Gracie's Bee

Last week, Gracie participated in her school spelling bee. She was one of two students chosen from her language arts class, the other was her BFF Sarah. There were thirty-four kids total gathered from the third, fourth and fifth grades. The winner of the school spelling bee moved on to the district competition, then regionals before the Scripps National Spelling Bee. I think that's how it goes!

Grace made it through four rounds. She was knocked out in the fifth round when she left the "i" out of the word "maimed." More than half of the kids were out when Gracie was eliminated, and Sara fell out in the same round. The two spent the rest of the day laughing about some of the word choices, making light of their losses by pretending to be spelling bee word presenters on game shows.

Our Little Competitor



Gracie's Sweet Friend Sarah

Holiday Fun at the Ho-Ho-Hoedown

The neighborhood school had a "Ho-Ho-Hoedown" open house to celebrate the holidays. Gracie's choir caroled through the halls while I took Bub and Brystol around to participate in some of the activities. We decorated cookies, visited the holiday shop and used pennies to vote for our favorite trees decorated like The Homeless Christmas Tree in the book by Leslie Gordon. Not surprisingly, our pennies went into the buckets for trees decorated by my kids and their classmates. The "votes" will be contributed to the homeless shelter to provide holiday meals for the poor.

Winter Choir Concert -- December 2010

Gracie joined the choir at the neighborhood school and just had her first concert. They sang several wintry songs and a couple of spirituals. They also collected blankets for residents of a nearby rehab home that they plan to visit as part of a community service project. Though this was her first performance with a singing group, Gracie wasn't the least bit nervous. She had a blast, she remembered all the words and moves, and she did a GREAT job. She's a natural!

All dressed and ready!


Lining up...


Singing holiday songs


Showing off the collected gifts


Peek-a-Boo!


Posing with her BFF, Sarah