Videos of Jump Street visit and Axel swimming

During our stay in Arizona this past weekend we went to Jake's jump street gym to watch him do some very entertaining acrobatics. Jake, Keith's only cousin, taught himself by watching others and you tube videos. I was very impressed and wanted to share what Phoenix and Axel were exposed to.

Axel was so excited watching Jake jump that he got brave and tried some tricks of his own :)

Here is a short video of Axel learning free style during one of his swim lessons last week.

Arizona Fun

We have been very busy since I last wrote. I meant to do a post last week, but couldn't manage to find the time. Two weekends ago we had two parties we attended. Axel went to a fun Lego party for his classmate James and then we went to Annika's graduation party. Here Axel is playing one of the games. 

 Axel, James, Claire and Jamison were a team for all three Lego games. I got a group picture of their team as they won "who could build the tallest tower" game. As you can see from this photo Axel grew so well this year he caught up to both Claire and James, who were about an inch or so taller than Axel at the beginning of the year. That is exciting because he is no longer the smallest child in his grade. He is still one of the 5 smallest, but we are no longer keeping track as Axel has learned size doesn't matter. He can do anything he sets his heart on.

 I thought it was funny that James also built the number 6 out of his Legos. James and Axel had a lot more in common than I knew before the party.

 Luckily, James had a play structure in his backyard so Phoenix was well entertained the entire party.

 Here is the birthday group. I like this photo because you can see the wide range of heights in the 6 year old bunch. The three children on the right who are taller are all 8 years old, but the rest are Axel's age except the boy in the glasses who is James' brother who is 7 and the tall cousin in the back.

 It has been two weeks since Phoenix's cast was removed. The morning of her cast removal she decided she was ready to be potty trained. She was extremely motivated because she wanted to go swimming. She is mostly potty trained now and consistently goes number one and two. She struggles with relaxing on the toilet so her bowl movements are lucky to be once a day. She likes to be in control so it has been a challenge to potty train her. She spent a lot of time crying in her crib the first week. The second week has been easier but there are times when she still refuses to go. Luckily, she has Axel's and Daddy's camel bladder and can go hours without going. She is still wearing a diaper during naps and bedtime. She is a very sound sleeper. I am curious as to when we will be able to transition her out of diapers all together. Our first agenda is mastering the day time use of the potty and buying her a big girl bed. Hopefully by the time the big girl bed arrives she will be ready to start holding it at minimum through her nap times.

I love this picture below. Phoenix adores Axel and Axel adores Phoenix. Phoenix has to do everything Axel does, even pretend to sleep like him.

 Axel started swim lessons last week. Here Phoenix is entertaining herself during Axel's lesson.

 Axel is now in youth level 2 class where he is starting to learn free style. He gets the concept of the arms very well. What he really needs to work on is his kick. Once he has his legs to help propel him he will be quite the little swimmer.

 Last Friday morning we headed to Arizona. We had the smoothest trip there. Everything was extremely quick. We arrived at Kendra's more than an hour earlier than we expected. Easton and Axel got along very well. They essentially played Legos the entire time.

 Phoenix was mesmerized by Layla's toys. Here Layla is showing her how Elsa sings.

 Keith and I thoroughly enjoyed spending the day with Kendra, Bronson, Aunt Ginny and Uncle Steve. Kendra is exactly how she has always been. She is the most confident, beautiful disciple of the Lord that I have ever had the privilege of knowing. Her joy of life and the Holy Spirit flow out of her so much you can't help but love life in her presence. Keith and I can't wait to visit again.

 Phoenix and Axel had to much fun they both were fast asleep when we left at 4pm. Phoenix was asleep within the first minute and slept over an hour and a half.

 Axel took about 10 minutes to fall asleep and woke up 10 minutes later when we arrived at our hotel.

 On Friday evening we enjoyed a nice meal with Keith's Aunt June and cousin Jake. On Saturday morning Aunt June, Jake and his girlfriend Sarah joined us at Butterfly wonderland.

 It was an awesome experience to be in an atrium filled with thousands of butterflies. My favorite butterfly is this blue one that Pheeny is looking at.

 Aunt June made a special friend.

 After 10 minutes, or so it seemed, the butterfly that was so intrigued with Aunt June decided to give Daddy's hand a try. Daddy said it felt odd having the butterfly crawl on him, but it was definitely a cool experience.

 I love this picture of the Szolushas!

 On Sunday we went out to breakfast for Father's day. Daddy is getting a kick out of the tie that Axel made for him. On it he said that Daddy was 21 years old and that he had golden hair. Boy, did daddy like to read that!

 How I love my handsome husband. I have been impressed with his growth through the years and how much he loves being a father. He really is an amazing father to our children!

 After breakfast we tried to go for one last swim before checking out of the hotel. Unfortunately, the pool was infested with bees. Because I got stung the day before we decided not to take anymore chances since Keith is allergic to bee stings and we are unsure if Phoenix and Axel are. Instead, we decided to find a park to play at. We lucked out at this small little park. We managed to last nearly 40 minutes before the 100+ degree temperature got to us (this was at 11 am).

 We spent the afternoon at Aunt June's house enjoying more quality time before we headed to the airport. We were super bummed to discover that our flight had been delayed over two hours. To fill the time we strolled through our terminal looking for a yummy treat. Well, the only place that had a yummy treat was McDonald's. Axel and Phoenix had their first McDonald's experience with huge ice cream cones. They both devoured the ice cream cone. We eventually got home just after 11pm. The kids were exhausted as they both stayed awake the entire day (except for Pheeny's 20 minute cat nap in the car on the way to the airport). They were so tired that they slept in until 9 and 10 am. Phoenix then went down for a 3 hour nap just 2 and a half hours after waking! They are finally caught up on sleep 4 days later.

 The big news today is that we are saying goodbye to Rishaan and his family later this evening. I have so many emotions built up I know I am going to need to let it out. I find it funny that I feel so much pain and sadness in my heart for the loss of Axel's best friend for the past 4 years. I can't remember grieving or sadness with the many moves and changes in school that I had through the years, so why I am so worried and said for Axel? I guess I don't want him to feel the sadness so I am projecting the sadness onto myself. Well, with goodbyes always come growth. Only the Lord knows what is to come so I will delight in today!

God Bless!

Axel's last day of school

Last weekend Axel wanted to ride, ride, ride. He rode for over 30 minutes straight without stopping. His skills have improved tremendously. He no longer needs help with starting or stopping even if he is on a slight incline. He can go up and down hills. He can ride in grass and through obstacles that daddy makes up. 

 It is amazing to see how much his confidence has improved and how much fun he is having.

 Phoenix acclimated to her short cast quite quickly. She mastered running, walking, climbing and jumping. Here she is being silly in the swing.

 The past couple of weeks Phoenix has become obsessed with stickers. She sticks hundreds of stickers on paper and when I let her all over herself.

 Axel's last day of kindergarten was this Wednesday, June 10th. It is hard to believe that school year is already over. Axel has matured by leaps and bounds emotionally compared to the beginning of the year. His math and reading have improved as well, but nothing compared to his attitude and perspective on life. He is happy, content and loves to build, play and create.

Phoenix got jealous of me taking pictures of Axel so she joined in to capture a great sibling photo.

 I was able to take a long lunch on Wednesday to attend the end of year "party" where the kids sang to us and received their memory books and summer survival packet.

 It was a tear wrenching song that they sang twice with lots of snacks and treats before and after each performance. Here is Axel being Axel during one of the snack breaks.

 There was also some free time for us parents to take pictures of our kiddos. I absolutely love this picture of Axel and his friends (Liam B. Logan and Liam F.). This captures how comfortable he is with himself. It took him nearly 3/4's of the school year to realize that size doesn't matter and that he can do everything his friends can do and everyone likes him despite his size. I am so very proud of Axel. I want to cry just thinking about it!

 And what a wonderful experience Axel had this year under Mrs. Tolbert's guidance. We were blessed to have a wonderful teacher who was not only a good teacher, but a caring, loving Christian!

I pray and hope we will be as lucky in the future.

Phoenix got her cast off yesterday morning, but I was unable to get any pictures as I was holding and carrying her around most of the day. We managed to go swimming in the afternoon, after her 3 hour marathon nap, which helped her get confidence in moving her left leg. She finally managed to walk around dinner time. Yesterday we also started potty training again. This time she is finally ready. She had one accident while taking her nap, but otherwise was successful. She even held her bladder all night last night! We have been busy running errands and going to the doctor so I have been thoroughly impressed and excited at how easy it is going. She might be as easy as Axel was.......time will tell.

Phoenix walks, climbs and rides! and Axel r ides without training wheel!

On Thursday morning Phoenix and I headed to Jack Fischer Park after dropping Axel off at school. I wanted her to be able to play as much as possible before heading to the doctors. It was perfect timing to get the cast removed because on Memorial Day she started walking and standing on it.

 Here she is smiling away.

 Look at this little climber!

 What a trooper!

Here she is cool and collected on the drive to the doctor. She wasn't so happy at the doctor. I wasn't able to get any photos because I took her alone, but the event was pretty traumatizing. They had to put sound blocking ear muffs on her to keep the sound of the saw from being "too loud and scary". Luckily, all went well and she has a new short cast for the next two weeks. She has 50% healing right now and the cast comes off on June 11th when she has 75% healing. The doctor says she will be at risk for re injury for 2 weeks after the cast comes off and that we have to be super diligent about not letting her jump or twist. We will see how that goes. By the grace of God nothing bad will happen!

 On Friday night we had my best bud from high school over for dinner. Tiffany and family were in town for a wedding. They just bought a house in Seattle where they relocated a few months ago. Axel and Avery had a blast playing together. We hope to visit them some time this year and check out there new amazing 6 bedroom home!

 Here is our little one walking now.

And here she is riding her bike....

And kicking the ball....

 And being silly with daddy.

 The big news of the weekend is that Axel can ride his bike without training wheels. We took him to Marshall Lane and within 2 pedal strokes I let go and he was riding. It was as easy as potty training for him. The great thing with Axel is when he is ready and decides to do something he does it very quickly. Keith and I are so proud of him. He even tried to ride home without the training wheels on. He is still figuring out how to start on his own and brake without dragging his feet. We hope within a week or so he is proficient at all components of riding his bike so that we can start doing family bike rides!

After bike riding we headed over to the Zimmermans pool. Since they are out of town Axel and Rishaan had a blast swimming. Axel has improved since last summer without any lessons so we are really excited to see how much he improves when swim lessons start in a couple of weeks after school ends. Axel has mentioned wanting to join the swim team. We told him if he can learn free style that he is more than welcome to try swim team next year. We are excited to see what the next year unfolds. It is hard to believe summer is almost here!

First Baseball Season Complete

We had quite an eventful weekend last weekend. It started with the mom's softball game on Friday night. I had so much fun playing in it. It made me want to play more often. The only bummer part is that I am not in sprinting shape and my legs have not been very happy ever since. Anytime I do a quick movement my quads want to seize up on me. 

Saturday morning Axel had his first game of the day. Here is my handsome young man playing right field, one of his favorite positions (besides catcher). 

Here he is batting. His form is much improved since the beginning of the year.

He has been connecting almost every time within the first one or two pitches. It doesn't go very far, but he consistently gets a hit, which is better than being inconsistent!

The sun came out just as we were finishing our first game. Here is most of the team and the coaches.

We had a wonderful visit from Auntie Shannon, Uncle Ryan and Braylin. They arrived during Axel's first game and then came over for an hour of playtime. I did not manage to take very many pictures, but the one picture I did manage to capture is super cute. Here is little Braylin pushing Pheeny around in her wagon. So cute!

Auntie and family headed home for lunch and Braylin's nap time. Axel was excited to have a couple more hours of playtime before he had to head back to the field.

Before Axel's second game was the Red Sox home run derby. Axel was really swinging hard and getting his body into it. Keith and I are so impressed with how much Axel has improved with his attitude. To see him try and have fun has been quite the accomplishment this season.

After Axel's second game Keith played in the coaches softball game. He pitched and was having a great game until the last inning when he sprinted to second base. His hamstring gave out and he dove face first into second base. I felt really bad about not getting any pictures, but I was busy trying to get the kids fed since it was dinner time. Axel enjoyed a cheese burger from the Snack Shack. After we got home daddy was down for the count. While he iced he read Axel a book.

The next day was Axel's end of the season party. The kids received their trophies, Tshirts and year books. Can you believe they do year books for baseball? The kids enjoyed swimming, popcorn and cake.

After they received their trophies the kids got to push the dads and coaches into the swimming pool. They had so much fun pushing the dads into the water.

Every child had the chance to push in each of the dads and coaches. Here Axel is pushing in Coach Keith/ daddy!

Axel swam like a champ regardless of the cold weather. According to Keith the water was warm. Most of us moms couldn't even think about taking off our jackets and long pants although a couple of brave moms managed to go for a swim.

Here Axel is playing football with a few of his teammates. The transformation of Axel's attitude, confidence and general desire to do things has been unbelievable. Praise the Lord for allowing everything to fall into place with the last minute registration and the amazing group of boys and parents we had for Axel's first team sport experience.

On Tuesday evening the kids and I attended Annika's graduation from middle college. She spent two of her high school years at the community college taking classes. She is officially done with middle college and high school and will be entering one of the top nursing programs in Oregon next year. It was definitely bitter sweet watching her graduate. It is hard to believe 5 years has gone by and that she is a young adult starting the next chapter of her life. We hope and pray that we will be able to find another trustworthy babysitter that truly loves our kids.

I threw this last picture in here because Phoenix wanted to build a big train track yesterday for the first time. Up until now she only wanted to build a little track that she can sit and and push the trains around. She now appreciates the coolness factor of having the trains go around a bigger more intricate track. It brought back so many wonderful memories with Axel. We hope to have a low key Memorial Day weekend. Axel and I have been fighting a bad cold all week. Check back next week because if all goes well, I will have pictures of Phoenix and her new shorter cast!