We’re in the full swing of the school year now. We have been having busy days and full weeks keeping us very active. We met with two contractors for our home renovations. We’ve signed with one of them and have started the process of reviewing our plans with the architect so we can get drawings submitted. Hopefully it will be a smooth process to get the drawings done and get the permit process started. The kids had a camp out weekend in the backyard and went to a Jana Alayra concert with Tim, Grandpa, and Grandma.
Cordelia is doing well in school and is enjoying her supplemental teaching videos for math and science. She’s also enjoying AWANA and continues to have good friendships there. Cordelia is continuing to improve in her piano and ice skating. She participated in her second skating competition in October and got 2nd out of 4 skaters for the solo basic 5 level. It was exciting to see how much she’s improved from her first performance in July. Additionally, she’s joined a partner and ensemble class to try out synchronized skating. The team is a new addition to her ice skating rink and it’s fun to see it take shape. The team will be performing at her rink’s Christmas show. She’s also doing a duet with one of her friends for the Christmas show.
Anthony is doing well in school and has been building in his self-control during circle time. He is still struggling during choir and music time, but overall he’s doing well at school. Anthony is getting a good feel for T&T (AWANA) now and enjoys being with his friends in his small group. Anthony’s soccer team continues to struggle but they did win one game and tie another. However, Anthony is playing his best soccer and his efforts have been recognized by his coach. He was personally invited by his coach to join a special “Super league” that his soccer park is starting. It’s an-invitation only league as part of their new football club for the club’s high performing and most promising athletes. That will be starting in December after the current session is over. He also is continuing to improve in his piano skills.
Lydia just finished her main handbook in Sparks. She’ll be doing the review book for November and December. She has a nice group with some friends from last year and seems to be enjoying it so far. At school Lydia is doing well. She has made several good friends and is doing well with all her works. She also is doing well at getting her homework done too. Lydia is continuing to improve in piano, working through the final book of the introduction series. Lydia has been enjoying her tumbling class. In swimming, we reassigned her to a new teacher that we know is going to help her with proper technique and give her the best instruction. She’s still refining her current three strokes before adding butterfly.
Natalie continues to do well in her Primary classroom. She’s recognizing some letters sounds and also can recognize numbers 1 through 4. Tim has also been working with her on learning to read. She’s having a fun time and is doing great with her verses for Cubbies. Natalie continues in swimming and her new instructor is pushing her to be more independent with her swimming. She’s making great progress at rolling on and off her back. Natalie continues to enjoy her soccer class.
Alicia is continuing to make progress on one of her projects. She’s still on track, pushing it to finish before Thanksgiving. Her other projects are progressing more slowly but still moving forward. When not at work she’s helping the kids with homework or going to the various sports activities. AWANA has started settling down a little bit at the end of the second month. There’s been a fair share of long days and late nights keeping on top of everything.
Tim’s work has a lot of deadlines for a number of different programs coming due in November and December, so things have remained chaotic. He’s doing his best to keep up, but is being stretched pretty thin. Tim is continuing his training for another half marathon in mid-December and continues to see a good improvement in his stamina and speed. On the home front, Tim’s been working on installing some cabinets in the shop and laundry room. The boxes are done; he just has the finish carpentry (i.e., the hard part) to go. We also painted another two walls of the laundry room yellow and are starting to plan for how to finish the rest of the pantry area. He’s continuing to serve with Alicia at AWANA, and has been teaching the large group lessons. Tim is continuing to lead Cordelia and Anthony in a small devotional study through their T&T books on Thursday nights.
October continued to be busy month and things seemed to be going poorly in the middle of the month. Fortunately, things have improved a little towards the end of the month. We’re hoping that Tim’s work improves and things at AWANA settle into a good routine. We’re looking forward to getting the plans drawn up this month for the home improvements. We’re also praying for wisdom on the school decision for next school year. It seems crazy to be planning already when the current school year is only just begun but all of the private schools are having their open house events in Nov, so it’s time to start evaluating.
