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!
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. :)
