Visiting the North Pole with Ella!

Although I have heard about the "North Pole" at the fairgrounds for several years now, I have never taken the time to look into going to it with our kids.  Since I love sharing fun, holiday experiences with our children, I am not really sure why I never bothered to find out what this annual event is all about.  Luckily, for the first time ever, Ella's preschool arranged for a field trip to be held for all of their students and parents today to the North Pole.  After arriving with Ella, we were both amazed by this wonderful, holiday wonderland that had been created in one of the buildings on the fairgrounds and is tailored entirely for little people to enjoy!  There is room after room after room set up for children to play in  all decorated in different themes.  It was rather impressive and after spending an hour and an half there with Ella, we decided that we have come back one more time this holiday season to share it with with Lia and Logan.  Here are some pictures of our adventures today!

We happened to arrive at the same time as Ella's friend from church, Amelia.  Here is a picture of the two girls standing in front of the large tree just inside the entrance.

A mother-daughter picture.

Ella enjoying the play kitchen in the 'toddler room' after first arriving.

Ella making an adorable, felt pizza in the pizza parlor room.

Putting her pizza into the brick oven to bake.

Ella cooking up an enormous meal for me to eat in the 50s style diner.

We kept on running into Ella's two other friends from church and ballet class who also attend her preschool.  Here are Emmy, Ella, and Mia posing while Harper (a girl in Ella's class) photo bombs the picture. :-)

Ella posing inside one of the elf, photo cut-out stands.

One of the reasons why so many people visit the North Pole every year is so that they can have their picture taken with Santa without waiting in a long line (since reservations are required).  But since Ella's preschool scheduled their field trip in the morning before the North Pole was opened to the public, there was no Santa sitting on his fancy chair waiting to take pictures.  As a result, the girls were able to sneak into the photo room and try out his chair without getting in trouble.  Here is Ella posing for me on the beautiful, green velvet chair.

Emmy, Mia, and Ella posing on Santa's chair together.

Harper and Ella serving up some frozen yogurt from the food truck.

Ella going shopping in the amazing grocery store that was fully loaded with shelves and bins full of every kind of toy food you could imagine.

Trimming the Tree!

Well, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas in the Hartland!  After purchasing our Christmas tree yesterday and putting it up last night, the kids and I decorated it after dinner this evening while Ron relaxed on the couch and played Christmas music for us.  This is always such a fun activity to complete with the kids and really helps to get us into the holiday spirit.  For the first time ever, we bought a tree that is about eight feet tall, so we had to use Lia's AG doll house step ladder to help us put up the star and ornaments around the top of the tree.  I must say that it looked quite stunning when we were done!

Logan standing on the step ladder to hang an ornament.

Cute Ella giving me a smile while hanging up an ornament from my childhood.

Lia decorating the front of the tree.

The kids and me smiling for papa as we are finishing up the tree.

Thanksgiving 2018

For the first time ever, Thanksgiving dinner was held at my brother, Chris', house in Port Orchard.  Since it was Natalee's turn to be with her family and Rebecca's turn to be with hers this year, it meant that just my little family of five would be joining my parents at their home for Thanksgiving.  Since this holiday is always much funner with more people, Natalee invited the seven of us to join her small group this year.  My mom and I quickly jumped at the opportunity when the invitation was extended to us just a week or so ago.  We spent a wonderful afternoon and evening at their house yesterday enjoying delicious food, cousin time, and some games and crafts.  We all left thoroughly stuffed and content after spending this special holiday together.  In addition, we brought Trenton home with us for a second year in a row so that Logan and him could have a 'cousin slumber party.'  After a slow morning today, we drove into Tacoma to take the kids to enjoy the Santa village and the bowling alley both located at the Bass Pro Shop.  After getting their picture taken with Santa and completing some Christmas coloring and crafts, we headed over to the bowling alley to learn that there was an hour wait for a lane.  Since we had gone in the morning last year, we had not had this problem.  After exploring the store for about thirty minutes, we decided to throw in the towel and try another time.  Luckily, Chris and Riley arrived about the same time to take Trenton home, so we parted ways and headed home to begin the changing of holidays from Thanksgiving to Christmas!

Most of the gang enjoying their Thanksgiving dinner.

Ella enjoying the massive Lego collection found in Trenton's room with Brynn.

Trenton, Lia, Riley, and Logan all hanging out in Trenton's room together after dinner.

Ella enjoying her pumpkin cake dessert with a silly, turkey hat on her head.

The girls hanging out with their beloved, older cousin before heading home at the end of the day.

The kids enjoyed a slow morning on Friday after a French toast breakfast.  Here are the girls cuddled up on the couch watching a movie together.

Cousin cuddles!  Logan and Trenton (who is always hot and loves to take his shirt off year round) sharing a couch together.

Ever since Lia and Riley were little and could be found playing together, I have always loved the contrast in hair color between their two heads.  Years later, I can still find this same contrast in hair color between Trenton and Logan.  I couldn't resist taking this cute picture of their two, little heads sharing the same pillow.  Just precious...

Logan's Last Soccer Game of the Season

Logan wrapped up his third season of indoor soccer today with his final game.  Overall, it has been a great season for him.  He has come so far since he first started playing at the beginning of his PreK year.  He was such an active player when he was out on the court--both while playing offense and defense.  In fact, he scored goals the two out of six games that his coach let him play offense most of the time.  The first game he scored one goal and the second game he scored two goals in addition to several other attempts.  It was so exciting to see!  Logan had a great time playing with several students who attend his school and enjoyed playing for Coach Thomas the second season in a row.  It was a good run while it lasted!  Here are some pictures from his last game...

Logan whispering to Conner (the coach's son) while sitting on the bench with a few of his teammates.

Logan kicking the ball to the other side.

Running up to kick the ball again.

Logan was asked to play defense and goalie for most of his last game today.  Here he is bending down to stop the ball from an incoming kick.

Catching the ball.

Getting ready to stop another kick from going into the goal.

Making another catch.

Throwing the ball out to a teammate.

Running back to us at the end of his last game!

For the second year in a row, I was 'team mom' and ordered trophies for everyone on the team.  Here is Logan proudly showing off his participation certificate and brand new trophy after the game had ended.

A full length shot of our awesome soccer player!

Freezing Time

Yesterday, Logan came down for breakfast before church and noticed that Lia wasn't sitting at the kitchen table.  After asking why, I reminded him that she has been fasting once a month on a Sunday ever since she turned eight and was baptized.  I then pointed out that he would be joining her in this monthly fast after he turns eight and gets baptized.  At this point, Logan said that he didn't want to get baptized.  I then reminded him that getting baptized is fun because he will have his own party afterwards and will even get some presents.  Logan then went on to say that he doesn't want to turn eight and grow up.  After agreeing with him, he said that he wished he could stay six and play pirates forever.  Then after a quiet moment of thought, Logan went on to say this hilarious comment that just made me burst out laughing:  "I'm not coming downstairs on my seventh birthday!"  Oh, if only freezing time were that easy!

28 Weeks Along!

Well, I can't believe it.  I hit my 28 week mark this past Tuesday which means that I officially am in my third trimester!  Yeah!  This is such a major milestone in my pregnancies.  Things are moving along quite quickly and I owe it entirely to the fact that my three other kids and everything that goes along with them keep me so busy on a daily basis. In that past four weeks, a few things have happened.  First off, Ron helped me get down my maternity clothes from the loft in our garage.  After some sorting and washing, most of my old clothes are up and running and fitting me quite well.  Besides buying two new pairs of pants at Old Navy (for a killer deal), I am just wearing all of my old, maternity clothes from my previous pregnancies which is fine with me.  In fact, many pieces of clothing bring back fond memories!  In addition, Ron, Lia, and Ella have all now felt the baby kick since only Logan had felt the baby move when I wrote my 24 week post.  The girls got to both feel him move for the first time while we were all watching General Conference together at Seabrook a few weeks ago.  It was so fun to watch their excited reactions!  Ron has gotten to feel him kick several times at night while we are laying in bed together before we fall asleep.  I feel him kick the most when I am laying down and even can now see my stomach actually move on a regular basis with some of his stronger movements.  On the not so fun side, my feet ache and my ankles are swollen by the time I go to bed every night AND I have gotten varicose veins on the outside of my lower, right leg for the first time ever.  After consulting my doctor at my monthly check-up this past week, I bought my first pair of compression stockings yesterday and now need to wear them full-time for the rest of my pregnancy.  I can already tell that the hose are helping with the pain in my feet although they will not make my ugly varicose veins go away.  Oh dear.  In addition, I have started elevating my feet on several couch pillows every night for an hour in bed before going to sleep which is also helping with the swelling and the pain.  Oh, the joys of being pregnant in my forties!  But it is so worth it!

Disneyland on Ice

For the seemingly umpteenth year in a row, I bought Disney on Ice tickets when they first went on sale way back in August.  Although Lia is now ten years old and has been going for years, she luckily still enjoys it just as much as the younger kiddos in our family.  All three kids have been looking forward to going to this show all week long and every time I mention it, Ella screams, "Disneyland on Ice!"  Since I thought it was the cutest thing, I haven't had the heart to correct her.  As a result, we headed off in the rain today to see "Disneyland on Ice" after attending both Logan's and Lia's soccer games.  As always, we had a great time in the Showare Center today soaking in all of the sights and sounds of this fun and entertaining ice show.  The show featured the stories of Belle, Cinderella, Elsa/Anna, and Moana.  The reenactment of the Moana story was the longest and most detailed of them all and was hand's down our favorite.  It was so much fun to sing along with these beloved, Disney characters and relive their stories through the music, costumes, special effects, and especially the skaters on ice!  Here are some pics of our afternoon together...

The kids and I standing next to one of the many tables overflowing with overpriced, Disney souvenirs for sale.

Ron and the kids in their seats and ready to go before the show began!

Ella as excited as ever waiting in her seat for "Disneyland on Ice" to start.

The skating waiters and desserts singing, "Be Our Guest" to Belle.

Cinderella riding by us in her beautiful carriage.

Rapunzel flying through the air on her hair with the help of Flynn Rider below.

Elsa letting it go!  This song never gets old.

Moana and Maui sailing across the ice.

The sparkly crab, Tamatoa, singing "Shiny" to Moana.

All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth!

Logan's top, right tooth has been loose forever!  And when I say loose, I mean dangling by a thread for weeks.  I don't know how it has managed to stay in his mouth this long--especially when he lost a tooth a few days ago that just started to get wiggly in the past week or so.  Regardless, the big event finally happened this evening right during Ron's birthday dinner.  While Logan was chewing a piece of food, he hit his loose tooth rather hard on a tooth on the bottom row.  He immediately started crying and we could see blood all around his loose tooth when he opened his mouth.  After examining his tooth, I saw that it was past the point of no return and that it needed to come out.  So, after asking Logan if his dad could pull it out, he surprisingly agreed.  Within a matter of seconds, Ron pulled out Logan's tooth into a napkin right there in the middle of dinner.  After wiping off the blood in his mouth and the tears off of his face, Logan perked up a bit and even finished most of his meal.  By the time dessert was served, he was a whole new boy with a giant hole in his mouth!  Of his four front, center teeth, he is currently missing three of them as the one he lost at Priest Lake back in July has still never grown in!  I have never seen so much 'vacant real estate' in a child's mouth of mine.  I must say that it is rather cute and I just love that I finally have a child who can actually sing, "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth!" and really mean it!

Celebrating a Milestone Birthday!

It's always a fast and furious transition as we wrap up all of the Halloween festivities and dive into Ron's birthday celebrations two days later, but we managed to make it happen again this year.  This birthday was a bit more significant than previous years as Ron turned the big 5-0 today.  Gasp.  How ever did that happen?  We started dating when he was 35 years old.  I just can't believe how fast the time has gone!  Although I had come down with an awful cold a few days ago, I managed to drag my tired, sick bones to the grocery store yesterday to buy all of the food I needed today to make him a Filipino feast for dinner and a banana cream pie for dessert.  In addition, I recruited the kids help today after they got home from school to sign a card and to draw and/or color some pictures to hang in the dining room along with the "Happy Birthday" sign we had made Ron last year.  They did a great job and helped to make the dining room look a lot more festive. 
The kids hid in the laundry room after hearing Ron pull into the garage after work this evening.  They jumped out and surprised him with a roaring round of "Happy Birthday!"  We then enjoyed a delicious dinner in the dining room before opening up cards and gifts in the living room.  We then went back to the dining room for some banana cream pie.  Although Ron had already received all of his major birthday gifts in advance (a foot massage, a camper cover, and a shiny Suburban), we had him open up gift bags with printed out pictures of all of these items.  I just couldn't have him open nothing on his 50th birthday!  In addition, we gave him some beautiful, glass ornaments to hang on the Christmas tree this year that were all Asian themed (like a sushi roll and a bottle of soy sauce).  Overall, we spent a very pleasant and fun evening celebrating the favorite guy in our lives and the amazing fifty years that he has lived!

All three kids sitting on papa and listening to him read their card.

Papa looking at one of the "gift pictures" we gave him.

The kids and Ron with a gift bag on his head.

Getting ready to blow out the candles on his pie!

For some reason, Ella had a bit of hard time throughout Ron's birthday evening sharing the limelight with him.  This is not normal for her, so I don't know what was going on in that little head of hers.  Regardless, half way through singing "Happy Birthday" to Ron, she got mad and ran away from the table to sulk in a curled up ball next to the couch.  This is the picture I managed to snap of her.

Ron blowing out his candles!