Fall in review...

Our Fall was all about playing keep up. Sydney started kindergarten, Jaxy joined a preschool co-op group, Donnie's schedule became even crazier than it already was, I started babysitting a little girl in our ward, and we learned that our family would soon grow to include another little one.


Even with all of that going on, we still managed to frequent Stone Mountain and Braves' games, and fit in some extended family time.

U.S.Open

We went to New York at the end of August/beinning of September to check out early round action at the U.S. Open. We went with our good friends the Hansens, and had a great time.


I forgot the camera, so we only have random pictures from Donnie's phone, and only when we weren't trying to conserve the battery :). We mainly stayed at one of the smaller courts - more action, closer seats - but we did venture in to Arthur Ashe Stadium to check out Federer :)



We saw great matches, including Isner v. Baghdatis and Ferrer v. Monfis, both of which lasted well into 5 sets, a few tie breakers, and even a couple of shirt changes :)


We had tickets for the day sessions (10 a.m. until 7p.m., or the last day match ended), and so we tried to spend the evenings around Times Square. We ate yummy food, marvelled at how many people were still out at midnight, and even found Michael Jackson.

Kindergarten!

Yes, I am aware that the school year is almost over, but better late than never :)

Sydney started Kindergarten this year. Over the summer our neighborhood school was closed (don't get me started on that subject...), so Sydney started the year with a new class and a new school.


She was originally put in Ms. Brelund's class, but after a week of school, it was decided that there were too many 5-year-old students, and a fourth class was formed. They randomly selected 6 girls and 6 boys from each class to create the new class. Sydney was one of the kids moved.


I have so many issues with this. One, they knew how many kids were in each class at least two weeks before school began - that is when they posted the class lists. Two, it took four more weeks before they hired a new teacher, and Sydney had 5 different substitute teachers during that time. Three, it took an additional three weeks after hiring the teacher to get all of the classroom supplies (chairs, books, toys...)


Kindergarten is hard enough, but when there is no stability, and your child comes home everyday telling you she couldn't play because there aren't enough toys or books for the class so they just had quiet time...needless to say, the principal heard from me a lot during those first two months of school.


Things have improved since then :) Sydney has a wonderful teacher, Ms. Thompson. She expects a lot from the kids, but she is very fair, and rewards them for following the rules. Sydney enjoys school, and has made a lot of friends.


She loves art and is becoming quite the little reader.