August already?

This summer has gone by so fast! Natalie and I had our trip to the east coast, and then the entire family went to Utah. We were gone enough that Natalie wasn't able to take dance this summer. She said she was happy about it, but when we went to the studio she wanted to sign up for tap, jazz, hip hop and ballet. Of those classes she wanted to take we were only able to sign her up for tap and jazz. The hip hop class she wanted was full, and the other one didn't have anyone in it that she knew... same for ballet. So we signed her up for musical theater with some of her friends.
And here's my real coup d'etat. I got the two older boys signed up for boy's hip hop. I'm so excited! They will learn how to dance and not just do the round-and-round or side-to-side dance that I experienced going to dances when I was in junior high and high school. Trevor went to the first class and already has the moves down. Justin needed some convincing so he missed the first class. He's signed up now, though! LOL! He has 2 friends in it too so they should all have fun.
Now, what have we been up to lately?
Justin went to a paintball game for a friend's birthday party. He had so much fun. Besides that he's been hanging out with his friends, swimming and some reading. This is my major challenge with him. I've struggled since he was in first grade to find books that he enjoys reading, and haven't met with much success. We're finally finding some books that he seems to enjoy. This week he has also started staying up late with me while I've been working in my office. He's just wanted to talk. It's been nice. I'm really grateful that he wants to talk to me and have good conversations about topics that I don't know that I would've been comfortable talking to my parents about. I wanted to make sure that my kids felt that they could talk to me about anything. I try to reserve judgement and let them come to me when they need to talk. So far it's been working pretty well. A lot of Justin's friends talk to me too so I'm glad for that. I hope that he always feels safe talking to me, and I hope that I can always help him out.
Trevor has been coming out of his shell a bit. He's been playing with various friends, swimming and playing X-Box, of course. He's even been helping Justin and his friends. We frequently get calls from Justin's friends (or Justin calling from a friend's house) asking Trevor to help them defeat different levels of various games. Apparently he's some sort of prodigy when it comes to playing games. So he's been doing that. He's also done some reading. While we were up in Utah we stopped at a Border's bookstore. Everyone chose out a book to read. I can't remember the title of the book Trevor chose, but it's been one that he really has enjoyed.
Natalie has been playing with a lot of her little friends. Girls are so different from boys. She and her friends are either whispering and giggling or talking and laughing loudly. They love to do arts and crafts, color, do nails and play dress up. Her friends that took dance with her also put on little acts for us. She's still mommy's little girl, although when she wants something she'll go cuddle up to Daddy. She wants to do girls' nights out every week. She really would prefer every day.
Drew has been clingy to me for most of the summer. It started when I came back from my trip with Natalie and has more or less continued the entire time. I have managed to get him to have some play dates with some of his friends. He also looks forwards to visits from his Grandma Julie. They have a real close relationship. He always says that I'm his favorite person in the whole wide world, and when I ask him who he loves next he says Grandma Julie every time. Not his dad, brothers or sisters unless they've bribed him. But then he immediately changes it back to her. (Natalie wants me to say that I'm her favorite, and her second is Justin.) He's about to sign up for his class with Coach again. He took this class a year and a half ago right after I had back surgery. With Natalie in preschool and the boys in school he wanted to take a class too. He was just barely 3, and I found a class at the dance studio by my gym, and they combine tumbling, basketball, football, soccer and baseball. He LOVED it. He's been wanting to take it again ever since. So he's going to take that with his friend Kendrick. He can hardly wait!
Well I need to try to get to bed. I am trying to sleep at a normal time since school starts next week. My back pain has been terrible again so I haven't been able to get to sleep until almost dawn this week. I'm going to the doctor tomorrow to see if she can help me out with that. I'd really like to be awake for my children's first days of school. Hopefully it works!