Spelling Bee

At the end of March Emily competed in the 2nd grade spelling bee. 7 kids from each class participated. She practiced more than last year and was looking forward to doing much better. I think mom was much more nervous than she was. I could hardly breathe. After she spelled the first word correctly I settled down a little. Emily was really cute. After round 3 she started holding up her fingers to show us what round she passed. Last year she only made it to the 2nd round. She really wanted to make it to the top five. She ended up with 6th place and we couldn't of been prouder. But she was disappointed and she wears her emotions on her sleeve. Like her mom. She started to cry and lost it when she got to me. I think she was pleased afterward but said she could have done better. But, she was the last one standing from her class! Way to go Emily.

Jake is 6

Jake is finally 6. He waited a loooong time! We were all set for a friend party that he and Emily had planned and then he changed his mind at the last minute. So his birthday started with the traditional donut and candle for breakfast. After school we headed home to open a couple presents. He loves his new bike for the race car sound affects it makes when you rev the handle bar. Next it was off to Wendy's for lunch. Then we headed off to the golf course to walk 3 holes. It was a little chilly but was still fun.

He finally decided to go celebrate with his cousin Tommy. Devo made the cobra cake/rice crispies. He is the bomb. It turned out perfect. Move over there is a new cake maker in the family. Jake was very pleased with it and said it looked real. The rice crispies were hard but the kids didn't seem to mind. The kids had fun with the pinata. (I think this is why he didn't want a friend party because he didn't want to share the candy) Grandma Due ended up decapitating the dinosaur in the end. The kids thought that was pretty funny.

Since he wasn't having a friend party we had to come up with something special to do fast. I had seen a commercial several times from Scales and Tails of UT., and they just happened to be free on Tues. so we booked a reptile show for a surprise for Jake. It was just the 4 kids and he was in Heaven the entire time! Evidence by the smile on his face in the pictures. He got to hold and touch snakes! He tells everyone he meets all about the snakes he held and is still flying high. It was actually a very entertaining and informative show. Well worth the money, and the look on Jakes face was priceless.

He also got to hold a blue tongue skink and turtle. He loved the gopher snake!

The blood python named Mary was a biter so they just got to touch that one. The albino reticulated python was a favorite of Jakes. Sam kept saying "I like snakes." Emily was a little timid holding the gopher snake and didn't want to put it around her neck. But when grandma did it she said she would give it a try. Fun was had by all.

Jake's favorite gift was a bug collector. That he opened immediately and went outside in the freezing cold to go hunting. His first bug was a worm. On sunday in the snow he caught a wasp. Good thing it was so cold it could hardly move, so the danger was minimal?