Our Trip to Minnesota

I am really behind in posting, mostly because I just now had the chance to go through the pictures from our trip.  We visited Jason's family in MN in mid February for about a week, and we had a wonderful time.  We did so many fun things (most of which we didn't catch on camera), but a few we did, so here are some pics below of our time visiting.

This was a few days into the trip (when we finally started taking pictures), when we went over to visit Auntie Vienna's new house with Don and Betty (Grandpa and Nana).  What a cute pic of mom and daughter (Auntie Vienna and Nana with Caleb) this was!

Along with a new house, Vienna also got a new cat, Dodge.  Caleb was very fascinated by him and was searching in all the rooms to try to find him during our visit.

That same day we went to the St. Paul Como Conservatory and Zoo.  It was such a breath of fresh air, literally, to be in a tropical climate in the middle of winter, surrounded by beautiful flowers, plants and trees.  Above was a tree from the Palm Dome, one of the rooms in the conservatory.  We also went into the Fern Room, the Tropical Encounters area, the North Garden, and the Sunken Garden (which was my personal favorite).

Inside the Sunken Garden, Caleb enjoyed checking out the exotic flowers with Daddy.

Here are two different views of the garden (above and below).  Doesn't this just get you excited for spring? 

Here's Grandpa taking Caleb for ride (can you tell that Caleb had a great time here)? :)

 Beautiful flowers in the North Garden.

Finally, here's Caleb and Grandpa checking out the goldfish in the mini pond in the middle of the garden.  I know you can't see the pond or the fish, I just thought this was a sweet picture!

Then it was onto the zoo.  This was Caleb's first time visiting a zoo, so of course we took a TON of pictures.  Here are two of my favorites.  Above in the Gorilla area, we caught a pic of this gorilla's fierce roar.  Ok, ok...so the truth is it was actually a yawn, but it does look pretty scary right?

Caleb is a big fan of giraffes.  We attend play dates at a place called Bonkers here at home, where there is a huge giraffe statue amongst all of the climbing areas and slides, and he is constantly pointing at it and making sure that he shows it to me.  So it was really fun to show him the real thing!

Back at Grandpa and Nana's on different evenings, we got to hang out with Uncle Tyrone and Uncle Shea and catch up with them over dinner.  Tyrone is studying his way through law school, and Shea is looking into teaching english as a second language in Japan starting this upcoming May (he is currently instructing in the States).  Here's Uncle Tyrone and Caleb!

Here's Caleb and Uncle Shea on another night above.

I just thought this was a cute shot.  Jason was playing some piano during some down time that we had, and Caleb decided to join in.

These are pictures from the last day of the trip, even though we had spent time with Lora (Grandma) before that as well.  These were just some of my favorites!  A little group shot above.

A great three generations pic!

And finally, Caleb and Grandma doing some flash cards and just hanging out at her house.  We really enjoyed spending time with everyone.  The only family member we missed was Uncle Andrew, so here's a little shout out...we love you Andrew!  We can't wait until you come home!

It's a girl!

We just had our 18 week ultrasound this morning, and we found out that we are having a girl!  Her name will be Rachel Joy Drapeau, and we are excited to welcome her in July!  She will be here before we know it :)  Below are a few pics (sorry they are a little blurry).

New Things

So I thought I would do a real quick post of a few new things Caleb has experienced recently.

We have officially moved into the "big boy" car seat!

Here are some pics from his first hair cut.  We'll just call his before look above, "Shaggy". 

Checking himself out in the mirror!

This place was awesome, during the hair cut they have bubbles, lollipops, animal crackers, videos, even a prize at the end for the kids.

We should have asked her to leave it like that.  Haha!

The finished product.

We even got a certificate and his little lock of hair to remember the day!

Onto our first finger painting adventure the other night.  Caleb was a little unsure about having the paint on his hands, but I'm sure he'll come around to liking being messy in no time!

That's Caleb's finger painting job on the left, and Jason's on the right (he was showing Caleb how to do it when we got started)!  And on a final note, here's a quick shout out to cousin Katrina who just turned 3 the other day!  Happy Birthday Katrina!

What a difference two weeks makes!

So we have had two ultrasounds already, our 12 week one, and then another one two weeks later when we were about 14 weeks. They needed an updated ultrasound to match some blood work, so basically the second one was just a fun opportunity for us to see the baby a second time.  What was amazing though was to see how much God has grown our baby in just over two weeks.  You can definitely see a more formed head, body and limbs in the second picture.  Funny enough though, this baby likes to wave...his or her little hand is up in both pics!  Our 18 week ultrasound where we find out the sex of the baby is at the end of February, so we will be sure to share the results!

12 weeks.

14 weeks.

Last one - Party #3!

After a busy few weeks, I am finally getting around to posting the pics from Caleb's 3rd and final birthday party thrown by some Moms from the Moms group I am a part of. This kid has no idea how blessed he's been! :) The weekend after this party, our whole family got sick though, so we were out of commission for a while. That's why we are finally getting around to posting. Soon to come are pics of the two ultrasounds we've had, and of Caleb's first haircut!

Here's the birthday boy, sporting his 1st birthday shirt for the last time (with socks in hand looking at me like, "It's my party Mom and I will take my socks off if I want too!)

Here are some of the other kids at the party, there's Tyler and Kaelyn trying to hug above.

There's Mia being a ham!

Reese showing Connor how to play with the starfish.

And Caleb and Liam playing together at the musical table. It is so cute when the kids play together and share!

Now onto the cake! Caitlin (Reese's Mom) was the host, and she made Caleb an awesome turtle cake (and a special no-food coloring cupcake for the actual eating part!)

And she made a turtle cookie cake for the adults too!

Caleb and Mommy blowing out the candle.

Trying some cupcake :)

Then of course it was on to the presents!

I couldn't resist :)

All of the cool stuff he got above.

Finally, one of the gifts was some tadoodles and a sketch pad, and here is Caleb doing his first scribbling! Grandma also got him some tadoodles too. We'll be all set for his first coloring experiences I guess!

Party #2 (as promised!)

Here are some pictures of Caleb's actual birthday, January 4th, when we threw his birthday party after church. This was party #2 of 3, so I'll be sure to post the final party pics soon!

The sleeping birthday boy above!

After Dad woke him up.

We held the party at the clubhouse of the Mom's group I am a part of, and it turned out to be the perfect space for the event.

One of Caleb's favorite church friends Kaitlyn (above) striking a pose with him.

I couldn't help but post this...here's Caleb hanging out with Joshua (he's about a month old). This is what life will be like in July! I can't believe it!

Some party attendee pictures!

We made cupcakes for this party, there is Li'l C's cupcake above!

Taking a taste...

Helping to open his presents!

Last giggles with Daddy before going to bed!

And finally, I couldn't help but post this pic either...this was one of Caleb's gifts from the party (from Stacey, an old co-worker of Val's from the hotel). Isn't this the cutest towel ever? She of course got him a sailboat one, since that's what part of our logo was at the Salem Waterfront Hotel :)