Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Halloween

Halloween is such a silly "holiday" but the kids sure do have fun! 

Carving pumpkins was great this year because these two were able to do most of it themselves!



Ava's Halloween costume was a little big to wear to preschool so she was a witch (Mckenna's costume for a few years ago).  What a cute witch she made!  Her teacher was a witch as well and Ava was pretty excited about that!
 
My little Disco Girl!
 
Seriously.can.not.get.enough!
Best costumes yet!
 

Jeff, Carin, and Ryan

Jeff, Carin, and Ryan flew to Michigan on Wednesday to spend a couple of days with Steven and Heather's family and then drove to Ohio on Friday to spend a couple of days with us.  When they arrived at our house, Ryan checked out our place and was so sweet to Ava (she was the only one home) and then we waited for the girls!  Kiara and Mckenna were SO excited to see Ryan (and J & C) and Ryan was so excited to see them!  They had a blast.  I wish I would have recorded how many hours were spent on the trampoline because it literally was HOURS!!  The time went by way to fast but we sure packed a lot in!

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Carin and Dr. Ava!
 
Man, did we have a tough day on Sunday after they left.  For the girls, there is not a lot better than time with their cousins.  When you look at these pictures - multiply how much fun you think we had by 25.  This is how great our time was :)!  Thanks Jeff, Carin, and Ryan.
 
 

Monopoly

Kiara had her first presentation of the 3rd grade.  The students were asked to choose a topic and research it.  They needed to use at least 2 resources, answer at least 6 specific questions on their topic, have a intro and conclusion, have note cards ready for a 5 minute presentation, and everything else was up to them.  We feel lucky that Kiara is self motivated and excited about learning so that this project was completed by her and not by her parents :)!  She had so much fun with it and was so creative.  Tom and I felt that 5 minutes was a little long but Kiara did it and her presentation to her class was clocked at 4 minutes 50 seconds.  Pretty impressive!

Kiara setting up her presentation.  She had the books she found at the library, monopoly boards to show, monopoly money, tokens, and a poster board with pictures of amazing monopoly boards that have been made (like monopoly made of gold and made of chocolate and a Harry Potter version).

 
Kiara spoke clearly, was animated, and the class loved hearing about her topic!
 
 
Here is Kiara's proud Mom!
She got a 35/35 on her presentation and more importantly it was a good experience for her (and us :))!
 

Clean up the beach

We have never been to a beach in Ohio - hahaha but Mckenna's girl scout troop participated in a clean up the beach activity. 


This was not part of the beach clean up - but they wanted to show how strong they were!
 
Cute girls!

Girls Weekend - Arizona

It is too difficult to put into words how much fun I had on Girls weekend this year in Arizona.  It was a last minute trip but a very important one as Sarah got her official move date to Shanghai (December 28th).  We went to the sun in Arizona and enjoyed the weather, the pool, the condo, the town, and each other! 

 
 
 
 
 
 
So lucky to have these wonderful ladies in my life!!!

Sunday, November 3, 2013

Friends

We have met so many nice families here in Strongsville and the girls have made some really neat friends.  Here are a few of the play dates we have had lately.......

 
 
 
 
Feeling thankful!

Dianna and Mark Storey

Dianna and Mark were driving across the United States to officially move to Virgina and stopped by to see us!  It was so much fun to see them, hear about what is going on with them, their children, and grandchildren. 

They stayed for one night and left the next morning to get to Ellen's house!  So glad they could swing by and see us!

Soccer Weather

We have had some interesting soccer weather this fall.  The girls have not had a rain out but that doesn't mean it hasn't rained!  Here are some of the happenings for us lately.....

Ava and I cuddling under the umbrella on a wet and cold Saturday!
 
1 week later....... 75 degrees and humid!
This was Kiara's (#2) last game of the season.  They needed to win or tie to win the division.  It was a great game and Strongsville won 3-2! 
 
Here is what MC and Ava do during Kiara's soccer games on nice days!  They have so much fun with their friends.  Lucky for us!
 
 
Here are the champs at Frozen Yogurt to celebrate!