Phoenix and Elsa

The big day arrived and Phoenix had her 1st birthday party to celebrate her 3 years of life. She requested cupcakes and hot cocoa. She also requested a few friends to come over to enjoy a visit with Elsa.

Here is our beautiful princess ready for her birthday party.

Her are her guest princesses. Her cousin Braylin, her friends Aisha (and her little sister) and her friend Macey (and his big brother Matthew). Her friend Brooklyn couldn't make it, but the girls still managed to have fun!

Here Phoenix is meeting Elsa.

Phoenix was then asked to come up, but after about 5 to 10 minutes she became a bit shy and retreated to her brothers arms.

Axel was such an amazing brother.

Elsa was trying to coax her back and after some persuasion she went next to Elsa to become a princess herself.

Elsa gave Phoenix a butterfly necklace that officially made her princess Phoenix!

Elsa also made her a special snowflake bracelet.

Braylin, who was a little Elsa herself seemed to enjoy the show as well!

Here is a group photo minus Aisha and her little sister.

Everyone said Good bye and Phoenix made sure to give Elsa a cupcake. 

After Elsa left it was time for a little arts and crafts. Once the kiddos decorated the crowns and wands it was cupcake time!

Everyone loved the cupcakes and hot cocoa. The girls continued to play for another hour before heading home. It was quite the party!

Before Grandma Susan, Grandpa Brian and the Jolleys left, Phoenix opened up her gifts. Here Grandpa is helping Phoenix with her new Elsa doll. 

We had such a great afternoon and evening and were so glad to spend it with Pheeny's close friends and family.

I leave you with a sneak preview of Pheeny's 3 year photos. Here are three of my favorite shots.

Phoenix is 3 years old!

I had planned on doing one post later this weekend and realized that there is going to be way too many photos to share so I decided to do a quick post to share Pheeny's 3rd birthday yesterday!

 Per daddy's suggestion Phoenix and I went out for Mickey Mouse chocolate pancakes at MiMi's after dropping Axel off at school. We had quite the feast and enjoyed our delicious breakfast. Phoenix did not eat as much as she usually does because she is still recovering from the stomach bug that plagued her last weekend.

 After breakfast we headed for her 3 year check up. Phoenix weighted in at 26.1 pounds which puts her in the 7th percentile. She measured 37.25 inches which puts her in the 50th percentile. Her BMI comes out to be 0 percentile! Hopefully, this is just because she was sick! No wonder why her pants never stay up! Otherwise, everything else checked out great. She seems quite healthy besides being "hollow" like her brother!

After the doctor we headed for a quick park visit. Phoenix really wanted to go to Jack Fisher so I couldn't disappoint. We were able to play for 35 minutes before heading home for lunch and nap time.

 After nap time we picked up Axel from school and headed to Target/West gate Mall. Phoenix really wanted to get more toothpaste earlier in the day and Daddy and I wanted to get Axel a Star Wars t-shirt for Star Wars school spirit day, today. After picking up our items at Target Phoenix requested a ride on the Merry Go Round. We were all happily surprised that it was working because it has been out of order almost all of last year.  Here is the birthday girl enjoying herself!

 And big brother being and a supportive big brother by going along with what sister wants!

 I let Phoenix pick out one more ride and after a quick ride on the school bus they headed over to the indoor play area.

I was pleasantly surprised at how much fun the kids had playing. Axel is such a good sport and I am always amazed at how well he adapts to most situations, even if that means playing with and on "little kid" toys. 

 After over 30 minutes of playtime we headed home for an early dinner and bath.

Once Daddy arrived home we opened gifts and had birthday cake. Phoenix loved the cards and gifts she received from her grandparents and great grandparents. She went to sleep with the two cards that she received and is saving the princess crown for her party tomorrow.  

 I didn't have to make a cake because she received one at MiMi's with breakfast! As you can see from Axel's face we were all excited that Phoenix blew out her candles this year. She had no hesitations or fears like last year.

 Phoenix had her 3 year portraits taken today. I hope to get the email with the pictures later today so that I can post a few with pictures from the party.

Baseball Tryouts

Axel had baseball tryouts yesterday. He did extremely well for "not really wanting to go". He didn't complain verbally as before. He just crossed the event out on the calendar a couple of days before hand in retaliation. Keith and I were extremely proud of him. He had an amazing attitude and he TRIED. That is what we care about!

 had several people come up to us surprised at how much Axel had improved. We are hoping that he didn't do too well, because we only went to the tryouts for experience. We have no intention of letting him play AA ball. We are hoping after one more season of A ball he will be ready for AA ball in the fall.

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Phoenix woke up yesterday not feeling well. She said her stomach hurt. I thought it was because she hadn't had a bowel movement the day before. She went after breakfast as I expected, but all of a sudden Axel comes running from the pinball room saying Phoenix threw up. She was on her stomach doing a puzzle and threw up her entire breakfast. After cleaning it up and her up she really wanted to go to baseball tryouts because Macey, her girlfriend, from school was going to be there.

I let her go and she seemed fine. The girls had a blast playing in the muddy puzzles and helping me pick up trash/recycling. When Phoenix got in the stroller for our walk home, she immediately clammed up and her outgoing, happy self slipped away. Within 5 minutes I could tell that she wasn't feeling well. When I asked she said she felt sick. She fell asleep on the short 15 minute walk home.

I picked her up to put her to sleep and she said she had to throw up. She threw up everything she ate all day for a total of 6 or 7 times. Poor thing! She is doing better today and has managed to get by without throwing up, but hasn't been able to consume very much food. I hope she is better by tomorrow because we have a big week ahead of us with her birthday on Thursday!

I will leave you with a video of Axel and Daddy playing wrestle mania. Grandpa Brian gave this to Axel for Christmas. We opened it a couple of weeks ago, but had to wait for Daddy to fix one of the bases. Daddy was able to fix it this past week at work and now it is loads of fun to watch them play.

I hope to post next Sunday if we are not too busy! I should have Pheeny's 3 year stats, her 3 year photos and birthday party photos!

Daddy week, birthday parties and old friends

New Years week Daddy stayed home with the kids while I worked Monday through Thursday. Daddy had a shut down at work and I needed the extra hours to qualify for FMLA for maternity leave.  Daddy daycare is much more fun and exiting than mommy daycare. Daddy took the kids to swim, to story time, to Sports Basement, to the bank, grocery shopping, to visit Mommy at work and much more. The kids got out and played every day. Axel even helped Daddy do yard work. The kids had a great week and I could tell how much their relationships grew from a week together.  

On New Year's Eve, Daddy took me to see Star Wars in IMAX 3D. It was a great day and we really enjoyed ourselves. The kids loved that Monica came over to watch them as well, so it was a win, win evening for the entire family.

The kids still love books. Axel finished an entire reading level on Razz kids over his winter break, which is an online reading site through his school. It is amazing at how much his reading has improved so far this year. He was able to read a Magic tree house book almost completely by himself. It seems like just yesterday I was reading the Magic tree house series to him and now he can read it to me!

 I forgot to thank everyone for sending Christmas gifts. The kids loved everything they received, whether store bought or home made. We have managed to use everything we received so thank you. Here is the 500 piece puzzle little Grammy sent that Axel and Daddy worked on during winter break. Axel is really getting good at puzzles.

Axel enjoyed his winter break but was very excited to get back to school. He absolutely loves it. This week was my first week back to 3 days a week. It was really nice to have the extra time to spend with the kids and get things done. On Friday, I went to Axel's classroom to volunteer for Project Cornerstone. Usually I go without Phoenix because it is during her nap time. Since it was changed to the morning I decided to bring Phoenix too. The kids and Axel absolutely loved her being there. She did great for the first 45 minutes and then struggled for about 10 minutes until we transitioned from the floor to the desks. 

 Friday after school and both mornings this weekend have been spent catching up with our good old neighbors the Bartolos. Max, Sophia, Axel and Phoenix played extremely well together.

 These last three play dates are bittersweet as this visit was to get their house ready to sell. They have been gone for just over 2.5 years and need to sell their house before the 3 year mark in order to get around some tax implications.

 We will say our final goodbyes tomorrow night before they head out for good on Tuesday. Our only saving grace is if a nice family with children around Axel and Phoenix's age buy their house. Our neighborhood is not as much fun without kids to play with, so we are keeping are fingers crossed.

 Yesterday afternoon we headed to Automobuild for our neighbor's son Charlie's 4 year birthday party.

 Axel and Phoenix had a great time. We haven't really played with Evelyn and Charlie very often, but it is nice that they invited us to their party. Speaking to their mom, it might be a good idea not to get too attached as they are likely going to try to buy a house this summer before their 1 year lease ends.

Today we are headed over to Tyler and Cynthia's for a BBQ once Phoenix wakes from her nap. Axel also started another 8 week session of weekly swim lessons at the Y. We are gearing up for baseball tryouts next Saturday morning and then Pheeny's 3 year old birthday party the following weekend!

A Very Merry Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas. Here is one of Axel's beautiful art projects that he did at school. His school had him make 3 ornaments for us as gifts as well as several other art projects like below. I don't have them pictured because we have so many other pictures to share. 

 On Friday, the 18th of December the kids and I finally did our annual gingerbread house. This year they picked the village. Axel and I did the village several years ago. I thought this was a great idea so they both had their own houses to decorate.

 Axel had his last weekly winter swim lesson on Saturday the 19th. He is wearing his new rash shirt that we bought in San Diego. Unfortantely, the YMCA is very strict and wouldn't let us take pictures of him during his lesson. It was really good for him to have 6 weeks of lessons because it helped him maintain his back stroke and free style that he learned this summer. His back stroke continues to improve and he is able to swim the distance of the pool. Endurance is his main issue and what prevents him from being able to do the crawl across the length of the pool, which is a necessity for him to move up to the next level. He is going to do one more set of weekly lessons to bridge him to when the Cabana club opens, a pool that we joined this year.

 On Sunday the 19th we went to Eileen's house for her annual holiday get together. They moved into a house in San Carlos that is right next to a street that they close down at night for on lookers to come and enjoy the lights.

 It was very enjoyable for the kids and I to see the houses covered in lights.

 I only had to work 2 days Christmas week. The kids loved having Annika home from school watching them all day. On Wednesday we went to story time. I received a message from Grandma Sonia that she wanted a picture of me with the kids. The only two pictures I had were from Mother's day and they weren't very good. Here is a picture of me trying to get a picture with the kids. I love how engrossed they are in the story.

On Wednesday night we went to Petco and got Louis an early Christmas gift, a new bed. He  hurt his back again and he is no longer the young spry dog who can go up and down the stool to the couch. The family has finally come to grips that Louis is aging and needs some accommodations.

 On Christmas Eve, we were able to spend the day together. The kids opened their one gift, which happened to be matching pajamas this year. Keith and I found them and decided we wanted to make this a family tradition.

 After opening the gift we got ready for an early church service. I had Daddy take pictures of the kids and I since we really didn't have any pictures together all year.

 I love my kiddos so much!

 Here are the kids in their pajamas. We watched a Christmas movie and ate some yummy cookies before heading for bed.

 Here is a great picture of Daddy and the kids right before bed.

 Christmas morning the kids woke up excited as usual. We opened our stockings and then had our traditional slow cooked pumpkin pie oatmeal before heading to the pin ball room to open gifts. I was able to get another picture of the two before we dug into gift opening.

 Here is a picture of Phoenix after opening a gift. This was her after every gift. She was over the top happy with everything she received. It didn't matter if it was her super hero underwear in her stocking or a little purse. She loved everything!

 Axel also loved all of his gifts. Here he is being Mr. Rico Suave in his new Star Wars robe. The robe was purchased with the idea to keep him warm after swim lessons, although he wears it much more often than just s

 Axel is very thoughtful and got gifts from the heart for Daddy and I. Here is a picture of Axel giving Daddy his checker/chess set that he really wanted. Daddy wanted to teach Axel how to play chess and checkers over the break and that has been more than accomplished. Axel has such a great memory that he has picked up both games quite easily and remembers all of the strategies that Daddy is teaching him.

I finally received the Cooking Light magazine that I have been getting as hand me downs for years. The girlfriend who had been giving me her old magazines moved away so I asked for my own subscription. Axel made me a beautiful card and purchased a two year subscription!

 After opening all of the gifts Phoenix spent hours playing with each of her new toys.

 Axel spent the rest of the day putting together his new Ninjago Lego set. Both kids had a wonderful Christmas.

 The next day we ate breakfast and headed to Grandma Susan's house. We spent the day enjoying each others company, opening more gifts and eating yummy food.

 Shannon and I finally took a picture together. It has been years!

 And we finally got a picture of all of the girls in the family!

 Speaking of girls, Braylin and Phoenix had a blast playing together. Instead of napping they played on the blow up mattress together. They were adorable!

 Axel spent most of the day building his new Shockwave marble kit.

 The only break he took was to watch a movie with the girls. The girls were so tired and rambunctious I was glad to get them settled down for a short bit.

This week Daddy has been home with the kids all week while I have been working. It has been such a treat to see how their relationship has blossomed in just a few days. They absolutely have loved spending so much time with Daddy.

I was also very excited that my loving husband wanted to go out on New Year's to a movie! If anyone knows Keith, they know he doesn't like to go out on New Year's and doesn't like to go to the movies. Well, thank you Star Wars! We really enjoyed Star Wars in 3D at the IMAX theater.

Today has been low key and more family time. We were suppose to go to a friend's house, but they are sick from travels. We look forward to a weekend together before our regular routine starts on Monday.