September was a very busy month with school and activities and work. Natalie turned 5 and we had a very fun princess themed party with a bounce house. At the end of the month we did some family camping with Grandparents Powers. With things being so busy, we’ve mostly been trying to make it through the day-to-day.
Cordelia is really loving school. She has a nice group of friends now and she really enjoys being on SALT (the student leadership team). She’s still getting back into the routine of studying and having to be prepared for quizzes and tests. 7th grade is starting to have higher expectations. Cordelia switched to clarinet lessons and is really enjoying it. Her school band is practicing for their Christmas concert. Cordelia also started volleyball at school but unfortunately, she broke her finger and wasn’t able to fully participate in practices or games yet. She got her finger cleared at the end of the month so starting in October she should be able start fully participating.
Anthony’s settling into his 5th grade class and routine. He is mostly enjoying school. We’re trying to get him some additional math resources to keep challenging him. In piano he’s continuing to progress through his books. He’s also practicing his bass. In soccer, his team started their regular season. Things have turned around for his team and they seemed to playing more evenly matched teams. So far they have had played 4 games, the first one they lost 4-6 but the last three they have won.
Lydia is enjoying school and has some friends she really enjoys having in class with her. She’s struggling to focus on her homework and stay on task sometimes. She has started T&T now that she’s in 3rd grade, and is enjoying working on the same book as Anthony. Her piano is continuing; her enthusiasm is intermittent and varies with her mood. She’s been having a hard time lately with family dynamics and her perception of ‘fairness’, so there has been a bit of friction.
Natalie is 5 now! Kind of hard to believe that our youngest is getting so old. Natalie is doing good in school and progressing through her reading and math works. Natalie is continuing in soccer and still working on keeping engaged. In piano, Natalie is really enjoying piano and is continuing through book 2! She seems to have a good combination of enthusiasm and determination to go through the book and practice without giving up when it gets hard.
Alicia is keeping busy at work. She’s continuing to mentor the junior engineers and her boss is moving forward with getting her into a supervisor role. She still has to go through the formal interview process but it’s more of a paperwork formality. It is not defined on the timeline, but likely before the end of the year. AWANA has started and the first two club nights have gone pretty well. There is still weekly maintenance and updates but it should be a pretty good year.
Tim’s work has been a bit of a bummer. At home the outside temperature have still been high. Tim did finish the built-in dresser box for the trailer. We took it to on the camping trip and they worked great. Tim played guitar for the first time at church and did a great job.
In October we’re hoping to figure out some ways to keep a little more sanity amidst all the daily and weekly activities.
