"Buggy And The Bee" part two...and the winner is?

Some of you may remember that Brennen was in his school spelling bee back in November. As the winner of the 1st grade class, he qualified for the ACSI spelling bee in Riverside. Needless to say, we have been spelling EVERYTHING for the past few months! Rich and I wanted him to have fun with it and do his best....we definitely didn't want him to feel pressure from us to do well. Such a hard thing sometimes as a parent...a very fine line to walk. Here he is pounding a juice box before the bee began. Have any of you ever been to a spelling bee? (I know the suspense is killing you :) I had only seen one on t.v., and even that got my nerves going. I have to say that this was one of the most nerve racking experiences of my life. It's all so serious too. The parents were warned about talking, cell phones and exiting the room. No writing tablets, cameras, video equipment or dictionaries of course. They said if there are any parents that are unable to keep quiet, they will be asked to leave. Wow...I was ready to throw up before it even started. So while I couldn't take any pictures of him in the bee, I can tell you that he was such a little man...so focused, loud and clear with his spelling. I held my breath every time he was up...and I have no idea why. With each child that misspelled a word my heart would sink. There were the kids that walked off with a smile, glad it was over. And there were the kids that were devastated. Witnessing the parents hold themselves together for their kids was almost unbarable. Did I mention this was nerve racking? Okay...so the winner was not Brennen, but my little dude finished in second place out of 31 kids! Yeah Buggy! They went to an unpublished list of words (so they were words that the kids had not practiced) and the word that finally stumped him was 'violet'. He went out on a tough one I thought.

(Emma for 4th place for 2nd grade and her sister Savanah got 4th place for 5th grade)

Here is Brennen with his teacher Mrs. Martinez. She is such a blessing to us! She practiced with Brennen everyday and even kept him after school one day a week...she was also a nervous reck. Funny thing...Brennen was fine. He was looking at his red ribbon and said, "hey mom, does this mean that I did good?" I said..."Uh, yah!"
Thanks for all the well wishes and phone calls this morning and for all the cheers this afternoon. Even 7 year olds need 'Balcony People'.

Until next time...