EVAN and the BEE

Evan came home from school a couple of weeks ago with a thick green paper packet. He presented it to me, smiled and said "I get to be in the spelling bee!" I asked him all the typical questions excitedly... when, why, how etc... And here are the details; Evan and one other boy were selected to represent his third grade class. He has earned 100% on ALL his weekly spelling tests and each week they also have 10 "bonus words" that are more advanced words. He has missed only 4 of the bonus words all year!! Each week as he'd bring home his tests with a big 110% circled at the top I'd tell him to keep up the good work and maybe he'd be a spelling bee winner, like his mom was in fifth grade!! Sure enough....He won his class spelling bee and therefore would be moving on to the school bee, where two students from each class would be competing (3rd-5th grade) The green packet consisted of lists of words, origins and definitions divided in sections ranging from beginning words to advanced words and there were a LOT of them! The spelling bee was to be held on Friday the 27th so he had about 2 weeks to prepare. He was excited and we were so proud of him!! My sisters and their kids were in town for a week and we had events planned EVERYDAY. I pulled the boys out of school for two days during the week, one for skiing and the other for a sledding, fun day and the opportunity to be with their cousins! Needless to say we didn't get in a whole lot of studying for the bee. There were a few nights that Evan looked over the words and Glen or I helped him... but I figured the next week, once everyone was gone home we'd really dig in! Well Evan came home from school the Monday before the bee and told us that instead of having it Friday they had moved it to TOMORROW!! yikes!! We crammed a bit that night but after talking to my dad who is an educator and is familiar with spelling bee's I knew that it was not looking too good for Evan. I made sure to take my dad's advice about letting Evan know that it was a really big deal just to be selected. that's quite an accomplishment! My dad made a good point also that out of all those kids (40) there is only ONE winner and a good portion of doing well in a spelling bee is luck, depending on which word you get asked to spell. :) I was so proud of Evan for being such a hard working, smart kid and we made sure to send him out the door that morning feeling no stress or pressure and with the reassurance that no matter what the outcome, being part of the bee was a big honor! He seemed excited, calm and ready, but I couldn't help feeling guilty and like a loser mom, thinking I could have prepared him better! My sister Julie was still in town for a few days so my mom offered to babysit Gabe and Ruby so that Julie could come and cheer Evan on with us. When we arrived at the school I had a knot in my stomach for my sweet boy, I didn't even have to do anything and I was nervous! When the spellers entered the stage I could feel his panic. We waved, smiled and gave him a bunch of thumb's up signals. He kept taking deep breaths and wiping his wet palms on his knees. Poor kid doesn't stand a chance at being brave up in front... Glen and I are both full of nerves about that stuff too!

In this picture he's up next... can't you just see the tension in his shoulders , poor kid... but he did so great and relief washed over his face after that first word.

Yeah!!! We were hoping he'd at least get one word right, very ambitious of us huh? But hey, this was our first time and now we know what to expect, right??:) He made it through two rounds and luck was not on his side... a few of the words spelled before him were foxy and cupcake?? come on!!! Well Evan's word was avail. not a very common word like the others.... I specifically remember practicing that one and he spelled it with an e on the end a-v-a-i-l-e. I corrected him but before he started spelling it at the bee I wondered if he'd remember. He started a-v-a-i-l...... long pause and then an E ???? shoot!! it just slipped out and he knew it before they told him that it was incorrect! Oh, well...

My gosh.... he's such a cute boy!
totally off subject but just remembering...when he was little. Each night as I'd tuck him in bed I'd whisper in his ear..."out of all the little boys in the world, how did I get so lucky to get you" He'd giggle and whisper "say it again mommy" and we'd repeat it at least four times :) He is such a special kid... and oh, how we love our Evan!!

After the round that he got out on he came down off the stage with the other kids... some were in tears... pretty intense!! He was disappointed and a little mad too! He said "I can't believe it! I knew that word" We told him he did great and that from now on he'd always remember and probably NEVER spell avail wrong :) I was pretty surprised about the rules of the spelling bee they are pretty harsh and the advanced words are insane... tricky and long and basically have to be memorized! There were some pretty serious competitors. Maybe our spelling bee days will be over with this one??
A hug from dad makes everything better!

I picked Evan up from school and we went straight to grandma's house... on the way there I asked him what everyone at school said to him about being in the spelling bee. He was all surprised and said "Everyone told me that I did so great, even though I got out mom, can you believe that?" what a funny kid! When we got to my mom's me and Julie had a little surprise waiting for Evan. A candy card telling him "way to "rock" and " roll" at the bee and we SPELLED his name out with rice crispie treats! I breathed a little sigh of relief that the spelling bee was over and that Evan ended up as confident as ever not to mention, he's got some new words in his vocabulary too!

Evan and aunt Julie