On New Years Eve with enjoyed game night and our last pumpkin pie of the season! EAch child picked a game.
We managed to play Monopoly Deal, Chutes and Ladders and Blokus.
Monopoly Deal ended in some tears from Ms. Phoenix. Axel came out the winner. Daddy won Chutes and Ladders and Axel won Blokus.
Rubix did a great job of following all of the rules and understanding all of the games. It is very exciting to see that we are approaching a new chapter in the Szolusha household. With Rubix almost 5, we are really starting to move away from having to accommodate a younger child and getting into super fun adventures and family times.
On New Years morning we got up early and headed to the Quarry again to hike. This time we had Axel's friend, Shamik, and his parents join. The kids had so much fun. We hiked just under 5 miles and 1000 feet of climbing! Our kids are such champs! My legs were a little sore from the walking. They did not complain one bit. Rubix did mention that his legs were sore and tired at the very end, but overall he did superbly.
Here is a random picture of Phoenix. She was doodling on the white board and I needed it to write up Rubix's math so we took a picture so she would remember what she drew.
I have been in such a rut with cooking. The kids are definitely getting less picky, but I rotate through about 20 meals or so that I know they will eat and I, maybe even all of us, are getting sick of them. To change things up I grilled some chicken that the kids could use for chicken quesadillas and then whipped up some sweet potatoes and sauteed some bacon, onions and pears to go over it all. I then added our last avocado that was at the point where we needed to eat it or throw it out. It was delicious to have something with some flavor! I am hoping this year will be a good year to transition to more meals that everyone will eat as I am confident their palates are maturing and ready for more tasty food.
On January 4th I got what seemed like an emergency phone call from my boss asking me to schedule my vaccine asap. It wasn't possible for me to make it that day or the next because of my work schedule so I had her schedule me for the last appointment on Wed. the 6th. This first picture is me in the elevator, right after my observation time after receiving the vaccine. My boss asked for selfies and I wanted to take it right away, but I didn't want to violate any HIPPA regulations.
Because I wasn't sure, I went ahead and did the selfie whenI got into my car. I thought it looked more official to have the mask on.
A colleague and myself have been in conversation about purchasing some new lounge wear. Since a patient gave me a giftcard to Amazon I went ahead and purchased a couple of lounge pants. I decided to take a picture of myself folding laundry in my new pink joggers and texted it to her for smiles. She was very pleased to tell me that she was excited hers were on the way. I find it so funny the conversations we choose to have these days as we spend most of our time at home. I am so very grateful that I truly enjoy taking care of my family and folding heaps of clothes!
We had planned for Rubix to transition back to in person learning/ school on January 19th. Unfortunately, we have decided against it since the public health orders have extended our shelter in place indefinitely, until our hospitalizations and ICU capacity improves. It was a very difficult decision, but we think it is best to keep him home, because overall he is doing quite well. This conversation about Rubix going back to school became a topic of discussion on Christmas Eve, while Skyping with Grandma Sonia and Gpa Bruce. Gma Sonia showed us her new masks that she was making and I said, "Those look great. Rubix will be needing a few masks for school, so he has one for each day." Well, she happily agreed to make Rubix some and they arrived last week. Here he is smiling with one of them on. He loves them! To my surprise yesterday we received another shipment for Phoenix, Axel, Keith and myself. We now all have a handful of masks, which makes life much easier. These ones are extra great because they go under the chin, hug around the noise and have enough air space for easy breathing and talking without the mask moving in any direction!
While I was at work last Saturday the kids had a very fun Daddy day as usual. They went swimming, had donuts and played outside for hours. Part of their outside play consisted of them tracing each other with chalk on the driveway. Here is Phoenix with Axel accessorizing her image.
Here is Axel with Phoenix accessorizing his image.
Here is Rubix with his somehow small head and huge right foot. Phoenix and Axel, added the foot flames and other details.
On Sunday last week we spent hours making Valentine's for Phoenix's classmates. The kids are so excited to receive tangible items. They were due today so we needed to make sure to get them done on my day off. Axel and Rubix helped Phoenix and I with the first few batches.
Axel stayed to help a bit longer, but I somehow got suckered in to finishing by myself and managing the difficult clean up.
We were able to make multi-colored and scented soaps this time. I think they turned out pretty well. We made pink for the girls and orange for the boys. Most of them had white on one side. The scents varied from orange to lavender to eucalyptus to peppermint.
The final product had a tag on it that said, " Hope is like soap. Use it daily." Happy Valentine's Day!
I realized last 2 nights ago that I have not been taking very many picture of the kids. I saw this sweet opportunity of Keith reading to Rubix. What a beautiful father/son moment.
Last night I decided the boys need haircuts. To my surprise, they all cooperated and are styling with their less saggy new dews. I am still trying to convince Keith to clean up his beard. He thinks I mean for him to shave it, but really I just want him to shape it and get the long sides trimmed so we can see the shape of his face.
Today was a big day as Rubix went in for his first fillings. Our family dentist thought he might have a couple of cavities. Today we found out he has 5! He managed to sit through an hour of treatment and get 4 taken care of today! They did his 2 back molars on the bottom right and top right. He has one left on the top left that will be filled in February. He was incredibly brave and cooperative. I was impressed with how still he was.
In other news, Axel continues to run and get faster and faster. On Wed I received a text at work saying that Axel ran a 6:43 mile! Phoenix ran a 1:52 400 meter and Rubix did it in 2 minutes flat. They all earned a hot chocolate apparently from their great efforts. The most exciting news though, is that Axel decided he really wants to be in the math elective next year, which is extremely difficult and competitive to get into. They choose about 12 students from his grade. He needs greater than a 95% for his grade. He also needs to do very well on the AMC8 and AMC10 and he has to test well on an exam in April. This is exciting because he decided he wants to work really hard. Well, he was getting a 95.4% most of the year, until he had to "bad" tests at 90 and 91 which had brought down his score to a 94%. He had his last test yesterday and he needed to do get nearly perfect to get his grade back up. He spent hours studying over the course of several days and managed to walk away with a perfect score! We are so proud of him. Now he has to start studying and practicing math concepts that he has not been introduced to for the AMC10. He only has 2 weeks left to prepare. He scored a 12 on the AMC8 that he took earlier this year. He was extremely unprepared for it and did not do as well as his peers who do math competition and classes outside of school. This time he was given enough notice to prepare which will hopefully improve his score and help him be more competitive with his peers. Even if he doesn't get accepted into the elective, we hope he walks away with the pride and self worth, of what it means to work hard for what he wants. We can't wait to get his final grades for Semester 1 next week. The other big news for Axel is he made his own after school Pokemon club. He asked his Japanese teacher to moderate for him and she kindly agreed. We are hoping this will allow him to connect with more kids with similar interest and learn that he will be accepted for who he is, regardless if his interests are different from others.
We can't wait for Phoenix's 8th birthday next week. It should be a fun one. I hope to post again in the next week or two!
He happily arrives on the other side. 
One last picture of him happily playing inside his fort!
I had to add this picture as well of Rubix doing a bench mark this morning. He did his 16 addition problems in 1 minute and 50 seconds with no mistakes. He really loves to do what the older kids are doing. It is so much fun to see him trying to be a big kid and loving to learn!
The long awaited party day arrived and Phoenix enjoyed her virtual birthday party with her 3 closest friends and her cousins Braylin and Aya. 
The girls put on tattoos, made dream catchers, painted their nails, enjoyed cake in a cup, charades and dancing. 
