The Martin Family News & Notes

Nicklas had one of his classmates, Donovan, spend the night Thursday, June 23rd.  The boys spent most of the evening in the basement playing with the slot cars or the Nintendo Wii.  They also opted to sleep down there pulling out the bed from the sleeper couch.

Click on the link below to play the video.

Maltby @ Meijer

In the summer of 2010, Kirk Maltby hosted a cooking show and signed autographs afterwards at the Washington Township, MI Meijer’s.  If you watch closely you can see Nick, Brenna, & Michaela.  The music bed pulls down so you can even hear Kirk talking with Brenna.

Nick & Brenna in a paddle boat at the EnerNex Fall Party – Fall 2010.

• Preschool & kindergarden starts the school year one week later than the rest of the school.  The preschool boys started school on the 16th & 17th.  Brenna and the rest of the girls will attend on the 18th & 19th.  The full class of girls and boys start the rest of the school year together on Friday the 20th.
• We spent the weekend (13th – 15th) digging out from the dump truck of a moving van.  While we made great strides, we still have some work to do.
• Mayflower arrived with all 11,000+ pounds of our stuff around 8:00 AM on the 12th.  Fighting rain clouds but never seeing the rain the crew of three had the truck emptied out a little after 3:00 PM.  Shortly thereafter the rain that had been threatening all day long finally made its appearance….in the form of a good ol’ southern downpour!
• Nicklas started the 5th grade on Monday the 9th.  He likes his teacher and his classmates.  Let’s have a great school year!
• Michaela & Paul drove to Loudon on Saturday the 7th.  By 4:30 PM we were finally all together under one roof again.  The kids were so excited they nearly knocked me over trying to get to Michaela to say hello!
• The moving van arrived just before 9:00 AM on the 6th.  The crew of four cranked through the house in New Haven so fast things got onto the van that shouldn’t be going and were buried before we even knew they were on board.  The truck was loaded and on its way to spend the weekend in Sterling Heights by 4:00 PM.
• On the 5th, the packers helped us finish getting ready for the moving van – which comes on the 6th.
• Both Nicklas & Brenna were registered for school on August 4th.  Brenna is so excited to be starting.  Nick, well, another school year…ho hum.

• Nicklas spent two weeks in mid July in a summer program at school.  The program was geared at giving him a leg up in reading and math for the 5th grade.  Frankly, he doesn’t need the leg up for math, he needs it for reading.  Either way, he did very well and enjoyed the entire experience….even though it was school.
• We began moving into our new home in Loudon, TN over the July 4th weekend.  The bare essentials are there and we can survive on what is here but the moving van will be in New Haven August 6th.  It should arrive in Loudon, TN around August 12th.

• Nick & Brenna are spending a month in Michigan to see some friends and family!  They will be returning to Knoxville in mid July.
• Brenna’s new Imagination Library book arrived for June.  This month’s book is: “Office Buckle & Gloria”.
• Nicklas’ baseball team pictures are in!  The pictures are really good.  We will post one on the site as soon as we can…..

• We all had a great long weekend back in Detroit for Memorial Day weekend!
• Brenna has discovered the cakes at Gondolier!  For those of you who aren’t familiar with them, these multi layer, multi flavored cakes are no less than six inches tall – and usually taller.  Ask Brenna about them the next chance you get!
• Brenna has made a new friend!  The little girl is the sister of one of Nick’s teammates.  Ironically enough her name is Michaela.  The two girls play together during all the practice sessions and the games.  Brenna looks forward to going to see ‘her friend’ on baseball nights!
• Nicklas’ baseball team isn’t winning a lot of games, but the kids are all having fun
• Nicklas’ school year ended on May 5th. He has officially been moved on to the 5th Grade.  Congrats little man!!
• Saturday, May 8 was the annual Open House at the Tellico Village Fire Department.  While Grumpa and Sitay were in town everyone went to the fire house to enjoy the fun.  Pictures from the event are currently posted in the Photo Gallery and will be there for about a week.
• Saturday May 8 was picture day for Nicklas and his baseball team.  When the photos come in we will be sure to share them with all of you.
• Friday May 7th was Grandparents Day at Steekee School.  Nicklas invited Grumpa and Sitay down for the event.  Everyone went to school for a good ol’ fashioned country breakfast, pictures, the Steekee School Chorus, and the the Scholastic Book Fair!  A great time was had by all….including Brenna who is already calling Steekee ‘her school’!

• Brenna spent a part of Friday April 30th at Steekee School.  She was invited to spend a part of the day there as a part of the Pre-K roundup.  The school gets an idea of the size of the incoming class and the kids get a taste of what is coming in the fall.
• Nicklas’ baseball team won their first game of the season – the third game on their schedule – 13 to 1 Thursday night.  As a reminder, Nick plays for the Red Sox.  They beat the Yankees. For any baseball fan there’s something poetic about that, eh?
• Nicklas’ school science fair project won second place this past Monday – April 26th – and is eligible to take his project to the county science fair Monday, May 3rd.  Details of how his project does at the Loudon County science fair coming soon!
• Nick played his first baseball game of the season Thursday, April 22, 2010.  His team lost.  Their next game is Tuesday, April 27, 2010….at 7:45 PM!
• Nicklas was invited to join the local Boy Scout Troop on their annual spring hike Sunday the 18th.  They invite the Webelos from the Cub Scout Pack to join them to aid in the transition from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts.  This years trip is to Lookout Mountain down in Chattanooga.  The boys will hike up the mountain, spend an hour at the top for lunch, and hike back down the mountain all in four hours.  As an added bonus Troop 215’s Committee Chairman, Active Duty Army Colonel John Cardwell, will be joining them for the trip up the mountain.  Col. Cardwell is a world renowned Civil War historian who’s narratives of the battles in the area ought to make this hike one Nicklas won’t soon forget!
• Brenna made a new friend at Nicklas’ baseball proactive Saturday the 17th.  The two of them played together nearly the entire practice time….climbing, crawling, rolling, in, on, or through nearly every available pile of red dirt they could find together.  She was covered from heard to toe.  So much so that she turned the bath water that night into a murky orange soup!  Her new friends name you ask?  Michaela.  It’s a small world……
• Brenna’s has gotten two books from the Imagination Library since getting her March book. Her new books are “The Ladybug Girl” and “Otis”.
• Brenna and Mimi had girl’s day out on Tuesday the 13th.  A trip to the library for the story telling and crafts, lunch with Mimi, and running a few errands filled her day…and wore her out!
• Nicklas will play his first baseball game of this season with his team, the Red Sox, Thursday the 22nd.  For now they are still practicing on Tuesdays and Saturdays.
• Easter Sunday the three members of the family remaining in New Haven went to Sitay & Grumpa’s for Easter dinner and the traditional egg hunt.  Both kids did well in the egg hunt. A great time was had by all!
• Easter Sunday Paul left to return to Knoxville.  He started his new job with EnerNex on Monday the 5th.  The kids stayed behind to spend break week with Mumma
• Friday the 2nd, we all went to Pump It Up in Macomb Township with our New Haven neighbors and their kids.  The kids got to play for a few hours on inflatable castles, slides, and other HUGE blow up playscapes.  They also got to take part in a pizza party for lunch, an Easter egg hunt, and pictures with the Easter Bunny.  We’d never heard of the place before…but the kids had a BLAST!
• Spring Break began for Nicklas at the end of the school day April 1st.  Nick was picked up at school and the three of us returned to Detroit for the Easter holiday and spring break week.

• Nicklas had his first practice with this year’s Lenoir City baseball team on 3/27.  He is a member of the Red Sox this season.  He’s been a member of the Blue Jays, Mariners, and Mets in his past seasons with New Haven Little League.
• Nicklas raced his Pinewood Derby Car on Saturday, March 27, 2010.  He and his car took Third Place and earned the right to compete in the District competition in a few weeks.
• Nicklas did very well at his baseball tryout on the 18th.  He hit and threw / caught well and hopes to have a good year.  Teams should be drafted by the 24th and games start in early April.
• Brenna received another book from Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.  This is the second book this month.  ‘The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush’ she received early this month must actually be the February book making the latest arrival, “Ladybug Girl and Bumblebee Boy”, the book for March.
• Nicklas is excited for the annual Cub Scout Pinewood Derby.  This year’s event is on Saturday 3/27.  He wants to run last year’s car rather than make a new one.  Under the rules, he can run last years car
  as long as he modifies it in some way…so he changed the paint scheme of the car.
  We shall see if the car does as well for him this year as it did last.
• Nicklas has signed up to play little league baseball in Lenoir City’s league with a friend of his.  He has tryouts on March 18th.
• Paul was given more tickets to the Knoxville Ice Bears. He and Nicklas went to the game Friday night 3/12 unaware that the tickets waiting at Will Call were for an ice level box!  We sat just left of the goal the Ice Bears shoot at for two periods – the Zamboni end.  Nicklas was able to interact with the team during player introductions, fist bumpd the three blind mice – a.k.a. the referees – as they left the ice after all three periods, and all the other game related activities that take place at the Zamboni end of the ice during a game – all while being glued to the glass to watch the game! He left the arena with pucks from the pre-game skate, the puck that scored the 3-3 tying goal for the Ice Bears with 0:01 left in the first – handed to him by the linesman that dropped the puck at center to kill the first period clock, and a third puck that cleared the glass with 6:00 minutes to go in the third.  He got the puck from the third period signed by the winning goalie #82 Andrew Gallant and the player with the first assist
  on the game winning goal, forward #15 Mike Bulawka. This was a night Nicklas will not soon – if ever – forget.
• Brenna received another birthday present this past week from Grumpa and Sitay.
• Nicklas spent the night Friday 3/5 at his friend’s (Tyler) house.  The boys seem to becoming quite good friends.
• Brenna’s latest book from the Imagination Library arrived – “The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush”.