Spelling Bee

Shelby recently had the chance to participate in her first Spelling Bee, and it was such an amazing experience for her! To say this has been a long time coming would be a gross understatement. Years ago, when the girls were first getting into the Berenstain Bears books we were checking them out of the library regularly. We read the library's copy of The Berenstain Bears and the Big Spelling Bee, and ever since then Shelby has wanted to be in a spelling bee. Prior to 2nd grade, Shelby had never attended a school with a spelling bee. But when she started at Helotes Elementary, she learned there was a school spelling bee; however, only 4th & 5th graders were permitted to participate. So in true Shelby fashion, at the beginning of 3rd grade she wrote a persuasive letter to her school's principal, all of the 3rd grade teachers at her school, and her gifted teacher (who was the school sponsor for the spelling bee) pleading her case for why 3rd graders should be included in the school's competition. Much to Shelby's delight, the school agreed to allow 3rd graders to join the Spelling Bee! Enter COVID, and the spelling bee never came to be. Shelby wasn't too disappointed as she knew she would get the opportunity to participate the following year as a 4th grader. Then COVID just wouldn't go away! When we first told the girls that we were contemplating withdrawing them from their school to attend Marvelously Made starting in the fall of 2020, one of Shelby's primary hesitations was that she wouldn't be able to participate in the Helotes Elementary Spelling Bee. So again in true Shelby form, shortly after she started the school year at MM, she wrote another persuasive letter to the admin team & the teachers at MM. And lo and behold, her teacher found her a Spelling Bee to participate in!!

When we initially registered Shelby for the Spelling Bee, she said she'd be happy as long as she didn't get eliminated on the first round. ;)  I told her that it was very unlikely she'd go out on the first turn, but whether she did or she didn't we would still celebrate with ice cream at Cold Stone. It ended up being a cold day, so instead we went to Nothing Bundt Cake for the very first time! It was a hit!

There were only 8 kids participating in the Spelling Bee including Shelby. The first four went out fairly quickly, but the remaining four went around & around for what seemed like forever. The final four contestants were all girls! And they spelled some HARD words!!! Once Shelby went out, the next two girls went out within about five minutes. She was initially disappointed (who wouldn't be?!), but ultimately she was so proud of herself and is already eager to try again next year!

One of my favorite parts of the whole experience was hearing Shelby's classmates' encouraging words to her as I picked her up from class early to head to the Spelling Bee. "Believe in yourself, Shelby! You'll do great!" The Collective at Marvelously Made is such a beautiful community.

Due to COVID, the Spelling Bee was held outdoors & available to view over Zoom. So all of our MM family was having a watch party back at school!

{My coworkers cheering Shelby on!}

{Shelby's classmates watching from school}

Shelby-girl, we're so proud of you!!

Our New Deck!

Back in November, Derek's dad & step-mom flew in to spend the week with us & to help Derek replace our deck. This post is just now coming in January because the railing was on back-order for a while {it's amazing all the ways COVID has impacted our lives!}, and Derek just finished installing it this past weekend! He also used some leftover Trex boards and made us a new picnic table! The deck isn't completely done as we are still waiting for fascia boards to come back in stock, and then the next step will be to add lattice below the deck & a pergola above it. But it is done for now! And we are SO happy with how it turned out!

The original deck was wooden and was put in when the house was initially built 12ish years ago, and it was just really starting to show a lot of wear and tear. Derek & his dad replaced the deck with Trex, added in an additional set of stairs (yay!!), replaced the existing stairs (the original stairs were rotting), and put in reinforcements for when we eventually add on a pergola above the deck. And Grandma totally spoiled us all with her cooking, she got the chance to visit Shelby's class for Veterans Day, and she showered the kids with fun little surprises DAILY! Hadley loved cooking with Grandma, and both of the girls loved knitting with her!

{trying out their new looms from Grandma!}

{these two--especially Hadley!--kept themselves busy with random scraps from Dada & Granddad}

I wish I had taken before & after photos, but these will have to suffice! These next two pictures were actually taken about 2.5 years ago when we first moved in. It's kind of crazy to see these pictures--I barely remember this view!

And then here is the view today!

This was a big project, and we're so thankful for all the help we had from Grandma & Granddad to make it happen! Each time we've been out on the deck, we think about when they were here helping us transform it. Lots of memories were made!

Happy New Year!

I am about to order my 2020 blog book, but I couldn't send it to the printer without including a few pictures from our days at Marvelously Made! What a blessing this sweet school has been to us this year. In a year filled with loss & disappointment for so many, this place truly fed our souls & we are so grateful. Some of these pictures were taken at home before/after school, and some are snapshots their teachers have taken and shared with me {or that I snagged from our school's website/social media pages}. I love the little peeks into their days!

Brady had a little bit of a stuffy/runny nose at the beginning of November, so he had to spend a couple days at home with me. Thankfully the weather was gorgeous, and we spent a lot of time outside! And this guy learned how to swing in our front yard!!!

The picture below was taken after Hadley's first Book Club with her class--we loved this book, and it was such a sweet experience for her to share with her class!

And here's how we started off the new year...

Happy 2021!