cool as a cucumber

 Really I don't know where the time goes

I had no intentions of slacking off on my blog

Once again.

The kids each had a spelling bee within their classrooms to see who would qualify for their school's spelling bee.  Cody showed no interest in wanting to be in it but when you have a memory like his, you win in your class without even really trying.  He wasn't too excited about moving onto the school's spelling bee but we did put in some time and study for a few days.  There were only six fifth graders total in the spelling bee so the odds were in his favor and he ended up coming in second place with spelling deception and juvenile correctly but getting out on the word disastrous.  So this meant that Cody was moving onto the multi-school spelling bee and that we would really need to start studying.

My family has a little history with spelling bee's and spelling in general. Growing up my dad always told us the  story of when he went to a small country school that had many grades all in one classroom.  He told us how he would take the higher grades spelling tests and that there was only one word that he ever missed, which was the word bouquet.  We have heard this story so many times that we would never forget how to spell bouquet.

Fast forward to my sister in fifth grade and she was also in a spelling bee.  She earned third place, getting out on the word garment, this is yet another story that we have heard many times and another word that we all will never forget how to spell.

Next up was me and I was in the spelling bee in sixth grade.  Apparently I felt very sure of myself and my abilities and I did very little studying which is why I got out on the first word which nobody seems to remember what it even was.  Sad story but a lesson learned and I didn't want Cody to follow in my footsteps so we studied as much as we could.  Studying words is really so boring but Cody and I managed to have a little fun with trying to come up with ways to remember some of the words spellings.

The day finally arrived and Cody had no worries, he was as cool as a cucumber.

I had to laugh at how serious some of these kids were, they were pacing around out in the hallway and having parents recite words over and over and then there is Cody just hanging out playing on his Ipod and goofing off with his brothers.

He wasn't really nervous at all until he had to walk up on stage and even then he seemed so relaxed.

This Spelling Bee had a total of ten kids and Cody hung in there for three rounds spelling luncheon, obvious and kerosene correctly but getting out on the word amateur for a seventh place finish.

It was a good experience for him and we were so proud of him.  He has been so busy with homework, basketball and trying to study the words that I am just happy that life feels a little bit back to normal now.