May was a pretty great month for the Russin Family – West. We started the month with a farewell to Grandpa and Grandma Powers for a month as they headed to Israel. We celebrated Mothers’ day and Tim’s birthday. We completed the final weeks of AWANA, with only the awards ceremony left. As we close on May, we’re looking the end of the school year squarely in the eye, with only one more week.
Cordelia is working on end-of-year events at school. She completed the yearly testing and is preparing for the end of year research presentation. This year’s theme is science and she’s doing the ladybug life cycle for her project. She continues to enjoy baking and making things with modeling clay. She’s doing well in piano and we got her back into swim classes. Cordelia completed all of her AWANA T&T book for the year and enjoyed the end-of-year carnival celebration. Cordelia is very helpful and is attentive to her siblings. Sometimes she goes a bit overboard and we’re working with her to help her understand the limits of her responsibilities.
Anthony’s PE class finished for the semester with fencing. Anthony got promoted to the next level in soccer and is doing a great job in his class. He continues swimming and piano. Anthony took a relaxing end to the AWANA club year and also had a lot of fun at the carnival. Anthony’s school is going great. He completed his end of year testing and is working on a final research project as well. His project is on historic figures and he picked George Washington.
Lydia continues to enjoy school and it’s one of her favorite places to go. She completed her Phonics Book 1 and is working on addition. She’s improving in swimming. Her teacher has been helping her get her feet and arms coordinated for backstroke and she’s going half way across the pool doing it. We decided to stop Lydia’s gymnastics class, so she finished that at the end of the month. Lydia completed her 2nd year in Cubbies and is excited to be moving into Sparks next club year.
Natalie is growing in her capabilities this month. She is climbing up onto the playset, trampoline and gaining physical endurance. She loves bouncing on the trampoline and sliding. She had a little cold during the middle of the month, but thankfully it was mild. Natalie is getting more comfortable in the water and is enjoying swim class. She says “swim class, kick kick kick.” She’s got basic sentences down and is quite adorable.
Alicia was showered with love and appreciation on Mother’s day weekend. We took a fun trip to Legoland and she got lots of cards and was shown love in so many ways. She is planning for all the summer activities for the kdis. It’s been almost a year since she switched to working part time to focus on the kids. While there were some bumps and adjustments, overall it turned out to be a great year. Alicia has really enjoyed the opportunities she’s gotten to spend special times with Anthony. It took a while to get in the groove, but the last few months of the school year have been great. While she’s sad this special time is coming to a close, we’re continuing to make adjustments that will benefit the whole family. Alicia will be transitioning back to doing more hours at work. While she’s not committed to going back full time, she’s planning to be around 75% and in the office for “core hours” three days a week. Alicia has been helping with final end of year preparations for AWANA, although it’s really been a light load relative to previous years.
Tim celebrated his birthday this month. We took a fun hike around Lake Poway. Then he played the new Zelda video game that just came out. Tim’s been continuing the landscaping effort in the front year this month. He completed shoveling the mountain of mulch to spread around the front yard. He completed the irrigation through the yard and gave the front yard a stylish split rail cedar fence. He’s also continuing some projects in the shop. On the work front, there have been some positive accomplishments and he did some lab work to break the monotony. Tim struggled with a cold / sinus infection for the month that is lingering around, but heading into June he’s finally feeling better.
We had a lot of positive family time during May. We also enjoyed our life group bible study, which is now on summer break. We’re starting to connect with some of our neighbors. Alicia’s going to find chances to do playdates with some other moms over the summer. We have a lot of fun things we’re looking forward to in June. The kids will be finishing the school year and then having a week with Grandparent’s Powers. We’re having a weekend visit from our old Au Pair Valeria. Tim and Alicia are taking a belated anniversary trip. Then we’ll be kicking off summer camps and Natalie will be going to Legacy for day care for the first time.
