Holiday Fun

 Here are a cute few pictures of Louis and Axel from last Sunday when we took our family photo for our Christmas card. Axel still loves to pretend that he is a doggy at times. 

Louis is such a good sport when it comes to being dressed up or playing with Axel. He takes a lot of abuse and we are lucky to have such a good dog.

Axel had a grand idea of building his train tracks around the Christmas tree. He has one automatic battery operated train, Diesel, that can go around by itself. It has been hours of fun since the tree went up.

On Saturday, Axel went to his friends birthday party. Here he is decorating a cookie, I mean, tasting the frosting. All of the kids decorated a cookie to be a wheel on the 3D train cake that was made for the party.

Here is the master piece with marshmallows and all. Axel really wanted to eat it. He actually ended up taking this one home and making a different one for the train cake.

The week before our neighbor hosted the annual holiday party where all of the neighbors get together to mingle. Here Annika, Axel's babysitter, is holding him and Sophia. Sophia is Max's sister and over the past 6 months or so Annika started babysitting Max and Sophia as well as Axel. She is turning into the neighborhood babysitter. I absolutely loved doing this myself when I was in high school. It is cool to see here really enjoy the kids company.

This weekend we made and decorated sugar cookies for this first time as a family. Axel takes after his daddy and loves this type of thing. I am not sure if it is because he likes the arts and crafts part or the eating of these sweet projects. This was a three day project. One night the dough was made. The second night the cookies were rolled out and cooked.

The next morning was the high light of the project where we all decorated them.

Can you see how meticulous Axel is? This makes me so proud. I would love to take all of the credit for this trait, but when it comes to sweet treats, Keith is just as detailed oriented as I am with everything else :)

Here is the finished product. I have to get better at making the frosting. We hope to have more colors the next time we do this, which is suppose to be this weekend. I have a feeling we might postpone this until next year, but we will see if time permits this fun activity.

Axel has been receiving gifts from all of his grandparents. Grandma Sonia said Axel had one gift that he could open early. He politely called to ask permission to open it "now".  He received the book Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer read by Grandma Sonia herself. It has been the hit of the week. We have already gone through a set of batteries. I think he has listened to it over one hundred times. Thank you Grandma Sonia!

We are looking forward to this upcoming weekend. We have Auntie Shannon, Uncle Ryan, Grandma Susan and hopefully Grandpa Brian all visiting to spend an early Christmas with us since I am not sure if I will be able to travel over the holidays. With the baby coming in just a few short weeks we will have to see what the doctor says next week. I really don't want to take the chance of going into labor hours from home. 

It looks like the Szolushas will have a quite Christmas with church on Christmas Eve and present opening on Christmas Day. It will be nice to having a relaxing day since I plan on working Christmas Eve and the day after Christmas. 

Christmas is in the air!

We ordered a new 9 foot Christmas tree on black Friday and it arrived on Tuesday! Axel and I were so excited we spent over an hour putting it up and shaping the tree. Daddy also joined in on the fun when he got home from work. Wednesday was all about putting up the lights and Thursday Axel and I spent the day putting up Christmas ornaments. 

 Axel loves it as much as I do. He really wanted to decorate and re-decorate the tree all day long. It brought tears to my eyes when he said how beautiful the Christmas tree was and how much he loves it. He is hoping we will find a small tree for his room for next year during the after Christmas sales.

 His favorite part about decorating came when I found the colored glass ball ornaments in the attic. His first thought was "bingleballs" from the Grinch. Here he is reciting a few lines from the movie and pretending he is the Grinch.

 It is absolutely adorable hearing him pretend to be the Grinch.

 Here he is looking at more bingleballs that he took down to organize, fix and then re-hang on the tree. I had to tell him that he cannot continue to play with them because they are made of glass and are really designed for decoration purposes only. He finally got the point when he broke one and is now extra careful only replacing or rehanging a couple per day instead of every single bingleball that he can reach (which is nearly all   36 of them since he wouldn't let me help him hang them on the tree.)

 Here is the finished product. The only thing we are missing is a tree topper. We haven't found an LED lit star one that we all like so we might not get one until next year, but that is okay by me. I rather wait and find the perfect one than to buy one just for the sake of having one.

 Axel continues to have a great imagination. He is very inventive. When I got out of the shower yesterday I found him with the tape making his own train of trucks. It was cool to see him figure out that the tape stays better with an anchor tape perpendicular to the tape attaching the trucks. I had to put a limit on the use of the tape only because I really didn't want the entire roll of tape consumed for this one project of his.

We went to the doctor on Thursday just to double check Axel's skin and this dry cough he has been having. I am proud to say that Axel weighs 29 pounds with his clothes on. I knew he was getting heavier and that it  wasn't just me getting weaker! It is funny though, how Axel always tells me how strong he is and that he needs to help me lift and move things around the house. He is the best helper anyone could ask for. I have been so blessed with how much he is growing up. He has helped me every step of the way over the past few months. He helped me put together his new furniture, he helped me go through baby clothes, organize his sister's room, decorate his room and his sister's room, decorate for Halloween, Thanksgiving and now Christmas.  I love what a great helper he is and hope it continues.

We have lots of fun activities coming with the holidays upon us so check back soon for more Szolusha fun!

Thanksgiving and more

Last Wednesday a coworker of mine had a fun lunch time activity for all of us. We all made turkeys made of candy. She is so clever and creative. I had a blast making this for Axel.  Axel enjoyed eating it more than he enjoyed the turkey creation itself. 

 Thursday was a long day. The Szolushas got up early and were on the rode to the base of Mt. Hamilton well before 8am. Keith raced up the 17 mile climb while Axel and I drove up it. After cheering daddy on we had a quick interview with Indie TV and then headed to Galt for an asian cuisine dinner at my Aunt Susan's house. We had a beautiful drive down the backside of Mt Hamilton and then continued on another twisty rode for a total of almost 50 miles of back roads. We were 5 miles from I-5 when Keith and I heard a cough, then a burp and before I could fully stop the car the projectile vomiting. Poor Axel got car sick for the first time. No wonder why he didn't want to eat his lunch. Luckily, I brought several changes of clothes, but was bummed his cute outfit was ruined for the day. We had a great time visiting family,but were glad to make it home just after 8pm that night.

 On Friday, we ordered our new fake 9 foot Christmas tree which should be arriving by the end of the week.  In order to satisfy my usual tradition of decorating for Christmas the weekend after Thanksgiving, Axel and I decorated the rest of the house and will save the tree for when it arrives. I was so excited to put up some of the new decorations that my Aunt Cindy gave me. Here is my first Nativity scene. I am proud to finally have one to display. Axel and I also love all of the other decorations that my Aunt passed on and had a blast putting decorations around the house. Axel was more than cute when he was picking out what decorations he wanted for his room and bathroom.

 Axel and I run errands all of the time together. Every once in awhile he plays this game where he sits in the car. I tell him I can help him down and he can come with me or he can come in by himself when he is ready. this weekend he decided he wanted to stay in the car. I left him and went inside. Here is a picture of him finally out of the car screaming mommy every minute or so. I was watching him from inside the house waiting for him to come in on his own. Finally, I was able to coax him in without having to go outside and pick him up by telling him that I was going to decorate the ginger bread train by myself. It is funny how stubborn he is and the power struggle games he comes up with.

 Despite, the above incident, we had a great time decorating the ginger bread train. I purchased it last year when everything was on sale. it worked well for the most part, except the icing. I couldn't kneed the icing to a smooth enough consistency to spread. It came out in big chunks and we had to spread it by hand. It also dried within a couple of minutes because it was so old. I think I would purchase an old kit again despite the frosting issue.

 I was telling my coworker about the sea room mural in the baby room. She said that she had the whole sea room theme of bedding, lamp and valence. I picked it up last week and was super excited to see that it matched really well. This is the first time that we have a fully coordinated, matching room. I guess it should be fitting for a girl :)

 It is hard to believe that she will be here in just a few short weeks. I am hoping she doesn't make too early of an entrance because it will be nice to enjoy Christmas with Axel first. Besides, my dad and Sonia don't arrive until January 12th, so we won't have anyone to watch Axel until then anyways.

Thanks for reading!

November Fun

It is hard to believe that Thanksgiving will be here in a few short days. The Szolusha's had our annual pre-thanksgiving feast with our close friends. We had a great time and our 20 lb turkey was full consumed in 20 minutes flat!

Axel continues to amaze us. As you can see from the picture he looks like a little "big" man. I love his hair this short because it does make him look more mature. 

We had a week long of very cold weather. We had to bundle up more than we are use to for this time of year. Axel asked me as the car window was defrosting why we weren't driving one morning this week. I told him because the wind shield was iced over and I couldn't see out the window until the frost was completely gone. Daddy came to the rescue after 5 minutes by pouring some hot water over the windshield so I wouldn't be late for work !

 Axel's babysitter, Annika, was on the varsity volleyball team this year. We had the privilege of watching them play in the second round of tournament play for the state championship. Unfortunately, they lost, but we had fun cheering her on.

 You know it is officially the holiday season in the Szolusha house because you can smell pumpkin in the air! Here Axel is helping daddy make yummy pie crust. We have now made and consumed 5 pumpkin pies so far this year.

This past Thursday, Axel and I were able to see the happy bird show again. This time it was at the Los Gatos library. It was just as good, if not better than the first show we saw last month. 

 As I mentioned we had our annual pre-Thanksgiving turkey feast yesterday. We had a wonderful time and want to thank our friends for sharing in the holiday spirit with us. Here is Axel playing with Alex. Alex turned 2 in August and is the son of Keith's study partner from MIT. It was really cool to see the two of them hanging out. Axel read to Alex for nearly an hour and showed him how to use the potty like a big boy. This was the best that they have every gotten along. Alex is finally old enough to interact with Axel and Axel loves to play with kids he can be in charge of. I think that Axel is finally ready to be a big brother.

Axel has found a new love for pinball again. He has been playing over the past two weeks and has become quite good at it. Here is a short video of him playing a ball. You may be able to tell that he is not just trying to hit the ball, but he is trying to aim for the colored back board in order to open the eyes and get to play double ball. I can't believe a 3 year old can pick up on strategy, but obviously my son is a product of his father and completely gets games. I am not sure if I mentioned previously, but Axel is really into any type of game. We now play uno, gold fish, candy land, chutes and ladders, bingo, and zingo. He also is getting really good at hitting the ball from both sides as well as throwing with both arms! As Axel says he is strong in both arms. 

Axel has also started to come a long way with food again. I have make a pack with myself that he needs to eat the food that I cook, so most nights he is actually consuming the dinner that I have prepared. Only a couple of times per week do I let him eat a quick meal of macaroni and cheese while we eat fish or something a bit too spicy for his liking. It is one of the most exciting things for me as a parent to only have to cook one meal for the entire family!

We want to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!

Halloween Festivities

The past few weeks have been filled with Halloween related fun. We took Axel to Lemos Farm again this year. The only difference was he was with his friends Max and Rishaan, which made the day that much better. I would have to say Axel's favorite part was feeding the goats like last year, although he said he wasn't going to feed them this year. 

He continues to love animals and I am curious to see if this continues as he gets older as well.

This year Axel wasn't the only one who didn't want to participate in the pony ride. Max also decided to watch from the sidelines with Axel while Rishaan and Sophia, Max's little sister were the brave soles of the group. Sophia didn't make it more than one time around before she cried and was taken off to be reunited with her mom, but the three moms were all still impressed with the 18 month olds bravery.

The second big hit was the train. However, the line was extremely long and it took over 30 minutes for the three boys to wait their turn.

Luckily, Lemos farm expects this and they had rocking horses in the center of the half circle line which allowed the kids to burn some energy and the parents to keep watch of their children.

Finally, it was time to hop on the train. Unfortunately, there was not enough room for daddy and I, but Axel thoroughly enjoyed it despite our absence.

Here is a shot of the three boys on a coin operated ride. You can see they were having a blast!

Keith and I had our annual date. Yes that is right, we go on one night time date per year. This year Keith's company party theme was "Viva Las Linear".

We were the only couple that we saw who asked the show girls not to be in our picture. We initially felt bad, but since we hardly get any photos together, we were happy with the results of this photo opportunity.

 They gave us $25 chips to start the night off. It went to over an hour of entertainment as we played for prizes with this money machine as well as craps. All in all it was a good time and I look forward to next year's date night :)

Axel received several hand me down costumes from my cousin Jill, who has 3 boys. This year he chose the fireman costume. He had a great time at school dancing, making Halloween decorations and eating a yummy cupcake.

He had even more fun trick or treating. We started the night out with Annika and her friend Alina.

Axel was a bit shy at our first house. It was a good thing that we did not start with his friends because it took him about 5 minutes to decide if he actually wanted to take a piece of candy or not. Luckily, he got into the spirit of taking candy from people, although, unlike his friends he made sure to think about exactly what piece he wanted.

He was very strategic about taking an equal amount of chocolate and hard candy/ suckers. He was also really good about giving daddy the candy with peanut butter in it when there were no other choices.

At 7pm we met up with the crew and then proceeded to trick or treat along our street for the next hour. I believe they all had a great time, although Axel ended up hanging out more with Sophia then Max or Rishaan since they were running from house to house and skipping several houses at a time. Axel and Sophia were more into taking their time and taking in their surroundings than running. I am sure that will change next year for Axel, but we will have to wait and see.

It is hard to believe Thanksgiving is around the corner. We have our annual pre-Thanksgiving meal coming up in 2 weeks and will then head to Sacramento for the actual holiday.

Fall Festivities

I will start where we left off a couple of weeks ago. The bird show Happy Birds, that we went to at a local library was so much fun we can't wait until they come again to a different local library in November. I highly recommend seeing their show. Their parrots and Cockateals (sp?) really do sing, talk, ride bikes, skateboard, roller skate, play basketball and more. Axel was smiling ear from ear the entire 30+ minutes. 

As I mentioned in the last post, Axel is all about climbing and jumping off things these days. Here is a perfect example of him jumping off the bin of baby clothes I went through. I have a video of it that I will try to also post.

The last weekend in September was an awesome weekend for me because I was feeling stressed with everything that needs to get done before the holidays start and the new baby arrives. Keith did a ton of work in the garage and it is about 70% organized. Even if nothing else was done I can easily get my car back into the garage which is my number one priority to help me get both kids into the car and out the door in a timely manner without having to worry about defrosting the car windows in the morning. It is only a big deal where we live because I leave early for work. Keith also helped me get down all of the baby "stuff". I was able to go through everything to figure out what we need and don't need. In addition, we have started the hunt for new Axel bedroom furniture, which needs to get purchased in the next month to ensure that we receive it before January. So, yeah for me! No more stress :)

Last weekend, Keith started his low key hill climb race series, which is always fun for the whole family. I made the first patch of pumpkin cookies that were a big hit to all of our TBZ cycling team members, especially Axel. He had his two cookies consumed the first 5 minutes we were at the top of the Montebello.

On Saturday evening we went to a Pow Wow at the local college with our neighbors. Here Axel is having fun on daddy's shoulders watching the native American Indians dance.

The kids also loved watching the drummers. Often you will find Max with his arm wrapped around Axel. They are so cute.

And of course here is a group hug of the three musketeers, Rishaan, Max and Axel.

On Sunday last weekend we took Axel back to our local Pumpkin patch. This year we were able to hold the little chicks and pet the rabbit.

Here Axel and Rishaan our petting the kids, or baby goats. Axel and Rishaan were afraid of the little pigs because the pink one was a little aggressive at trying to sniff, lick and attempt to eat daddy's shoes. Good thing the goats were much more tame.

And we can't forget the fun daddy and Axel had painting the pumpkin!

Last I leave you with a picture of our typical weekly night occurrences. Now that it is dark at 7pm, the time that the boys are accustomed to playing with each other at the park, we play at Max's house in his front yard because of the nice flood lights that his parents had installed. Here they are playing clean up! Now maybe I should convince Keith to put up flood lights in our front yard so I can have the kids come clean up our front yard :)

On a different note, Axel is finally sleeping better at night and resumed his normal nap/quiet time schedule. He is also becoming his sweet self again with fewer screaming fits. I realized when I wasn't feeling well I let him push his boundaries too much and lost my temper a few times. Now that I am feeling better and able to maintain the boundaries through actions, both of our temperaments are back to normal.