What a Week!

{No, we didn't go to the beach again... this picture's from June. I just like it.}{BRAGGING ALERT!}

The kids have each had a VERY good week. Molly had a couple of major projects due at school, which she completed on time (with a couple of late nights and plenty of stress on her part) and did a fantastic job on. She also did a super sweet thing; her writing teacher is leaving to have a baby at Christmastime and has decided not to come back to teaching so she can be home with her baby. So, Molly and a friend decided to make a going-away binder for her, from all the students in their 4th grade advanced writing class. The two of them gathered paper, clear sheets, stencils, markers, etc. from their homes, and during recess over the course of several days they had all the other kids make little scrapbook pages with messages & signatures for the binder. They presented it to their teacher earlier this week and succeeded in bringing her to tears; what a sweet thing.

Zoe is quite the little artist. She draws and draws... and is quite good at it. I really think she has inherited some of her dad's talent in this area. Something she made in art at school has been selected for display in the district offices for the next two months! We're excited to go see it together as as family. Zoe's doing so well in academics too; Aaron & I are blown away every time we get an email with her updated grades.

Lucy has made great strides this week. She started off the school year being a little chatterbox in class; apparently she just has too many friends in there to resist! After seeing that this was becoming too much her new norm, we got serious about it and also her teacher finally moved her to a different desk away from her friends... she has had a perfect behavior record all this week. Her grades, which were already pretty awesome, have reflected this improvement as well. Yay Lucy!

Noah had a school assignment to write a Thanksgiving card for his family and he did a pretty amazing job; he went through each family member and listed very specific reasons why he's thankful for each of us. It's very tender and he said the sweetest things, such as the following comment to his sisters, "I may have wanted a brother, but I'd never trade you for one."

And.... drumroll please... Noah was in the school spelling bee today! He was also in the school spelling bee in 3rd and 4th grade; both of those years we didn't do any studying/prep for it and he just did his best. He didn't get very far either year but that was okay. Well, this year he wanted to be more prepared. Over the past couple of weeks we'd mastered the entire 450-word study list he was given, which was about all we could handle.

(My mom was there with me today to watch him; I FORGOT MY CAMERA!! so she took a few far-away fuzzy pics with her cellphone... but better than nothing so thanks Mom!)

There were 36 kids at the beginning; 2 from each class from 3rd-6th grade.

We were in luck: they used only words from the study list for the first seven rounds... so Noah made it that far. By the end of the seventh round there were only six kids left on stage.

It was obvious when they started using words that were NOT on the list, because all these formerly-confident spellers were suddenly asking for word-repeats, definitions, sentences, and origins. By the 10th round, we were down to three kids....

and by the 18th round, we were STILL down to these same three kids! They went on and on, mostly missing words by this point; the pronouncer was throwing some real doozies at them. In round 13 both girls had missed their word but Noah got his right (gratis)... but, he had to spell a bonus word correctly to be declared the winner. He missed that one (dromedary) so they kept going on and on until finally after round 18 we were down to two. Starting with round 18, the pronouncer and judges realized that school would be dismissed in 15 minutes so they'd better wrap it up by giving the kids some words that they might actually have a chance of spelling correctly (not like "numismatics" and "eupepsia," Noah's words for rounds 16 and 17 - which he missed).

It was such a relief when they started giving the kids "normal" easier words again; Noah correctly spelled caravan, crystal, irrigate, bankruptcy, and chandelier...

AND HE WAS THE WINNER!!!! I have such a big regret for not having brought my camera; I would love to have gotten the final word & crowd eruption on video. It was quite a moment! My mom and I nearly burst into tears; Noah's friends and sister and cousins were all screaming; it was the biggest relief after nearly TWO HOURS of tension.

Here's Noah receiving his certificate and his prize of a $10 gift card to Barnes & Noble.

Since the Bee ran so late, the kids only had a couple minutes to return to their classrooms to pack up their backpacks before the dismissal bell. Noah told us later that as soon as he got to his classroom door, three of his buddies were waiting inside and they hoisted him up by his legs and carried him across the room to his desk in victory-carry style. How cute! He's definitely enjoying the attention today; it's been such a fun thing. I've spent the whole evening giving Aaron the play-by-play.

So next up is the District Bee, in mid-January. He was given a very thick packet of study words... I know we'll work on them but the competition will be so fierce at the district level; I almost don't want to try too hard and I would love to keep expectations low.

What a great week! Having the big projets & spelling bee behind us now, I'm looking forward to a semi-relaxing weekend.