September has settled a little into the school routine but things remain busy. The kids are starting to figure out the new school routine. Overall we’ve been happy with how the school is functioning and supporting parent requests. AWANA also started this month, so we’re getting back into the routine of doing our nightly verse memorization. Natalie had a fun family celebration with Mimi and Papa visiting.
Cordelia has had a big transition going into middle school. Last year she was able to cruise through the school year. Now she’s having to figure out how to handle homework from lots of different classes and navigate a new school social environment. Lots of changes! She’s doing well in her classes and has some favorites. She is playing volleyball team at school and has had two games at the end of the month. They lost both games but the team is showing good team spirit and encouraging each other. Cordelia has not gotten to the ice rink since school started. We may be transitioning away from skating. Cordelia is still playing the piano and has chosen clarinet for 6th grade band. With her years of experience on the recorder, she was able to pick up the clarinet pretty quickly. Her band is practicing for their Christmas musical.
Anthony is starting to settle into the routine of the more traditional school environment and is making some friends. We worked with his teacher to get the level of the math he’s doing up to a more challenging level. Anthony has had a few music classes with his Ukulele. He’s not sure if he’s really going to enjoy it. He does seem to enjoy piano and had been playing lots of nice songs. For soccer he’s doing two practices a week and improving his skills. He has a friend in each practice, so it has been fun.
Lydia is having fun in her class and enjoys school. She’s had two new friends join the class and she’s been a good friend writing them welcome notes and making them feel included. Her teacher is really nice and is a great mix of kind and firm in the classroom. We’re also supplementing her math to get it to a challenging level. Lydia is working hard through her next level of piano books. She is also doing well in swim class and building up her endurance for all four strokes.
Natalie turned 4 this month and had a fun family birthday party. Cordelia made her a unicorn cake. Her Pre-K class at school is not super challenging for her. Although it is Montessori based works it does not seem to be Montessori “go at your own pace” style. So we’re supplementing her work with some bonus reading and writing. Sadly Natalie’s amazing swim instructor left for college, so she’s not progressing so much on her swimming. She’s been doing some stroke refinement with her substitute instructors but it’s not the same level. Natalie seems to be picking up excitement in soccer. She used to be really scared and nervous to do scrimmage and one-on-ones. Now she’s going out there and owning it, making lots of goals.
Alicia has been trying to prioritize things and works and started pushing back on things that were outside her scope. Things have improved a bit on the workload side but it is still very busy. One of her projects was supposed to be completed in early September but unfortunately it dragged through the whole month and just completed the final testing on the last day of September. Fortunately with aftercare starting at school. She’s been getting a few more hours in each week and get back to a more maintenance level. On the home front after school has been full of helping three or four kids with homework simultaneously. Plus getting lunches ready for the next school day and dinner, it’s non-stop until the end of the day. AWANA has begun and there have been minor bumps but overall it has been a very successful start to the club year. Alicia has been trying to make connections with some of the families at the new school. It still remains to be seen if any of those will grow into actual friendships.
At work, Tim got lots of back and forth on project assignments and it is uncertain if things are changing for the better or not. Regardless, Tim is putting in the effort on the projects he’s requested to support and continues to execute exceptionally. Tim has been getting back into a new workout routine that will hopefully be more manageable with our over-busy schedule. He’s also training for a half-marathon at the end of the year. Tim’s been doing the school drop offs twice a week and helping with the kids’ school activities. Tim got his 3D printer set up after it sat in a box for about two months waiting for time and space. It’s been a fun activity to try out various printings. The goal is to make some new parts for our camping trailer.
October is likely to be more of the same. It seems to be in the daily faithfulness and duties that we are being refined and our perseverance is being tested.
