the Tulip Festival

We drove to the tulip festival today. It takes place each year during the month of April. I have wanted to see the tulips since I saw Melinda's photos several years ago. Today was our last chance to go this year so Matthew loaded up the car with strollers and a picnic lunch while I got ready this morning. We got a late start and sat in a lot of traffic but really enjoyed our day outside once we got to the tulip farms. The flowers were beautiful!

After visiting the tulip farm, we drove to the water (not sure if it was the sound or the ocean) and had a picnic lunch at Seafarers' Memorial Park in Anacortes. By that time, the sun went behind the clouds, but we still enjoyed spending the day outside. We saw boats, saw some kids having model sailboat races, had a view of the mountains, and Matthew taught Canaan how to throw rocks into the water.

Jude Elias

Jude Elias was born December 7, 2011. I left work at 4:30 that afternoon thinking that I may be experiencing labor pain. When Matthew got home around 6 pm, I told him we needed to call the Bells to pick up Canaan and get to the hospital. We made it to the hospital a little after 7 pm and Jude was born at 9:05 pm. He definitely came faster than I expected, but it was nice to have such short labor. He was 6 pounds 8 ounces, 19.2 inches, and his head was around 13 centimeters. We had not yet picked a name but decided on one right before we left the hospital the following day.

Canaan has adjusted pretty well to being a big sister. She doesn't pay a lot of attention to Jude unless he's getting his diaper changed. She always wants to see his poopy diapers. She definitely notices the change in the attention shes getting so we're working through that.

my 39 week photo

It felt like a rushed Christmas season with a new baby and moving into our new house. But it has been a sweet time for our family. I look forward to a slower paced holiday season next year!

36 weeks family pictures

Melinda was gracious to take some pregnancy pictures of us last weekend. It was cold outside so we made it quick. I love the orange leaves that were still around. Fortunately we were able to get some pictures before any meltdown on Canaan's part. We had spent the morning looking at flooring for the house, had a late lunch, and it was way past nap time. These are some of my favorites. Thank you Melinda!

Pops Visited

During September, Pops came to visit. While he was here, we took the ferry to Whidbey Island and drove around. He may have been here the best weekend of the whole year. The weather was perfect! We drove out to an old fort and looked around. He and Matthew also went to the Flight Museum and to Alki Beach.

August 2011

Toward the end of August, Grandma came to visit. The day after she arrived we got up really early and headed North. We caught a ferry to Victoria, BC and went to Butchart Garden. It was a beautiful day to be outside, and we enjoyed looking at all the flowers and fountains. Canaan enjoyed being on the boat, but she did not enjoy spending the afternoon in her stroller. Look at that red hair!

Canaan also enjoyed the carousel...the statue outside as well as the moving carousel inside.


We spent the night in Victoria...we had a nice dinner and enjoyed the scenic walk from our hotel to a restaurant for breakfast the next day. Again, it was a beautiful day.
Matthew and I took Canaan to the pool for the first time this year. We only made it once before the weather turned too cool. Canaan loved it! She doesn't like to have water on her face, but after a short while in the pool, she wanted to do it herself. She is one adventurous girl. Matthew and I learned our lesson about using swim diapers. We didn't have any so we just used a regular diaper. By the time we were finished, that thing must have weighed 10 pounds. Not only did it absorb all the water, all the insides of the diaper came apart. When we took it off her, it was full of all the little beads and got all over the place. Yuck!

While Grandma was here, Canaan enjoyed blowing bubbles, finger painting, painting with sponge sea creatures, playing with playdough, reading new books, playing with stickers, and things I am probably forgetting about.

Another birthday celebration

A few days after we got home from our trip to St Louis, my parents came out to celebrate Canaan's 2nd birthday. They stayed with Canaan a couple of days while we worked.



Then on Saturday, we got up early to ride a ferry to one of the San Juan Islands. We intended to go to Friday Harbor, but we missed the ferry. So we went to Orcas Island. We drove to the highest point on the island and had a beautiful view. It was a long day, but a beautiful day.








On Sunday night we celebrated Canaan's birthday with another flourless cake. I don't think Canaan ate even a bite of her cake. She enjoyed blowing out the candles and singing "Happy Birthday". The cake was so rich, I don't think any of us ate much of it. In fact, we just took it to a party this weekend to get rid of the last of it.




Before leaving Texas, Mom ordered an ice cream maker for us. It arrived days before they left so we made some vanilla ice cream. It is an electric ice cream maker and very easy to use. We enjoyed the ice cream and tonight tried our hand at chocolate ice cream. I have a feeling we'll be enjoying this all summer.

Visit from Grandma & Grandpa

Grandma and Grandpa came for a visit in November and stayed with us for 10 days. Canaan enjoyed staying home with them and making several trips into Seattle during their visit. We were quite the tourists while they were here.

I was able to take off a couple of days the first week they were here. They had already been to see Pike Place Market and the Children's Museum. Then my first day with them we went on a harbor cruise and then to the zoo. It was the perfect day for these outings with sunshine and the temperature in the high 60s. I think they cruise tour guide said it was warmer on this day than it was the 4th of July this year. On the cruise, we saw some beautiful views of downtown Seattle and even got to see some sea lions sunning.




Next we were off to the zoo. By the time we got there, it was an hour until closing. I think this is the best zoo I've been to in that the zoo seems to do a good job of replicating the animals' natural habitat. I was most excited about seeing the elephants as we had just seen a show on the National Geographic Channel where an elephant was born at the Houston zoo. The fall colors have been absolutely beautiful here...more vibrant than I've seen anywhere else. And the beautiful leaves were the perfect backdrop to the wildlife at the zoo.




The next day we went to the Space Needle and the Flight Museum. It was an overcast day and quite a bit cooler so it was good to spend that time indoors. At the flight museum we were able to get on a Concord and the Airforce One from Kennedy's time in office.

We kept busy through the weekend as well. Matthew was able to join us on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday we went to the Seattle Aquarium. There were several places you could stick your fingers in the water to touch the sealife. Canaan loves water so this was right up her alley. I don't think she touched anything, she just liked the water. She really seemed to enjoy looking at all the fish.





Sunday we made it to the Pacific Science Center. There were a lot of things to keep kids busy but not so much for Canaan to do. There was an area for toddlers where she played with some water, went down a slide, and enjoyed driving this helicopter. My favorite thing was the butterfly house. There were butterflies all over the place.




It was a really fun visit! By the end of the weekend, Canaan was done with being in the stroller. She was such a trooper! There were days when we were out during naptime and she behaved surprisingly well.

Thank you Grandma and Grandpa for coming to visit!