Axel gets 2nd at Pinewood Derby

What an exciting night. Axel did great for his first Pinewood Derby. We are so proud of him. All of the hard work paid off. The hours of research, looking at videos, going to the Cub Scouts of America store multiple times lead to a great finish. Axel finished 2nd overall in his pack and 1st in his den.

Here is Axel with all of the cars that raced tonight. It was a bummer that more kids did not participate, but it was fun regardless.

This was one of 6 heats. He won 4 and got 2nd twice. 

 Here is a picture of Pack 505.

 Axel excitingly receiving his second place trophy!

 And there it is. The results. It was a close call between second and third, but he won 2nd by a couple of tenths of a second. This was even more exciting because the 1st and 3rd place finishers were older Webelos.

Here is Axel's car. Car number 8 next to the winning car number 9.

 You can see that the other kids were older just by looking at the picture below that includes the top three finishers for speed and the two who won best design and most creative design. We are excited to go to districts on February 11th.

 Here is a cute picture of Louis in the kids tunnel. This is where I found him after putting Rubix to sleep when I got home tonight from the Pinewood Derby. Poor old man!

Phoenix Turns 4 years old!

Well, it happened. Phoenix turned 4 years old yesterday. It is hard to believe 4 years have past. I have loved every minute of it. She is such a sweet little girl. She has more spunk and more girl to her than I would have ever imagined. On Wednesday I was able to make mini cupcakes for Angela's so that she could celebrate with her friends at daycare. Here is my beautiful girl!

There is that smile!

On Friday I took her to get her pictures taken. We had to change locations because JcPenny's closed down. We tried Picture People. I didn't purchase as many photos because it was 5 times more expensive than what I usually pay. Here is a picture of Phoenix dancing before we headed to Picture People. She loves to dance and sing. Unfortunately, she has a voice like mine, which means she is a little off key, most of the time. :)

I had scheduled the pictures for after Rubix's 1st nap, but he decided to sleep in and not take a morning nap. As a result he was very tired and fell asleep right when she was done taking her pictures. He had a nice little catnap before he woke during the transfer to the car. Luckily, he managed to take his normal afternoon nap and woke just in time to pick up Axel from school.

This is the picture I purchased for the wall. Now all I need is a frame so I can hang it. :) I do have to say the printing of the pictures on site with a wait time of under 10 minutes was pretty nice and convenient, especially because we had to go pretty deep into San Jose to get to Picture People.

I purchased two 5 x 7's of this. The only Grandparent who said they like that size our Gma Sonia and Gpa Bruce so they will be getting this in the mail. The other goes to my work. 

I purchased two more sheets of the following 2 photos. They do 4 x 6's here instead of 3 x 5's. The rest of the family will be getting one of these. The other pictures were not that good, except one, but these two were so cute I wanted to get a fun action photo that captures Phoenix's personality.

I don't have Pheeny's stats because Kaiser has a rule where they won't schedule a wellness check until after their birthday. Since her birthday was on a Saturday we will be going this Thursday when I am off of work.

Rubix is starting to tolerate more and more foods. I found these crackers that are rice that are teething crackers. He appears to be tolerating them and rice well now because he is able to handle the Necoate Nutra rice cereal. We added avocados this week and just started peaches today. 

It is amazing as how quickly they learn things. The first time he ate the crackers he choked on a piece. Now he bites and chews without any issues. You can see he has the funny gene too. He is being silly by looking up and then laughing once he gets a laugh out of us. 

So Phoenix finally got her Jump House. It was a pink and purple castle with a prince and princess on each side. Because the day didn't go as plan this was my only picture. I am a little bummed that I didn't capture a picture of the entire jump house or all of the girls playing in it, but life goes on. The rain held off until just after 4pm which meant the jump house got a couple house of solid use.

Here is another funny photo. I was busy in the kitchen so I didn't get to take photos like I normally do. When I finally asked Keith to take a picture the X was missing! So it says Happy Birthday Phoeni, but no one knew the difference since we call her Pheeny. HA!

The girls enjoyed a tea party with paper mugs that they decorated with stickers.

After the tea party they enjoyed yummy homemade pizza and then cupcakes!

Here is the birthday girl!

Finally time for cupcakes. And just like that Phoenix is 4. When I tucked her into bed I told her that she was just about to make her entrance into this world. I was trying to explain to her that she arrived at 10:29 pm, but the entire day is considered her birthday. Initially she looked really sad and said, "So I am not 4 years old?" I said technically you are not for another couple of hours, but the entire day is called your birthday regardless of what time someone is born. Finally I said, "Yes you are 4," and kissed her good night.

Rubix is 10 months old!

The long week of rain finally stopped, but before heading to the park for the first time we decided to have one more play day inside. I promised Phoenix that we would go back to the Merry Go Round in the mall. This time I captured her in her new girly sneakers. 

Rubix played inside the kiddy area for this first time. He had so much fun. Axel and Phoenix are really great with him, when they want to be, that is :)

Rubix continues to grow like a weed. Keith thinks that he is an inch taller than he was last month based on the way his pants are fitting. It is hard for me to tell, but what I do notice is he is stronger and more and more sturdy every day. He cruises along furniture, he pushes objects to walk a few feet, he climbs up stairs, goes down slides, pulls himself up onto furniture with his hands and hangs from the table and drawers of his dresser. He is an active little guy.

On Saturday we went to Aisha's 4th birthday party. She turned 4 on Christmas day and this is the first birthday party she has had for her friends. Phoenix had a blast. It was a little out of control and stressful for me because Rubix had to be watched like a hawk because he was getting trampled by the other kids. Here is a cute picture of the birthday girl and Angela from daycare. The other moms noted how all of the kids still flock to her despite not being at her house. 

Phoenix had a unicorn painted on her face and had a blast playing with all of her friends from day care.

The kiddos continue to love books. Here is a common scene of Phoenix reading to herself on her bed. I love how she makes up the story based on the pictures that she sees.

Here is Axel reading one of the chapter books that Phoenix picked out. This is a common scene where he is suppose to be going to bed but he gets side tracked and just stands there reading wherever he might be in the house. It is a problem that I love having and hope to never get rid of. It is such a blessing how much they both love books. I tried to capture a picture of his new star wars Lego underwear that he loves. 

Yesterday Rubix turned 10 months. He has so much personality. He is really starting to show interest in more and more things. He can say off, on, mama, dada, brabra, hi. He loves to turn the light switch off and on. He loves to read books. He loves to explore and chew on everything as every other baby also enjoys doing. 

He loves playing on play structures. He climbs the stairs and then slides down the slide over and over again. He loves to swing like Phoenix does.

He loves to ride in toy cars and loves to try to get on any type of bike that he comes across. He gets really frustrated when he can't do something and lets everyone know by screeching or crying. He is eating bananas, blueberries, spinach, beets, carrots, sweet potatoes, apples, and just started the prescription cereal again that is rice based. He loves his milk (neocate and drinks 4 to 5 bottles a day still, between 5 and 7 oz at a time.

We had a fun play date yesterday with Zoe and Jade and a little girl named Lara, who is a daughter of one of daddy's coworkers. We went on a Cub Scout hike this morning and have another birthday party today. I will post pictures next week of that along with Phoenix's 4 year pictures and birthday party. This month is action packed so we are trying to hold on and enjoy the ride.

I leave you with two cute videos of Rubix. One where he is pushing the music table and another where he is dancing and being his cute self. Enjoy!

Axel's Pinewood Derby car, the Auto Show and more

Rubix is becoming more and more verbal. If you look closely at this picture you can see the veins in his neck as he is screaming in delight. He is starting to repeat words like "off, on, bye, hi", etc. it is so much fun to see his little mind grow. 

I pulled out the tunnel for the first time for Rubix. I don't know why I haven't thought of it earlier. He was a little hesitant, but became brave after watching Axel and Phoenix go through. Axel is getting big enough where it is hard for him to fit as easily as he use to.

 Axel and Daddy spent two weeks working on making his Pinewood Derby car. We are lucky to have nice neighbors who let us borrow all of their awesome tools and equipment. Here Axel is using the drill press to make a hole for his weights.

 We had to improvise with goggles since we don't have any proper protective eye wear.

 Axel is sanding his axles for his wheels. He had a lot of fun working on this and learning a new craft, although it was a little stressful overall.

After several hours of work Axel was excited to finally test out his car in the hallway. It was ready just in time to go to the Auto Show in San Jose this past Saturday. The Boy Scouts of America were there with a track for the kids to test the cars and each scout and one parent received free admission into the Auto Show. Daddy had to attend tryouts for the entire morning since he is a manager. Axel decided it was okay if I took him so after he had his tryouts in the dumping rain we headed to the Auto Show.  

We tested out his car a couple of times, but he didn't seem very excited so we decided to head into the Auto Show. Here is a cute picture of Axel in front of one of the cars. I managed to sew a couple of his patches on with the sewing machine. I have learned it takes a lot of patience to sew in circles! I would have never guessed in a million years that Keith would be using power tools and I would be sewing! It is amazing what we do as parents for our children!

 Axel and Phoenix continue to love books. I caught Axel reading to Phoenix before bed a few nights ago. He is such a sweet big brother.

 Rubix has really taken to his lovey Mr. Giraffe. For the past 2 or more weeks he is always hugging or holding onto Giraffe when I feed him in the middle of the night or when I get him in the morning. It is the cutest thing!

 Phoenix really needed new shoes so we went to Westgate mall to get new shoes. She had been  complaining about her shoes hurting her feet. I rummaged through the attic and brought down a pair of Axel's old shoes and made her try them on. She looked at me and said, "I can't wear those." I asked her why and she just said, "I can't!" I laughed. She is such a girly girl. I told her I will buy her a new pair, but that she had to wear Axel's old shoes to the park and in the mud. She agreed. Although I didn't manage to snap a picture of her in her new shoes, I did manage to take a picture of our little detour on her favorite Merry Go Round before we purchased her new pink sparkly sneakers.

 Rubix loves the wagon as much as the other two love the wagon. Here is a cute picture of Phoenix pushing Rubix around the house.

 Rubix also loves bananas. He grunts and crawls up to anyone who opens a banana hoping to get a bite or two for himself. Axel is always kind enough to share his banana.

 Just after my last post before the New Year we all went to the bank to open Rubix's own savings account. We opened his a little earlier than the other two since he received money for his college fund for Christmas. The horse he received was Mike. Now all three kiddos have a Wells Fargo horse and a savings account!

 We have had rain storm after rain storm. It has been really good for our state, but difficult to get use to. This weekend was still busy despite the rain, but we did have a little down time Sunday morning where the kiddos got to play together in the pinball room and Axel got to play in the rain.

 The other two watched from the window. Phoenix thought she wanted to join Axel, but changed her mind when she discovered she was going to get soaking wet.

 Phoenix has made a big leap in her reading interests and is now into chapter books. She loves anything with princes or princesses in it and the Kingdom of Wrenly and Nancy Clancy are right up on her lists of favorite chapter books. We have ready through almost the entire series of the Kingdom of Wrenly over the past couple of weeks. We are looking forward to birthday parties and play dates this weekend as well as Rubix turning 10 months! Check back soon for a Rubix update and Phoenix update as she turns 4 years old! We also want to wish Grandpa Paul a very happy 69th birthday as well!