So what...

Julia's math homework involved listening for patterns in music & clapping/snapping/jumping along with the beat. We all got a little silly after awhile & couldn't resist rocking out...nobody said it had to be Raffi music...a little Pink does the trick too...

She WON!!

Emma is now the 4th grade Spelling Bee champion at her school...She WON!!

As with all great competitions, it was bathed in controversy...

When it came down to the final two kids, the other girl had to spell 'jungle.' She spelled j-u-n-g-l. The judges said 'incorrect.' The girl sat down and Emma had to spell 'jungle' and then one other word to win. I think her winning word was 'wigwam' but I was too nervous for her and can't remember now. Some of her other words were sushi, mermaid, scratch, square and scared.

Anyway, she spelled both words correctly and was declared champion. Afterwards, the mother of the other child marched up and grabbed her (then crying) child and protested to the principal and judges saying that she had, indeed, said the 'e' at the end of jungle. They all assured her that she did not so the mother took her child out of the room. She came back a few minutes later pacing back and forth in the back of the room, waving her arms and mumbling about the unfairness of it all telling anyone who would listen, "that's great. Now I have a crying child." A good time for teaching a life lesson but that didn't seem to be happening...

Anyway, Emma did a great job...she was so cool, calm and collected. The words weren't as hard as the ones in her practice book...and most of the kids tripped up on letter-order because they were nervous or trying to go too fast. I'm positive that's what happened with jungle girl. Karen said that's part of the bee...more than just spelling, it's also effective communication and presentation. That sounds about right.

So...off to districts...yikes!

En EE Are Vee Oh You Es

That's Emma tonight as she falls asleep with thoughts of "dahlia"..."springbok"...and "streusel" (among others) racing through her head.
The spelling bee is tomorrow...and man is she nervous!!!!!
I'll let you know how she does...but she already knows way more words than I do so I'm sure she'll be great!!!

History

I was lucky to be able to watch the inaugural ceremony this morning. What a calm, cool guy Obama seems to be. That will be a nice change. Did he really memorize his speech? I never saw him looking at notes...very impressive.
I was also moved by the poem witten/read by Elizabeth Alexander.

Julia's class got to watch too...I wondered if they'd be able to...I was moved again by the little sticker she was wearing when she came out of school...

Indeed. That's one to stick in the baby book!

I wonder...

This came home in Julia's Friday Folder. They just finished a unit on sunlight & shadows. Don't we all wonder this, really...

weekend fun

What a fun weekend! My Aunt Barbara & Uncle Fritz drove to Colorado for Barb's Pampered Chef conference & we got to spend the weekend with them. They haven't been here since Karen's wedding in 2000 so it was high time for a visit!! It was so nice to have them around!!! A couple of the nicest people I know!
All together now...

Fritz, Emma & Barb

Jeff & Susan

Playing around with Uncle Steve

(and Karen's new rescue dog, Buddy, is pretty nice too!)

Girls in Trees

The girls have discovered that they can climb the trees in our back yard...they're poplar trees so they can only get so far before branches start bending but I applaud their efforts!

Tubing

Tubing at the hill in Fraser has become an annual tradition. Today, however, we discovered that winter break is definitely NOT the time to go. Traffic up I-70 was so horrific...it took us forever to get there!!! By the time we finally got there, it was so crowded, the wait for tubes was an hour (although while we were waiting, the people behind us were told their wait would be two & a half hours!!!) Bleah!!
But our waiting-hour went by pretty quickly & the tubing was great!!!
...waiting, waiting (me & the girls)

passing the time...

Finally!!

Tooth

For those keeping score, Sophie's loose-since-October tooth finally fell out last night (while she was pulling on it in her bed). The tooth had a remarkably long root so it hung in there forever!! No wonder!!
For your viewing pleasure...