3 1/2 Years Old Today!

Well, it's my boy's half birthday today.  It's hard to believe that he is officially three and a half years old.  As cute as this kid is, there is a LOT about his 2-year old self that is still going strong in his 3 1/2 year old body.  For starters, Logan still is an absolute expert at throwing tantrums.  He throws them like no body's business and multiple times a day at that.  Most of the time it is due to the fact that he doesn't get his way, but sometimes they are caused by something his older sister does to him.  Regardless, I am getting a little tired of them.  In addition, Logan refuses to potty train.  R.E.F.U.S.E.S.  Yes, he is 3 1/2 years old and has yet to have a single "success" in the toilet.  We can occasionally get him to sit down on the potty for ten seconds for an M&M, but that is it.  He will not wear any of his cool, Thomas the Train or minion underwear.  In fact, the one time to date that I wrestled him to the floor to put a pair of underwear on resulted in him kicking and screaming and ripping the pair off and throwing them across the room within a matter of seconds.  Oh dear.  I don't know what it is going to take to get this boy to buy into the entire thing.  Logan also continues on his journey of a fabulous-eater-gone-bad.  He happily feeds himself any kind of sweet food, but now announces that he "can't eat" most fruits, vegetables, meat, and other savory foods.  As a result, I have to FEED HIM like a baby to get him to eat most of these foods.  As you can see, the 3 1/2 year old Logan can be a LOT of work.

But on a positive note, I still think this kid is the cutest boy around.  I can't get enough of kissing and hugging him.  He really has become a mommy's boy and loves to hold my hand in public settings and asks me to "rock him in the chair" every night after Ron puts him to bed.  He still takes an amazing, 3-hour nap every afternoon and sleeps well at night with the exception on his occasional "night tantrums."  Logan loves his sisters and happily plays with them until Lia hits him (usually as a result of something Logan does to her in the first place) or Ella takes away one of his toys.  Logan still loves all things trucks, trains, and construction site related.  He loves his morning TV time and hanging out on his little couch in the family room with his beloved, blue blanket.  He is a total hoarder and hides his favorite toys of the day (which change daily) in the cushions of his little couch and in his crib.  Sometimes he goes to sleep with so many toys and books in his bed that I am amazed he can fit himself in there!  He also still loves books and would be happy being read to for hours every day.  Logan loves playing outside and being rough and wild.  He is a champ at riding his little bike around the sport's court and enjoys being pushed as high up as he can go on the swing.  Logan has had a pretty good run this summer.  And although he can drive me nuts, I love this kid to pieces!

Lola's Annual Visit

Lola left this morning to fly back home after her annual visit to see us this summer.  She came out for a week and, as always, we had a great time staying super busy.  We went on some sort of outing or adventure every single day and enjoyed doing what Lola does best--shopping and eating out!  :-)  The kids really enjoyed bonding with her again and even Miss Ella warmed up to her by the end of her trip.  Thank you, Lola, for a wonderful week.  We miss you already!

Since Lola took such an early flight out on Tuesday morning, she slept most of the day on Tuesday which was fine with me as I was still getting things ready after hosting Takashi for three days.  However, that night, we went out to eat at Harbor Lights on Commencement Bay with Aunt Pat and Uncle Oscar.  The weather was stunning, so we had a great view from our table.  Here is Lia with Aunt Pat in the corning of our booth.  The two of them had a great time coloring together before dinner was served.

After dinner, we went on a nice walk along the water front.  Lia and Logan even brought their scooters to ride.  Logan lasted less than a minute, but Lia did a great time scooting along the entire time.  Here we are taking a break and exploring some rocks along the shore.

Ella patiently rode form the comforts of her stroller.  Here is an adorable pic Ron took of her as she was trying to see what action she was missing out on.

Ron and the kids walking out on the pier.

Lia and her scooter.

We started off Wednesday with haircuts from Lola!  Both Logan and Ella got their hair trimmed for free which I loved.  We set out to Lola's favorite Asian strip mall for some shopping and Japanese dinner after Ella's morning nap that day.

Thursday was our big trip up to the American Girl Doll Store and some shopping at the Alderwood Mall  which is one of the best malls in the area.  Lola treated Lia's doll to a hair do in the salon which was a first for Lia and one of her dolls.  Here is Mirabella waiting in her salon chair.  So cute!

Lia and Mirabella.

Lia stood and watched the stylist work on Mirabella's hair the entire time.  Since Mirabella just has straight, long hair it's pretty easy for Lia to maintain on her own, but it was fun for Lia to choose a fancy, braided hair do for her doll to get.

On Friday, one of Lola's best friends, Cita, joined us for the rest of Lola's stay.  Cita planned her trip out to Seattle to visit her son the same time that Dee Dee was visiting.  So, we enjoyed hosting her for the next three nights.  We went out to lunch to our favorite Filippino restaurant in Tacoma that day.  Here we are getting ready to dive into our food!

After lunch, Lola treated the kids to their favorite Filipino ice cream that is really purple!  Here is Lia about to take a big bite.

As you can see by her face, Ella LOVED the purple ice cream and readily took any spoonful that came her way.

The Hartland fam and Logan's cup.  That boy.

On Saturday morning, we headed down to our summer, farmer's market which Lola loves to go to every year.  We enjoyed wandering in and out of all of the booths and were treated to a large, Mexican breakfast by Lola.  Here is Lia with Lola and Cita while the ladies ate their breakfasts.

As always, Lola had to pick out a bouquet of beautiful, fresh flowers for us to take home and enjoy.

On Sunday, we hosted Aunt Pat and Uncle Oscar for dinner out on our back deck.  We spent a pleasant evening eating and talking and watching Lia (and Logan) perform gymnastics in the backyard.  

On Monday, we were able to convince Lola to go up to Lake Sammamish for the afternoon and evening to enjoy the water and the sun.  We also packed a picnic dinner to eat while we were there.  Here are Lia and Logan playing on the paddle board.

Ella started jumping off the dock for the first time while we were there.

Logan finally started to get brave around the water after avoiding it most of the summer.  He kicked around in this kiddie tube and even jumped into Ron's and my arms several times from the dock.

Since my dad was out of town, my mom came out and joined us for the evening.  Here are the ladies dipping their toes in the water while chatting.

The Hartland fam with Logan looking the wrong way.  Oh that boy.  

And there you go!  Lola flew out the next morning after a successful, fun, and busy week.  After ten days of hosting nonstop on the heels of being out of town for a week, I think I need a nap.  :-)  We shall see as we are getting ready to leave again for another week in a few days.  Summer is such a busy time for us!

16 Months Old!

Our baby girl turned 16 months old today and she is sure growing up!  Ron and I really have noticed some changes this past month in Ella.  She is starting to make that transition from baby to toddler.  First off, she is sooooo busy!  I cannot emphasize this enough.  I have never had a baby so busy.  She is everywhere and gets into everything.  Since she has been my most physically advanced and active baby for months now, she continues to amaze us with her coordination and lack of fear.  This past month, she learned how to climb up the huge ladder AND the slide to the platform of our play structure which is several feet up in the air.  The first time Ron and I looked out the kitchen window and saw her on the third rung of the ladder, we nearly had a heart attack.  Needless to say, an adult now has to be with her in the backyard at all times to make sure that she is supervised when climbing on the play area.  Ella has also gotten really good at running and enjoys running away from us when we want to take something from her that she knows she shouldn't have.  She continues to giggle and laugh at many things and loves being in the middle of the action and chaos of her older brother and sister.  She has started getting cups out of the cupboard and walking over to the refrigerator and pointing to the water dispenser whenever she is thirsty.  She will also walk to her high chair whenever she knows that it is meal time.  Ella also has begun to pat our back when we give her hugs which is just the cutest thing!  She also has the hugest appetite and eats way more than her older brother.  She will eat an entire meal and then want to sit on our laps and eat our meal after we get her out of the high chair.  This is just hilarious to us because she is still such a little thing.  She has also picked up a few new words this past month.  In addition to saying uh oh, mama, and papa, Ella will now wave and say "bye bye"--especially after I ask her to put her pacifier back after I get her out of the crib.  She also says "wow" and "no" and she just learned "thank you" from Lola who is visiting right right now.  It is the cutest thing as she says the "you" with such emphasis.  Ella is still taking two naps a day although it often times takes her over an hour to fall asleep for her afternoon nap.  I just need to start pushing back her morning nap until after lunch in order to combine the two, but I will wait until after school starts to do that.  Ella is sleeping great at night and I barely ever have to do a pacifier run anymore which is just fabulous.  She is such a cute, happy, and busy baby.  She keeps us laughing or shaking our head in awe most of the time.  We love you, Ella!

Takashi's Visit

When Ron lived in Japan for two years back in 2000 to 2002, he became friends with a lot of Japanese people--especially Takashi.  Although it has been thirteen years since he lived there, Takashi and Ron have stayed in touch.  Takashi came out to visit him two times in California and once to Seattle right after we moved here in 2007.  We also saw Takashi and his wife when we went to Japan two years ago and told them several times about the "Hattori Hotel" (the basement in our new house) that would be available to them any time they ever wanted to visit the U.S.  Well, Takashi finally took us up on our offer and flew out for another whirlwind weekend (that is how the Japanese do it) with his friend, Kan-Chan.  Both of these guys are big, American car buffs--especially of the old fashioned variety and so they planned their visit to see us the same weekend as the HUGE, annual car show in our town that displays 4,000 cars at the fairgrounds.  So, although we got into town late Friday night after being gone a week, we turned around and welcomed them into our home Saturday morning!  Ron spent all day Saturday at the car show and at the Lemay Car Museum in Tacoma and all day Sunday taking them on a road trip to Mt. Rainier and back while I stayed home and cooked, and cleaned, and watched children.  So, we both did our part to make sure that their stay was comfortable and enjoyable.  The children and I had a good time spending our breakfasts and dinners with them and got a kick out of trying to communicate with the massive, language barrier.  Plus, it was fun to show them Japanese-themed scenes from Pixar's Cars II and Big Hero Six.  They were as Japanese as it gets--leaving their shoes by the door, showering us with gifts, and ooohing and ahhhing over things like mashed potatoes and scrambled eggs.  It was so nice to have a little piece of Japan in our home for the weekend!

Here is Lia and Ron with our guests before Ron took them to the airport on Monday morning.  And, yes, even adults Japanese people have to pose silly for pictures.  Classic.

Family Trip to Priest Lake

We just returned tonight from a glorious week in Priest Lake with my parents for our annual, July trip.  It seriously was one of the best vacations I have had up there.  For starters, the weather was amazing...in the high 80s or 90s all week long.  So, every day we were able to spend quality time playing on the beach or swimming in the water with the kiddos.  In addition, there was glassy water every morning except for one.  Now that Lia is my designated "flagger," she joined my mom and me every time that I went skiing.  Skiing on smooth water in the calm of the morning with barely a boat on the lake is just one of my favorite things and it is so fun to now share this with my little girl.  Lia did a great job swimming every day without a life jacket and really got confident swimming in the deep end while we were up there.  Logan had a great time playing on the beach and splashing around in the shallow water.  And Ella just had a good time being in the thick of it all.  We ate good food every day, took plenty of naps, enjoyed spending quality time with our kids and my parents, and overall just basked in the slow pace one finds up there.  I heart Priest Lake.
Here are some random pictures of our week up north of the narrows...

Lia leaping off of the dock with no life jacket on!

Lia swimming back toward the dock.

Mother and daughter playing on the dock.

Lia running towards the beach.

After some coaxing, I was able to convince Logan to go out on the kayak with me.  He actually had a good time as long as we didn't go out too far.

Lia was much braver and happily paddled out with me past the dock to find papa swimming.

Mommy and daughter.

Logan and Lia got in on the fun together.  It always makes me so happy when I see them playing nicely together (because it doesn't happen all of the time).

One morning during baby Ella's nap, Ron and I took the kids over to the tennis court for some fun.  Here is Ron teaching Lia how to hit a ball.

Logan ran around with me throwing various balls and being crazy.  Here he is posing with a tennis racket in front of his face.

Lia looking cool with her racket.

We stopped and investigated the scooper parked next to the tennis court.  As you can imagine, Logan loved driving it.

Ron, Logan, and Lia posing with the scooper.

We managed to get Ella down to the beach most of the days that we were there.  The funny thing was that she did NOT like walking on the sand.  As a result, she either stayed on the towel or sat in one of our laps the entire time we were down there while usually playing with a bucket and a shovel.  Here is my baby girl hesitantly looking at me after I put her down to take a picture.

When I moved Ella over to the wet sand to get a picture out of the shade, this is what she did!  I told you she doesn't like standing on the sand! 

Papa and his girls.

One of the few pictures I have managed to snap with my three kiddos alone.  It's amazing I got this one as Ella began crying and Logan began picking his nose by the time I snapped the second picture.

Ella hanging out in the boat.

Papa and Logan relaxing in the boat with Ella.

A few days into our vacation, Ella discovered this little, play backpack.  She asked Ron to put it on and fell in LOVE with it!  She wore it all of her waking hours in the cabin from that point on.  It was just the cutest thing!  Ron and I kept on commenting how Ella kind of grew up over night once she started wearing this backpack.  She suddenly became this sassier, more independent, and more confident child while wearing this backpack.  Very funny.

Ella and her backpack on the go.

One morning, we left a sleeping Ella at the cabin with my parents and cruised the channel to Upper Priest Lake.  This is another one of my favorite things to do up here.  

Ron and the kids basking in the sun while cruising the channel.

Ron and my dad managed to squeeze in their annual swim across the lake one morning after I water skied.  I stayed up in the cabin with the kids while my mom drove the boat next to them.  We were able to watch them the entire time due to view from the cabin deck.  You can barely make out two little heads swimming to the right of the boat in this picture.

We actually attempted a few family pictures on our last afternoon there.  Amazingly, they didn't turn out that bad.  Here we are with Lia striking an Elsa pose (that I didn't know about at the time). :-)

Another angle on the deck.

And one down on the beach.  I'm just amazed that Logan was looking at the camera every single time!