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!  

Mellow Days

Unfortunately, the Szolusha household has been going through yet another sick spell. The kids and Keith had sore throats, coughing, running noses, diarrhea (Phoenix), vomiting (Axel), dizziness and headaches (Keith) for the past week or so. Daddy is mostly better after missing two days of work last week. Axel is also mostly better. He had red dots around his face so we are thinking he might have had hand foot mouth disease again since it was going around school. Phoenix is the only one that is still sick with lots of congestion. I am thinking about taking her to the doctor to make sure she doesn't have an infection since it has been over a week now. 

With sickness comes rest. I have been taking advantage of early bedtimes by trying to get more rest myself since I have been feeling run down. During the day we have been enjoying fun play in the house and outside at the park. Phoenix is starting to get into playing dress up. Here she is saying "cheese" because she saw me get the phone out.

 Axel loves school and has been bringing home tons of papers. Our kitchen wall is almost entirely covered. This picture was taken a couple of weeks ago. It has some of his school work.

 Axel is continuing to work on his reading. It is getting better now that we have been consistently reading again the past 2 weeks. We took quite a long hiatus from him reading. He was a bit burned out from all of the reading we did this summer with the Magic Tree House series. Luckily, he takes school very seriously and understands that we have to read for 20 minutes a day and we take turns reading to each other on alternate days.

Another funny thing that Axel has started in the past couple of weeks is sleeping in his underwear. First it was a tshirt and underwear, but a few days ago he said he likes to have the sheet and blanket on his skin with just his underwear on. He said this helps prevent him from over heating.

Here is a cute picture of daddy and Phoenix watching part of a football game. Phoenix is such a sweet and loving girl. It melts my heart when I hear her say "Daddy", "Louis" and "Axel".

 Phoenix continues to grow in every way. She has become tall enough that she can pedal Axel's old 12 inch bike. She just started this a couple of days ago. She needs some help with momentum because she is not strong enough and her feet keep slipping off, but I would think she will be independently riding the bike in a month or so.I will capture it on video as soon as I don't have to help her anymore :)

 Phoenix is also wanting to do what all of the big kids do. Since Axel has been more physically active and wanting to play outside with his friends more, Phoenix is exposed to baseball, soccer, kickball and frisbee. When we got home today from dropping Axel off at school she said "I hit", so we went in the front yard and hit some balls.

 She is still loving to be girly and now loves to have her hair done. She typically will say "hair", "pretty" or "I pretty" and points to her hair if she wants to have her hair up.

We have a mellow weekend with some fun family time planned. We are all looking forward to the change of seasons that is upon us. It is hard to believe we are approaching the last quarter of another year.

Happy Autumn to all!

Mr. Caboose

Last week Axel and his classmates were invited to say the pledge of allegiance and sing the school song in the school office over the intercom. Axel was very excited. 

Axed and his classmates patiently waiting. Axel was the line leader for the first week of school and the caboose the second week of school. He has been loving the jobs. The caboose is extra special and has the responsibility of turning off the classroom lights and shutting the door.

Here is the video of Axel and his class singing their school song.

Axel and his classmates saying the pledge of allegiance. 

 On Friday, we played and played after school. First we played with the twins and on our way home we saw Rishaan and his family in the park so we played for another hour. Phoenix entertained herself in the Reddy's wagon, while Axel and Rishaan played in the sand.

 Our sand castle!

 The boys had fun pulling the girls home after playtime.

 Axel and Phoenix can be very sweet to each other. They often give each other hugs and kisses. Here is Phoenix saying good night to Axel. So cute!!!!

I caught Axel being ultra creative again. He said "Mommy come look what I spelled my name with!" Love it!

 Here is his gingerbread man that he started at school, turned into a super hero. Cape and all!

 I forgot to mention that Axel wanted to build a fort a few weeks back and I just didn't want the pinball room to be out of commission again with the huge play fort. I decided instead that this would be a great idea and luckily he loves it! It has already been a month that he has had this up.

 On Sunday Axel, Phoenix and I had some fun park time. Axel rode his bike, Phoenix enjoyed the swing and they both enjoyed this puddle.

 I thought it was really funny that they wanted to splash in this puddle rather than play in the water structure.

 On Monday, Labor Day, the kids and I baked up a storm. I need to get through all of the gluten free flours that I use to bake with. We then gave some to the Zimmerman's and then our new neighbors the Spannagels (with the twins Cohen and Chloe and their brother Henry). They have a swing in their backyard the Phoenix had a blast on.

 She is growing up so quickly and becoming more and more coordinated.

We ended up staying for dinner and then headed home to get ready for the school week. Phoenix is talking up a storm. I really need to record her. Axel is starting to read up a storm as well. I finally took a video of him reading, but the other two videos took so long to down load I will have to wait until a future post to download. For now I need to get ready to pick up Axel and head to the park for some afternoon fun!