June was a busy month! Lots of changes, transitions, and celebrations. The older two kids finished the school year and our Au Pair completed her year. Alicia transitioned to part time work, working from home to be with the kids. We made some slow progress on the yard, finished up the AWANA club year and managed to squeeze in a piano recital for the kids to round out the month.
Cordelia was happy to finish the school year but also a bit sad. Some of her friends will not be returning to the school next year. In addition, her main teacher is also leaving the school. At AWANA Cordelia finished her 3rd year in Sparks and earned female Clubber of the Year. She’s enjoying the first weeks of summer break. She did a basketball camp and had a fun time learning some new things. She’s also really enjoying her ice skating class and is doing well in the beginners class. She continues to improve in her piano and swimming. In July her ice skating class will be taking a break and she’ll be doing a short summer basketball league.
Anthony enjoyed his last weeks of school too. He officially graduated from Kindergarten! He also got a mini bonus trip with Alicia’s parents. He’s been adjusting to being at home. He got to join Cordelia during a public ice skate session and had fun. He also continues in his piano and swimming. He finished off the month with his week of “Camp Grandma.” In July he’ll be starting soccer once a week.
Lydia finally got over her nasty cold, but she did get a small mini one in the middle of the month. She enjoyed her week of “camp Grandma” doing her second year of zoo camp. For the last two weeks of the month Lydia has been going to summer school and she’s been loving it. Lydia has been improving in her swimming too. She will also be starting soccer in July. She has also been working on learning to read, and has mastered a few sounds and reading some simple sentences.
Natalie is crawling super fast and continues pulling herself up. She’s only flirted with the concept of cruising, but she’s still getting around. She’s had several more falls this month as she tries to be more adventurous. At the end of the month she did learn to navigate our one step down to the sunken living room. In general Natalie is a happy baby but she really has a picky appetite. She doesn’t like to drink a lot of milk, but she’s very interested in eating “real food.” Natalie has been handling getting toted around fairly well and seems pretty ok with the car seat.
Alicia’s transition to working from home part time has gone pretty well thanks to some help from Aunt Kelly. It’s been an adjustment trying to work part time. The trickiest part is handling various meeting times while the kids are awake but she’s making it work. With Aunt Kelly coming twice a week Alicia has been able to get in more than 20 hours each of the two weeks working from home. Her AWANA duties have completed for the summer. In the midst of juggling work and kids, Alicia has started to prepare for homeschooling Anthony in First grade next school year. Alicia has enjoyed the opportunity to be around for the kids more. Having the lighter work commitments has allowed her to squeeze in a few more things during the day. She’s looking forward to being able to watch the kids extra curricular activities.
Tim’s new job is still not going very smoothly. He’s been struggling with the transition, feeling like he’s not doing valuable and relevant work, which is compounded by the fact that his old company is trying to convince him to come back. He’s still trying to figure out what the right path is. He’s been working on the yard; he spent a few days sifting gravel in the front yard and tilling soil preparing our flower beds; we finally replanted our yuccas in the front bed and are preparing to hook up irrigation and plant some more ornamental plants. He’s also training for a half marathon that’ll happen in November; working up to it slowly (so hopefully no injuries!).
We’ll start off July by co-hosting the monthly neighborhood block party (the Pink Flamingos). We’re looking forward to the fireworks, and the week after we’ll have a family trip with the Powers clan to Palm Springs. Lydia will turn 4, and we’ll keep working on getting the landscaping in the front yard put together. Please pray for us as Tim’s struggling with the age old question best stated by the Clash (shorturl.at/jopxG), while at the same time Alicia is juggling work and kids and curriculum prep, and the kids are still adjusting to Maria’s absence and mom’s presence. We’re sure that things will eventually settle, but they still feel a bit chaotic 🙂
