"Spelling...S-P-E-L-L-I-N-G...Spelling"

Last night Maddie participated in the Shakopee Spelling Bee.  She's spent the last few weeks studying from a provided list and being grilled on random words we've thrown at her.  Most of the words appeared out of no where.  We'd all be sitting together and quiet and we'd just say a large word that we'd almost never use and she'd automatically spell it. 

Now, Mike excels at almost everything, but he is not the world's greatest speller.  He's horrible at it.  In fact it's so bad that there are times where I think he's spelling poorly just to annoy me - no one could possibly be that bad.  I can safely say that if spelling is related to a gene from either of us, it definitely came from me.  But, to help her relax beforehand he said to her, "Have fun!  Just remember everything I've taught you."

Except he said, "Just remember everything I've teached..."  Then he stopped and corrected himself.  Grammar isn't his strongest suit either.

I've never attended a spelling bee and it was interesting to watch.  And yes, I spelled every word in my head along with the kids.

Maddie gave Mike and I small heart attacks each time she got up there.  Most kids were writing the words first.  Maddie would get up there, hear the word, then slam through it without writing it down.  Gulp.

She made it to the 5th round, I believe.  I honestly don't even know what word tripped her up.  It started with a "v" and was about nine letters long - hopefully that narrows it down for you.  Because I hadn't heard the word (and the mics were horrible so I barely heard her letters) I held my breath because I hadn't been able to telepathically spell it with her.  I had no idea if she'd gotten it right or wrong.

She's had quite a month at school - She received straight A's a couple weeks ago for the 2nd quarter.  Last week she was awarded Student of the Month in her section.  It's a goal she set for herself at the beginning of the year and she accomplished it!  This week she took on a new challenge of getting up in front of a crowd and holding her own!

Love this girl!