Spelling Bee

Yesterday Ainsley participated in her third grade Spelling Bee. She was really nervous for a couple of reasons. Standing in front of the entire third grade and many parents was a bit frightening to her, and if there's ever been a subject she's struggled with it's spelling.

I'm really proud of her for being courageous enough to participate. I told her that if she actually showed up to her bee she'd do better than I ever did. When I was in third or fourth grade I made it to the spelling bee and faked sick the day of because I was so nervous. Chris told her that if she spelled her first word correctly she'd do better than he ever did. When he was in a spelling bee it was held after school. He didn't feel like staying, so he spelled his first word wrong on purpose. She did better than both of us. She didn't place, but she was the thirteenth one out. There were only eleven kids in the entire third grade that placed better than her. Because it's spelling this was quite an accomplishment--she's sure come a long way since first grade. Congratulations Ainsley!

Ainsley and her three other classmates that made it to the Bee

PBS Kids Writers Contest

In March Kaylee decided to try "homeschooling" for a day - mostly she just didn't feel like going to school anymore. I told her that if she stayed home I was definitely going to come up with some work for her to do. She ended up writing and illustrating a story to submit to our local PBS Kids Writers Contest. About a month later we received a call from PBS letting us know that Kaylee's story had won third place in the Kindergarten division. She was invited to a celebration in honor of the winners.

Today was the big celebration. The children who won read their stories (which were projected on a screen) to the audience, received certificates and were given a fun prize package. There were also refreshments.

Kaylee was excited about the awards ceremony, but her most favorite part was that her story is now posted online for all to see.  Congratulations Kaylee!

Gardening

Lately Landon and I have been spending a lot of time in the backyard--the girls join us occasionally. We built a new garden box (with some help from Chris), planted seeds and a couple of trees, and have been watching our garden start to grow.

Plums


Carrots


Cucumber (or as we like to call them, cumber-cukes)


Corn


Watermelon


Lemons


Apples

We're also growing zucchini, strawberries and some herbs. I'm not that great of a gardener (I think I kill more than I produce), but it sure is fun to try. I figure the more I practice the better I'll get--hopefully.

Kinder Performance

Tonight was Kaylee's Kindergarten performance. The theme was Texas cowboys/cowgirls and the kids were told to dress up like the theme. We had a little photo shoot with Kaylee and her good friend Jacob after their performance. It was supposed to be one quick picture, but Jacob was acting like a goof. They ended up turning out super cute because of the goofiness, and I did get that one quick picture in the end.

It's hard to believe that Kaylee only has four weeks of Kindergarten left! She's grown so much since her first day of school. It's kind of sad but definitely fun to watch her grow. We had a blast watching you tonight, Kaylee!