PHOENIX LOSES HER FIRST TOOTH!

The kids and I needed a behavior improvement plan by the time summer ended. They filled up our gratitude container with 300 pompoms for all of the manners and acts of kindness over the first month of school. The reward they chose was a Pokemon party. They ate popcorn, had ice cream, watched the Pokemon movie and played Pokeman with Joel and Tyler from swim team. Everyone had fun, including Rubix. 

 Rubix has been skipping naps often when he is home with me. I would say he usually only takes one nap now, over the three days I am home (Friday through Sunday). Here he is trying to compromise with me one day when I really needed to get some work done. I checked on him and he was "sleeping on the couch". That is exactly what he is telling me in this picture, "I am sleeping mommy."

 On Oct 6th, Harker had their annual Picnic. The kids all had a blast. Axel primarily hung out with Beibei and his other friends and was on his own for the most part. Phoenix found her good friend Ashley and hung out with her the entire time. Rubix and I started out with Ashley and Phoenix, but ended up going off on our own. Rubix loved the pony ride.

 I couldn't tell if Phoenix enjoyed the pony ride, but she really wanted to go. She almost looks too big.

 The theme this year was Candy Land. Here Ashley and Phoenix are making crowns.

 Here they are after getting their faces painted.

 I asked both Phoenix and Axel if they wanted to go on the bumper cars with Rubix. They both said no, so Rubix and I went a couple of times. Here he is steering/ driving. I pushed the gas and brake because he wasn't tall enough to reach, but he did great reaching the steering wheel and having us avoid bumping into others.

 Axel ended the picnic with a little concert. Yes, he is playing his flute again since he didn't make the dance team. He is taking lessons with Mr. Hoffman, the director, which I think I mentioned last time, but I am not 100% sure. He is also starting to learn how to play the drums. We will see how that goes. As you can tell, it was really hot out and the young musicians were melting. Harker was nice enough to give each student their own umbrella hat. What a hit they were!

 Phoenix, Rubix and I made it through the first 2 songs before they needed a break from the heat. We went inside the gym while Axel finished his mini concert. Here you can see Rubix making one of many shots. He is such a natural! Look at his form. Lets just say, Phoenix hasn't found the passion for working on form and technique so she just threw the ball as hard as she could and only made a couple of baskets total. Rubix made at least a dozen shots. I was really impressed!

 Here is one that Phoenix did make, but it was in Rubix's basket :) Both of these Rubix "swished" in.

 Rubix and I still go to the library every Friday. He loves walking on the letters and learning the alphabet. He likes it when I say, "A is for Ashley's absolutely, amazing, awesome, apples!" Or whatever, A words I can think of for the day.

 And the big event......Last night, on October 18th, when I asked Phoenix to brush her teeth after she showered she yelled for me and said, "My tooth fell out." Yes, her tooth sure did fall out. I took a picture and then took it off her tongue and placed it in a baggie. She was so excited she had trouble going to sleep. I was busy with Rubix as he was sick and had thrown up everywhere an hour before, I didn't get a chance to brush her hair.

 Here is Phoenix still excited with her wet hair, now dry and still not brushed. The tooth fairy left her a cute little box with a receipt, money and a tooth report. Grandma Susan made one for her and Braylin and it looks like both girls love them! Phoenix's other bottom tooth is also loose so we are giving it a couple of weeks before it comes out.

 Today was Saif's 7th birthday party in the park. Phoenix was her fun self as always. This picture captures her grumpiness when she is not getting her way.

 And another photo of, I guess I will try to smile.

 Axel, Phoenix and the birthday boy!

 Here is excited Rubix after his nap enjoying the bounce slides. I wouldn't let him go on it for the first few hours because he was throwing up the night before and I really didn't want to get anyone sick. He cried so much and he looked much better after his nap. I washed his hands and face as thoroughly as I could and then let him have at it. He came up to me after going up and down the slide a few times and said, "I am so happy, I am having so much fun!". I love how he always tells me exactly what he is feeling. He is such a sweet boy!

 Axel and Phoenix played for 6 hours straight. It was fun to see Axel having so much fun being the older kid.

Axel got invited to the Harker open house to show off his computer science project tomorrow morning. He is really excited to be there with his partner, Pascal, and favorite teacher, Mr. Chung. Axel is also getting excited for his upcoming 5th grade trip to the Marin Headlands in a couple of weeks.

Keith is working hard to prepare for his next Asia tour coming up this Friday. We are trying to prepare for birthday and Holiday season. Keith will be very missed during Halloween, but the kids are so busy with activities that the 15 days will fly by.

I hope to post within a week after Halloween so check back soon!

September 2019 come and gone.

Over Labor Day weekend we went to Aunties house and had the pleasure of visiting with my Grandma, the kids great grandmother Avon. We also got to visit with my Aunt Cindie, Uncle Terry, Uncle Barry and Aunt Cora. It was a wonderful day of cousin fun and catching up with the Burgess side. 

 Here is a cute picture of Auntie reading to Rubix.

 The kids enjoyed a quick swim in Auntie's pool. I love this picture of Rubix diving and swimming to Daddy.

 Here is a picture of all of the kids and the dads in the pool. Us moms folded laundry and enjoyed the 20 minutes to chat.

 After swimming the kids had fun drawing with chalk. I love how Aya and Rubix are starting to play together.

 Later in the day after showers we had more fun family time.

 Auntie prepared a yummy dinner and then afterwards we walked to a frozen yogurt place.

 I sure loved time with my cousins growing up. I sure hope the Szolushas will have fond memories of times spend with their cousins.

 Next year Aya should be old enough to walk and join the others.

 We have spent a lot of time at parks this summer and on Saturday mornings. The kids love riding and Rubix is slowly mastering the scooter and pedal bike along with his push bike.

 We had back to school night for Axel and Phoenix the 2nd week in September. We really like Phoenix's teachers. She should have a really good year. Axel has a good language arts teacher this year. Here is one of his projects that he did on one of the many books that he read over the summer.

Here is one of Phoenix's projects that was put up for parents night. It says, I am cool, smart, a girl, silly, fast, nice and BFF with Kyla. 

 Axel ran for student counsel class rep and WON! He was so excited. He loves being one of 10 students who gets to help improve the school and be the voice of the students. He is constantly throwing out different ideas to us that he can present to one of his meetings. I am so happy for him!

 Rubix is definitely a Szolusha. All of our kids have learned to love Legos and building.

 Here is his creation before bed. An airplane with jet engines.

 Harker has its annual picnic coming up. This year it is candy land. Last Thursday the kids had their in class picnic parties and Axel had the privilege of making a gingerbread house. Phoenix made a candy necklace. Phoenix also had another party called a friendship party last week as well. She had the privilege of making a quilt for a child at the Ronald McDonald house. She was really proud of her classes creation. I don't have any pictures because I wasn't able to attend, but I love how the kids are learning to do acts of kindness to others.

 I caught Phoenix using Rubix's Duplo Lego car bottoms as roller skates. It brought back so many fun memories of my sister and I roller skating. I would love for her to be able to roller skate some day. Hopefully, she will get to have this experience.

 Last weekend, Rubix had his first official pay date. He rode bikes with Daniel and then pushed him in the swing. Daniel is little like Axel was little. It is cute to see Rubix in his gentle giant roll towards little Daniel. His other friend, Owen, had something come up last minute and wasn't able to make it, but hopefully he will have more play dates in the near future.

 The big news is that Axel started playing the flute again after not making the competitive dance team. Mr. Hoffman the music chair really wanted him to join and said that he will teach him. He is also going to teach Axel the drums. He came home really excited after his first lesson and practiced! So I guess the drums are way more fun for him because Axel has never willingly practiced his flute! I am just glad he decided to continue with the jazz band. He also started specialty dance so that he has a better chance of making the dance team next year. His Harker swim season is almost over. He has one more mini meet next week and then he will be dancing twice a week instead of swimming twice a week. He is loving being a 5th grader and just finished his acting and vocal try outs of the 5th grade play. He is anxiously waiting to see what role he gets in "The Emperor's New Clothes."

This Friday the Y had another family fun night. Rubix and Phoenix spent over an hour going up and down the obstacle course inflatable slide. Rubix was initially scared but Phoenix was a wonderful older sister and helped him the first couple of times.

 What a fun time for the kiddos. Axel saw a couple of his swim friends and hung out with them.

It is hard to believe we are about to start October. I always get a bit nervous this time of year because once the holidays hit the year flies by in a flash. I have been spending every extra waking minute studying for a big exam that I am taking the beginning of March. I am also working 4 days a week and going in on some Fridays for meetings. I haven't even completed 2018 scrap book let alone started 2019 scrap book. I am feeling overwhelmed as new doors open at work and as I become apart of the Kaiser Residency program. I just got my schedule and the residents I am with for the first half of 2020. I will also have full time Wash U student all of May and June which will be a difficult 8 weeks as I will work 40 hours with a student plus try to mentor the resident 4 hours a week. It might be a rough transition as I work on my career over the next couple of years, but this is such a blessing. I do want to keep up the blog as much as I can, but it might be monthly posts until March 6th.

New bike, Rishaan and Nishka sleepover, 1st day of 1st and 5th Grade and more!

Phoenix has been riding her 16 inch bike for the past couple of years and managing to ride to school and summer camp with Daddy and Axel. With the longer ride of 25 minutes to summer camp we decided that she just needed a bigger bike with gears. We tried out Axel's 24 inch bike and she could ride it, but it was just a little too big. We decided to take the plunge and get the 20 inch, 7 speed bike. We got a steal of a deal at L.L. Bean. Yes, we bought a bike from L.L.Bean, but where else could we get 40% off and use a gift card and walk away with a new bike for 85 dollars?!

 Daddy put it together and I got to test ride it around the house at 10 pm at night. I had a lot of fun riding it.

 Great thing is Phoenix loves, loves her bike. It took her a total of 2 tries and a solid hour at Jack Fischer park to master the hand brakes, starting, stopping, shifting and tackling the up and down hill. she is extremely comfortable on her bike now. I love how much she loves to ride and how good and confident she is at it.

 Rishaan and Nishka spent the night a couple of weeks ago. Axel and Rishaan are very similar still. They are both book worms and enjoy computer games. I was amused that despite not seeing each other in a year they chose to read next to each other for an hour rather than play. Although Nishka and Phoenix were only 2 years old when they last were neighbors they got along splendidly. It was almost as if they had been friends as long as Rishaan and Axel. Saif and Zain also came out to the park to play with their old neighbors.

 After Hema and Mahesh left we took the kids to the pool.

 We enjoyed an hour of the pool just to ourselves. It was a nice treat.

 Afterwards they watched a movie while Keith and I prepared dinner.

 I made these great kabobs that Keith grilled up, but the kids wanted macaroni and cheese. Oh well, Keith and I, and Grandma Susan (when she came the next day) enjoyed the chicken and pineapple kabobs.

 Grandma Susan came Sunday to watch the kids while I worked and then was kind enough to watch the kids at night for Keith and I to go to Wicked to celebrate our anniversary.

 It was a fantastic show and we had such a great time. I was sad to drive Grandma to the train station on Thursday, but we were so happy for all of her help and the date night!

 Phoenix's sunflower finally bloomed the week before school. Here it is on the first full day it opened.

 Last Saturday we had 3 swim team families over. We had 9 children in the house. 6 boys and 3 girls. It was quite the fun filled night.

 The day before school started I made sure to get a picture of the sunflower to show Phoenix's Kindergarten teacher who gave her the seeds on the last day of school. Mrs. Sandoval was surprised at how big it was. We are all really proud of Phoenix for taking care of the sunflower and for Axel and Rubix for helping.

 Another picture of Phoenix riding her bike after she had showered for the night. The girl loves to ride.

 Wednesday, August 28th was the first day of school for the 2019/20 school year. Axel now has a backpack that can fit his big binder, his chrome book and his swim/ gym clothes.

 Axel's new locker is upstairs above the gym.

 His homeroom is in the locker room.

 Welcome to 5th grade Axel!

 To his surprise his best buddy Lucas is in his homeroom, along with Shamik and Selena who are also good friends. Unfortunately, he is not with any of his friends for the rest of the day, but by having homeroom together they get to be together during field trips. They have another 3 day field trip so that will be fun to be able to be with "Lukie" for the 3 day trip to the Marine Headlands and his other two day trips.

 Phoenix lucked out and got the small classroom. I love her homeroom teacher, Mrs. Wallace. She has been teaching at Harker for 15 years and is an alum herself.

 Phoenix only has 15 kids in her homeroom. She makes a huge jump this year as she now has science, social studies, Spanish, handwriting, character development, and creative writing in her curriculum, along with her other "specials" from last year, which are music, art, P.E. and library. The other big change by having a full on 9 period of "real" classes is 2 periods of language arts. The nightly homework with 2 nights of math and 2 nights of language arts is also a big jump from last year. Luckily, she had vocabulary and weekly language arts that she had to do last year so it won't be as difficult as other children who did not have any homework last year. She hasn't met her math or language art teachers yet. They spend the first week (3 days of school) strictly with the homeroom teacher to make sure they all bond and get to know each other.

In other news, Axel's spacers came in so he now wears his upper and lower spacers at night as he no longer needs the head gear. Rubix finally became interested in the pedal bike and started riding it this week. I actually took the training wheels off today and he rode a bit by himself, but he wasn't very happy about me letting go. He cried quite a bit when he realized that he did it by himself. He wasn't emotionally ready today, but I do hope he will be soon. I have to admit the early mastery of swimming and riding the bike makes my life easier :)

We are looking forward to a visit with Great Grandma Burgess, Great Aunt Cindie and Uncle Terry, along with the Jolley's this weekend. Until next time.... God Bless!