Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

It is January 2, 2023. It is amazing how the years keep ticking away. We are finishing up on a wonderful holiday break from school with much well needed rest. Here is a picture of our lights when we first put them up. We changed the lights around the pole to color since we decided the yellow white does not look good with the snow/bright white of our icicles. I mentioned that the kids and I put these up before Thanksgiving when Keith was in Japan. We now have to find time in between rain storms to take them down. Hopefully, we can get to that before the end of January!

I also never posted videos or pictures of all of the swim meets that we were apart of, but I came across this picture of Phoenix and Rubix that I thought I should add to this blog. We are gearing up for more USA swim racing starting the last week in January. Phoenix is looking to improving her times to figure out what events she can race in the 10 and under champions in April and which races, if any, she can qualify for Spring J.O. in the beginning of April, before the 10 and under championship. 

The last wee of school brought lots of fun activities for the kids. Here is a picture of Axel and Phoenix with myself as we were waiting for Rubix's 1st grade holiday show. Keith was up talking with parents and socializing. I was so stressed trying to get there on time, I just wanted to sit and calm myself down. 

Rubix looked so nervous up on stage signing. We came to realize, about half way through the show, it looked like he had to use the restroom. He denied it, but could hardly make it home when he stated he really needed to use the bathroom. I felt bad for him, as he appeared to have trouble enjoying himself as his bladder seemed to be a loud disturbance to him during his holiday show. 

The next day we had the swim team party. Rubix entered the "ugly sweater" competition. Because we were so loud he ended up winning the contest. 

I made Axel stand up in the contest as I thought his button up Christmas shirt was great and should count as an ugly sweater. 

Here is a picture of the two winners. Rubix and Quinn. 

Rubix on the last day of school ready to start his winter break!

On Saturday the 17th we had our Christmas gathering with my side. We decided on an Asian cuisine theme. The kids had fun making sushi and then eating it!

The whole family was involved in our sushi making event, except for Gma Susan and Gpa Brian who preferred to stay away from the ciaos :). 

Aya and Rubix did a good job of eating them as Phoenix, Braylin and Axel worked to make them. 

We also had poke poles and dumplings. No one went hungry, from what I could tell. 

It was one of my favorite Christmas meals so far. 

Aya and Rubix were so cute playing together. Here they are measuring their heights and comparing them to each other. 

Phoenix prepared another white elephant game. This holiday she decided to do origami since she had prepared lovely Christmas artwork that she decided to give to her teachers instead of use for the white elephant game. 

The favorite origami would have to be the Christmas Tree and Gma Susan stole it from Aya, but Aya picked another gift to open just to find a box with 2 Christmas trees in side! This picture shows Aya with her two lovely trees and sad Gma with only one! We all had such a great laugh. 

Our attempt at a family photo.

Time to open presents!

The cousins patiently waiting to open gifts!

The girls with their Santa Chair hats on their heads!

A warm goodbye to Gma Susan!

A warm goodbye to Gpa Brian!

The cousins got outside to play before dark and then continued to play a fun made up game inside while we were saying our goodbyes. It was really nice to have the cousins together again just 3 weeks after hanging out for Thanksgiving. I do hope we will be able to get together soon, but we all know how busy school and outdoor activities make us. 

Unfortunately, the next day Rubix came down with a fever. We watched the most amazing world cup and rested a lot. Axel came down with a fever on Monday and Phoenix and Tuesday. I guess Aya and Braylin and Gpa Brian also got sick sometime that week. I felt so bad that we gave everyone the flu. Shannon said that Aya's closest two friends also came down with the flu, so she would have likely picked it up from them, if she didn't get it from Rubix. I guess they missed a few days of school! 

The week before Christmas was a blur for me as I worked all week and then stayed up late preparing for Christmas. A couple of highlights on Sunday after the world cup, were Phoenix's piano recital and Keith and I going Christmas shopping together for one of the first times in years! It is so nice to have Axel old enough to watch the younger two. 

Phoenix and Rubix, worked on one of his gifts. They painted the solar system. We were suppose to download an app to complete the project, but haven't done so quite yet. 

On December 23rd Rubix lost his tooth, just in time to have his 2 front teeth missing!

We took advantage of the weather and had the kids in the water on Christmas eve. We got home just around 430pm and had the kids open their Christmas pj's and shower before attending the 5pm church service online. 

All showered and ready to watch our church service!

Sibling fun!

Getting ready for dinner!

The kids have been loving "Sushi Go". They played while we got "The star" up and running. The Star was a wonderful moving about the story of Christmas. It will be one that we watch again in the future. 

A selfie of Keith and I before putting the Christmas gifts out!

Christmas morning.,,,everyone slept in until 8am. Yes, for nearly two weeks the kids have been sleeping in regularly until 8am. They were sick for a week but even this second week when they are better has turned in to late morning starts. I am so glad that their little bodies are resting. I hope they are ready for school tomorrow!

Pumpkin scones and drinks for everyone! Although, Rubix claims this year that he no longer likes the pumpkin drinks. 

Family selfie!

After opening stockings and eating breakfast we were ready for the main affair. 

Our cute little elf helpers distributed their gifts. They loved everything they received and we are so grateful for this time together

New Year's Eve we had our traditional game night, but we couldn't use our game table because it was covered with a puzzle the kids were working on. We still had fun with the highlight the laughter from Telestrations. 

 On New Year's day we had both a track workout for Axel and his friends and soccer fun with Rubix's friends. Phoenix joined in the sprint workout. Here are a few of Rubix's friends afterwards enjoying a snack. 

Today Phoenix and Rubix finished the puzzle and now we are ready to go back to school! 

Swim meet, Thanksgiving, Swim meet

So much has happened over the last month. It is crazy to think about. Keith spent 12 days in Japan. The kids have done 2 full weekends of swim meets. We had a Friendsgiving, then a Thanksgiving. We decorated for Christmas, went to a birthday party, and more!

Little Grammy has been sending letter to Phoenix and now to all three kids. She then decided to send each of them a book. Here is a picture of them each holding up the book they received. 

Here is our typical Saturday mornings when we are not at a swim meet. We are working on math or homework. Phoenix is all dressed up here, trying to quickly get her work done so she can go to her friend, Nicole's birthday party. 

They made candles at, "Glow", and of course ate pizza and cake.

While Rubix and I picked Phoenix up, Axel made dinner. He was so excited to make chicken tacos and add "yummy" spices like cumin to it. Lets just say Phoenix and Rubix did not enjoy it as much as Axel and I did. 

He also made pumpkin bread. Our Internet totally stopped working so I had to rush over to a neighbors house to use their Internet because I had a patient waiting. It was completely and totally embarrassing, but my neighbor Uzma said, "That's what neighbors are for." I spent the next 4 hours in her son's room, who is off at college working. We brought over pumpkin bread as a thank you and I immediately ordered Comcast Infinity Internet and had it installed the following Monday. We are officially done with AT&T!

You might be wondering where is Keith in all of this. Yes, he is in Japan, but he came home the week before Thanksgiving and brought back gifts, as usual. Here are the boys wearing their new Japanese Soccer jerseys. This happen to be special dress of Red, white and blue for Veteran's day. 

The weekend before Thanksgiving we had a swim meet. The kids all had great races. Phoenix took off 5 to 6 seconds in many of her longer races. Axel PR'd in all of his races and Rubix also shaved off a second or more in his races. The kids had a great time with their friends and team mates. 

I was surprised to see this bloom in my Iris garden bed that I planted this Spring. I discovered it was a double bloomer, according to my patient who gave me all of the Iris bulbs. It is called an Autumn Circus. How beautiful!

On Sunday before Thanksgiving, after a long day of swimming, we had our Friendsgiving. The Ingardias ended up not coming because of getting sick so it was just Tyler, Jade and Zoe and us. it was a very nice evening of good food and company. 

On Thanksgiving we did our best to prepare the turkey. Here is my lovely husband with our bird in the bird cooker. The Jolleys and my mom and Brian all came over for another lovely meal and time together. 

The cousins had so much fun seeing each other and playing and it was really nice to chat with my mom and sister. 

It was Grandpa Brian's birthday so we made sure to sing Happy birthday and get a photo of him with the grandkids. He is one year shy of 70!Crazy!

I asked Keith to take a photo of us girls and I loved this photo of us where we are all laughing up a storm. 

The kids and I were excited to set up Christmas and we had the house decorated the day after Thanksgiving. 

Axel continues to amaze me as he becomes more of a teenager and less of a "kid". 

He helps out and appears to enjoy being a good helper. 

Phoenix and Rubix enjoy helping out, but often arguments get in the way. Daddy even helped for a bit this year, which made decorating even more fun!

I captured this photo as Rubix was playing Monoply by himself and I couldn't get over how cute he was entertaining himself with a game lock Monoply. 

Axel is starting to break through and go for some runs alone. It was cold and wet and dark outside and I told him that it was dangerous for me to go out and ride next to him in the dark without the proper bike lights. Instead we put two head lamps on him so he was visible and could run safely in the neighborhood. I am so proud of him for becoming more independent. 

While Axel went to a buddies house for a sleeper over and the Warrior's game last weekend, Rubix and Phoenix decorated the gingerbread house. They happened to get along brilliantly, as Rubix took his servant role and Phoenix took charge. 

I loved how much fun they had together. 

Phoenix loved designing it and not having anyone, like Axel, add his own ideas. 

The finished product!

Axel received the MVP award for cross country this year, last week during an assembly. He was excited to finally receive this, because he started to wonder if they were going to announce their league championship award. He is a bit stressed about finals next week, but he is feeling more confident after getting in some studying this weekend. We had a crazy weekend of crazy weather. Axel and I went to the morning sessions of the swim meet, as it was for 13 and up. We had a break in the rain and a beautiful rainbow, but lived through hours of heavy rain and then high winds and heavy rain that cancelled the afternoon session foe Phoenix and Rubix on Saturday. The kids had a bit of a rough time with the elements and their races. Axel ended up with the most PR's and finally did the 200 fly. He did great and got a B time for his first time racing it. He is a excited that he now has all BB and B times. Phoenix is frustrated being stuck at BB times and is ready to have a big improvement and get her first JO time soon. Since this weekend did not go as planned the kids are hoping to target another swim meet at the end of January. There is a 2 week break in swim practice and then only 2 weeks of swim practice before their next race. It would be an amazing birthday present for Phoenix if she could crack one JO time, but we will have to wait and see.  

Here is one picture of Keith with coworkers in Japan. 

Here is Axel getting a picture with the Warrior championship trophy and a picture of him sitting courtside at the game!

Yep, seems crazy that his friends of season tickets that are on the court! It was truly an experience of a lifetime. 

We are planning on having Japanese cuisine for our Christmas gathering next weekend. We practiced as a family making sushi and are excited to share our sushi with the Jolleys and mom and Brian. 

The kids, especially Phoenix, wants to make sushi all of the time. We made 8 rolls for the swim meet this weekend. 

So yummy!

Check back with updates on Phoenix's piano recital, Rubix's holiday show and Christmas fun!