All Aboard!

We headed to Lebanon to catch a train ride to the North Pole! The elves were really entertaining....they made balloon animals for all the kids aboard and entertained us with their jokes, juggling, and other tricks!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

While shopping and visiting the festivities at Christmas in Springboro, the girls decided that it would be a good opportunity to visit with Santa.  Bryn was a little hesitant, but agreed to go as long as she could take her list with her...Adelyn was all in, a little of her shy face was seen, but she enjoyed visiting with Santa!  :D

Staying on top of the Christmas activities, we headed out to a tree farm to cut down our family Christmas tree.  For the first time ever, we had a tree picked out and cut down within 5 minutes of being at the farm...easy peasy lemon squeezy! No arguments, disagreements, or walking around for several minutes until we found the perfect one!  The girls enjoyed the hot chocolate and cookies while we waited for Kyle to put the Martin tight on attaching the tree to the car roof!

Soccer Tourney!

Holy Moly do we have a good team!  Brynleigh's team was first in our division for Springboro's SAY group (8 teams total for her age group) which qualified us for an out of house tournament for Miami South region.  Well, turns out we smoked another team and made it to the finals in which we lost....BUT, we later found out that they take the top 2 teams to STATE!  So, even though winter sports have begun, we will continue to practice soccer and see what we can accomplish at State tourneys Nov 8th & 9th.  Hard work, dedication and determination will pay off....Go Firehawks!

Hat Day

Hat day just so happen to fall on Gym day, so Adelyn was completely devastated that I would not allow her to wear her cowboy boots.  But, that didn't stop her from pretending she had a lasso as I snapped a picture of these pretty girls!

Mystery Reader

I had the wonderful opportunity to be the Mystery Reader for Adelyn's class.  It was SOOOO much fun!  The first book I read was Dear Zoo, a classic lift the flap board book that is a story about finding an animal that is just right.  Then, I read another classic Bear Hunt, and brought props for the kids to join in on the noises we encounter while "hunting"for a bear.  Ady said she knew that I was going to be the reader because the clues Mrs. Root gave the morning of....I work at home, have a big dog named Max, and like to snuggle on the couch with my family.  Gee, wonder what gave me away?!?!!  

Somebody call 911...

Right up Adelyn's alley...emergency vehicles, staff, and information...and it was open house day.  She could not get enough! They got to tour a firetruck, ambulance, and even witnessed Medflight Helicopter fly in for a landing and tour!

Do you want to play some ball?

Waiting on the afternoon school bus the other day...this is what I looked back and saw.  An old man, 10 years old to be exact, waiting for some children to come home to play ball.  How sweet...

Bryn is Star of the Week!

Bryn was chosen this week as star of the week!  This is a special time for her classmates to get to know a little more about her.  She had a fun time filling out this poster...and on Friday, she is going to read a book to the class called "The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry, and The Big Hungry Bear...one of her daddy's favorite when he was a little boy.

Spelling challenges

While "Spelling tests" are a thing of the past, we still have "word work" that the kids are tested on each week.  Each Monday they are given a pre-test and that will allow the teacher to assign them to a skill appropriate word list to study and be tested on for Friday.  Well, Bryn is the perfect student...loves to come home and work on homework and would never tire from reading, writing, or studying.  We have never really "practiced" words...she just gets them.  She qualified for the hardest list, or "challenging" words and does really well with them!  Adelyn qualified for List 2 (she aced List 1, go Ady!) but boy oh boy what a rough week of practicing!  On Wednesday, I came up with a game that has really helped improve her list!  I made a letter board using sidewalk chalk and she would jump from letter to letter to spell whatever word I would shout out.  I am THRILLED to share that both girls got 100% on their first tests!  :)

1st Day of School

First day of school and another year of adjustments!  Adelyn transitioned into going to school for an entire day, which means first time eating lunch at school!  Mom transitioned into being childless for 7 hours a day...boy, who knew all the things you could get accomplished and how long a list of projects and things to do could get!  The kids are excited for the year to come, and are happy that we have been blessed with a couple really nice teachers!!

1st Soccer Games!

2014 Vaca!

We had an awesome week of vacation!  We jumped on a nonstop flight from Dayton to Orlando and checked into the Hyatt Resort on International drive where we ate, swam, played putt putt, and visited Sea World. We then hitched a ride to Port for a first time cruise for the Martin's! We were all blown away and Disney Cruise Line did everything they could to make our trip magical...they are awesome!  We finished up the vaca with another stop back to the Hyatt for another pool day and boy,what a great way to wrap up a week of fun!! I have too many pics so here are a few snaps...