First Quarter Report Cards

First quarter report cards came home on Halloween...and it was all treats for us!  Both Emory and Ellie are off to such a fabulous school year.  They are both doing well which is great but equally as important they are loving going to school every day.  Ellie wasn't feeling so well one day last week and I offered to let her stay home and rest and she actually cried because she wanted to go to school and be with her teacher...so off she went.  After a not so grand year last year, this is such a blessing.

Emory has made a seamless transition from elementary to middle school.  In fact, he loves everything about middle school so much more than elementary.  It doesn't hurt that his school is awesome in every way and he has really great teachers who give it their all every day and really seem to make learning fun from what I see at home.  Emory got straight As again and some of those As were in the upper 90s!  Way to go Emory!!!

Ellie is also loving her teacher this year and learning a lot every day.  She is so excited to go to school and doesn't mind the additional homework and projects that come with third grade.  This is the first year that she has received actual letter grades on her report card.  She too got honor roll and we are so proud of her accomplishments.  She received three As and one B.  Her B came in social studies and it was a high B at 87.  Such a great way to start off third grade!  Awesome job EllieBean!!!

Halloween Fun

We had another fun halloween this year!  The weather cooled down a little bit...not cold, but cool enough for us to know that summer is finally over.  Halloween did kind of sneak up on us though.  One day it seemed like it was the beginning of October and then the next it was the end.

We did not make it to the pumpkin patch this year but picked up a couple of nice pumpkins from Publix.  Ellie decided that hers would not have a face this year but rather her monogram.  We went with just a curly e and it turned out really cute.  She was a huge help punching all of the holes for the pattern and cleaning out her entire pumpkin all by herself!

Emory did not do quite as well helping out.  He chose his face for his jack-o-lantern to be a face with a mustache.  A really cute idea I thought!  He was good and getting the pattern on the pumpkin but from there he quit because his pumpkin was a little mushy inside.  (That's all part of getting pumpkins here in FL because they have to be shipped in and are picked earlier than they otherwise would be I think.)  After he saw what was inside, he was done...and I got to finish it.

The end result was pretty cute though and they were just perfect on the porch on Halloween night!

On the Saturday evening before Halloween, we took the kids to a corn maze.  The corn was so tall this year compared to years past!  All was well until Dan decided to jump out and scare Ellie half to death.  Then she was ready to get out of there, but she was really brave and went back in before we left.

The kids had a great time going through the maze pathways and also making their own paths through the corn.  Emory was going so fast and it was so dark that at times it was tough to keep up with him!

They also have farm animals to see and Ellie and I just loved these two goats who were all cuddled up together in the chilly evening air.

On Halloween day, Ellie's class had a big Halloween party.  We made crafts, had pizza for lunch and yummy cupcakes.

 Finally the big night got here and the Solms family joined us for dinner before heading out to trick-or-treat.  The kids were all dressed up and ready to go.  From left to right, Sydney was Lady GaGa, Ellie was a cave girl, Emory was a scary guy in a black cape (without the face mask here) and Mack was a Georgia Tech fan.

Here is Emory in full (first) costume.  Can't see a bit of him other than his feet!  This proved to be a challenge with running and seeing anything at all in the dark through the fabric of the face mask...maybe I might have mentioned something like that to him at the time that he picked this one out?!?!  So it was a problem and Emory went off to make up another costume....

 Another neighbor showed up to trick-or-treat with us and the girls were happy to continue to pose.

 ...and act silly!

We managed to remember to get a picture of all of the kids together this year before they headed off to trick-or-treat.  As you can see they started pretty early as it wasn't even dusk yet, but it was a school night and they were dying to go!

Emory ended up following Mack's lead and going with the sports fan costume.  He was a jaguars fan and actually did look pretty cute with face paint under his eyes and his big jaguar claw that he carried all night.  I'll have to remind him of this next year when he wants to go out and buy another costume!

At the end of the evening we came home and checked out all of the candy.  Waaaayyyyyy too much as usual.  The kids had a fun time running around collecting it though so it was a successful Halloween!

Fall Soccer

Fall soccer is in full swing as it started back in September...and ends in about three more weeks!  Emory and Ellie are both playing for Creeks soccer again this season.  Emory is on a Premier team, which is a select travel team and Ellie is playing on a rec team with a great new group of girls. 

Ellie's team decided that their name should be the Gator Girls and they have the cutest mascot.  He's a bulldog and was just about 3 months old at the beginning of the season.

Ellie has been playing really well this season and came soooo close to scoring a goal in one of her games.  This is their first year playing on a much larger grass field and having a goalie so it's a little different from what she was used to.

Emory's team is off to a slow start with the wins this season but he's having fun and  we're hopeful that it'll all come together in their second season together that starts in January.   

Emory does have some really exciting soccer news to share...he tried out and made the soccer team at his middle school, Pacetti Bay.  Yea Emory!!!  The team is made up of 22 6th through 8th grade boys and the season starts in mid-November.  We're looking forward to cheering Emory and the entire Wildcat soccer team on to victory this year!

In the News...

Check out who made it on the front page of the St. Augustine Record this morning....


Mill Creek Elementary School third grade teacher Tierra Stecher gathers school supplies from her students on the first day of school on Monday. Photos by PETER WILLOTT, peter.willott@staugustine.com
 For today, the full article can be found at http://www.staugustine.com/.

First Day of School

Today was the first day of school in our county.  Emory and Ellie each met their teachers on Friday morning at Orientation and loved them.  They were both  so excited that they kept telling us that they wished they could go to school on Saturday rather than waiting until today!    If they continue to feel this way we are going to have a great year!

Emory is now in 6th grade and off to his first year at Pacetti Bay Middle School.  That means that school starts earlier for him at 7:50 and the bus comes at 7:00.  It's an early start to the day for him, especially since he started to sleep in later and later as the summer progressed.  Fortunately he's pretty happy when I wake him and today was no different.  He was up and ready to go before he needed to be.

Ellie is now going into the third grade at Mill Creek Elementary.  Her teacher this year is Mrs. Strecher and she is adorable and bubbly.  Just exactly what Ellie needs!  To say that Ellie is excited about this year is an understatement.  We are so happy for her!  Ellie won the early bird award this morning getting up on her own at 5:45am!  I'm hoping that this won't become a habit for her and that she'll sleep in just a little bit later. 

Ellie and her friend Allie waiting for the bus and talking about what the new year would be like for them. 

Bye, Ellie Bean!  We'll be waiting to hear all about your day when you get home this afternoon. 

Ellie and Mrs. Strecher.

Emory and Ellie both said that had a great day when they got home this afternoon so it looks like we're going to have a great year for both of them!

Swim Team Party

This afternoon the Palencia Piranhas Swim Team had their end of season party.  It was held at one of our neighborhood pools and was a lot of fun for all of the kids to get together again at the end of the summer. 

The first part of the party was the team picture.  Fun with so many kids in 90+ degree weather!

After a little time swimming in the pool, going down the water slide and running through the bounce house obstacle course, it was time to get their trophies for participating in swim team.  Coach Maritza passed them out to each of the swimmers.  This year they each got a really nice swim team bag too! 

Photos at the Fort

Last night the kids asked for a picnic dinner at the Fort and we couldn't say no to such a great idea.  We picked up some seafood on the way down and had a great picnic.  While we were sitting there the sun started to set and made for some great photos.  Here are a few of my favorites...

A Short Trip to St. Pete

Our last trip of the summer was to St. Pete for a few days.  It was so beautiful when Dan and I were down in that area for our anniverary that we decided to take the kids down the following weekend.

 At the pier, we found a small bait shop where you could buy fish and feed the pelicans. Not something that you get to do everyday so both Emory and Ellie decided that they would give it a try.  The pelicans had definitely done this before and were ready to eat as soon as the kids climbed up on the platform.

 To our surprise, Emory actually picked up a fish with his bare hands!...and tossed it to the pelicans.  Ellie is much braver where icky fish are concerned and had no trouble at all.  She just wanted to wash her hands right way when she was finished.

 The pelicans were really amazing up so close.

Our next day we headed out to the beach for some fun in the Gulf.  Unfortunately the weather turned on us and a big storm with really hard rain came onshore while we were sitting on the beach.  It cut our day (and fun beach pictures) short.

 Later that evening after the storm, we headed out for a game of mini-golf at a really fun Congo themed course.  It was our first game of mini golf of the summer and a requirement of every summer vacation.  I'm glad that we were able to squeeze it in before the end of the summer.

At the end of our round of mini golf, we purchased hot dog pieces that you could feed to the alligators in a small pond out front using a tool similar to a fishing pole.  Feeding alligators hot dogs was a new one for all of us but the gators were ready when they saw us coming.

They were very quick to grab the hot dog off of the string...until Emory decided to have some fun with the gators and tease them by swinging it back and forth. 

It was a fun evening and fun visit to St. Pete!