This last week we spent catching up on some house work andotherschool work after coming back from Milwaukee. August is such an awful month for me just because I have to work so much. Alex and I have been spending this month trying to figure out how to work out the details of this. The fact that it takes me 30 minutes to go back and forth is taxing enough, that added to the fact that I have so many things going on at work and at some point Alex has to work too. We are also talking about how we are going to take the girls to school, since it is so far away. We have been going back and forth whether or not to push requesting that our youngest two attend a school closer to my school (not that the other one is that far). On the other hand we have a very good friend at that school that we totally trust in terms of the expectations that we have of the girls and school work, so we are happy about that. For the oldest two school will be only 25-30 minutes away. For the younger two 35-40 minutes away. None of the condos around here have sold in the last two years, so we are bracing ourselves for a long wait and a lot of $$ in gas.
On Friday we went to Milwaukee to take our first family picture. We wanted to print announcements with our pictures but could not find an appropriate template for our family (we continue to run into this and wonder if some day we should have our own business). So instead we just printed our Christmas cards. We figured that even though the girls will change from here to Christmas this picture is very important because it is our first 'official' picture. My sister Millie and her kids were still here so we spent some more time with them at my mom's house. It was pretty chaotic there with 13 grandchildren between the ages of 20 and 5. But the kids seem to enjoy it. It's funny how kids somehow communicate without a common language.
This is something that as an ESL teacher I witnessed many times and continues to amaze me. Somehow we as adults are not capable of doing this but kids have figured this out.
We went to Milwaukee on Sunday so the girls got to stay again for two days so that Alex could put most of his working hours in a couple of days. We could not survive this month without our families. My sister and mom took the girls to State Fair today and I heard they had a great time. ( I had meetings all day). Sounds like the girls got to taste cream puffs, corn, cheese etc..
We talked to the girls over the phone and Sucena said she saw a 'really big horse'. Tomorrow the girls are going to go to the Milwaukee Art Museum with Alex's mom. We are so grateful to family and friends for providing these important experiences for them during this time.
These are invaluable, but most of all the time spent with the girls is most important.
The girls continue to make the transition with us, and just like with any other kids there are many things we continue to emphasize and teach. Being teachers I must say has been extremely helpful, because there are so many lessons that we have taught since day 1. I understand why they say now that the parents are the first and most important teachers. But we are also grateful for family and the lessons they are providing as well. We are looking forward to many more lessons ahead. We ask for patience (just like any other kids) and understanding, because even though we feel that have made great strides, there are still many things they have to learn especially around the theme of what a family is..our expectations.. etc. We are grateful to our families for having taught us so many things that we are passing on to the girls. The things is, just like anything, things take time.
The support of family and friends makes it so much easier for us. We thank you.
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