Thanksgiving and more

Last Wednesday a coworker of mine had a fun lunch time activity for all of us. We all made turkeys made of candy. She is so clever and creative. I had a blast making this for Axel.  Axel enjoyed eating it more than he enjoyed the turkey creation itself. 

 Thursday was a long day. The Szolushas got up early and were on the rode to the base of Mt. Hamilton well before 8am. Keith raced up the 17 mile climb while Axel and I drove up it. After cheering daddy on we had a quick interview with Indie TV and then headed to Galt for an asian cuisine dinner at my Aunt Susan's house. We had a beautiful drive down the backside of Mt Hamilton and then continued on another twisty rode for a total of almost 50 miles of back roads. We were 5 miles from I-5 when Keith and I heard a cough, then a burp and before I could fully stop the car the projectile vomiting. Poor Axel got car sick for the first time. No wonder why he didn't want to eat his lunch. Luckily, I brought several changes of clothes, but was bummed his cute outfit was ruined for the day. We had a great time visiting family,but were glad to make it home just after 8pm that night.

 On Friday, we ordered our new fake 9 foot Christmas tree which should be arriving by the end of the week.  In order to satisfy my usual tradition of decorating for Christmas the weekend after Thanksgiving, Axel and I decorated the rest of the house and will save the tree for when it arrives. I was so excited to put up some of the new decorations that my Aunt Cindy gave me. Here is my first Nativity scene. I am proud to finally have one to display. Axel and I also love all of the other decorations that my Aunt passed on and had a blast putting decorations around the house. Axel was more than cute when he was picking out what decorations he wanted for his room and bathroom.

 Axel and I run errands all of the time together. Every once in awhile he plays this game where he sits in the car. I tell him I can help him down and he can come with me or he can come in by himself when he is ready. this weekend he decided he wanted to stay in the car. I left him and went inside. Here is a picture of him finally out of the car screaming mommy every minute or so. I was watching him from inside the house waiting for him to come in on his own. Finally, I was able to coax him in without having to go outside and pick him up by telling him that I was going to decorate the ginger bread train by myself. It is funny how stubborn he is and the power struggle games he comes up with.

 Despite, the above incident, we had a great time decorating the ginger bread train. I purchased it last year when everything was on sale. it worked well for the most part, except the icing. I couldn't kneed the icing to a smooth enough consistency to spread. It came out in big chunks and we had to spread it by hand. It also dried within a couple of minutes because it was so old. I think I would purchase an old kit again despite the frosting issue.

 I was telling my coworker about the sea room mural in the baby room. She said that she had the whole sea room theme of bedding, lamp and valence. I picked it up last week and was super excited to see that it matched really well. This is the first time that we have a fully coordinated, matching room. I guess it should be fitting for a girl :)

 It is hard to believe that she will be here in just a few short weeks. I am hoping she doesn't make too early of an entrance because it will be nice to enjoy Christmas with Axel first. Besides, my dad and Sonia don't arrive until January 12th, so we won't have anyone to watch Axel until then anyways.

Thanks for reading!

November Fun

It is hard to believe that Thanksgiving will be here in a few short days. The Szolusha's had our annual pre-thanksgiving feast with our close friends. We had a great time and our 20 lb turkey was full consumed in 20 minutes flat!

Axel continues to amaze us. As you can see from the picture he looks like a little "big" man. I love his hair this short because it does make him look more mature. 

We had a week long of very cold weather. We had to bundle up more than we are use to for this time of year. Axel asked me as the car window was defrosting why we weren't driving one morning this week. I told him because the wind shield was iced over and I couldn't see out the window until the frost was completely gone. Daddy came to the rescue after 5 minutes by pouring some hot water over the windshield so I wouldn't be late for work !

 Axel's babysitter, Annika, was on the varsity volleyball team this year. We had the privilege of watching them play in the second round of tournament play for the state championship. Unfortunately, they lost, but we had fun cheering her on.

 You know it is officially the holiday season in the Szolusha house because you can smell pumpkin in the air! Here Axel is helping daddy make yummy pie crust. We have now made and consumed 5 pumpkin pies so far this year.

This past Thursday, Axel and I were able to see the happy bird show again. This time it was at the Los Gatos library. It was just as good, if not better than the first show we saw last month. 

 As I mentioned we had our annual pre-Thanksgiving turkey feast yesterday. We had a wonderful time and want to thank our friends for sharing in the holiday spirit with us. Here is Axel playing with Alex. Alex turned 2 in August and is the son of Keith's study partner from MIT. It was really cool to see the two of them hanging out. Axel read to Alex for nearly an hour and showed him how to use the potty like a big boy. This was the best that they have every gotten along. Alex is finally old enough to interact with Axel and Axel loves to play with kids he can be in charge of. I think that Axel is finally ready to be a big brother.

Axel has found a new love for pinball again. He has been playing over the past two weeks and has become quite good at it. Here is a short video of him playing a ball. You may be able to tell that he is not just trying to hit the ball, but he is trying to aim for the colored back board in order to open the eyes and get to play double ball. I can't believe a 3 year old can pick up on strategy, but obviously my son is a product of his father and completely gets games. I am not sure if I mentioned previously, but Axel is really into any type of game. We now play uno, gold fish, candy land, chutes and ladders, bingo, and zingo. He also is getting really good at hitting the ball from both sides as well as throwing with both arms! As Axel says he is strong in both arms. 

Axel has also started to come a long way with food again. I have make a pack with myself that he needs to eat the food that I cook, so most nights he is actually consuming the dinner that I have prepared. Only a couple of times per week do I let him eat a quick meal of macaroni and cheese while we eat fish or something a bit too spicy for his liking. It is one of the most exciting things for me as a parent to only have to cook one meal for the entire family!

We want to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!

Halloween Festivities

The past few weeks have been filled with Halloween related fun. We took Axel to Lemos Farm again this year. The only difference was he was with his friends Max and Rishaan, which made the day that much better. I would have to say Axel's favorite part was feeding the goats like last year, although he said he wasn't going to feed them this year. 

He continues to love animals and I am curious to see if this continues as he gets older as well.

This year Axel wasn't the only one who didn't want to participate in the pony ride. Max also decided to watch from the sidelines with Axel while Rishaan and Sophia, Max's little sister were the brave soles of the group. Sophia didn't make it more than one time around before she cried and was taken off to be reunited with her mom, but the three moms were all still impressed with the 18 month olds bravery.

The second big hit was the train. However, the line was extremely long and it took over 30 minutes for the three boys to wait their turn.

Luckily, Lemos farm expects this and they had rocking horses in the center of the half circle line which allowed the kids to burn some energy and the parents to keep watch of their children.

Finally, it was time to hop on the train. Unfortunately, there was not enough room for daddy and I, but Axel thoroughly enjoyed it despite our absence.

Here is a shot of the three boys on a coin operated ride. You can see they were having a blast!

Keith and I had our annual date. Yes that is right, we go on one night time date per year. This year Keith's company party theme was "Viva Las Linear".

We were the only couple that we saw who asked the show girls not to be in our picture. We initially felt bad, but since we hardly get any photos together, we were happy with the results of this photo opportunity.

 They gave us $25 chips to start the night off. It went to over an hour of entertainment as we played for prizes with this money machine as well as craps. All in all it was a good time and I look forward to next year's date night :)

Axel received several hand me down costumes from my cousin Jill, who has 3 boys. This year he chose the fireman costume. He had a great time at school dancing, making Halloween decorations and eating a yummy cupcake.

He had even more fun trick or treating. We started the night out with Annika and her friend Alina.

Axel was a bit shy at our first house. It was a good thing that we did not start with his friends because it took him about 5 minutes to decide if he actually wanted to take a piece of candy or not. Luckily, he got into the spirit of taking candy from people, although, unlike his friends he made sure to think about exactly what piece he wanted.

He was very strategic about taking an equal amount of chocolate and hard candy/ suckers. He was also really good about giving daddy the candy with peanut butter in it when there were no other choices.

At 7pm we met up with the crew and then proceeded to trick or treat along our street for the next hour. I believe they all had a great time, although Axel ended up hanging out more with Sophia then Max or Rishaan since they were running from house to house and skipping several houses at a time. Axel and Sophia were more into taking their time and taking in their surroundings than running. I am sure that will change next year for Axel, but we will have to wait and see.

It is hard to believe Thanksgiving is around the corner. We have our annual pre-Thanksgiving meal coming up in 2 weeks and will then head to Sacramento for the actual holiday.