December Fun

Before Daddy went to China we decided to pay Santa a visit. Since Keith was going to be gone I was worried about getting a family picture for our cards so I talked the family into getting dressed up in Christmas colors and us all taking a picture with Santa. 

I was going to include both photos in our Christmas card, but then I got lazy. I thought it might be a bit too similar of photos so I went with the family photo. 

Keith left on Saturday the 1st of December. The kids and I went to Tyler and Cynthia's for dinner and then walked the 1.5 mile "Fantasy of Lights" show in Vascona Park. Here is a picture of the kids all bundled up. Axel left his jacket at Tyler's so he had to wear his very old jacket that I brought for Rubix instead. Rubix absolutely refuses to wear long pants or shirts or jackets of any sort. He was shivering and finally allowed me to rest the jacket over his head and shoulders and wrap a blanket around him. This has been the only successful time I was able to have him come to his senses. 

Sunday morning we went to a rock climbing party. Phoenix's friend, Nicole, goes often with her parents. She was amazing. It was funny that most of the classmates were all scared, including Phoenix. Phoenix did really well though and climbed half way up 3 times. Axel was a champ and made it up all the way and Rubix made it up a third of the way before getting scared. I had to be right next to him so I wasn't able to get a picture of him climbing. 

I was able to capture all three kids enjoying Nicole's delicious ice cream birthday cake.

On Sunday night, the kids and I went to Eileen and Luis' Christmas party. I didn't take any photos, but I did capture a video of Phoenix being her silly self. 

I was really glad for the weekend to be over because I had lost most voice and was feeling quite under the weather with our very busy schedule. The week went by quite smoothly considering being sick and the kids getting up early each day.

On Thursday Axel had his Winter Music Concert. You can see him right in the middle of the photo, in the first row of the Jazz band which is sitting behind the orchestra. He did his first improv solo. He was so excited. He didn't tell me before hand but he kept asking me how he did. I was very proud of him for being so brave and having a 30 second solo.

Rubix and I finally made it to the park on Friday. It was so nice to enjoy the nice weather. This picture was the last day I was able to get him in pants of any sort. I had him stay in his PJ's because he was wearing pants and I didn't want to fight him about shorts.

Daddy got home on Friday night the 7th just before 8pm. He surprised us all by getting home an hour and a half early. Apparently the flight was 3 hours quicker on the way home! On Sunday Camryn came to watch the kids and Keith and I got to ride together for the first time in a month or more! The kids enjoyed making a Grinch gingerbread Village!

I love how much fun they had.

This week Phoenix made her very own gingerbread house at school. Here she is with the finished product. I wasn't able to get very many photos because she started eating the candy off of it right away!

Daddy brought home lots of fun surprises from China. Phoenix received a beautiful dress and paper Phoenix. Rubix received a 3 in 1 Lego set that can be an airplane, rocket or helicopter.

Axel received a dragon hat and shirt. I received sweet potato and chocolate covered mochi. We all loved being spoiled.

Here is Daddy at the airport in Sanghai.

This is a glass walkway on the top floor of the building below. It gives you quite a different perspective of the city. 

I am glad that he got out and got to see some of China while he was at his conference. He has some very interesting stories. One was getting turned down by 2 taxi drivers. Him and his coworkers (who happened to be Chinese) were trying to get to the city. Two taxi drivers said it wasn't far enough. The third taxi driver said yes, but it took them 25 minutes. So the question is, did the 3rd taxi driver take matters into his own hands and took a "long" way to the city to make it worth wild or were the taxi drivers looking for people going more than 30 minutes away? Very interesting!

We are all looking forward to some time off of work and school. We have another action packed week before we all have a week off together. I am called to jury duty, so we will see if I actually have to go in during my vacation. I want to leave you with a funny video of Rubix playing "his instrument". 

I will be sure to post after Christmas. Until then have a very Merry Christmas!

November came and went!

It is amazing to think that November will be over this coming Friday. Time really does seem to go faster this time of year. 

On Saturday the 17th, we drove down to Sacramento to surprise Grandpa Brian for his 65th birthday. We all met at BJ's for a lovely meal and then went to Auntie's for cake and ice cream. Axel and Daddy found this great turkey hat for Grandpa as he often shares his birthday with Thanksgiving on the 24th of November.

 Rubix missed Grandma Susan so he went to get some Grandma time which was great for me :)

 Grandpa displaying Phoenix's beautiful birthday card.

 The grand kids getting ready to help Grandpa blow out the candles.

Phoenix saying goodbye to Grandpa. She is being her silly self as usual!

This year we decided not to have our big pre-Thanksgiving feast with our friends because of our busy schedules. The MIT crew still really wanted to get together so Tyler and Cynthia decided to step up and do the honors of preparing a delicious meal for the 20 of us. Here they are proud of their beautiful turkey. It was delicious! 

 On Sunday the 18th Grandma Sonia and Grandpa Bruce flew in for the week. They came to help watch Axel and Phoenix because of their school closure. We all went to see the Grinch on Monday. On Tuesday they went to Sky High for some fun jumping time and then worked hard on an art project.

 Phoenix is sitting down next to their detailed city they created together over the course of the afternoon.

 On Wednesday they went to the mall to pick up supplies for another fun art project. I love the ornaments they made. I love projects like this as they will be able to see how big they were in 2018 when they are older. Phoenix's foot is the reindeer and Axel's is the snowman.

 On Wednesday night we also traded our old pinball machine for a new one. This one is from '92 so it has a little more excitement then the old one we were storing for Keith's work buddy that was made in '78.

On Thursday we had a fun morning playing at the Y in the pool and then a nice dinner. Grandma Sonia was so helpful in the preparations and Daddy worked hard to make a yummy turkey and pumpkin pie. Rubix has been sick for a couple of weeks so it was nice to be home chilling and relaxing. 

 On Friday the Jolley's came for a visit. The grandkids had to much fun seeing Grandma and Grandpa and playing with each other.

 Rubix decided not to nap on Thanksgiving and was trying to skip his nap on Friday. Here he is in a half sleep state on Grandpa's lap. He ended up taking a very late nap around 5 pm. Luckily, he only slept for an hour and we were able to get him to bed by 10 pm.

 Rubix and Grandpa and Grandma were watching the dance show presented by little miss Phoenix and Braylin. They had a blast playing together.

 On Friday before Grandma and Grandpa had to leave they helped get the tree down and put it together. We managed to get the tree fully decorated before bed. Rubix was excited once he got the hang of it.

 I love this picture of the three kids decorating the tree. My little diva is in the middle of her two brothers. She is such a special girl I hope she knows how much she is loved despite her birth order and feeling like she is never old enough to compete with Axel and not getting the baby attention that Rubix gets.

 Today was birthday parties galore. I took Phoenix and Rubix to Bounce O Rama for an early birthday party and Keith took Axel to Pump it up for an afternoon birthday party.

 Phoenix was really excited to play with her old friends. Here she is with Aisha.

 Rubix took about 30 minutes to warm up and then he was off with the big kids having fun. Here he is bowling :)

 It has been quite a full week of fun and family time. I am a little nervous about the coming weeks but I know the Lord is good and with us all. Keith will be in China and the kids and I have plans to see the Lights in the Park, go to a rock climbing birthday party and our first Christmas party of the year next weekend. It is going to be a full month! I do hope the kids take notice of the true meaning of Christmas as we celebrate the birth of our wonderful Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

I will leave you with Axel and Phoenix breaking the wishbone. Can you guess who the winner was?

 It was a very close outcome with Phoenix winning by just a little bit. Axel was an awesome sport congratulating her with a big hug. How I love these kids!

No promises I will post before Christmas, but if all goes well and I can get a couple of major presentations done, Christmas cards done, Christmas shopping done and all of the pictures for 2018 ordered for the kiddos scrap book then I will make sure to write another post. Until then, God Bless!

October Mega Blog

 What a wonderful full month is has been for the Szolusha family. I will start with our first trip to the pumpkin patch in mid October, before Keith left for Japan. We went to our usual Queen's Pumpkin Patch. It is close and still fun for the kids. Rubix was fascinated by the cow train and really wanted to go on it. He had a moment where he second guessed his decision but he calmed down once the train started and was happy for me to walk along side him.

Kristin joined us again this year and the kids had to paint pumpkins like usual. It doesn't seem to get old. 

 Rubix continues to love animals. He pet the cute little pig and the goat this year with Daddy's help.

 Rubix sat in this little train wagon during his contemplation to ride the cow train and afterwards as he watched others ride the cow train.

 Axel did the water bubble again this year, but this time he was able to stay up and run in place. He had trouble managing to stay up for more than a few seconds last year. It was really cool to see how much he has grown in strength.

 Phoenix was also a champ and was able to stay upright and run in place. The kids had a blast! Rubix, Daddy and I had fun watching them.

 We even managed to get a family photo!

 Daddy headed to Japan the Friday after our pumpkin patch excursion. Here are a few photos from Japan. Here he is having fun before one of his first meetings with a customer.

Mt. Fuji

Legoland Japan!

All dressed up at another customer in Osaka, I believe.

A picture of Tokyo from the hotel room.

Doing a little sight seeing before coming home :)

While Daddy was away, we were doing our best to get through our weekly school and work grind. I am not sure what was going on here, but after picking Axel up from a school music event on Sunday morning the boys were picking each others noses. I took a picture to send to Daddy to help him smile through his first work day in Japan, since he would be waking up on Monday soon after this picture was taken. 

 Rubix also finally decided he did want to dress up for Halloween and he really wanted to be an airplane. We lucked out and found this cute costume on Ebay and had it delivered a couple of days later.

 I have been treating one of Daddy's coworkers for her neck and arm pain at home. I am using her for a case presentation for my fellowship and she has brought over some Asian pastries a couple of times. On this particular day she brought over a pumpkin that had pumpkin inside. Phoenix was excited to try, but disappointed that it wasn't sweet at all.

We were all very excited when Daddy got home. He brought gifts back for everyone. Rubix's gift was AWESOME and exactly what I wanted to get him for Christmas. This airplane can roll forward on its own and when pressure is applied in a downward motion its lights flash on. 

He brought home a cool Barbie type doll for Phoenix whose hair changes color and these cool matching jerseys. He brought home cute Hello Kitty socks and an assortment of other gifts. He had a successful trip in terms of business and a little fun with his personal excursions as well!

 When Daddy arrived home from the airport, Phoenix and I headed to a classmate's birthday party. It was a costume party, but she took off her Red Riding Hood cap due to the 80 degree weather!

 On Sunday at our park we noticed our park had a couple of updates. This was one of them. Rubix could reach the "telephone" tube because a beautiful new platform was built and a nice cover was put on the mouth of the tube.

 Axel and Phoenix had Monday off of school so we went to Uesugi Farms to meet Selena and Kristin.

 We went through a really fun corn maze where we had to answer trivia questions to find our way out. It was so much fun!

 The kids had a blast playing with the pumpkins and just being kids.

 Phoenix had just been here the Friday before on a field trip with school. When she was here she wasn't allowed to do the Merry Go Round, so that was the number one request she had. Selena kindly went on with her which saved me from the potential of getting motion sickness.

 We did the hay ride as well and got to see the famous Marigold patch they plant every year. It was amazingly beautiful.

 We also got to see the winner for biggest pumpkin in the South Bay this year. I took a picture from this angle because I thought my lovely husband would get a good laugh!

 We made sure to carve pumpkins before Halloween. Axel continues to grow up and do things more and more on his own. He designed his own dragon and then proceeded to carve it out.

 I had to help a little with the carving, but he is becoming more and more of a young man doing more for himself.

 On Halloween we were able to catch a family picture, although the quality is not great. Axel and Daddy decided we should all be In and Out workers, but just the three of us ended up being them. Phoenix wanted to be a cat princess and Rubix was happy with his airplane costume.

 Here are the final jack-o-laterns. Can you see the airplane, unicorn and dragon?

 Kristin and Selena jointed us along with Selena's niece, Zoe, who is a couple of months younger than Rubix. Selena's parents and her brother and his wife were there as well. We also ran into the other Axel and Arianna our neighbor joined for trick or treating fun as well.

 It was difficult to get a good photo of the kids trick or treating. Rubix really got it this year and was pleased to go door to door for candy!

 Phoenix and Axel had a great time as well!

 Oh, I forgot to mention when I picked up Axel from school, on Halloween, he had lost a tooth. When he got home he worked on the other tooth that was loose and before you know it he had two teeth missing on Halloween!

 This past Sunday Phoenix and I went to another birthday party. This was at Bricks for Kids again. She was tired from the time change because we had stayed up late at Eileen's and Luis' house celebrating Luis' birthday the night before. I thought it was funny her entire class showed up and she said it was boring! Axel loved the birthday party he attended here in June. Funny how different the kids are!

 Here are a few pictures from Eileen's. Alex and Axel continue to be about the same size and have the same interests, although Alex is about 18 months younger. Lily has adjusted so well and it is hard to believe she has been apart of their family for a year now. She turns 3 years old right after Thanksgiving. Phoenix had so much fun playing with her. She said the next day, "I do really well with babies. We should play more often with them."

 The boys being silly!

 The birthday boy and family.

 Mr. Rubix getting ready to sing Happy birthday. We are so blessed to have such great friends in close proximity.

I have been really busy working and doing work for my fellowship. I will likely not post again until after Thanksgiving. We are looking forward to more family fun with Grandpa Bruce and Grandma Sonia coming for Thanksgiving week. Until then..... God Bless!