Frankenstein

It snowed today!  Well, just a little bit.  Rob came over in the morning but didn't stay too long.  I volunteered in Preston's class and then helped in Jorja's.  I love how the kids in Jorja's class love to see me.  I walked in and immediately over ten hands shot up.  Even Jorja's.  I looked at her and said, "Really Jorja?"  She nodded yes.  The kids were having trouble figuring out how to find the surface area and volume of irregular shapes.  I have always thought that was kind of fun.  Anyway, I worked with several kids for quite awhile.  I didn't get to work with Jorja.  She was pretty disappointed about that.  She understands it, I think she just wants to be able to go out in the hall and work with me once.

Stockton came home and told me that the boy who won the spelling bee at his school won the regional bee and is now heading to Washington DC.  That's so cool!  He said that he was studying the word Frankenstein on the way to the bee because he kept messing up on it. That ended up being his winning word.  Holy cow!  Frankenstein was his winning word?  That was a word from the list.  Stockton knew every word on the list.  (The regional list.  They have used the same list for years!  It is a really big list and really hard.)  Anyway, Stockton knew all the words on the list a few years ago. They had to go off the list when he was in 6th grade.  There were at least ten people left.  Stockton finished 4th.  Man, if Stockton had been able to make it to regionals he would have had a really good chance of making it to DC.  I hope Michael Jones does awesome!  It would be so fun to see him.  We loved watching Vismaya last year!  She ended up taking 5th overall.  Wow.

Mike wanted to know who ended up sponsoring the bee.  He looked it up on the computer.  In January they had an article about the kids in this area not being able to compete in the bee.  Then a few weeks later another article that said two companies stepped up to sponsor the bee. One was a law firm, the other was Overstock.  What?  Mike had looked into Overstock sponsoring the bee back in October.  The deadline for the schools to sign up was one week away and he wasn't able to pull it off.  He never heard anything back and we assumed it wasn't going to happen.  That is so cool that they did this.  Mike loves that company!

Grouse

So, Stockton had a spelling bee today.  He found out about it on Tuesday and got the list yesterday.  He was able to memorize the entire list, so he was feeling okay.  Right before the bee started the announcer told them they would not be using that list.  That list was just to practice how it is to spell words.  That is weird.  Why would you study those words if you know none of them are going to be asked?  Right then it made the bee a luck game.  Stockton hates luck games.  He insists that he always loses when it comes down to luck.  The words started off super silly.  Stockton's first word was shy.  I'm serious. Although one person spelled July Jouly and another one spelled silly sily.  His words went from ridiculously easy to I have never heard of this word.  He had tower, award and joust.  Then came the round with weird words.  Stockton got out on grouse.  He spelled it grouss.  It was kind of funny because a lot of the words in that round were a lot stranger, but Stockton knew how to spell them.  He said to me after, "Why couldn't I have gotten bulbous?"  Anyway, we were happy with the kid that won.  His winning word was netiquette.  Stockton knew that one too.  This poor kid has the next round on Saturday.  Talk about no time to prepare.  I'm not sure if our district was able to get someone to sponsor them in the Scripps spelling bee, or if they are just doing something for fun.  I hope he does well.  He seems like a great kid. 

Stockton and I were talking about spelling bees.  At the school level they shouldn't go to the crazy words.  They should have words like their, there, your, weird, vacuum, believe, calendar, cemetery, twelfth, library, misspell, principal, principle, receive.  There are many words that many of the junior high kids don't know how to spell right.  Save the crazy words for DC!

Devastated

I received an e-mail from Stockton's principal telling me he was unable to sign up the school up for the spelling bee because there was no sponsor.  I filled out a form for information on the Scripps site.  They wrote back and said that The Valley Journal is no longer able to sponsor the bee.  As a result no one in the Salt Lake Area will be able to compete.  What?  This is Stockton's last year of eligibility.  He was also excited because Vismaya is now in 9th grade.  She has won the regional bee the last three years.  She placed FIFTH in the national bee.  She is seriously awesome.  She is so nice, and I found her parents to be extremely kind as well.  They talked to us after Vismaya won a couple years ago.  I immediately liked them.  We had so much fun cheering for Vismaya last year.  Anyway, Stockton knew this was his best chance of ever being able to go to the bee.  Now he doesn't even get to try.  So sad.

Afternoon With Authors

That was the title on Preston's invitation.  He wrote, "Please Come" inside.  So cute!  I was able to go to Preston's Kindergarten class today. He showed me a collection of his writing and art work.  My favorite was his 'Frogs are amphibians!' page.  He wrote: My frog has wings.  it livs Above The clawds.  My frog Has a house.  The house is Red, Yello, Blue  Haha!  Love it!

Preston was excited to see he was wearing the same shirt as he was on the picture in his book.  He had me take a picture of him holding a book with a picture of him holding a book.

Preston

Preston wanted a picture with his teacher.  He looked everywhere for the perfect place.  He has loved Kindergarten this year.  He loves, loves, loves Mrs. Moon!

Preston and Mrs. Moon

Jorja's new frog came in the mail today.  It is a flower frog.  She has named her Ivy.

Jorja & Ivy

This afternoon was super busy!  After swimming & diving I took some of my beehives to see Nicole dance.  She did AMAZING!  It was great!  She was so happy that so many of us came.  I got back pretty late.  It was the National Spelling Bee today.  We recorded it.  We weren't able to watch it, but we did see that Vismaya was in the TOP 11!  She made it to the finals!  Actually Stockton recognized her parents first.  I hope she did awesome.  Well, obviously she did awesome if she is in the top 11.  We won't be able to watch until Saturday.....AAHHHH!!!  We are so excited!  How crazy it would be if she won!  We would LOVE to see that!

EXTANT

Stockton came in 2nd place in his school spelling bee today.  The sad thing is there was only 3 people competing.  It doesn't matter how many there are, it only matters if there is someone else that can spell.  Luck is so much apart of spelling bees.  Luck has been on Stockton's side before, but it wasn't on his side today.  I know he was disappointed. Especially since they didn't even go off of the list.  The unlucky thing for him was his word was mispronounced.  It was pronounced 'extent'. That is how Stockton spelled it.  I wish he had asked for alternate pronunciations, but everything was moving so fast.  With only two people in it for quite awhile they were spelling words as fast as I could write them down.  I think that is why Stockton didn't hesitate when he heard extent.  That is obviously the way to spell it.  I didn't know enough about the word to know if I could challenge it.  Or if Stockton would want me to.  Anyway, when we got home we looked up the pronunciation.  It is pronounced either 'ek-stuh nt' or 'ik-stant'.  I always pronounced it the second way and Stockton never missed it once.  Stockton was a really good sport though.  He congratulated the other girl and didn't complain once.  Life isn't fair, spelling bees aren't always fair.  At least our life is awesome.  I sure do love him.

After the bee our next stop was Cold Stone.  Mike and Christen gave Stockton a gift certificate for Christmas.  (Well, one of their kids did, but I can't remember which one!)  Thank you for the kind gift.  Today was the perfect day for us to use it.  Nothing can take the sting of a bee away like chocolate!

Stockton

 Preston, Stockton, Maysen

BEST-CASE, CONFLICT

Jorja earned two branding iron words today.  She had her class spelling bee.  If you spelled two words wrong you were out.  Jorja placed 4th. She was the last girl standing.  Her first word she spelled wrong was best-case.  That is an obnoxious word for a spelling bee.  Jorja spelled it bestcase.  The second word she spelled wrong was conflict.  I think she said the i was an e.  She had a hard time with that word when we were practicing.  She was a little disappointed, but I'm so proud of her. Spelling doesn't come as easy to her as it does to Stockton.  She worked really hard.  I love that.

Art Center

Preston was so excited of the pumpkin he made at his art center in kindergarten.  He even let me take his picture in front of the red bush. Mike and Preston also finished his pumpkin while Stockton and I were at diving.  There were a lot of high school kids there tonight.  Most of them diving for the first time.  Stockton looked really good!  He also learned how to do a back-flip pike dive.  I love watching him.  I am glad he has found something he enjoys.

Preston

 Preston with his art center pumpkin

 Mike's pumpkin next to Preston's spider pumpkin

I found some pictures I had taken from last night.  Jorja LOVED carving the pumpkins.  She loved digging out the insides.  Gross!  I hate that part!

Jorja

 Maysen

 Preston

 Neighborhood pumpkins

I still need to take a picture of Stockton's pumpkin in the daylight.  He has arms sticking out of the side. It looks pretty cool, but it doesn't glow.  Today was also the last day for schools to sign up for the Scripps Spelling Bee.  Last year the middle school didn't do a spelling bee.  I called the principle last spring and asked if they could do one.  Even if Stockton gets out in the classroom portion, I want him to have a chance to try this.  Stockton studies hard for this.  It is one of the few things in school that he cares about.  Anyway, the principle assured me they would have the bee.  About a month ago, I noticed our school was not on the official list.  I sent an e-mail to the principle volunteering to pay the $100 fee and filling out the paperwork.  He wrote back saying the PTA was taking care of it.  I called the PTA president and left a message about the bee.  She said they were planning on it.  Still, as of yesterday I didn't see our school on the list.  This morning, I looked again.  Not there.  Then it dawned on me that I had been putting in my home zip code - maybe the school zip code was different.  It was.  I checked with the right zip code and it was there!  Relief!  One of my friends is in the PTA leadership.  She volunteered me to run the spelling bee.  We will see what that means later, I am just so glad Stockton has a chance to do this again.  He loves it.

Pissaladiere

That is the word that Vismaya got out on.  She was eliminated in the 6th round.  The spellers eliminated in that round tied for 10th place.  In that national spelling bee.  That's incredible.  We were so excited to see her on tv!  The bee was on in the morning and afternoon.  Stockton watched the entire thing.  We were able to see Vismaya spell dysthymia correctly.  Then, just before Vismaya was up in the fifth round the recording stopped!  I guess we should have recorded the show after the spelling bee.  We have to do that with football games - just in case.  I should have known since it was on ESPN.  Stockton was disappointed. Especially since the person that was up was spelling a word Stockton completely knew.  I can't remember what the word was.  Stockton you should leave a comment.  The reason Stockton knew this word so well was because he got a spelling bee book at the library.  A CD came with it.  At the end of the CD there were practice words read by Jacques Bailly.  Anyway, another girl got a word that was on the CD.  She obviously had listened to it.  That word was bombicine.  Okay, that is not how you spell it.  Even though I listened to this CD on the way to diving for a month, I still have no idea how to spell the words.  Anyway, the girl got a big grin on her face and said something like, "Does it mean of or relating to silk worms?"  Well, I rambled on about that enough . . . and probably got most of it wrong - but Stockton enjoyed himself today.  I wish I could have stayed and watched the entire thing with him.

Red Ticket

I can't even begin to describe the emotions I had while Mike and I watched Stockton compete in the school spelling bee.  When he won and the crowd erupted in cheers, it was simply amazing.  Here was this boy.  The new kid.  We had been so worried about him.  Worried he wouldn't fit in.  Worried he wouldn't find friends.  Worried he would feel like he didn't belong.  Now, just in school a few months, we sat listening to his peers cheer him on.  I was overwhelmed.  Even if he hadn't won the bee that day I would have left happy.  The kids were cheering him all the way.  They were cheering on the other contestants as well.  It was awesome.

After the bee was a different story.  Not with the kids, but with the teachers.  One of my beehives is in Stockton's class.  Zoe told me that another teacher came in and yelled at her class for cheering on Stockton.  She said it was rude and made the other kids feel bad.  I was confused.  I did not feel like the entire audience was rooting just for Stockton, there were cheers for everyone.  When Stockton finally did win, the kids went crazy; but I'm sure that would have been the same reaction for the other finalists.  Especially since the two hour bee was now over.  I'm sure Stockton wouldn't have felt the other students were cheering against him.  He would have been disappointed, sure, but I don't think he would begrudge the students cheering for the winner. I'm sure the other finalists weren't upset with Stockton.  I think it was the teachers overreacting.

Anyway, I knew this had happened, but I did not know Stockton was aware of it.  I took him home right after the bee, but he went to class to pick up his backpack.  I guess he heard the teacher yelling at them.  Not only that, this morning he told me that his teacher yelled at them as well.  I didn't know that.  The thing that really irritates me about this situation was the red ticket.  In Stockton's school getting a red ticket is a really good thing.  They are hard to get.  Jorja and Stockton have only received one the entire year.  One of the teachers gave a student in Stockton's class a red ticket because they DIDN'T cheer for Stockton. Seriously.  That's ridiculous and completely annoying.  I'm not sure which fact irritates me more, the fact that they did it or that they did it in front of Stockton.  Although if they didn't do it at all it wouldn't have been done in front of Stockton, so I guess I'll have to go with that one.  I wish I had known about this earlier.  I would definitely had a discussion about this at parent-teacher conference.  As it is, three months later, I will just let it go.  After I get all my frustration taken out on this blog that is.

I-A-M-B-I-S-T

Stockton's Regional Spelling Bee was today. I was so nervous for him. My legs were shaking almost the entire four hours! I couldn't get them to stop! I knew he was prepared, but all it takes is one word . . .

Stockton was contestant 11. Contestant 12 ended up winning. Her name is Vismaya Kharkar. She also won last year. This will be her second time competing in Washington D.C. - lucky! She was really nice, as was her family.

Anyway, here is a run down of his competition.

Round 1. 79 contestants. Stockton's word: interrupt

Round 2. 47 contestants. Stockton's word: quell

Round 3. 38 contestants. Stockton's word: nemesis - haha!

Round 4. 28 contestants. Stockton's word: zucchini

Round 5. 20 contestants. Stockton's word: punctilio

Round 6. 15 contestants. Stockton's word: comandante

Round 7. 11 contestants. Stockton's word: fantoccini

Round 8. 9 contestants. Stockton's word: melange - thank goodness he asked for alternate pronunciations! The second pronunciation was easier. The first sounded like melaj. Silent letters can be annoying! Thankfully he answered correctly.

Round 9. Final 9 contestants. Stockton is now first.

Round 9. 4 contestants left. Stockton's word: iambist. He spelled it iambyst. He said he was trying to decide between y, i, or e. He decided to go with y when they said it was from Greek.

Vismaya's word was ebola. She got it right. Stockton knew that one as well. Girl #14 spelled her word lenative and girl #22 spelled hers moritorium. Vismaya was the only one left. She needed to spell her next word right, or the others were back in. Her word was aberrant. She did it perfectly. Hopefully she'll do great in Washington. We would love to watch her on TV!

Final Four

Stockton's teacher Mrs. Marre came!

Mike and Stockton

Mike, Stockton, Stephanie

My dad watched Preston during the bee. Maysen and Jorja came. I also texted my brothers (except Brett), my dad, Shannon and Teresa during the bee . . . . giving them a play-by-play. Hope I didn't annoy them. Today was really exciting and pretty exhausting. To celebrate, we picked up Little Caesars on the way home. Stockton's choice. Stockton said, "I'm as happy as if I had won the bee, and now I don't have to study!" What a good little attitude. I am so proud of him. I love being his mom! (On a side note, spell check is funny. It tells me several of Stockton's words are spelled wrong. Haha!)

Spelling

The kids didn't have school today. That worked out nicely. Stockton and I studied spelling all day. His regional bee is tomorrow. He is pretty excited/nervous. He really is good enough to win it all . . . or he can get out on the first word. I hope luck will be with him tomorrow!

My dad invited my family to go bowling today for Max's birthday. We haven't been for a long time. Stockton loved it! It was a welcomed distraction.

Today is also my grandma's 89th birthday. Love her! I am so thankful I can see her more often now that I have moved home. I don't know how I would have survived the first years after my mom's death without her. I'm stronger now, but I still enjoy every second I am able to be with her or talk to her. I talked to her on the phone today. As she said goodbye it sounded so much like my mom. I have never realized that before. I love you grandma! More than you will ever understand. Thank you for loving me.

A-L-I-B-I

Stockton WON his school spelling bee! Talk about nerve-wracking! The bee lasted for about two hours. I am so upset that I remembered to bring my awesome camera, but when Mike went to take a picture he realized there was no camera card in there. Maysen said, "That sounds familiar." Haha. She's right. I always forget the camera card for important events. Stockton had the best facial expressions, I wish I could post a collage of them. At least I had my cell phone, but dang it!

Mike did get this awesome picture below. I love it! Stockton was in shock after it was over. The emotions he went through were crazy! His eyes were all watery and he said, "It feels like I'm going to cry." Stockton loves spelling bees, so to be able to win today was just awesome. I will recap below why his emotions were on a roller coaster ride.

Stephanie and Stockton

The beginning of the bee. Things were fine and dandy for Stockton. His words were: bristle, audience, pristine, syringe, systematic, facade and reminiscent.

When there were about eight students left, they had run out of words. The words they had given the students to practice that is. When they go off the list is when things get scary! Then it's anyone's game. I like to tell Stockton that spelling bees are 33% knowledge, 33% preparation and 34% luck. Stockton's word at this point was orthodontist.

After that round, there were only four students left. This is when things got crazy! In an effort to hurry things along, they decided to give the students crazy words. Stockton's word was exonerate. He spelled it with two n's. Oh man! I was in the very back but was able to mouth the words, "It's okay." He mouthed back, "I know." Still very disappointing. EXCEPT that this round, all four kids spelled their words wrong, so all four kids were back in the contest.

Stockton's next word was virulent. He spelled it wrong. He was out. Everyone spelled their words wrong. He was back in. His next word was perquisite. This one he spelled perfectly! Except he didn't put the last e on there! I couldn't believe it! He is out! Everyone spelled their words wrong. He is back in. The next round boy #1 spelled his word correctly. Pressure! Stockton's word was dromedary. He spelled it wrong. Oh no, he lost. Dang it! Especially frustrating because he knew how to spell the other words. Girl #1 spelled her word wrong. Boy #3 spelled his word wrong. In order for boy #1 to win, he has to spell another word. The spelling bee can't end on a misspelled word. Boy #1 spells the word wrong! The other three are back in!

At this point, the judges decide to go to words that are "really hard" instead of "crazy hard". Stockton's word was acquaintance. When they said this word, he had a huge giant grin on his face. It was so cute! At the end of this round, boy #3 spelled his word wrong, so now there is only three.

Stockton was so lucky in this round! His word was mosaic! He breezed through that word. The other two spelled their words wrong. One word to go! If he spells this word wrong, the other two are back in. His word was alibi. The judges barely got the word out of their mouth before Stockton really loud and really fast said, "A-L-I-B-I". The judge said, "Are you sure? Do you want to think about it?" Stockton said, "No! A-L-I-B-I". Meanwhile I can't even look at him because I was sure he spelled it wrong! I was so sad for him! Haha. What a speller I am! Stockton said that as soon as he heard the word alibi, he instantly thought, "I just won the spelling bee!" Then he made sure he didn't make a silly mistake. I thought it was funny that all those things went through his head, because he sure answered instantaneously!

When they announced that he was right and had won, everyone started cheering for him. He walked around in a daze. It was amazing. You could tell a lot of kids were rooting for him. I think his awesome facial expressions had a lot to do with it. He would put his hands in his hair and stick it up with this completely nervous expression on his face. Man, I'm kicking myself for not bringing my camera card!

That poor kid thought he lost, then he is back in, then he lost, then he is back in, then he lost, then he is back in, then he really lost, then he is back in, then he might win, then he won! I am so glad it ended up this way. What a crazy, crazy spelling bee!

Stockton getting his trophy from the principal

Jorja, Stockton, Stephanie

This is sure to be a day that Stockton will never ever forget.

Semantics

Stockton's spelling bee was today! I am so proud of how hard he worked for this competition. I always tell Stockton that spelling bees are 50% hard work/talent and 50% luck. Stockton got out on 'semantics'. He spelled it with a C. Stockton hates the S/C, the double letters or the dropping of an E words. We had studied this word, but Stockton always spelled it with a C...I guess it was just stuck in his brain that way. We had pages and pages of lists, so we didn't get around to perfecting them all. Guaranteed Stockton will never spell it wrong again. He said, "All my branding words start with S....satellite, spasm and now semantics." I pointed out that his winning word started with S too....skillet.

We stayed and watched the rest of the bee. We kept track of where Stockton would have been and what words he would have had. They would have been: empanada, terrapin, repertoire, genealogy, and execration. Stockton was rooting for the boy that sat next to him. His name was Brandon and he made it to the final 12. In that round, only three spelled their words right. The words the final three got were: andante, carambola, and plasmalemma. Stockton did spell the winning word right. INFARCTION.

Anyway, this was a really good experience for Stockton. I loved studying with him. Hopefully he will be able to participate in this next year. I love you Stockton!

Stockton

Top three

We finally got the kid's beds put together! They are no longer sleeping on the floor. I bet they are loving that. The house is still full of boxes, but baby steps.....

The girls have beds!

Jorja's bed

Preston & Stephanie

Preston's bed is the top one...for now...

Whose idea was that? Oh yeah, Preston's.

This is our guest room. Mike had the brilliant idea of setting our crib up. Isn't it just calling out for Mallory - or Blake - or Mina? Plus, Ange will be able to have a safe place to put Abbs. I can't wait until you guys (my brothers....or anyone really) put this room to good use!

SPELLING BEE!

Stockton placed FIRST in the K12 spelling bee. He competed in the 4th to 8th grade category for Salt Lake County. Stockton studied very hard and knew every word on the entire list. The final two was between him and a very tall eighth grade girl. They kept going back and forth. One time, Stockton did some angry grunting in the microphone. Oh boy. It was cute though. Stockton had a little trouble on the word lackadaisical. He had never spelled it wrong before, but he lost his place. He started over and was correct. As he sat down he said, "I studied really hard." He did. Soon the moderator went to words that weren't on the spelling list. I wish she would have kept with the list he studied a little longer. There were some hard words there they they didn't even get to. Once the random words started, Stockton and the 8th grade girl went back and forth again. When she finally missed, Stockton only had to spell one word correctly. The word was skillet! Stockton smiled so hard when they said that. He knew he had it in the bag. Great job Stockton! We are so proud of you! Now to start studying for regionals!

Stockton

Stockton & Stephanie