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 !