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!

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!