tales from a far-land

Madilyn has completed her first grading period at BASIS Central Phoenix.  She loves kindergarten and her teacher, Ms. Arnold.  Plus, she has made quite a few new friends -- Gretchen, Olivia and Isla. We, as parents, really like the school's curriculum, as well.  Even though she has math, language and literacy homework nightly, we can already see a huge improvement in Madilyn's reading, writing and math proficiency.  Here are her first grading period's grades.  *SO* proud of her! Course Name GP1 Grade Civics, History & Science Foundation A /100% Language & Literacy A / 98% Math Foundation A / 96% Movement Foundation S Here are some pictures of Madilyn's classroom and teacher.  This is where all her learning occurs.  I took these at the school's curriculum night which occurred in late-August. Madi's Teacher, Ms. Arnold, and her classroom Madi's name on her desk....

Madilyn is dancing ballet again this fall at Dance Theater West under the tutelage of Miss Sally. Madi truly loves dancing.  She talks about it constantly and practices all of her positions at home daily.  I love that she is so passionate about it!

This fall Aiden is playing two sports.  He is playing soccer again with Arizona Soccer Association (ASA).  We love this program.  The coach is really good with the boys and Aiden's skills continue to improve every time he touches the ball.  They have had a couple of games on the weekend and  Aiden has even had a couple of breakaway goals.  I love watching him play! We also enrolled Aiden in t-ball through Shaw Butte Little League.  The season has just started, but, so far, Aiden is grasping the concept of the sport.  He has a pretty good throw.  And, in practice, he has been able to hit to or past second base.  I guess we will just have to see how the games go ...

The Farrell-Landers family spent our Labor Day weekend in beautiful Mission Bay, San Diego, California.  We rented a waterfront condo that overlooked Mission Bay.  What a perfect location!  It was about a block away from the Giant Dipper, the infamous Mission Beach roller coaster, located in Belmont Park.  Plus, since we were located on the bay-front, it allowed the kids to play in the water while the adults watched from the condo's patio.  The kids loved the playing in the bay.  In fact, they played in the water from sunrise to sunset. The bay-side it allowed the kids a little more freedom in the water since they could wade out into the water and kick around on their boogie boards without worrying about rip tides and huge waves.  We even rented a paddle boat one afternoon as a family to explore the bay from the water.  Although the trip was shorter than we would have liked, we had a fun time relaxing, soaking up some sun and playing in the sand. ...

Here is what our kids did last week during Sunday School.  Too much fun! From Ms. Ruth (Madilyn's Class): Dear Parents, Today we started the day talking and reading the story of the Jonah and the Whale, as well as watercolor-painting the "whale" and coloring in "Jonah", and learning why we read this story during Yom Kippur services.  During circle time we did a little revision on Rosh Hashanah, and went into more detail about the forthcoming Jewish Holiday of Yom Kippur, talking about saying "sorry", asking for "forgiveness", fasting, the sounding of the Shofar at the end of the day,  etc., etc.  We also spoke about the mitzvah of Tzedakah, and then a representative from UMOM came to talk to both our class and the Pre-K's,  about this wonderful opportunity to raise money for this organization with our weekly Tzedakah money.  The children were each given a toy (a green Turtle Chef) to emphasize the good work done by UMOM (the turtle...

Aiden would like to wish his grandparents (near and far) and great-grandparents a Happy Grandparents' Day!  He sends huge hugs and mushy kisses.

As we head into the weekend, here are couple more of Madilyn's Masterpieces.  She created all of these at school.  She *LOVES* to draw, paint, color and now write.