Merry Christmas 2023 and Happy New Year

We are incredibly blessed to have such wonderful communities that we are a part of at Harker and Santa Clara Swim Club. The Li's gifted us their 4 VIP tickets to the December 22nd Warriors game since they were going to be out of town. We asked Axel first and he said he wanted us to take Rubix and Phoenix because they had not experienced a game before. We dropped Axel off at swim practice and made sure he had a ride home and then headed to SF. We were able to see warm ups and get all kinds of delicious food at the J.P. Morgan Lounge. 

Crazy thing is my friend Tracey and her two girls saw me as they were in line for the Chase Lounge and texted me. The even crazier thing is that their seats are just 2 rows behind us. They are here company's seats so she takes the girls every year to a game. Tracey and I use to race bikes together and we saw her at a swim meet a year and a half ago. Rylee, her daughter is 15 and a phenomenal swimmer and has handed down a lot of her old gear. What a small world it can be at times. It was really nice to see her, Rylee and Harper. 

It was our plan to surprise the kids, but I totally ruined it at breakfast when Daddy was asking what our plans were for the night. I said, "We will drop Axel off at 4pm and then head to the city to make sure we get to the Chase center in time to see Steph Curry warm up". Everyone looked at me with confusion....the kids, because they were excited at what they heard and Keith with, why did you ruin it look?!....oops! I wasn't thinking!!!! It was still totally cool and fun!

Rubix was very interested and watched intently.

At times it was a little loud, but...

overall it was the most thrilling thing to see Steph and the team make great shot, after great shot. 

We stayed until the very end and got a Warriors ball and....

yummy desert and coffee!

Phoenix happen to not be feeling 100% and woke with up on Saturday with a full blown cold. I made her the most delicious chicken noodle soup with good old fashion dumplings. It doesn't look very good, but boy, we all (except Rubix) loved it. 

On Christmas Eve we went to the track for a workout. Harris and his dad were able to join us. 

That afternoon I finished up the pumpkin scones, persimmons cookies and prepped the sugar cookies for decorating. I also was able to make the sweet potatoe casserole and put the ribs in the oven before church at 3:30pm. 

We enjoyed hot chocolate, coffee and cookies as well as a family photo before the service. This was my and our first time back to in person church service since the pandemic. It was absolutely wonderful to be in person again!

Rubix and I singing Silent Night at the end of the service. 

Daddy, Axel and Phoenix...

After our yummy dinner we opened up our Christmas PJ's!

So cute, except Rubix's pants are too short!

My favorite three persons!!!!

Christmas is almost here.....

We can't wait...

I read Christmas books to Rubix and Phoenix while Axel finished sewing his Christmas gift for Phoenix. 

He was done at 9:30pm with this cozy Axolotl.

I was impressed as always. No pattern, just his amazing 3D brain at work!

Rubix was up at 6:45 am and snuggled until the allotted wake up time of 7 am. We made our pumpkin lattes and drinks and then got to the stocking stuffers. 

Rubix's "big" present was accidently put in his stocking. He really wanted a fitness tracker watch and he was beyond excited to receive it. 

After opening the stocking stuffers we enjoyed our yummy pumpkin scones. Axel was particularly happy and enjoyed two of them. 

After scones it was time for the main affair! Yay!!! Christmas is here!!!! Rubix could not wait!

Phoenix made me this lovely painting of baby Jesus in the manger. 

She loved her Axolotl. 

Axel loved his presented and dug right into his book, "What if? 2"

After Daddy and I climbed Hwy 9(since the kids decided they did not want to go on a Christmas hike) we enjoyed breakfast for dinner (breakfast burritos with spinach, sausage and potatoes and Phoenix with an omelet) and then finally decorated the sugar cookies that Phoenix prepared two days previously. 

Axel showed us how it was done by getting out the toothpick and putting much thought and detail into each cookie he decorated. 

Amazing@

Phoenix followed suit and made a gingerbread girl with just as much detail. 

Here are the ones that Axel and Phoenix did with care.

On Tuesday I worked until 1 pm and then rode up Hwy 9 again and then enjoyed Tiffany and her girls over for dinner. Cliff was supposed to come, but had a work fire he had to put out. We thought it was ironic that we dressed in the same outfit! We must have been best friends in high school for a reason!

The kids had a blast playing games all night, and we enjoyed catching up and a couple rounds of Telestrations with the kids as well. Here is a picture of our kiddos with Avery and Charlotte. Avery turned 13 on Christmas! Charlotte is just 10 days younger than Phoenix. Tiffany and I have been getting together since Avery was one and Axel was two. Where does the time go?

On Wednesday Ethan joined us for swim, brunch at Stack's and an all day playdate.

The kids ate an incredible amount of food. Here is a silly picture as we were waiting for our food. 

Ethan's mom asked that he do math if he stays, so the boys played pinball, built Legos, and did math together! They got along seamlessly. Ethan swims with Rubix and this was their first playdate outside of swim practice. 

After practice on Saturday, Phoenix and I drove to Sacramento for a sleep over with Cousin Braylin. The cousins had so much fun eating dinner and playing, while Auntie and I stopped by Gma's to say hello and then went out for a sister's date at Auntie Shannon's favorite sushi restaurant. When we got home the girls were enjoying hot chocolate. 

Lets not forget about Aya!

We were able to stay until 11 am. We had a lovely breakfast and played cat's cradle and Chinese jump rope. It was a blast from the past for Auntie and I, and a cousin's date to remember. Hopefully, we can continue this tradition.  

Tonight is family game night as we celebrate the ending of 2023 and the exciting beginnings of 2024. We are looking forward to Phoenix's 11th birthday, our first short course swim meet of the winter/spring season, another visit with the Jolleys and a swim clinic with Abbey Weitzel. I hope to post at the end of January after all of these exciting events. Until then..... Happy New Year! May 2024 be filled with joy and peace! 

 

December 2023....

Since Thanksgiving we have had some highs and lows with swim. Yellow Bell 4, which is Rubix's swim group gets mentored by the Senior 4 kids. The Yellow Bell 4 are the top 10 and under group of kids and the Senior 4 are the national team that travel all over the country for swim races. Rubix, Anay and Druv were assigned Tanay Gupta when preparing a poster and goody bag for his Junior Nationals Meet. We had 10 swimmers qualify for Junior Nationals. 

The boys had fun making the poster, even though, they were not as skilled in art as the girls were.

The boys delivered the posters early the next week before the team took off for Junior Nationals. 

Here they are with Tanay. Yes, all three boys are standing on a block that is 2-3 feet off the ground and Anay and Rubix are still not taller than Tanay. He is well over 6 feet tall. 

December 1st Junior Olympic/ Age Group Champs started. Phoenix came out with a bang and dropped 3 more seconds in her 500 free finishing 4th place at a 5:56. She then swam roughly the same time in her 200 IM, dropping .2 seconds for another 4th place. On Saturday, Phoenix had a huge day with 2 relays and 3 individual events in prelims and finals! For the 200 mixed medley relay she was the backstroke starter and they finished 3rd. The 10 and under girls 200 medley relay finished 1st again for another gold medal. This is their 3rd time getting gold, with summer J.O. and summer Far Westerns being the first two. This team was composed of Amy swimming free, Savanah swimming breast and Annabelle swimming fly. Phoenix, of course, swam back stroke. Although the relays went well, she struggled with times that were just shy of her best times, which caused her a couple of 4th places, when her only goal was to get one podium or top 3 finish in an individual event. She swam 50 back, 100 IM and 200 free on Saturday in the prelims and finals. She ended up 4th place for the 50 back and 5th place for the 200 free and 100 IM. 

Sunday was an easier day with just the 100 back and 100 breast, prelims and finals and the 10 and under 200 Free relay. She was 3rd place for back and 4th place for breast, going into finals, but just could not reach her best times and ended up 4th in the 100 back and 5th in the 100 breast. She was really upset, but this was a huge growth experience learning to swim in the finals for all of the events she entered. The surprise news is that her B relay for the 200 free got 3rd place and their A team took the win. Phoenix swam with Savanah, Hope and Sophia and the A team consisted of Annabelle, Melissa, Joanna and Amy. Santa Clara Swim Club girls won the meet!

Another picture of the happy SCSC 10 and under swimmers. 

The relay swimmers with Coach Victory. 

We are so very proud of Phoenix and all of her hard work. She is still working on being proud of herself too. This month has been all about rain and rainbows! We have had so many beautiful rainbows during and after the rain showers/ storms. I am so pleased to be reminded of God's covenant and love for us. 

The following weekend was the Age Group Champ minus meet for those swimmers who did not qualify for AGCs. Unfortunately, Rubix and Axel got locked out of Saturday and Sunday, but fortunately, were both able to swim the 500 on Friday night. Rubix did amazing finishing in 7 minutes and 10 seconds for his first attempt. Axel did great as well and got back down to his A time. He is now just 10 seconds away for Senior 2 meet qualifying times and 12 seconds from 14 year old J.O.'s. Because we were home and not at the swim meet on Saturday and Sunday we had more time to do normal things. I got to clean the house and the kids had a chance to make it messy! J/K

Phoenix begged to make pancakes so she could make these cute snowmen. 

"Absolutely delicious", so they both said. 

We threw one together for Axel, so he didn't feel left out. Axel was busy studying all weekend for his finals so he was pleasantly surprised to enjoy a pancake snowman too!

The kids got to open Gma Susan's gift for their college fund. Thank you Gma for your super generous gift! 

The kids were able to use some of Gma's generous gift with Keith's company matching the amout to allow them to get to the 1000-dollar contribution for the swim-a-thon. This made them high donation winner for the week and earned them an aditioinal prize of a Santa Clara gear bag. The kids were beyond excited because they get to attend a clinic with Abbey Weitzeil, a multiple Olympic medal holder and the American 50 free style record holder.  

Keith and I had a chance to go Christmas shopping together. I think this is the second time in our marriage that this has happened. It was so much fun! We didn't really purchase much, but since we hardly get out we had several laughs. One was this manikin boy who was "de-pants". We also laughed at men's underwear that has a cellphone pocket. I thought it was inappropriate to post that picture as well, but it showed men outside wearing these underwear without any pants over it. Our question is, do people actually put their cellphone in their underwear pocket and then reach into their pants in public to take it out?!!! Anyways, I digress......

The weekend of no swim meet also allowed for game night! Phoenix and I played Blokus and the boys played Santorini. 

On December 1st Mark, the elf on the self came back. Rubix was so excited he took a picture, the one below, to school to share for show in tell. The interesting thing about this is that over the next two weeks, Rubix has asked several questions about Santa, the elf and magic that has lead him to discover that these things are not real. I am wondering if there were conversations at school that lead to this conclusion for him. I am a bit sad that our youngest has made this realization a year (Phoenix) or two (Axel) before his siblings did, but I am glad that he knows what Christmas is really about. Some parents may disagree with me, but I chose to not lie about Santa and the commercialization of Christmas since the beginning. If the kids asked about Santa or the Easter Bunny and doubted their existence, I told them that America/society has made up things for each holiday to make it fun for kids and it is up to them to figure out what is real/ the true meaning of the holiday and what is made up. If I do not want to condone lying, I should not lie....

Last week, Rubix had his big Holiday Show! It was a combined 2nd and 3rd grade effort. I dressed him in the same outfit Axel wore to the holiday show in 3rd grade when he first joined Harker. Unfortunately, I can't find the picture of him before the holiday show, but I do have him before Church wearing the same sweater on Christmas Eve that year. 

The 2nd grade class. Rubix is in the back row, 5th from he left hand side. 

Here he is 6th from the left hand side, in the back row. 

Last weekend we also had the swim-a-thon carnival and event. Sorry for the bad picture, but Rubix is folding origami and I caught Daddy in the background. He is wearing Rubix's nice new SCSC sweatshirt because they didn't order kid sizes. I was a little shocked that they have 500 swimmers that are mostly kids and did not order any kid sizes for the prize shirts or sweatshirts, so Rubix kindly said he would let Daddy get a bigger size since the Adult small was way too big for him. 

Rubix was super impressive during the 200-lap effort. He was focused and went out and did the 200 laps on his own. He did 30, 100's, 2 500's and one 1000! Here is a picture of him with fins and paddles on. He was so cute!

Phoenix at swim-a-thon!

Phoenix and her swim BFF, Audrey!

Photo booth time!

Sarah, Hana, Cielo, Phoenix and Audrey (Gold 4 teammates)!

Last weekend we also had a chance to go to Eileen's Christmas party. They moved back from Europe last year at this time and this was the first time we were able to see them. It was a short visit, but Eileen's dad wanted to recreate a photo of Phoenix, Axel and Alex that they took 7 years ago. Rubix joined in because he felt left out and Lily, who just turned 8 was playing with her friends, hence not in the picture. 

We did get a chance to hang out with Tyler, Jade and Zoe as we went to see the lights on the famous light street in Eileen's neighborhood. 

Axel and Dad being silly...

The boys at Santa's mailbox!

This week has been about Christmas parties. Rubix, Phoenix and Axel's teams all had different gatherings. It made for quite a hectic week, especially since it rained off and on all week. 

I ended up somehow volunteering and cooking/assembling more than 100 hotdogs, at Axel's team party. Here is the small crew of volunteers who prepped for the party. 

We have loved being apart of the SCSC community. The parents and coaches are extremely supportive. One example is getting rides home from practice or swim meets when needed. Olena, who is in-between me and Santa will be bringing Axel home tonight after swim practice since Keith and I will be taking Rubix and Phoenix to the Warriors game! Axel's friend's dad, Albert, gave us his 4 tickets as a Christmas gift since they are out of town starting today. Axel is so sweet, wanting Rubix and Phoenix to go and experience the VIP NBA basketball game, since he already has. Axel is also trying to prepare for his big move up to Senior 3, which is the high school competitive group. He will have 2 double days a week and swims that are up to 2 hours long. He is just finishing up with his morning practice now and will have his second practice this afternoon after 4 pm. 

We are excited to spend time together as a family. Keith has the next 2 weeks off with the kids and I mostly have next week off (besides working Tuesday). I hope to post after New Years. 

Wishing all of our family and friends a wonderful Christmas and Happy New Year!