7 years of marriage with a visit from Grandma Susan

This weekend and last weekend we had very productive visits to the car dealership. To give you idea of what we do while we are talking and figuring things out here is a picture of Axel and Phoenix running down a long hall. The kids have been very good overall, but it takes a bit of creativity to keep them entertained and behaving well. 

 On Wednesday night I picked up Grandma Susan from the train station. On Thursday morning we went out to breakfast at Stacks because daddy had a doctor's appointment in dermatology later that morning to get a possible basal cell carcinoma removed. He will find out in a week or two if it was benign or positive.

 We had an awesome breakfast with awesome service. The food came fast and was well enjoyed.

 The kids were so happy that Grandma Susan was in town!

 After breakfast we headed to story time. Axel received his certificate, a free book and free passes to The Children's Discovery Museum for completing the summer reading program.

 We had some fun play indoors at home in the afternoon too. Axel purchased these new omnifix building cubes with a gift card from his birthday after attending a math and art camp. Grandma spelled Phoenix's name so Axel spelled his name.

 On Friday morning we decided to head to the Discovery Museum because we had 2 free tickets.

 This was Phoenix's and Grandma's first time there.

 Although Axel has been there a handful of times there was a new West Wing that he was able to explore. The climbing wall was one new thing he discovered.

I find it fascinating how the exhibits can grab the attention of children all ages.

After two hours of fun we headed outside for a picnic lunch. We enjoyed the rest of the afternoon together with fun indoor art projects and a long trail walk with Louis.

On Friday night Keith and I went out for dinner. We decided on the Cheesecake Factory so we could enjoy some yummy cheese cake after our meal.

It was a nice dinner and amazing Tiramisu cheese cake. After dinner I was feeling so uncomfortably full we decided to walk around the mall. We ended up buying Axel lots of great dry fit clothing from Old Navy for great prices before heading home for the evening.

Here is a very cute picture of Keith and Louis from yesterday morning. Yesterday we were able to go for a nice bike ride together and then Aunt Shannon, Uncle Ryan and Braylin came over for a short visit. Grandma and the Jolley's headed home just after noon. We headed to Hyundai on Capitol Expressway to finally test drive the 2016 Tuscon. We are excited that we finally found our vehicle, but are a little bummed that we have to patiently wait for a Limited to come in. We then had a nice dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant, Fiesta Del Mar, in Mountain View.

After lots of great time with family we have our last full week of summer. It is amazing that the new school year is practically here. Check back soon!

Summer Fun

Phoenix started back at Angela's and Axel started up summer camps over the past two weeks and both are thriving. Axel really enjoyed Campbell Care camp as he was with a few of his classmates. Phoenix loves Angela's because she is back in with her girls as the leader of the pack. I didn't realize that she was such a leader, but Angela really wanted to let me know this week how much she likes to run the show and how much the other girls look up to her and follow her around. Fun! I would have never guessed seeing her do everything her big brother does.

 A week ago Thursday the temperatures cooled down for a few days. Here is miss little Phoenix wearing my jacket. 

 On Friday we headed to Jack Fischer Park for the first time in awhile. Phoenix still loves the swings, but likes to play on the play structure more and more. She truly is a little monkey.

 Axel had a blast playing with the little kids. I am very proud at how well he adapts and is able to play with kids older and younger than himself.

Last Saturday morning we went to our friend Alex's 5th birthday party. It was at one of those indoor play centers. Axel had so much fun with Alex and his friends.

Phoenix had a blast as well. they had a great section for kids 3 and under as well as a kitchen and grocery carts, which is always a real win for Phoenix.

My two munchkins waiting for birthday cake!

Here is Alex and Axel playing with the goodie bag toys before we headed home for nap time.

I have been really bad at taking picture the past few weeks, although I was inspired to capture a photo of our little old man wrapped up in a blanket. We are so blessed to have such a wonderful loving dog. It makes me sad knowing that his days are numbered. We received a call from the owners of Touie last weekend. Touie unfortunately passed away. He was filled with fluid and by the time Ia took him to the vet they said his cancer was spread all over and that there was not much they could do. It was a tough decision for Ia because she loved Touie so much, but she put him down so that he wouldn't have to suffer. Keith and I were very sad because we didn't get to see Touie this year like we usually do. Ia and her husband are getting older and it is hard for them to host their annual 4th of July BBQ. She was very kind to call Keith and inform us.

Over the past two weeks or so Axel has been working on this 500 piece puzzle that he received from Grandma Susan last year. He was finally ready to take the time to complete this puzzle. I was extremely proud of him. He did over 50% of this puzzle by himself. I am hoping he will want to tackle another big puzzle again soon.

In other news, this week has been quite eventful for the kids. Phoenix had a low grade fever last Sunday and when I  picked her up at Angela's Monday evening she had a rash over most of her body. It happened to be 5th disease that she and another child at daycare picked up. On Tuesday when I came to pick her up she was holding an ice pack. Angela informed me that she got stung by a bee on her finger. She was very upset about the bee sting and if you talk to Phoenix today she is still talking about how the bee bit her and that she killed it. The story keeps changing and getting funnier and funnier.

In Axel news, he went to a great camp this past week, called Blending Math and Art. He met a new friend that he really likes. Her name is Chloe. Chloe doesn't go to Marshall Lane, but will be taking another camp with Axel in a couple of weeks. Axel really wants to have a play date with her, but he said he is happy to be spend another week with her at camp for now. This is the first time that he has talked about making a friend at camp, so Keith and I were very excited for him.  

We rode to Marshall Lane one night this week. Axel continues to enjoy riding his bike. Phoenix lost interest after getting her cast off, but finally rode her bike well on this particular evening. Unfortunately, her 10+ minutes of bike riding ended with her first crash. Somehow she got a bruise on her forehead. We can't figure out if her helmet gave her the bruise of if the helmet came up and her forehead hit the pavement. Luckily, she was fine and we played a bit on the play structure before heading home.

We continue to car shop and we think we have it narrowed down to the Hyundai Tuscon, Sante Fe or Kia Sorento. Now only time will tell what we will end up with and who will give us the best deal :).

Today we are going to check out a pool/club that we plan on joining next year. It is open April through October. It looks like Axel is going to join their swim team as well. We are really excited about the great find and can't wait to see how the family enjoys it today. Until next time...

A visit from old neighbors and new neighbors move in!

Last week Axel had vacation bible camp. He absolutely loved it. He learned a principle every day, and songs with arm movements that go along with it. They also came home with a "prize" that goes along with the principle that they learned about that day. Axel learned last week that God has the power to provide,  to comfort, to heal, to forgive, and to love us forever. He also learned 10 more songs of worship that he listens to every night before he goes to bed.

One afternoon, when I got home from work last week Axel and Phoenix were playing with chalk in the driveway. They drew for over an hour. They were both covered in chalk.

 But fun was had!

 Phoenix has been doing great with the potty training. She is essentially accident free during the day. She does not care where she goes, nor do I, as long as it is not in her pants. That means when we are out at the park she often goes wherever she is at. Here she is with a doggy poop bag walking to pick up her own poop.

 This is the second time she has insisted in picking up her own poop......and then

 throwing it away!

 It was sad that Annika has finished with her weekly help. The kids had a great first half of the summer with her. We got to see Annika again last Thursday though, because she was watching our old neighbors, Max and Mei Mei. Here is Sophia, Mei Mei, and Phoenix playing dolls. They were so cute and so girly together. Sophia turned 4 on April 1st, but she didn't seem to mind playing with Phoenix.

 Max and Axel played amazing together. Max has matured so much since we saw him last. He turned 7 in May and no longer looses his temper. I was really proud of how well the boys played.

 They were excited to be able to work together to build circuits, especially ones that make the fan fly.

 Axel used his baseball skills to catch the fan one handed in the air. They played for 4 hours without one disagreement! Axel was sad to say goodbye, but I am sure we will see them again next summer. Elisa, their mom, thinks they will move back in 2 to 3 more years, but only time will tell. The family that is renting their house plan on going back to Denmark next summer. It is amazing at how fast time flies.

 This Monday Phoenix went back to Angela's. She was extremely happy to play with her old friends, but the ultra exciting news was that our new neighbors moved in on Monday! They have two kiddos, Evelyn, 7 and Charlie who will be 4 in December. Evelyn played with Axel for a couple of hours so that her mom, Kate, would have a more productive time unpacking. Axel had so much fun with Evelyn that he couldn't wait to see if she could play on Tuesday night. Here are the kids very disappointed that no one answered the door. They checked again last night to see if they can play, but again, no one answered their door. I tried to explain to Axel that they are getting settled in and that we will have plenty of time to play with them, considering they live next door.

Phoenix had a rough week last week as she realized that she was no longer a baby. She started waking at night multiple times, struggled to get to sleep and demanded to be rocked. Luckily, a little more attention by rocking her at night and firmer boundaries has gotten her back on track and she is sleeping through the night again for the past 2 nights.

We continue to test drive cars every weekend and enjoy family time together. We have a birthday party this weekend and more test driving. We are on the countdown to school already. It is hard to believe there is only 3 full weeks of summer vacation left!

Daddy turns 40, new bunk bed and more

Last Sunday we finally did it. We purchased something that we have been talking about for some time. We purchased this awesome bunk bed with a trundle bed. It is solid wood and can be a bunk bed or two separate beds. The kids were over the top excited. They couldn't wait for their new bunk bed to arrive. They told us 3 weeks until delivery.

 On Tuesday, just two days later I made another huge purchase. I finally bought the Amish dining room table and chairs that I have been talking about for years! I received the biggest bonus I have ever received in my working career this past spring $4500 and all of it went to the table and chairs. They should last a life time so I think it is money well spent! It is suppose to arrive sometime within the next 3 months.

On Wednesday Daddy turned 40 years old. The kiddos put together two very nice projects for him. It was a very low key day.

When Daddy got home from work we played outside for a bit and then once the kids were in bed we played battleship. Daddy won! He said it was the perfect birthday present, since he has only beat me one other time :)

 On Wednesday while daddy was at work we went to  a "Magic Bubbles" presentation at the library. The magic ingredient is glycerin. Here Axel and Phoenix are making big bubbles.

 VERY BIG BUBBLES!

 After the library we headed to Axel's swim lesson. This is what Pheeny does during Axel's swim lessons.

 Here is Axel swimming back stroke. If I get a chance I will try to post a video.

On Thursday we went back to the library to learn about fire and see a fire truck and fire fighters.

 Surprise! On Friday the bunk bed arrived 2 weeks early! We have the bottom part of the bed in Axel's room with the trundle bed.

 The top of the bunk bed is in Pheeny's room. If they show that they can sleep well we will have Pheeny try to sleep on the trundle bed. If she can do that a few days in a row then we will move Pheeny into Axel's room and make it a bunk bed. We will see what happens.....stay tuned!

 We still spend a lot of time in our park. Axel hasn't played in the sand for months. Yesterday, Friday, he did. He created a canyon. It took a lot of hard work.

 We dropped off some items at Goodwill earlier this week and ended up stopping by a park that was on the way home. I love these pictures. Phoenix was nicely telling Axel that she wanted to get off.

 When Axel tried he was just as scared. His eyes were closed for all of the pictures. So cute!

During Pheeny's naps on the weekends the boys often go on adventure rides together. Axel does 3 to 5 miles and they try to explore different locations each time. Here are the two before their ride today.

We are off to test drive more cars. We did Nissan last week. We are going to Honda today and slowly over the next couple of months we will test drive all of our options and figure out what car makes the best sense for our family. Wish us luck!

Happy 4th of July 2015

We had an amazing, action packed weekend. I had to get a picture of Pheeny looking so girly! She wore a dress or skirt every day for almost a week.

She absolutely loves the swing that we installed last Sunday. The Reddy's gave it to us before they moved and I finally installed it on the 28th of June.

We still play every night in the park. We ride bikes, run, play baseball, play in the sand, or whatever the kids want. A few nights ago we decided to run up and down the hill. I love this picture of Axel and I below. You can see him really trying to run as fast as he can. I love to see the determination in his face.

I also love this picture of Pheeny checking to see if daddy and Axel are close behind her.

On Friday we had our annual BBQ for Keith's and my birthday. Since Keith turns 40 on the 8th of July, he thought it would be cute for the kids to put up how old they are. You can see Phoenix saying 2, although she doesn't quite have 2 fingers up. The twins turn 4 in a couple of weeks, and Alex turns 5 next month.

After dinner the kids played baseball and then they just played silly. I am not sure whose idea it was, but Pheeny and Dellinger put the balls to make big butts and boobies.

You can see how much fun they were having!

After dessert, we headed to the park. Here is a super cute picture of Phoenix, Axel and Alex.

Axel got to show off his riding skills. Here is a great picture of him focused on making it up the dirt hill on his bike. He still hasn't made it all the way up, but he gets an A for effort. 

The gathering ended a little later than expected. I quickly bathed the kids and was trying to get them to bed. Axel came into Pheeny's room to say goodnight and I thought he went off to his room. As I was saying good night to Pheeny, she asked for a second blanket. I went into her closet to get another blanket. My little funny man was in her closet in the dark, giggling away as I screamed out of fright. Axel was so proud of scaring me!

On Saturday we went to Aunties house for another BBQ. Here are Phoenix and Braylin wearing the 4th dresses that Grandma Susan made them.

We all had a really good time. The kids played well together, the adults enjoyed some yummy food, and the day came to and end all too quickly. We sung Daddy Happy Birthday which was nice and embarrassing for him as well.

The kids had their usual cousin bath together before we headed home for bed.

On Sunday, the kids and I met up with the McFarrens. We enjoyed catching up and the kids had fun running around together.

It was so nice that they made time to visit with us. We always enjoy their company.

Daddy unfortunately re injured his hamstring kicking around the soccer ball on Friday night. As a result we are not longer spending the day together for his birthday on Wednesday. He will go to work like every other day and hopes to be recovered and back to his usual, happy, riding self by this coming weekend. Until next time......we will be enjoying the long summer days!