We are in full summer weather wise with temperatures reaching the high 80s to 90s for the month. We are very grateful to have our air conditioner this summer! August remained busy on the home front with the last half of the month booked on weekends and Cordelia starting school.
Our Au Pair, Valeria, is making some good connections with other Au Pairs and had several play dates with the kids this month. We are really thankful to have her as part of our family. She continues to be a great fit. We’re glad the kids are getting out and meeting up with other kids their age who also have Au Pairs.
Renovations in the front room and bathroom were completed at the beginning of the month. We’ve spent much of the rest of the month getting things back in order and finishing the last additions. We’re really enjoying the new bathroom arrangement. The new floor and paint make the house look much nicer.
Cordelia’s big event was starting kindergarten this month. She’s gone two weeks and has really been enjoying it. Her reading and writing continues to improve and she’s doing really great at reading short books. Even over the first two weeks we’ve noticed an improvement in her thinking process for how to spell words. Cordelia still was doing dance at the beginning of the month but unfortunately that dance company stopped offering her class at the location. Starting in September Corrie will be starting a dance class through her school instead. Cordelia is also really improving in swimming. She’s able to swim the whole short distance of the pool and is doing some shallow diving to retrieve objects on the bottom. She still needs to work on her back float but she’s swimming mostly independently. Cordelia will be starting her first year of Sparks in AWANA next month and we’re excited to see how God will continue to grow her.
Anthony has still been having some attitude troubles this month. He’s exploring his boundaries and with Cordelia going back to school, it’s a big change in his environment. Hopefully in September he will get used to the new routine and mellow some. It’s a new thing for him being without Corrie and a good chance for him to show his big brother skills. Anthony is doing well in swim class. He still needs help swimming and popping up for air. He did a trial gymnastics class the last week in August. He seemed to really enjoy that, so starting in September he’ll be doing gymnastics once per week while Cordelia is in school. Anthnoy will be starting his first year Cubbies in AWANA, so he’ll be joining Cordelia at the church on Sunday nights with Cordelia.
Lydia is getting more aware and interactive. She’s walking around and doing some babble talking. She can say Mama, Dada, Hi, Hola and some other basic words. She’s learning English and Spanish and responds to both. We are also teaching her to use sign language for “more” instead of screaming at the table and she’s starting to figure it out. She still does not like swim class but over time we’re sure she’ll figure it out.
Alicia’s work took a turn, slowing down. She was planning to work on a new project but there was a change in the project organization and her task was reassigned to someone else. She was able to work on some background tasks she had. At the end of the month she got assigned to a project, so September is going to pick back up. At home, things have been anything but slow. With the home remodel complete there have been lots of late nights putting up curtains, moving furniture, and other things. Alicia celebrated her birthday this month with a few fun events, Tim took Alicia to the horse races for an afternoon out. Tim also made Alicia a fancy cake on her birthday and brought home flowers and a special birthday ribbon. Alicia picked up a big responsibility this month. She’s now the Sparks director for the AWANA club that Cordelia went to last year. So things got very busy and she has been occupied with meetings and organization for the start of the club year.
Tim’s work has been on the slow side this month. While he has gotten to work on a few interesting algorithms and GUIs, overall his projects have been slow. Meanwhile on the home front things have been very busy. Tim finished the last pieces of the renovation by changing all the switches and plugs; staining and installing the transitions; and installing some shelves in the bathroom. In addition, the constant yard maintenance keeps the weekends fully occupied. Tim is taking on extra kids responsibilities while Alicia attends extra AWANA events for her new director role. Tim ran a half-marathon in San Diego from Point Loma to Balboa Park. He’s been recovering the second half of the month and then plans to switch to muscle building and sprinting workouts starting in September. Tim will also be attending our church’s men’s retreat in September.
September is slatted to be another busy month with every weekend already booked. In the midst of all the business we still make a point of spending time together and going on dates. We’re also making sure to spend one-on-one time with the older kids. Though some nights are late and our schedules are pretty filled, we still try to make sure we’re making time for the important things. We pray that God will continue to guide us in the direction he has for our family.
