Santa Visit 2014

We went to our usual spot at Westgate Shopping Center to visit Santa on Sunday. Phoenix struggled for the second year in a row. This was the best picture that I was able to get and the ones for us to purchase were definitely not purchasable. I felt bad that Phoenix was so petrified of good old Santa Claus. Axel asked Santa for art supplies, although at school when asked by his teacher what he wanted for Christmas he said " a 5 point star multi colored light tree topper". Therefore, I do believe that Santa was able to fulfill both of these wishes this year. 

 After lots of crying and time to calmed down here is my rose cheeked girl walking around. Axel and daddy picked up some much needed new sneakers for Axel while Phoenix and I ran to Target for some last minute stocking stuffers.

 On our way home we stopped by OSH. The kids and I waited inside the car. I was able to get a photo of each of them while we waited for daddy. Here is Axel being silly.

 And Phoenix much happier now that she had a cracker in her hand!

I love this picture. I took it this last Friday. Phoenix and I were taking Louis for a walk and she said, "Pheeny do it" when I asked if she wanted help walking down the hill towards the creek. She is such a big girl in so many ways. We officially have a stream of water in the creek behind the park. I am not sure if it will go away when the rain completely stops, but it is nice to throw rocks into it for now. It is funny that Phoenix enjoys it as much as Axel did and does. 

 Here Phoenix and I are walking home from dropping Axel off at school. We beat the rain home.

 I told Phoenix that we were headed to the store this morning once we arrived home and started started screaming, "swing!" I felt so bad that I told her we could go until it started raining. We were able to enjoy 30 minutes of swing time before running errands.

 While Phoenix took her nap I went to Axel's Christmas celebration at school. They did a book exchange.

 He received Creepy Carrots from his classmate Maria.

 Here he is doing a fun project planning out where his stickers will go.

 Here is a selfie of the two of us. Axel made me a Christmas hat like his. I felt so special. I was the only parent who had one!

 And Axel enjoying a rice crispy treat.

 We are headed to Avery's 4th birthday tomorrow. I haven't seen my girlfriend Tiffany but twice this year since she started working full time. The kids should have fun. We have a break in rain for the next 4 days so we are looking forward in soaking up the sun before the rain returns. We are all excited about celebrating the Lord's birth next week. I leave you with a cute photo I took tonight of the family minus me. Merry Christmas to all of our Family and Friends!

San Diego and More

Again, time continues to fly by. We had a lovely trip to San Diego last weekend. We spent Thursday through Monday there. We have learned extended weekend vacations seem to be the perfect time for the kids, not too short, not too long. We stayed at a cute hotel right on Pacific Beach about three miles from Sea World. We were right next to the Pier and the board walk. There were tons of runners, people cycling and surfers. The weather was perfect in the low 70's each day. 

The kids LOVE, LOVE the beach. They can play for endless hours making castles and volcanoes,etc.

Here is Axel starting his first sand castle on Thursday while Phoenix took a quick nap.

Axel the sand master :)

Here is Phoenix getting acclimated to the wet morning sand. High tide in San Diego is much higher up on the beach then it was in Florida. At times it can cover the entire beach we were told.

Here are both kiddos playing after nap time one day.

We spent two days at Sea World. We saw the Christmas Pet Show, The Sea Lion Show, The Dolphin Show and a Shamu Show over the two days. The kids enjoyed the play area for almost an hour as a break from all of the animal and exhibit watching/viewing on Friday.

We did a lot of walking along the board walk. Here we were checking out Mission Beach.

Doggy made the trip with us and went everywhere with us the entire trip. Doggy, one of Axel's stuffed animals was discovered a few days before the trip and it was love at first site for Phoenix. He is now officially her lovey.

After two days of Sea World we decided to stay "home" for the day on Sunday. Both kids braved the pool for some swimming. It was actually quite nice and warm in the heated pool. It was a short swim, but enjoyed by both kiddos.

After swimming and Pheeny's nap we found a great park on Mission Bay. The kids really needed some regular out door playtime. 

We flew home on Monday to a very busy week. Luckily, today is a lazy day and we plan on visiting Santa, maybe go to the lights in the park celebration and have several friends stopping by or us stopping by other friends house.

When I was downloading the pictures from our trip I realized I had missed a few weeks worth of photos.

Phoenix and daddy working on the puzzle at my Grandma's, GG's, retirement complex during my Uncle David's surprise 60th birthday party. She loves puzzles, but doesn't quite get the concept of finding the correct place for it. She is more into making the pieces fit together which is cute but not good for the puzzle.

Two weeks ago we had the neighborhood kids over for a play date. This picture was really impressive to me because I couldn't believe all of the kids were in one room doing the same thing together and not running around destroying the house. The twins, Chloe and Cohen, and their brother, Henry, are usually much more energetic.

We just found out that they are moving back to Arizona. Axel is very sad that Chloe, Cohen and Henry will be moving next week. Their mom got a great promotion and will be back with all of their family in Phoenix, Arizona. We also found out that Rishaan will be moving sometime in he next 6 months to Austin, Texas. It will be an interesting summer. Hopefully, new kids will move into the neighborhood.

Louis is getting a lot of love from daddy, Phoenix, Henry and Chloe. He was in heaven getting the extra attention.

We also decorated our gingerbread house a couple of weeks ago. Phoenix got to join in for the first time this year.

Both kids really enjoyed themselves.

Here is the final product.....with lots of personality!

I found this great picture of the kids playing in Axel's bed. So cute!

I also found this picture of Axel helping daddy clean the gutters a few weeks ago.

And this cute picture of Phoenix playing at the park. She was proud of herself swinging on the big swing like the big girls do.

I also forgot to post pictures of Axel's Thanksgiving celebration at school. The kids were pilgrims and the adults were the Native Americans.

They all enjoyed a huge Thanksgiving Feast prepared by the parents!

While we were prepping the food the kids made macaroni necklaces. My little pilgrim hard at work!

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And last I wanted to include a picture of our big Thanksgiving Feast that we had this year.

Our goal for the next 10 days is to be mindful of living in the present and to really enjoy each day. For each day is truly a gift and we feel so blessed to have each other and our extended family and friends!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a nice relaxing Thanksgiving. The kids and I got down all of the Christmas decorations and got the house ready for our big decorating day on Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. Daddy raced up Mt. Hamilton and then we went over to our friend's house for a lovely meal.

Phoenix found these barrettes I purchased for her a few weeks ago in her room on Thanksgiving day. I put a couple in her hair, but she decided if two look good why not put all 12 in her hair. This was great entertainment for her for over 30 minutes. 

 I decided organizing the closet and going through my clothes to donate to charity would have to wait for another day since I had to constantly help Phoenix put the barrettes back in her hair after she would take them out and try to put them in herself.

 The only pictures I got at Mike's house was right before heading home around 8:15pm at night, way after Pheeny's bed time.

 Both kids wanted to hop on the lions that are on either side of their porch. I had Phoenix ready for bed, but Axel is looking all handsome in his new button up shirt that Grandma Susan sent.

 Yesterday, Friday, while many folks headed to shop, Keith and I headed out into the country side. We enjoyed a nice relaxing ride/date together while the kids enjoyed hanging out with Monica, our other babysitter.

 After Phoenix woke from her nap we headed to the park.

 Phoenix rode her bike, swung and climbed.

 Axel ran and played soccer/kick ball with daddy and a very cute 5 year old girl named Olivia. Axel and Olivia played so well together that when she was ready to say good bye she grabbed Axel's hand. Axel was a little embarrassed because daddy made a big deal of it, but both kids had a fun time. :)

 After the park we decorated the Christmas tree and finished putting up all of our Christmas decorations.

 I truly believe that Axel enjoys this more than I do!

 What was almost more cool than watching Axel decorate the try was seeing Phoenix join in for the first time. She has become such a big girl. She decided she really doesn't want to be a baby. Yesterday as she climbed into Axel's chair for breakfast she said, "Big Boy." Daddy and I corrected her and said "Big Girl". So we pulled up a big girl chair for her to eat breakfast in. A funny little addition to this is that Mike and Vanessa were surprised that Phoenix wanted to sit with all of the 3 and 5 year olds at Thanksgiving dinner. They were impressed that she wanted to do everything the big kids were doing and didn't bat an eye that she wasn't sitting with mommy or daddy.

The most charming part about decorating the tree last night was seeing Axel be his charming, caring self and help Phoenix place her ornament on the Christmas tree. She was having trouble getting the cloth hook to open up over the branch. 

 My cuties!

 Once I realized it was already 7:15pm I quickly had the kids say good night to daddy and head to brush their teeth and pick out a book. Phoenix was extra sweet to daddy climbing up on him to say good night and feeling his prickly face.

I don't think I mentioned during the last post that Phoenix had another tooth finally cut through the gums a few weeks ago. I believe she only has one more tooth and then her second year molars before she has a full set of teeth. I also don't think I mentioned that the pictures I took of her at the park at the end of the last blog were her 22 month photos. It is hard to believe that in just two short months she will be two years old!

She has become very interested in the potty so Keith and I are keeping our fingers crossed that she will be ready to say good bye to diapers in the very near future. I wouldn't mind not washing them anymore!

We are headed to San Diego for a fun family vacation so be sure to check back in a couple of weeks for more Szolusha fun!