Party Weekend

On Saturday Axel went to Axel R's birthday party at the Marine Science Institute in Redwood City. This was his first birthday party without us there. We had already committed to racing Welch Creek. It was a hard decision for me, but I think it was a good growth experience for both Axel and I. 

Axel went with our neighbor Cohen and his mom, Abby. He had a great time and was really happy he went. The only bummer thing was he threw up on the way home. Abby felt bad, but I felt worse that I forgot to tell her that Axel often gets car sick. Oops! Apparently, everything made it into a plastic bag :)

Axel got home about the same time Daddy and I got home. Phoenix happened to wake from her nap about the same time and it was all about family time the rest of the day.

The kids and daddy couldn't wait to carve a pumpkin.

Axel helped by separating the seeds and Phoenix patiently watched. I actually forgot to take a picture of the end result which is a bummer because just 4 days later the pumpkin is totally rotten and I just threw it out. Good thing we have a couple more pumpkins that we can carve for Halloween night!

I forgot to mention when we were at Henry's birthday party last Sunday that Axel had fun playing on the drums. Here is a picture that Abby sent me. Maybe we have a musician in our future!

I also forgot to mention that On Friday, October 10th, I attended the first parent teacher conference where I received Axel's first report card. I was really impressed with how much Mrs. Tolbert likes having Axel in her class. He got a great first report card. They tested him reading at a level C. They rate it from A to Z and all kindergartners should be reading at a C/D level by the end of the year. Next week they start breaking the children up into groups based on reading ability for an hour each day. I am excited for this because I think his reading will improve even more. Axel received a perfect math score and got rated really high for comprehension. Keith and I are so proud of him!

Here is a selfie of Phoenix and I.

Phoenix wants to be just like Axel. She loves to do everything that he is doing. So cute!

On Sunday morning we headed to Lemos Farm for my friend, Gwen's twin's birthday party. Leila and Gabriel had quite the 3rd birthday bash. Phoenix and Axel had an amazing time. They were able to jump in the jump house.....

Ride the train an unlimited amount of times. ..

Ride the ponies. Yes, Axel was finally not afriad!!!!!

Phoenix loved the ponies so much she rode them a couple of times.

We also got to go on a hay ride....

and through a "not scary" haunted house. Essentially, it was a scary haunted house with the lights on.

Phoenix checked in with daddy several times to see if she should be worried about what she was looking at. Luckily, daddy was laughing up a storm.

Axel even ate pizza! The party was a huge success! We headed home just after 12 pm in order to allow Phoenix to nap during her usual time. She was out in a couple of minutes. Unfortunatey, she woke when we arrived home 35 minutes later.

So, the entire family headed to the park for Saif's second year birthday party. Axel was excited to go because all of the neighborhood kids were invited. Here is Cohen, Rishaan, Axel and Chloe.

Phoenix played well with the birthday boy!

And Elmo made an appearance!

After Elmo, everyone enjoyed some delicious cake!

"More please"......was what Phoenix kept saying.

Elmo vanished and the balloon maker appeared. Axel patiently waited in line to get his balloon sword and gun.

It was a long fun day and weekend. We had an early dinner and the kids were in bed over an hour early. Tonight we went out to eat with the neighbor's again for a school fundraiser. I wasn't able to capture any pictures because Chloe, Cohen and Henry are just as out of control in public as they are at home. Unfortunately, Axel is getting use to their behavior and is beginning to think it is okay. We had a little talk after dinner where I told him we can only do fun things like this if we keep our manners despite what other people are doing. We will see what the future holds! We are looking forward to a fun filled second half of the week!

Fall Fun

Last Saturday Keith and I raced up Sierra Road. We tried to capture the amazing few from the top with a selfie.

However, I think this picture without us captures the beauty much better :) Keith had an amazing ride/climb and set a PR, getting 8th out of 115. It was a tough day for me, but I still managed to win.

 After the hill climb we headed to Concord to meet Grandma Susan, Grandpa Brian, Auntie Shannon, Uncle Ryan and Braylin. We were picking up our lamb that Brian got for us and Shannon and Ryan had just finished their move to Walnut Creek. It was such a nice evening to all be together. We are hoping with Auntie being at the half way point will allow for more family gatherings with us all together.

Here is a shot of the three cousins!

On Sunday we enjoyed some family time at home and then a fun filled afternoon at our neighbor's birthday party. Here is daddy and Phoenix pretending to sleep. Phoenix woke up from her nap in a rather cranky mood and daddy fixed it by pretending to sleep with her. So cute!

 Axel was busy drawing these two pictures while daddy and Pheeny pretended to nap. I was quite impressed with the jack o lantern and superman symbol. The paint program is very difficult to draw free style.

 We had a fabulous time at our neighbor's bday party. We did not capture any pictures because we were too busy making sure everyone was safe! Axel's new friends, our new neighbors, Cohen and Cloe (5 year old twins) and their brother Henry who just turned 4 are very high energy and are risk takers. There is always a lot of fun had when we are together, but it is a little more work for Keith and I  :)

Here is a cute picture of Phoenix pushing Louis around the house in her wagon. I have a similar picture of Axel pushing Touis around when he was around 11 months old. Too bad Louis is looking at the camera.

 Today is picture day for Axel. Here is our handsome kindergartner. We took him shopping a couple of weeks ago to get some new clothes. It was a bit difficult because he wasn't use to trying clothes on. This outfit was one of two that we purchased. You can see the 4T's are still big, but we are all hopeful he will continue to grow and fill these in a bit more over the next 6 months!

We have a very busy couple of weeks approaching. Like I mentioned during the last post we have three birthday parties this weekend. We also have a play date next Thursday, the pumpkin walk, which is the biggest school fundraising day and the Keith's company party next Saturday, two Halloween parties and Halloween itself. My goal is to try to do little posts, but I may end up doing one mega post if we get too busy. With the weather finally cooling off the past couple of days, we are all getting into the spirit of fall! I leave you with the excitement of Halloween!

The Eye Doctor, Decorating for Halloween and the 1st Trip to the Pumpkin Patch this year

Axel failed his eye exam at school so we had to go to the optometrist to get his eyes checked. He has astigmatism in both eyes. Keith and I have an astigmatism in one eye each. The optometrist essentially said that he could get glasses if he wants, but that his 20/40 vision in both eyes should be good enough to see. 

We received eye drops to start putting in his eyes because his eyes run a little dryer than they should which causes his eyes to look red quite often. 

Axel continues to mature and has become more and more charming with Phoenix. He is more often helping her rather than hurting her, although he still has his moments. :)

Last weekend, Axel came home from school and asked to start decorating the house for Halloween. 

I happened to be thinking along the same lines so I had already gotten the decorations down from the attic while he was at school. 

He worked really hard at making the house look festive. He even made a piece of cheese for the rats that we put up. He also made this new creation below. Here two bats are hanging from a long branch. 

The only difference between this year and last year is that he did the decorating by himself. He really didn't ask for my help or input, unless he couldn't reach something. 

When I got down the decorations I also got down costumes. The kids of course had to try them on. I think they are the cutest lion and Dalmatian I have ever seen!

We have several birthday parties coming up. While we were shopping for gifts we picked up a few crafts. 

Here is the finished product of one of them. Axel is extremely impressive at how he is able to read the instructions (or figure them out by looking at pictures) without any help. 

I picked up Phoenix like this on Wednesday. I couldn't believe how cute she looks with pigtails. What is even scarier is that I feel like I am looking at myself when I was her age. I am very tempted to go up in the attic and get my baby pictures so that I can do a side by side comparison. 

Yesterday after school we headed to the pumpkin patch with my friend Andie and her three kids. .  

While we waited for them we checked out the adorable rabbits

 Axel climbed the hay stack and yelled king of the mountain!

 They then pretended to ride the fake pony and then low and behold Andie, Sophie, Simon and Ethan arrived.

Axel and Phoenix enjoyed painting pumpkins with Sophie.  

 They then played in the hay stack house/maze together while Andie and I caught up.

The kids had a blast and can't wait to go again. Next weekend we have three birthday parties. One of them is at Lemos farm. It is going to be a great exhausting weekend. This weekend is Auntie Shannon's big move back to the bay area. Hopefully we will see them. We are meeting Grandma Susan and Grandpa Brian in Walnut Creek, Auntie's new home town, for dinner, because it is the half way point. They are bringing us our freshly slayed lamb. We can't wait to see them!

Fall Festival

We have been busy bees since our last post. 

Phoenix has really taken to her blankie, that GG made her. In her hand is the blankie that was made for her baby. She likes to carry it around because it is smaller than her bigger matching blanket. 

 On September 21st we went to the Kaiser fall festival. The kids were able to get a face painting. Phoenix got a rainbow on her arm because I thought she would rub it off her face and that she would want to see what they lady was doing. If you look closely you will see the rainbow on her right arm. It was so hot out and the kids ran around for hours we had them settle down in front of Animal Atlas before dinner.

 For dinner I made spaghetti with meat sauce. I thought this picture was great of Phoenix wearing the spaghetti sauce over her entire torso and face. I had bathed her before dinner but had to give her another quick rinse down after dinner.

 Axel had the super man symbol painted on his forehead. He wanted to keep it there, but I didn't think it would make it through a night's sleep and I didn't think his school would allow it so we washed it off.

 Here we are in the process of washing it off. Axel thought it was so cool he brought these two pictures into school for sharing day. He said he got a lot of laughs from his friends and was happy he brought them in for sharing day.

 Last Thursday after school we headed to the dentist. Axel decided he wanted to go first. He loves going and does such a great job. Our dentist is very impressed with his maturity and says that he is such a treat to work with. I had to capture another photo because I can't get over how much bigger he looks in the chair.

 While Axel was getting his teeth cleaned, Phoenix was hard at play in the waiting room. She was nice and warmed up by the time it was my turn and we hardly had any tears this time.

 Phoenix and I have been really starting to enjoy our special time together on Thursdays and Fridays while Axel is in school. We usually get some fun park play in besides all of the errands and cleaning that we do together :)

 Her physical abilities continue to amaze me since Axel was a bit slower with his courage. She has been climbing up the slide now for a couple of weeks.

She has also mastered jumping. She laughs hysterically when she gets both feet off the ground. Her running continues to get faster and she has fully mastered the in door bike that Axel use to do laps on in the house. I need to get her riding the bike on video and then post her video and Axel's old video of him cruising around the house on the bike.

 Last Friday, Keith and I went to a wedding at Willow Heights Mansion where we got married over 6 years ago. This is a horrible picture of us, but it is the only one we were able to get. The weather was overcast and it sprinkled a bit, but the night was perfect.

 The view was absolutely breath taking. Mary Ellen and Vangeli said that they loved our wedding location so much (when they attended our wedding) they had to check it out for themselves. It has been recently remodeled and with the remodel they couldn't imagine getting married anywhere else. Keith and I surely agreed, because it was an amazing day and celebration for them, just as it was for us.

 Keith and I have been enjoying some great rides together almost every Saturday and Sunday all summer! Last Saturday I captured this picture during one of our pee breaks. We have recently run into turkeys, deer, a peacock, and a tarantula, but all of them while we were climbing. Keith asked why I didn't stop to take the picture of the tarantula and why I didn't scream when I saw it. I told him because we were moving at a good clip and I thought I could get away considering I was on two wheels. He then reminded me that tarantulas can jump 20 feet. I then reminded him they only do that if they feel you are attacking them. At any rate, we have been enjoying the time together. Tomorrow starts our Low Key Hill Climb series, so hopefully we both climb as fast as we can!

 This past Sunday we grilled out for the first time in a month. I love this picture of Phoenix devouring her burger. Her love for food makes Keith and I so happy. .

 Axel continues to be Mr. Art guy. He made these Mini and Micki hats for the two of them. He did them completely by himself. He also made labels for his toy bins and wrote down what toys can go in what bin and drew a picture to go along with the word.

I was able to volunteer last Friday at his school for the first time and I was really impressed with how different he is at school. Last year he talked quite a bit, but this year he is completely quiet. He works really hard on what the teacher is saying and is so focused at doing a good job he really keeps to himself. He was one of three kids who spent the time to color in their projects with care. It is unbelievable the difference between how well he writes and colors compared to the other boys his age. I guess it is true what they say.... each child is busy developing in one area, and that area is different for each child. They eventually all catch up. The good thing with Axel is he has finally worked out his recess issue at school. He finally feels like he is playing with his friends. Initially he felt excluded when his friends were all playing kick ball and he was not aggressive enough to join in. Luckily, things have settled down and everyone is happy!

We are looking forward to the weather change. We had a glimpse of cool mornings this past week of 56 degrees, but a heat wave has come again. It is 95 degrees at right now and it is projected to be 99 degrees out tomorrow. This will give us another day to swim, although we will be shopping for winter clothes for Axel this weekend. 

Today we decorated the house for Halloween since there was no school for a teacher development day.  Axel can't wait to get pumpkins and go to the pumpkin patch so we will likely start our pumpkin adventures next week!