May has been surprisingly cold and wet this year. We have still been able to get out it and keep busy this month! We celebrated Mother’s day and took a trip to Tucson for Tim’s birthday. Our garden has really been enjoying the cold wet weather with lots of lettuce, spinach, chard and peas growing. We also have pumpkins and cantaloupe growing.
Valeria continues to be a great part of our family. The kids really enjoy being with her and she’s getting them out to regular activities to the library, parks, and indoor play area (due to cold/wet weather). She’s also getting out more on the weekends and making friends with other Au Paris. She took an ESL class in April and May, which was a good opportunity for her to work on her English and meet more people.
Cordelia completed her AWANA Cubbies book this month. She will be participating in the awards ceremony. She was able to share about church and Jesus with our neighbor and we are proud of her for taking that step. She is becoming very enthusiastic about reading and is getting good at reading some basic sentences. Corrie is also getting good at swimming and enjoys going to swim class. In June she is starting a ballet tap combo class and she is very excited about that!
Anthony is still struggling with bed time, getting out of is room several times every night. We’ve decided to have him stay at home with Valeria and Lydia in the fall when Cordelia goes back to school. He is also doing good in swim class and starting to do some swimming on his own over a short distance.
Lydia is starting to turn some baby babble into word sounds. She says “uh-oh” and is starting to understand when she should say it. She also makes an “m” sound when she wants more food. She is getting more confident in her cruising and starting to get interested in walking, though no solo steps yet. She’s working on her top two teeth. They have not broken through yet but are really bulging at the gum line. That led to an unhappy baby in the middle of the month but she’s done better in the last week.
Now that Strider is a year old he is starting to mellow out. While he still has lots of energy, he has not been chewing on quite so much stuff. He also is doing a better job of obeying and staying with us. We don’t have to worry about him escaping to the front yard quite as much.
Alicia was planning on going to the church’s women’s retreat at the beginning of the month but instead had to work that weekend. She was able to help the team get the project completed and packaged up. Since that project is completed, things have been much calmer and things have mellowed down. It’s nice to have things less stressful at work. Family life has been a little crazy this month with so many things going on. Between work and family trips it has been hard to feel organized. Alicia was blessed on Mother’s day morning with a breakfast in bed. With the holiday Monday at the end of the month Alicia was able to catch up on several things.
Tim’s work has been focused on his other project this month. This has been a challenge for him since the work is not as interesting. While he’s keeping engaged with research and background studying, it’s not the type of work he finds engaging and fun. Tim is continuing his training for a half-marathon, which he will run in August. Tim’s birthday was not a big even but he did enjoy spending the weekend before with his family in Tucson. Tim was able to get some yard work done at the end of the month, including putting in the fire ring for our outdoor camping fire pit.
With lots of activities and work stresses, this month has been a bit more challenging for our family. As we enter into June and summer we have lots of new activities planned. Lydia will be starting swim class with Tim. Cordelia will be starting dance class. Cordelia is “graduating” pre-school and starting in the middle of the month Cordelia and Anthony will stop going to preschool and be at home full time.
