Elizabeth Smarty Pants

Today, Elizabeth's school had an assembly for all children in second and third grades that made the A and A/B Honor Roll. Miss Tarleton made the all A honor roll. (We will be doing this again in a couple of weeks, she made all A's again for the second nine weeks too!!!)

She will also have a coupon for a free pizza for making the all A honor roll.

We had a Parent/Teacher Conference earlier this week. The teacher had nothing but praises for Elizabeth. We are having her tested here in Florida for the Gifted program. If she makes it in, she will be going to a different school next year. It's an all day Honors Program. They will basically do the whole third grade curriculum in the first half of the year and then move on to more difficult and challenging items.

To give you an idea at how well she is doing right now, here are a few of her test results from the beginning of the year. For her oral reading fluency test, you must have at least an 80 to receive an A. Elizabeth is currently at 147! That's almost double what is required for an A!!! On the SAT10 she has a cumulative score of 1265. Her reading comprehension is above the 79th percentile. Her Math Problem-Solving skills are above the 96th percentile. She is currently reading at or above a 4th grade level!! I'm sorry if it seems I am bragging a bit, but we are just SOOOOO proud of her!! She is really our little genius. She's only 6 years old and doing so well!!!

Jack-o-Lanterns

Today we carved our pumpkins for Halloween! Elizabeth was so excited!!! Banastre just kept saying pumpkin over and over!! So, here's how it went:

Daddy making the first cut!

Elizabeth and Banastre watching closely.

You want me to stick my hand where???? What the *&#@ are you thinking?

The finished products. Can you figure which pumpkin belongs to which child???

What a sweet smile!!!!!!!!!

Beautiful girl!

All lit up to scare everyone!

Minneola Fall Fest and Leesburg Halloween Festival

This weekend, Elizabeth performed two Halloween dances at two different fall festivals. "I Want Candy" and "Thriller" were both great and were applauded well each night. It was great to learn about both of these festivals. Hopefully next year, we can go earlier in the day and enjoy all that they have to offer. Here are some pics of my little ghoul!Ready for "I Want Candy"

Dancing....

My "Thriller" Zombie (Minneola)

In the pic below, Elizabeth is the one standing in the back.

My Zombie at Leesburg

Matt didn't even recognize her the first night she did this dance in the costume and make-up!

The Next Magic Dancer

Tonight, Elizabeth performed at the Amway Arena in Orlando as part of the pre-game show for the Orlando Magic vs Miami Heat. Last Saturday, she did a three hour dance clinic with three of the Magic Dancers and learned two dances. They only performed one of the two. It's amazing that the girls could learn this in only 3 hours!!! She did a wonderful job and we are so proud of her. She loves dancing and it shows.


I have to admit I am not a big NBA fan (give me NFL!!!), but I did recognize some of the more famous players and have a few pics. I will try to identify them correctly!! Also, check out the video of my hip hop girl!!!! Elizabeth is the one in the very center with "DANCER" across the bottom of her pants.

A pic of the three of us before Elizabeth and I left.

Patrick Ewing helping to warm up the magic players.Elizabeth wants to be one of these!!!Alonzo Mourning (Used to play for the Hornet's)

The long-haired hippy boy. (We actually really like his hair long even if he is called a girl sometimes!!)

Fireball Run

Matt has finally returned from the Fireball Run. He had a great time and even finished 3rd in the SUV class. We are very proud of him and very, very, very happy to have him home. Here are a few pictures from his adventures. I will have more when Matt's copilot gives us his cd.


On his journey they had many missions, saw great landmarks, had lots of fun, and helped out a great cause.

Lining up and ready to start the days adventures.

One of the many celebrities and politicians he met.

Standing on the corner in Winslow, Arizona such a fine site to see... (courtesy of the Eagles)The Hoover DamMatt with his third place trophy!!!