt so it was amazing to see the transformation. Annabelle really loved it because she could run around and play in it, which wasn't as fun to do when it was all dirt. In the picture above I think she is taking in the all the beauty of the yard from atop one of the rocks.
Some family and friends came to a little party we had for her. Above are AB's friends Caitlyn and Charlotte. The girls played together for hours that night and they all got along so well. Quite impressive for a group of 2 and 3 year olds. ;)
We recently introduced Belle to Candy Land and boy does she like playing it. It is such a great game for her age, especially since she knows her colors. The first time we all played together she won, no joke. We've played about 5 times and I think she has one four out of the five games! She's on a Candy Land winning streak! The best part about it is that we will find some sort of candy to put at the end of the game that the winner will get to eat. The lollipop above is from her first win (we don't always have candy that big as the prize, haha!). Now she is always asking to play Candy Land.
Playing with a water thingamajig at a children'suseum type play area in Bellevue. Oma took us there on our last visit. Oma and I were so tired by the time we left and we weren't even the ones doing all the playing!
This picture cracks me up. None of us are looking at the camera, but I still like it. :)
Christ Church Bellingham hosted a ping pong tournament tonight at Nick & Andi's place and we had a blast! We started the evening feasting on ribs and watermelon and some yummy desserts (provided by Andi and Pure Bliss Desserts, of course) and then the games began. Nate ended up the victorious winner... congrats! It was definitely a fun way to end the summer. Although, summer doesn't want to seem to end and I am okay with that. We continue to have beautiful sunny weather with temps in the 70's here in the Northwest. A wee bit strange, but welcome nonetheless.
Nick and Ryan using their awesome ping pong skills. Note the band on Ryan's head - now that is one serious ping pong competitor.
AB drumming with her new bud Rhiannon
Jack's first ping pong tournament. He was awake almost the entire time the games were going on. Future ping pong champ? I think he was taking in all that he could learn about ping pong before he even has the motor skills to hold a paddle.
Nicole & Ada
Annabelle wearing her pink ballet tutu while following along to a DVD ballet lesson she got from grandma. One day we'll put her in an actual class. :)
Belle got this funny hat months ago and hasn't really shown any interest in it until the past couple of days. It is supposed to be a pot with flowers in it. She has worn it around the house a bit for the past few days and it cracks me up because it is so huge! 
Hovander Park has a beautiful flower garden and I can't help but love taking pictures of all the bold colors and interesting flowers.
So I am obviously still playing catch up on the blog with pictures from before Jack joined the family (outside the womb, that is). In an effort to stop thinking about being almost 6 days overdue with Jack we headed out to Hovander Park one evening to check out the animals and the sights. It is a beautifully huge park with some farm animals, a toy for kids to play on, a short path to see the river and lots of open fields.
AB getting a flip from daddy.
Talking to the goats.
The bunny trying to escape from his cage.
The fields with Mt. Baker in the distance.
Make a wish!
Me and my girl!
Another round on the monkey bars!
Tired of riding the swing normally, she switched to pushing herself on her stomach.
Before Jack was born we ventured out to City Park in Lynden for the first time since they redesigned the park. It is such a great park! They have a side for older kids and one for younger kids. It is completely surrounded by a fence so you feel safe letting your kids run around the whole place. There are slides, bars, nets to climb, ramps to run up and down, a tire swing, swings and more! Annabelle actually enjoyed playing on the side for bigger kids. They even have a tunnel slide which Trev said was pitch black inside for at least half of the ride, but Belle had no fear! She just kept going down the slide whether dad was going with her or not.
Belle is quite the climber. She usually wants to try and climb anything around her... whether it is a net, a toy, a person, a chair, etc.
Crossing the monkey bars with a little (okay, a lot) of help from dad.
One of Annabelle's favorite things to do these days is playing in her fort. It is pretty easy to assemble - throw some blankets over the dining room table and VOILA - a fort! She'll bring all her animals in with her and throw them a tea party. It keeps her entertained for quite awhile.
Trev and I on our 5th anniversary. Woot, woot!
AB playing at the park. She LOVES going to the park.
On the chairlift swing with Grandpa John and drinking a smoothie. What could be better?!
