Lia's Four and Three-Quarters Report

 

Just a quick post to record the latest happenings of my grown-up girl who is now officially three-fourths of the way through her fourth year.  Oh my.  She is growing so fast!  Lia is loving all of her regular activities of this school year--preschool three times a week, gymnastics twice a week, and swim lessons once a week.  She absolutely loves her preschool class and adores her teacher, Miss Vera.  I am so happy that she has this in her life as it just makes her so happy.  I am also proud to say that my baby girl is now swimming without a life jacket.  I was so amazed when I saw it for the first time a few weeks ago, I actually had to fight back tears.  I had no idea that she could swim without a life jacket at such a young age.  Needless to say, she is doing a great job in her swimming class and advanced to the next level after the first session ended in October.  Her teacher informed me last week that Lia will advance to the next level after this session if she gets a little more confident swimming on her back and her side.  Hooray!  Here's to another fish in my family!  Lia still loves Princess Ariel and all things mermaid with a passion.  Our Christmas is really going to be a Merry Ariel Christmas!  It actually made Christmas shopping a breeze this year.  Lia still loves her brother to death, loves the color turquoise, loves acting out movies while watching them, loves taking showers, loves people who will play games and activities with her, LOVES wearing her "jama dresses" whenever she is home, and loves dragging her "comfy cozy" blanket all over the house.  She really is growing up--the picture above is all the proof you need of that one!  Love you, Lia!

This is what the men of the household...

are doing today while I am making pies.
Just precious.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Saucer Time

 

I think Logan is missing the point of the baby saucer.  

Oh well.

Whatever makes this little guy happy...

Argh, Matey!

 

Apparently this is what happens after your big sister comes home from a pirate theme birthday party!

Tiana, and Cinderella, and Rapunzel! Oh My!

Yesterday morning, Lia and I were able to go on the funnest mommy-daughter date to see Disney on Ice.  When Ron and I took her two years ago, the production centered around many of the different Disney characters; however, this year was extra special for my little girl as the entire performance was based on the stories of Tiana, Cinderella, and Rapunzel.  Basically it was princess overload for almost two straight hours and my little princess L.O.V.E.D. it!!  We had so much fun watching the talented ice skaters, the beautiful costumes, and the amazing sets.  Plus, Lia was able to choose one item from the gift shop for a Christmas present and, of course, she chose an Ariel necklace.  She held onto the little box it came in the whole time and only put it down to clap in between skating numbers.  It was so cute!  Although we loved the entire production, the highlight had to be the last five minutes when all of the Disney princesses came out with their beaus in beautiful, white and gold costumes.  We both nearly jumped out of our seats when our gal, Ariel, skated onto the floor with Prince Eric.  Needless to say, we can't wait until this show comes to town again!

 

Mommy and daughter posing in front of the Disney loot for sale.

 

Lia showing off her Ariel necklace while standing next to the princess herself.

 

Waiting for the show to start. Please notice Lia clutching her necklace.

 

Tiana talking to the frog version of Prince Naveen before the fateful kiss.

 

 

The two froggies tying the knot! 

 

The prince and princess back in human form!

 

 

The fairy godmother working her magic on Cinderella.

 

And she's off to the ball!

 

So this is love...

 

 

Rapunzel getting lectured by Mother Gothel.

 

Flynn and Rapunzel getting "tangled" in her hair!

 

 

The daring pair soaring around in Rapunzel's hair like a Cirque du Soleil act!  It was pretty cool to watch.

 

 

The Little Mermaid and Prince Eric skating in the final act.  Unfortunately all of the pictures came out pretty dark, so this was as good as I got!  Ariel, thanks for making a cameo and for consequently making my girl's day!

 

9-Months Old Today!

 

Well, our baby boy turned nine months old today.  Logan's officially three-fourths through his first year of life and he is so, so, so busy.  As long as he is rested, fed, and not hurt, he is as happy as can be just cruising around the first floor of our house getting into everything that he comes across.  He loves rummaging through the toy basket, yanking books off of the bookshelves, digging through the trash and recycling bin, pulling magnets off of the fridge, attacking the dishwasher whenever it is open...the list could go on and on.  As I said before, he is so busy, but he is so cute.  It has been so fun watching his independent side develop.  Logan still follows us around like a loyal puppy (usually with the flip flop magnet from the Bahamas in hand) and gives us the biggest grins at a moment's notice.  Besides the busyness, Logan popped his third tooth (top middle) on November 3rd, discovered the stairs and now can be found regularly hanging out on the second or third one (gasp!), and learned how to wave "bye bye" from his grandma.  He also has been introduced to the world of real table foods this past month and has readily gobbled up everything we have given him.  The list includes the following:  jello, mashed potatoes, carrots, avocados, hard boiled egg yolks, peaches, pears, bananas, strawberries, bread, cheese, tortillas, spaghettios, waffles, and cottage cheese.  He is also starting to drink out of cup.  The main low light of this past month has been the horrible nights that Logan gave us due to not one, but TWO colds that he got back to back.  For basically four weeks straight (with the exception of two, good nights in between the colds), Logan slept as poorly as a newborn.  It nearly sent Ron and I over the edge; however, I am happy to say that he is now 100% healthy, but currently in the throws of teething, so the last few nights have also been less than stellar.  I just hope that when this is all done, Logan will resume the consistent sleep pattern that we worked so hard to established months ago.  Rough nights and all, we love our boy and his big brown eyes and just think that he is the cutest thing!

 

Fire Station FieldTtrip

Today I accompanied Lia on another one of her preschool field trips to the fire station.  We had a good time being educated on fire safety, getting a tour of the fire truck, and watching a live demonstration of a firefighter suiting up in all his gear.  Needless to say, our girl is now an expert on stopping, dropping, and rolling--not that I want her to ever have to put it to use!  Here are a few pics of our adventures in the station...

 

Lia and her pal, Kaylee, posing in front of the firetruck.

Lia getting a high five from the fireman after he donned his gear!

The Theatre Room

Ever since our good friends, Wendy and Scott, bought their beautiful, dream home a few months ago, Lia has been in love with the idea of a theatre room in our house.  In fact, if she had her way, Lia would have three things in our home:  a theatre room, a carousel, and a pool.  Good grief.  It looks like Ron is going to have to consider a serious career change if we are to meet the ever increasing demands of our aspiring diva.  But I digress.  Anyways, this week, I finally got around to dragging our outside furniture in from our deck.  Since it has been raining nonstop for the past few weeks, all of the furniture was sopping wet, so I carefully set it up in our garage to dry for a few days before lugging it up into our attic.  While discussing this temporary arrangement with Lia, I pointed out that the chairs kind of made our garage look like a movie theatre or an airplane.  Before I knew it, an idea was born.  While I was cooking in the kitchen, Lia asked if she could play in our newly created "theatre room."  A few minutes later, I was called out into the garage to see what Lia had been up to.  Apparently, all of the princesses and one of her dolls had been invited down from her room to view Tangled.  Who knew!  Since then, Lia's girls have enjoyed watching The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast.  It's just a shame that it is all getting dismantled today--I'm pretty sure that both Lia and the princesses are not going to be happy with me. 

 

Our "theatre room."

 

Lia and her moving-viewing girls!

The Double Four

We celebrated Ron's 44th birthday today.  It's hard to believe that we have been together for nine of his birthdays!  My how time is flying.  This year, we took the kids with us to dinner at Kanpai, our beloved Japanese restaurant where we have gone every year for Ron's birthday since moving here in 2007.  Although the service was slower than normal, the food was just as delicious as ever and Lia surprised us the most by eating several of the salmon eggs from Ron's ikura sushi.  It looks like we have a budding sushi lover in the family. We then returned home for some gift opening and little homemade banana cream pie.  It was a simple evening, but fun never the less to honor our favorite guy on his special day.

 

Waiting for our food at Kanpai.

 

The "sushi boat" has arrived!  Let the eating games begin!

Lia popping the salmon roe into her mouth like Halloween candy!

Lia helping papa open one of his gifts--a new pair of house slippers!

 

Lia and Ron singing "Happy Birthday" to each other before blowing out the lone candle.