September is always hot in San Diego, but this year took the cake. We discovered a pool close by and spent many afternoons there cooling off.
Alison gave Maya her cooling blanket :)
And Eli built Legos in our bedroom, the one room with air conditioning.
Speaking of Legos, Eli has basically built his own Lego store/company. I'm excited to see where it goes. He finds Legos in bulk online, will zoom in to see pieces of sets, knows the real value of mini figs and rare sets and buys the bulk for cheap. Then he re-assembles the sets and sells them to Lego collectors. I've been super impressed with his ability to spot high value pieces that people are just tossing away. I've also been surprised what people will pay for mini figs!
This sums up life right now: sorting Legos, while listening to a book for school and getting ready for a science lab (it's hard to see the microscope also on the table)...and of course, his trusty homeschool dog right there with him.
Fridays are full of labs around here.
And when work is done, these boys know how to have fun.
The best part of having a senior dog are the hugs that she gives.
It's a big year for us; a transitional year with a long story. I'll try to keep it short...Ben and I have talked for years about starting the ball rolling on my next career when the boys got to high school, in hopes that when Colin graduates, I'll already have something in the works and not be completely aimless. I haven't known/still don't know exactly what my next career will be, but I'm thankful for the opportunity to get the ball rolling. I spent the summer researching, working on my resume and praying. I knocked on several doors that I thought were for sure the answer, but all doors closed. Then, a fellow Chaplain wife, shared with me that the school she works at, was looking for an 'Educational Assistant'. It seemed like it could be a good fit for me; part-time, Christian curriculum and working with kiddos one-on-one. So I applied to Tri-City Christian school and after a 3 hour interview with the Early Childhood Education director, I was hired. The funny part is, we talked for hours about challenges she was seeing in kids and how I could help address them, but I was never really given a job description. I'm learning that this is common in new jobs.
Here are the teachers I am working with:
Everyone is lovely and been so great to work with. The school sent us to a conference in Orange county and we pulled up to the most beautiful church. Somehow I got I paid to spend the evening here.
I am primarily helping Mrs. Schillinger's class and I spent a few weeks helping her set up her classroom. She was in need of a white board and I was able to donate the one Ben made for me years ago. It makes me so happy to see it go to good use.
I'm learning a lot about being back in the workforce and adjusting to having 2 jobs. I am loving working with kiddos and being able to help teachers, but I am still thankful every single moment that I homeschool my own kids.
And my amazing kids (and Ben too) are the reason that I can do this. They have jumped in with helping cook dinners, run errands and clean up the house, while also starting school and going to jobs.
Alison made us dinner one night from her new Trader Joe's cookbook.
One teacher asked me, "So your boys are okay being home by themselves?" and I said, "Of course!" because they really are! The don't fight or get into trouble and are able to take care of themselves. They get their work done without me nagging them and obey quickly when I need to remind them to do something. However, it did make me laugh that after she asked that, they decided to spend their afternoon building "go-carts". They may not start a fire in the house, but they might break an arm playing this game.
Can you believe it?!?! Both boys are in high school!!!
They both did an amazing job jumping back into work. They get extra points for school right now because it's hot and humid and our house is sticky and not the most comfortable to be sitting and writing...and that's an example of a poor run on sentence, but they are doing great!
We have been talking about taking Maya back to the dog beach for years and somehow haven't made it happen. We even had to rearrange some plans just to make this evening happen, but it was all worth it. It was a perfect evening and so great to have some time with all of us together.
And we quickly remembered why we don't take Maya to things like this. She might be an old lady now, but she is still so awkward. She has a certain cry that she only does when her pack is in water. She made this sound the entire time we were there!
Alison came with me to a Chaplain's wives meet up at the flower field. They said kids were welcome...so I brought my kid :)
It was a perfect day for flower picking and fun to find this farm. It's only 10 minutes from our house but I had no idea it was here.
One of the ladies in our group just had her first baby and she brought her for us all to meet. It's pretty great day when you get to sit and hold a baby in a flower field!
