Grandpa Burgess's memorial service, Axel's birthday party, and Phoenix rides a bike!

I had wanted to write a post summarizing my thoughts about the passing of my grandfather, Don Burgess, but I can't bring myself to do it. All I can say is that I am sad that he is no longer here, but happy he is no longer suffering. I am relieved that he believed in our wonderful Lord Jesus and now resides in heaven. We had a beautiful memorial service for him last weekend. I was very surprised at how emotional my family was. I thought the sharing of their emotions was compelling and I was quite happy at how each of my family members have grown as individuals. I loved how God's love was a theme throughout the event. My grandfather was a man that showed everyone love. He had so much grace and fortitude on how to communicate with others. He had such a knack at making people feel special. There is not one person that was there that hadn't been touched by Grandpa's charm.

Since this event I have been struck with the biggest doubtful period of my life. A low beyond all lows. I am not sure of the source, whether it is his death or my cousin Kendra's diagnosis of returned cancer. It is a fight I have had to overcome before. I still feel at peace when I am immersed in His word or prayer, but I am in pure turmoil within when I am not. I do hope this it is short lived and pray constantly for God to help me with my unbelief. Now, onwards to my almost 9 year!

Axel had his birthday party directly after my Grandpa's memorial service. I was stuck in horrible traffic and by the grace of God, arrived just in time for his party. Keith had an awful time with the kiddos as the two little ones were having fits all morning. He was happy that he made it to the party location with all three kids in tact as well. The bummer thing is, in the process, he lost his tablet as it flew off the car. I missed part of the party as he asked me to slowly drive home to look for it. To Phoenix and my dismay it was no where to be found. Phoenix had to come with as she was not allowed to participate in the party because of her inability to cooperate, listen or respect anyone for several days. Luckily a lot of love and strict boundaries has brought our little angel back. I will get to that more later.

                                     Kristin the hero getting the balls that were in the water.

                                          Rubix the golfer.

                                         The birthday crew. Kiefer, Shamack, Selena, Bebe, Kristin
Axel decided to have a low stress party at Golf Land. We had planned an hour of golf and an hour of video game play if the weather cooperated and 2 hours of video games if it was raining. Well, the weather was cool but sunny so the kids decided to play golf. They had a crazy, wild, fun game of golf that lasted almost 2 hours. Because it was nearly 6 pm when they finished, we decided to head over to In N Out for some burgers and fries.


The kids enjoyed their dinner and then we sang happy birthday to Axel. He requested Tirmasu and to my surprise almost everyone enjoyed it. I did order milkshakes for a couple of his friends, who didn't want to try it.


Axel had a school celebration this morning in home room. He requested donuts so Rubix and I were able to go to school with Axel and bring donuts. It was fun to see Axel's friends and be able to take part in something at school.


On Saturday, Axel's birthday, he will be at Selena's birthday party. I am very proud of him for being so mature and letting Selena have her party on their birthday and her school celebration the day before. I see Axel's heart growing and this awesome new found maturity. I can't wait to see how much more he continues to grow throughout the years.


    Axel and best friend Lucas.

On Tuesday March 27th, Phoenix decided she wanted to ride a big girl bike! Out of no where she decided to give it a try and in a matter of minutes she was riding! By Wednesday, she was doing loops in the park. Today she practiced starting and stopping as is very close to mastering these skills as well. I am very proud of her as we just went through a very difficult spell. She has been so unpleasant pushing her boundaries and asserting control. She actually decided to pee her bed every night for 2 weeks! Since Tuesday, after learning to ride the bike, she decided to stop wetting the bed. She has also started being her sweet self again.

Parenting is so difficult. I feel horribly ashamed of losing my cool and showing my lack of control. I do hope that through God's grace I can one day be like my amazing Grandfather, and our dear Lord and Savior, Jesus. That I can demonstrate self restraint despite what is going on inside me, so that my children will understand that we need to respond to others only in love. Regardless of how we are treated, the only way to fight the wrongs of this world is to face it with love, love, love! Love is the answer to all of our evils! I do hope they will know this by the time they leave this house at 18 years old. I will leave you with a cute picture of Rubix. He is growing up so quickly!

Rubix Stats

This weekend we lucked out with one rain free day. Rubix and Phoenix enjoyed our trip to Jack Fischer Park where Phoenix enjoyed a play date with Kira. Rubix was so happy to finally be at the park after a week of no park because of the unrelenting rainy days. This week has been more of the same. 

 Today was the worst storm with high winds and heavy rain falls. I almost cancelled his 2 year check up because I didn't want to sit through the traffic. I take Rubix to Mountain View because typically it is faster to drive and park there, then it is to go to Santa Clara where I work. However, with 3 car accidents it made for a long drive.

Despite the long drive Rubix held his bladder and nicely cooperated using the restroom three times while at the doctor's office. I was a little nervous about him having a poop accident because he hadn't pooped in over 24 hours and his is a morning and night pooper.

 When we got home from the doctor the rain calmed down to a light drizzle that enticed Rubix to play outside. He was so excited to look at the earth worms. The bummer thing is for how good he was using the bathroom while in public, he refused to cooperate at home and had 2 pee pee accidents in a matter of an hour. Argh!

 Rubix was very charming at the doctor's office. He stepped right onto the scale and weighed in at 28.9 lbs. This puts him in the 62nd percentile. He also backed right up to the tape measure, although he was a little afraid of the sliding lever that came down to rest on his head. He measured 35 inches which put him at the 74th percentile.

His diaper rash is finally starting to clear up with the potty training. It is really helpful having daycare help with the potty training. I am really hopeful he will have it down for the most part in the next month because I am exhausted putting him on the potty every hour or more!

We went to Westmont High school, Suessical the Musical to see Monica and Camryn. Axel really enjoyed seeing his favorite babysitter as one of the lead roles of JoJo. Phoenix didn't recognize Monica with the short hair or Camryn with her purple hair. Rubix was scared the entire time but he was such a champ to patiently have me hold him in my arms for the 2 hour affair. I thought for sure he would lose it, but I was very impressed with his ability to keep his composure.

Phoenix started wetting her bed the past week or so. It seems to correlate with this new fear of being alone since they practice doing a lock down drill at school. She is at a really difficult stage and I can't wait for her to mature and get over this stage. I find it very difficult to know how to properly respond to her.  I remember struggling with Axel between 4 and 5. I keep thinking I almost done. I just have to graciously get through this year and hopefully we both come out better, more mature people.

Keith went to Axel's 4th grade question and answer event where they discussed all of the changes that occur for the 4th graders. The completely separate the 4th and 5th graders and run it like a middle school. He will have a different head of school. He will have the option to run for different councils. There is a student council, spirit council and another that I can't remember right now. Almost all of the sports teams are set up more like practice teams then competition teams. This is very good for Axel because the requirements are much less. He can do baseball and track team if he wants. We also learned that his current principal and language art teacher are looking at moving him to P3 language arts which would be 6th grade level next year. Axel also came home today saying how he is making more effort in Math and Language arts going above and beyond what his teachers are asking him. I think he decided he does want to get moved up to be in P3 with his best buddies Lucas and Kristin. I am excited for this new found maturity that Axel is showing. I love how he is taking ownership and starting to really apply himself. Keith and I have been telling him from the beginning that all we really care about is that he tries hard and gives his best effort. We really don't care about the end product of grades. Don't get me wrong, I love that he is getting nearly all A's, but I much rather him learn the benefit of hard work.

We are looking forward to celebrating Axel's birthday this Saturday. I am praying for God's strength as I attend my Grandfather's memorial service on Saturday morning. I am hoping that I feel full of love and happiness in celebrating his life and not sadness because I think it will be hard to have fun that evening at Axel's birthday party. Until then.....God Bless!

Cute Videos of Rubix and Good News!

We are really excited to announce that Phoenix got accepted to Harker and will be joining Axel at Harker next year for Kindergarten.  We are really proud of Pheeny's efforts in the admission process and made sure that she understood that it was her hard work that got her accepted.  She acknowledged this by saying,"I need to tell Ms. Angelina that I got accepted into Harker." "Why?" I asked. "Because I need to learn a lot before I go," she responded.

Now that we know our plans for next year for her we can solidify a bunch of other things that were up in the air.

We had a nice little celebration for Rubix. He enjoyed getting cards from his grandparents and great grandparents. He actually wanted to carry the cars around the house with him. You can see his shy side in this video as we sang Happy Birthday to him.

Annika has been home all week and has helped out or stopped by almost every evening. Rubix has really enjoyed her visits and asks for her without being prompted. It is amazing to me that he still knows her despite the months that have gone between visits. She is excited as she will be graduating in May and officially done with school in August. It will be weird when she is working because then I won't be able to ask for her help as I won't be able to afford what she makes as a nurse. 

Little Grammy sent Rubix a Celtics shirt. I am not sure who likes it more, Daddy or Rubix. Daddy made sure Rubix understood it was a basketball shirt. Look at Rubix's basketball skills!

Rubix Vaughn is 2!

 I took this picture a couple of weeks ago. Rubix absolutely loves the trains like his big brother did. I love how both boys love building and playing trains. 

 Auntie Shannon brought Pheeny's birthday gift when they came to see Disney on Ice. Here is Phoenix wearing the dress that she received. She also received this really cool Princess book where you get to write a letter of the alphabet and a princess name or item that starts with that letter. She loves the book and takes it to bed with her each night.

 Last Saturday evening we prepared cupcakes for Rubix's birthday celebration at Happy Hollow the following day. The kids had fun licking the bowl. This was Rubix's first time with chocolate cupcake batter.

 The next morning we headed over to Happy Hollow. We rode the carousel first before going to see some of the animals.

 We then played on one of the play structures while we waited for the Jolley's to arrive. They were kind enough to make the big drive to spend the day with Rubix!

 Mommy had a lot of fun playing on the play structures too!

 Our Independent 5 year old!

 Happy Birthday Rubix!

 It is hard to see Rubix in this picture, but he went right over to pet the sheep. His head is peaking through the fence.

 Rubix loved riding the rides and driving his own car.

 Braylin and Phoenix rode the swings!

 And baby Aya walked and walked until she was ready for a nap!

We did manage to wait in a long line for Danny the Dragon train ride. I am not sure it was worth it, but I think the kids thought so and that is all that matters. 

We enjoyed a picnic lunch and after riding some rides yummy chocolate mint cupcakes! We sang happy birthday to Rubix, but we didn't light the candle so hopefully tonight Rubix will be able to blow out a candle!

Yesterday I brought mini cupcakes to Angela's for his small celebration. 

Here is a picture of the big boy this morning. It is hard to believe he is already 2 years old. We have his check up next week because his doctor is on vacation this week. We also have his 2 year portraits scheduled during our family portraits early in April. 

Next week is going to be busy as we have Rubix's appointment, Seussical the musical, a memorial service for my wonderful Grandfather,Don Burgess, and Axel's birthday party. This weekend we are going to his best buddy's house, Lucas Lum, to meet his parents so he can spend the night next Saturday.  I will share my thoughts and the rough week I had this week after the memorial service on the next blog post. For now I will focus on my sweet 2 year old and his energetic loving self!

Disney on Ice and the beginning of potty training

Last Saturday Phoenix went to one of her buddies birthdays. Kyla invited Adella and Phoenix from her classroom and 2 other friends from her previous 3's class the year before. She had a ton of family members over as well so it made for a big and fun gathering. 

 The girls are into pony's and unicorns so Kyla had a unicorn pony to ride. She also had a petting zoo. The kids had a lot of fun riding the 2 ponies. They said hello to the other animals, but didn't enjoy them as much as the little kids who were there.

 On Sunday, Daddy headed out for a ride while Phoenix, Braylin, Auntie and I headed to Disney on Ice. Camryn watched the boys. Rubix of course, wanted to ride his bike so we took the opportunity to grab a few pictures while we waited for Auntie and Braylin to arrive.

 Here are the two princesses waiting in line.

 I have to say the show was pretty spectacular. The girls loved it and Shannon and I enjoyed it just a much. Phoenix kept asking about Elsa. Well.....

 they saved the best for last as Elsa and Ana ended the show with a bang. I would definitely take Phoenix to see Disney on Ice again. It was well worth the time and money.

Rubix has had a horrible diaper rash for weeks and weeks. We have been trying to keep him as dry as possible, but it is very difficult with daycare and how busy we are. About 3 weeks ago I started giving him about 2 hours a day without a diaper. He absolutely hates to get dressed after his bath so instead of fighting with him I decided it was a perfect opportunity to let his skin get some healing. Daddy thought, well lets just do no diapers all together. I wasn't really on board, but I wasn't going to say no to having Daddy be apart of potty training either. Well, last weekend Rubix only wore a diaper for his naps and at night. By the end of the weekend he had successfully used the potty for poop and pee several times. I didn't want to slow down the momentum so I asked day care if they were on board. Well, lets just say, it didn't go very well on Monday and Tuesday at daycare so I decided to just have Rubix try at home. Every night this week after getting home he successfully used the potty 3 to 5 times with 0 accidents, where at daycare he didn't make it to the potty all day. What is the difference? Well, at home we let him bring Mr. Froggy, the potty with him, wherever he wants to go. He seriously carries it around with him so when he has to go, he pops a squat. At Angela's he has to leave his toys and friends to go to the bathroom to use Mr. Froggy. At 23 months, this is a no go. I figured it is better to train him in a way that he learns his body's signals and then progress to having him always run to the bathroom. Besides, he completely understands where his pee and poop should go and can't wait to carry it to the bathroom when he is done. So we are on a slow journey to being diaper free. I do hope that it continues to progress and that maybe in a month's time he is ready to be diaper free most of the time. 

I wanted to leave one more clip of our little super star. I apologize for him being naked, but this is right after bath time. Daddy usually gets home from work after bath time and their ritual is to play basketball together for 20 minutes or so. Rubix is trying to master his "jump shot".