Soccer, Swimming and Baseball... oh, and School

The day after Labor Day was the first day of school for the kids. Evan was going into 5th grade, Madeleine in 3rd. This was the first year that both the kids had male teachers. A lot of change. We were worried that there would be a school strike, but non-binding arbitration kept that threat at bay. So far so good with the school year. Evan is in concert band and Madeleine will (hopefully) be starting violin this year. Nobody seems interested in the piano.

Madeleine had a fun and eventful soccer season. She seemed to like playing defense and especially being the goalie. It was a fun time for her. Right now she is starting fall swimming. She has practices during the week with meets starting in November. She practices at the high school which is close by.

Evan is in the middle of fall baseball and goes to baseball clinics on Fridays. So far their record is 1-1. In fall ball, they move the kids around more so Evan is able to try more positions. It's a little more relaxed league so the ability to try new things are increased.

In July we had a pond / waterfall installed in the yard. We had a space right out the dining room window and thought it would be nice to have while sitting out on the patio. In addition we moved the grill off the deck and put chairs in its place. The problem with adding a pond / waterfall is that now we need new chairs, a firepit... We'll wait until the spring for that.

We had a visit from my mom in August. She was supposed to go to Ireland, but plans changed and she was here for a couple of weeks. She had a nice visit.

Oh, today is Tina's birthday !

Evan's 10th Birthday

Evan just turned 10. We decided to go a little lower key this year. Instead of the big party, Evan spent the day with 3 of his friends. We had a sleepover with 2 of the boys the night before.

On his birthday we took them to the Cheesecake Factory and went to see the movie "Up". It was a fun time. Later that night, the 4 of us plus Jessica we went to Coldstone for some ice cream.

The best part of the day later that night Tina, Evan and I sat in his room looking through baby pictures. We have a small photo album in his room with photos up to 6 months old. Evan wanted to stay up until 10:41PM, which was when he was born. We were saying that his next milestone birthday, 20 will probably take place when he is in college. He'll most likely be starting his junior year. The time is going way too fast. We just want to enjoy the time we have as much as we can.

Meanwhile, the news on sports...

Madeleine is really enjoying soccer so far. She likes defense and being the goalie. The focus at this age is to build the skillbase and not focus on scores. Right now that's a good thing.

Fall ball baseball practice is underway. The first games start next week. Stay tuned !