June Update

Our youngest teaching dad how to play basketball. You will also see her excellent shooting form in the later photo. If you look closely you may also catch a glimpse of her first shiner, all part of learning to walk! She is such a tough girl already.

This fountain was a huge hit, but trying to get the kids at the right moment for a photo was certainly challenging. I have lots of pictures that have only the fountain in them. The rest of the splash area is more more impressive, but it is hard to pick out the kids in the midst of it all. It is a great place to visit, particularly because it is FREE!

So I have been a little negligent on keeping this up to date. My husband is in the middle of exams so we have been trying to keep life on the quiet end of the spectrum. Not an easy task with our three! Once exams are over we will all let loose again :) In particular, we are gearing up for a visit from Uncle Matt and Aunt Kat who are flying in for the long weekend, starting on Friday. We will also be celebrating June birthdays during the visit because we will actually have other people to celebrate with that way. Our youngest turns 1 on the 21st and our middle one turns 3 on the 24th. I can hardly believe how fast this last year has gone. I continue the battle of trying to explain to my oldest why his siblings birthdays come first even though he was born first. He still doesn't understand it. He insists that since he was born first, his birthday should be first. Oh well, as long as there is cake and candy he will be happy regardless!

Homeschooling is a bit of a challenge and I feel pretty overwhelmed still. I just got a contact for another homeschooling mom yesterday and I'm hoping this will help us find a social network. My oldest is settling in well for the most part, but still has days he cries because he misses his friends back home and I'm sure having some new little buddies here would help alleviate that a little. I have been trying to work on reading and writing with him, but he really hates sitting down to do either of these. On the up side, his creativity in making up stories and his willingness to create illustrations for them has greatly improved. This even translates into puppet shows, dramatic productions and role playing. We have also been working on some music and we are now called the 'Super Rock On Band'. Our performance debut will be this weekend for Matt and Kat. I will try to convince someone else to take photos of the kids during this performance but will not be posting a recording as it may incriminate me as I am the lead guitarist!

Our youngest is crawling our over and taking staggering steps that have yet to be caught on video, but hopefully will be postable soon. She is generally a happy little girl as long as she can avoid bumps from her brothers.

My husband may be heading off for 3 weeks to do a placement in between semesters. The up side of this would be that he wouldn't have to do it over the Christmas break then. I'm really hoping to have enough courage to drive on my own by the time he leaves. It could be a LONG three weeks otherwise! I continue to sift through job postings and keep hoping I will actually find something in my field, but it is looking more and more like I will just need to take anything I can find that works around my mom duties. I didn't get a Chaplaincy job I'd applied for. I don't have my work visa yet though, so I'm trying not to stress yet. We do need an income soon though.

We are heading into winter here, so it is, um, cool?... yes that is what they believe these temperatures to be I think. It is finally cooling off enough at night that we don't usually use the AC, just for the boys some nights. It feels so strange to have the rest of you heading into the wonderful less structured time of year of summer, with long warm days, and to be in the midst of these short, but still warm days. It is also weird to be in the middle of the year essentially in terms of programs and such. Christmas break seems like a long way off! But then it will also be summer holidays. It is certainly hard to get my head around. The temperature has been great for running though, and I am slowly reminding my body that it once knew how to perform this task. My husband has also been managing to make the most of this climate and has even found a club that he will be joining more regularly with once this exam nonsense is over.

Well that is our news. Thanks for all your news and notes. We love keeping up with things back home too!