The Spelling Bee!!

Matanzas School Spelling Bee

Yesterday Ma-lak was in his school's spelling bee!! We are so proud of him, he did GREAT!!! He was a little nervous, as I'm sure they all were.... Including his little friend Jenny who sat beside him, clinging to him the better part of the event (cue smothered laughter and giggles from parents, here!)

The first round, he spelled "wooden", and the second round was "walnut". No problem. The hiccup came in the third round with the word "scissors".... They allowed the kids to write the word down first if they wanted to, which did two things: 1. It made the whole thing move really reeeeaaaalllly slow..... And 2. I think it confused them! I know when I write something, sometimes I think "Well that just doesn't look right!" But if you'd ask me to spell it I could rattle it off.

So he took a full minute to write down the word "scissors" - I'm certain I could hear crickets chirping. He picked up the mic and started to spell it, and said "s-i-s, I mean s-c-i....." DING!!!! You aren't allowed to start spelling a word and then start over. And the bummer of it all was he totally had it written correctly on his little paper!! Awwwww.... Audible groans from the audience, none greater than ours. (sigh)

Next year!! But wow, what a great experience for him!

Lunch Date!

After the spelling bee, Daryle and I went exploring and found the Bennett Valley Golf Course just down the road from Ma-lak's school. They had a nice little sports bar place called Legends with the most yummy lettuce chicken wraps! And I couldn't resist a picture with Lucy.... Kid inside, that's me.

Dictionaries and Spelling Bees

The Santa Rosa Rotary Club gave away the most awesome dictionaries to the local 3rd graders this week! We're talking colorful pictures and the works! Ma-lak has been BURIED in his dictionary ever since.... It's hilarious! He will randomly announce, "Hey, did you know a diplodocus is a large plant-eating dinosaur??"

I'm thinking this dictionary may come in handy in the next couple weeks since Ma-lak will be competing in the school spelling bee soon! He and another girl in his class, along with 2 from every other class in the 3rd-6th grades will compete. He's so excited, and I have to say I'm a very proud mama.... :) I LOVED spelling bees when I was in school, too! Oh, the memories. Can't wait to watch him do his thing.

Now, if only all the words he has to spell are dinosaur species....

Ni'ke, Fashion Diva Extraordinaire

Well the Smith house is slowly getting back into a routine of sorts! David is now back in Baltimore, getting ready for classes to start next week. (It's very quiet here without him, and I miss my running partner... And Rea bawled for an hour the night before he left. (sigh)

The four little ones went back to school this week also, and it's been busy busy busy as always! One thing that I've been doing to try to make things a little easier and more organized for Daryle to get them around in the mornings since I don't get home from work till almlost 8:00 most days, is to have them get their clothes and back packs all ready the night before.

Ni'ke has been especially entertaining, since she lays her outfits out on the floor like a flat headless person. Totally makes me think of Flat Stanley, remember him??!! Anyway, while Daryle feels that her choices are "just fine", I am usually compelled to edit her choices more often than not. (I just can't do orange and brown plaid with lavender leggings, people!) But here is what I've come to accept: Letting her express herself, even if that means letting her wear the most colorful clothes in her closet ALL at ONCE, is no big thang, as long as she is clean, dressed, full of breakfast, and on time, right??!! right.

Exciting things happening soon:

*Daryle and I have a lunch date this afternoon! Can't wait! It's quite rare...
*Ya'shar's class is putting on The Wizard of Oz on Feb 1st. This should be good...
*Hopefully in 3-4 weeks I'll be switching to 12 hour shifts at work! This means a lot - more time with the kids and Daryle at home, less days at work, I can now car pool with my neighbor, allowing D to have the car and get the kids to school on time MORE OFTEN!!
*I'm back to running!! YAY! It feels good to be back, and I'm hoping to line up some 5-10 k's, as well as a marathon too!
*Working on getting Ma'lak into guitar lessons and Rea into piano. Prob not till summer, but gonna try to work with them here at home will official lessons start! FUN!!


Happy New Year to you all, and may this year be filled with hope and joy and may you see the Blessings of God clearly in your lives!

More Las Vegas Adventures!

So behind on posting!! Hard to believe that my parents were actually here for a visit since it flew by so fast!

I took Mom and Dad on a surprise adventure to Las Vegas while they were here. Mom had been 15 years ago with her parents, but so much has changed since then! And Dad had never been, and was about as excited as I've ever seen him, which made it all even more fun! We made sure to see a Cirque Du Soleil show and of course a live country music show, just for dad. Much to our delight, we had front row seats at the concert, and I didn't realize it was an impersonation show, so that was quite a hoot! I couldn't believe how much looked and sounded like the real people! (We were supposed to get free t-shirts at the show, but since they were out, the let us have a free group photo with the "stars". So here we are with Reba, Tim McGraw, Ronnie Dunn, and Big and Rich!!! Hilarious!)

We visited the Shark Reef Aquarium while we were there, my favorite is Dad finding the guitar fish - priceless!

The evening we got back to our room the first night - we were exhausted. While dad was in the bathroom, mom and I yelled into him that he'd better hurry because someone else was taking his spot in the nice soft bed. We put pillows under the covers and placed his boots and prized cowby hat in perfect position, and then proceeded to get the giggles so bad we could hardly sleep. Nothing particularly hilarious about the little prank, but I don't think I've ever laughed quite so hard!!!

Such special memories that I'll cherish forever!! I love you, Mom and Dad!

Presents!

Mom and Dad came bearing gifts, and Daryle and I got some pretty special ones! Since my husband and I are constantly "fighting" over the two yummy warm cozy blankets that mom made a few years back, she decided to settle all quabbles by making Daryle his very own! (He was quite happy.) And I got a sewing machine!! It's been years since I've sewn, and my sewing skills are pretty limited, but I'm confident I can handle simple mending and making some doll clothes for the girls or scrub shirts for me! Thanks Mom and Dad!!

Bibles

One of my most memorable Christmases as a child was the year my mom and dad got us all our own Bibles and had our names engraved on them. Daryle remembers his mom doing that for he and his sister one year, too, so this year we did that for the 4 little ones. They loved it! It's been such a blessing to see them curled up with their Bibles, excited to read and learn!!

Night at the Movies!

Dozin', Sewin', and Fixin'!!

It was hard to keep my parents STILL the week they were here! They were always puttering around doing stuff, which I appreciated SOOOO much, but I wanted them to REST!!! And RELAX!!! (Please note my dad sleeping on the bus on our way back home!) We'll work on that more next time.... :)

Mom made these gorgeous new curtains for me for the kitchen, and a little cubby hole curtain in the family room. My new sewing machine was being temperamental so Dad put his handy skills to work and they fixed it right up.

I miss them....

More Las Vegas Fun

Las Vegas!!