So much has happened over the last month. It is crazy to think about. Keith spent 12 days in Japan. The kids have done 2 full weekends of swim meets. We had a Friendsgiving, then a Thanksgiving. We decorated for Christmas, went to a birthday party, and more!
Little Grammy has been sending letter to Phoenix and now to all three kids. She then decided to send each of them a book. Here is a picture of them each holding up the book they received.
Here is our typical Saturday mornings when we are not at a swim meet. We are working on math or homework. Phoenix is all dressed up here, trying to quickly get her work done so she can go to her friend, Nicole's birthday party.
They made candles at, "Glow", and of course ate pizza and cake.
While Rubix and I picked Phoenix up, Axel made dinner. He was so excited to make chicken tacos and add "yummy" spices like cumin to it. Lets just say Phoenix and Rubix did not enjoy it as much as Axel and I did.
He also made pumpkin bread. Our Internet totally stopped working so I had to rush over to a neighbors house to use their Internet because I had a patient waiting. It was completely and totally embarrassing, but my neighbor Uzma said, "That's what neighbors are for." I spent the next 4 hours in her son's room, who is off at college working. We brought over pumpkin bread as a thank you and I immediately ordered Comcast Infinity Internet and had it installed the following Monday. We are officially done with AT&T!
You might be wondering where is Keith in all of this. Yes, he is in Japan, but he came home the week before Thanksgiving and brought back gifts, as usual. Here are the boys wearing their new Japanese Soccer jerseys. This happen to be special dress of Red, white and blue for Veteran's day.
The weekend before Thanksgiving we had a swim meet. The kids all had great races. Phoenix took off 5 to 6 seconds in many of her longer races. Axel PR'd in all of his races and Rubix also shaved off a second or more in his races. The kids had a great time with their friends and team mates.
I was surprised to see this bloom in my Iris garden bed that I planted this Spring. I discovered it was a double bloomer, according to my patient who gave me all of the Iris bulbs. It is called an Autumn Circus. How beautiful!
On Sunday before Thanksgiving, after a long day of swimming, we had our Friendsgiving. The Ingardias ended up not coming because of getting sick so it was just Tyler, Jade and Zoe and us. it was a very nice evening of good food and company.
On Thanksgiving we did our best to prepare the turkey. Here is my lovely husband with our bird in the bird cooker. The Jolleys and my mom and Brian all came over for another lovely meal and time together.
The cousins had so much fun seeing each other and playing and it was really nice to chat with my mom and sister.
It was Grandpa Brian's birthday so we made sure to sing Happy birthday and get a photo of him with the grandkids. He is one year shy of 70!Crazy!
I asked Keith to take a photo of us girls and I loved this photo of us where we are all laughing up a storm.
The kids and I were excited to set up Christmas and we had the house decorated the day after Thanksgiving.
Axel continues to amaze me as he becomes more of a teenager and less of a "kid".
He helps out and appears to enjoy being a good helper.
Phoenix and Rubix enjoy helping out, but often arguments get in the way. Daddy even helped for a bit this year, which made decorating even more fun!
I captured this photo as Rubix was playing Monoply by himself and I couldn't get over how cute he was entertaining himself with a game lock Monoply.
Axel is starting to break through and go for some runs alone. It was cold and wet and dark outside and I told him that it was dangerous for me to go out and ride next to him in the dark without the proper bike lights. Instead we put two head lamps on him so he was visible and could run safely in the neighborhood. I am so proud of him for becoming more independent.
While Axel went to a buddies house for a sleeper over and the Warrior's game last weekend, Rubix and Phoenix decorated the gingerbread house. They happened to get along brilliantly, as Rubix took his servant role and Phoenix took charge.
I loved how much fun they had together.
Phoenix loved designing it and not having anyone, like Axel, add his own ideas.
The finished product!
Axel received the MVP award for cross country this year, last week during an assembly. He was excited to finally receive this, because he started to wonder if they were going to announce their league championship award. He is a bit stressed about finals next week, but he is feeling more confident after getting in some studying this weekend. We had a crazy weekend of crazy weather. Axel and I went to the morning sessions of the swim meet, as it was for 13 and up. We had a break in the rain and a beautiful rainbow, but lived through hours of heavy rain and then high winds and heavy rain that cancelled the afternoon session foe Phoenix and Rubix on Saturday. The kids had a bit of a rough time with the elements and their races. Axel ended up with the most PR's and finally did the 200 fly. He did great and got a B time for his first time racing it. He is a excited that he now has all BB and B times. Phoenix is frustrated being stuck at BB times and is ready to have a big improvement and get her first JO time soon. Since this weekend did not go as planned the kids are hoping to target another swim meet at the end of January. There is a 2 week break in swim practice and then only 2 weeks of swim practice before their next race. It would be an amazing birthday present for Phoenix if she could crack one JO time, but we will have to wait and see.
Here is one picture of Keith with coworkers in Japan.
Here is Axel getting a picture with the Warrior championship trophy and a picture of him sitting courtside at the game!
Yep, seems crazy that his friends of season tickets that are on the court! It was truly an experience of a lifetime.
We are planning on having Japanese cuisine for our Christmas gathering next weekend. We practiced as a family making sushi and are excited to share our sushi with the Jolleys and mom and Brian.
The kids, especially Phoenix, wants to make sushi all of the time. We made 8 rolls for the swim meet this weekend.
So yummy!
Check back with updates on Phoenix's piano recital, Rubix's holiday show and Christmas fun!
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