A New School Year

Teacher Assignments and Open House- check

Back to School Night-check

Sports and After School Activities Sorted out-check

Homework Routine-check

All three kids are now in the swing of things for the new school year at Singapore American School. The bus comes at 6:55 and returns home at 3:40, that is if there are not extra curricular activities that day. In that case, they ride the activity bus to a set location and get home around 5. In addition to that, Morgan can opt to ride the late activity bus which gets back at 6:45. So for her, sometimes it is a 12 hour day!!!

Morgan is now in 6th grade, middle school. She has her own locker (s). One for academics and one for PE. She has a great set of core teachers for Reading/Language Arts, Science (it's a lab), Math, Social Studies. She also has Spanish, IT (computers), Drama and PE. So far so good with the homework and staying on top of things. She is very responsible and was more than ready for 6th grade.

Marshall is in 4th grade. He has a wonderful teacher who has been at SAS for about 6 years. He has a couple of his buddies in his room and loves being able to buy his lunch and snack now.

Ethan is in 3rd grade and likewise has a wonder teacher. She has been teaching in international schools all of her career and brings a load of neat experiences to the classroom. He has two of his best buddies from last year in his class and one little girl from our condo whom he says he tolerates!!!

For extra-curricular activities, they have all found something fun to do!

Morgan tried out for and was accepted onto the Fighting Fish swim team and in less then 1 week she has demonstrated her abilities by moving up a 3 stages in one level and then onto the next level. She started as a bronze junior and is now a bronze intermediate. We are so proud of her hard work and determination. In addition to that, she is participating in an after school dance club and is learning some fun hip-hop moves. I'll take a video and post is when they do their show. Since she is not busy enough, she has added girls touch rugby on the weekends and is part of a dance/etiquette group that meets once a month. She has to wear formal dresses and is learning all the "traditional" dances.

Marshall is keeping himself busy with baseball and rugby. He was selected for an American tournament baseball team and will play against 3 or 4 other countries in October. Also, he has begun training for the new tackle rugby season. Although he doesn't know it yet, he will also resume his tennis lessons that began this summer next week!

Ethan is enjoying playing flag football in an after school program two days of the week and is also going to be playing touch rugby on the weekends. He is still at the age where getting friend time is the most important thing to him.

For me back to school meant freeing me up to try on some new hobbies for size. I began tennis lessons and am really enjoying the game. This is something that I have always been curious about and luckily it suits me! In addition to that, I am taking a Pilate's class, a weight training class, mandarin lessons and getting ready to teach CCD. For those of you who don't know what CCD is...it is religious education for kids regarding their catholic faith. In addition to all that, I stay busy meeting new people and enjoying the expat life. Some people have asked me what expat means: it is short for expatriate and means anyone living and working in a country outside of their home country.

Did I forget to mention Paul???!! Oh yea, he is crazy busy at work. Has multiple projects going on. Jet sets to numerous countries for meetings all while being a great dad and husband. I'm very proud of him too. For a person who works as hard as he does, there is always time for the kids and me. I am also very thankful for the life we have created together.

So there it is. Our life is a nutshell. Hope you enjoyed.