Give me a Z-O-E! (Two dots over the E!)

Zoe got her cheerleading uniform today. Isn't she adorable? It's finally starting to hit me that my baby is going to be in high school next year. Where did the time go?

Sophia and the Bee

Last night all ten of us headed down to the elementary school for the spelling bee to determine which of the fifteen top spellers in the 4th and 5th grade is the best speller in the school.

The bee was conducted a bit differently than I've ever seen before. Each speller stood at the mike and spelled his or her word, then sat back down. After the round, the judges told the kids which ones misspelled their words and had to leave the stage. Sophia survived round 1, correctly spelling "wary," but six students were booted off following round 1.

Sophia misspelled "benign" in round 2. She had absolutely no idea, and there was no way she could've sounded it out. Altogether, five more students left the stage after round 2.

Rounds 3 and 4 ended with none of the four children left correctly spelling their words. Finally in round 5, two students misspelled their words, and the other two correctly spelled theirs. In rounds 6 and 7, neither of the finalists correctly spelled the words, but in round 8, we finally got a winner!

Sophia, I'm sure, was a little disappointed, but she didn't show it, and, of course, we're completely proud of her for making it to the top fifteen out of two hundred students. That's nothing to scoff at.

Babies, Cheerleaders, and Scholarships

Some exciting things have been going on in our family since the last time I posted. We're expecting baby #9 at the end of September. I'm about fifteen weeks right now. We call the baby Kiwi because at the very beginning of the pregnancy, I craved kiwi, which is odd because I don't really like kiwi. This has been a nerve-wracking pregnancy because I've had two miscarriages in the last fifteen months: one at ten weeks and one very early, at six weeks, and I had some spotting a few weeks ago, which was very scary for me. But we've had several ultrasounds, and the baby is doing well. I think I'm feeling movement now, which is very reassuring. I get my next ultrasound on April 15, when we'll find out if Kiwi is a boy or a girl. When I went to see the maternal fetal specialist, the doctor took a peek at Kiwi via ultrasound and he and Rob both swore they saw boy parts. I'll wait until April 15, because I really doubt we'd have a boy. Besides, right now the only name I have is Millie, which is plain silly for a boy.

Next exciting thing: Zoe tried out for cheerleading and made it, so she'll be on the freshman/jv squad next year. It's hard to believe she's starting high school, although she does look like it. Where did my chubby bubby baby go? She used to be so fat I had to push up the skin on her wrists to wash her hands, and put baby powder in the folds of fat on her thighs to keep her from getting a rash. She hid cheerios under her chins to eat later. Now she's almost as tall as I AND she won't hold my hand in public anymore. What happened??

And last, but not least, Eve got a full scholarship for college. It's based on grades and financial need; it's for seventh graders, and she was one of sixteen kids in the county to receive it. It pays for two years at a community college and then two years at a four-year college. I'm also counting on her getting a Bright Futures scholarship (if the funding for it still exists), which pays 100% tuition and is for kids who have at least a 3.5 weighted GPA and a 28 on the ACT or a 1270 on the SAT and 75 community service hours. Right now, she has a 4.0 GPA (granted, it's seventh grade, but she's taking honors classes), and a 19 on the ACT. (To get a Florida Medallion scholarship, a high school senior needs a 3.0 GPA and a 20 on the ACT. That scholarship pays 100% tuition at a community college, or 75% at a four year.) She WILL still hold my hand in public, even though she's almost as tall as I am, too.

The only thing that upsets me is that I've never been *tied down* to a place before. We don't own a home; we can up and move whenever we want to. But now, we've spent an obscene amount for Zoe's cheerleading uniform, and if we leave Florida, Eve loses her scholarship. We're tied down, just as I'm starting to feel restless here, and thinking about moving--maybe further south (still in Florida, but Zoe's cheerleading uniform is useless at any other school), or to Texas or back to Colorado (good bye scholarship). Adding to the stress, I may or may not have a job at the high school next year. It all depends on budget, and since I've only been there two years, if somebody who has a continuing contract gets bumped from another school in the district, they could conceivably get MY job. With the baby due in September, it's just about impossible for me to find another teaching position for next year. It's all so stressful right now!

Growing Up

This is Zoe in the outfit she wore to the BPA awards ceremony tonight. She didn't win any awards, but I'm certainly proud of her for participating. She bought the skirt with her very own babysitting money. I'm proud of her for that, too. Those shoes? They're mine. Zoe, Eve, and I all share shoes now, which is pretty neat, except when I can't find my shoes because one of the girls is wearing them.

Jingle Bells, Questionable Version

Gemma has spent most of the evening playing with an Alphabet Learning Center. At the bottom, it has a little keyboard with ten keys, numbered 1 to 10. Juliet told Gemma that she knows how to play songs, and proceded to play a fairly accurate version of Jingle Bells. I was impressed, and asked her if she'd just figured it out. She proudly explained that her music teacher had taught it to her (dashing my sudden dreams of having a musical prodigy for a daughter...oh, well). "I'll have to ask her to write it down tomorrow," Juliet said. "All I can remember is..." and then she began to sing: "666 666 67456." She's been walking around the house for the last half-hour singing, "666 666." It's such a good thing that I'm not superstitious!

In other news, Juliet made the highest grade in her class the other day on a practice FCAT test. We're all very proud of her! She may not be a musical genius, but she can read well!! Oh, and she can dance and sing beautifully, so maybe she is a musical genius after all. Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised. :)

The Next Faulkner

Not just brains, but looks and personality, too. She's the whole package, baby!

Sophia, who just turned ten, is becoming an amazing little writer, thanks, I'm sure, to her predilection for reading. Anyway, this is an anecdote Sophia's fourth grade class was assigned to write as FCAT practice (gotta love the FCAT). The teacher had the principal read the paper, and he asked Sophia to read it on the morning announcements (which is now broadcast to every classroom via television, unlike when I was in school). Without further ado, here is Sophia's beautiful anecdote, without any editing at all.

I looked up. Hovering over us was a cart. Suddenly, it dropped. My stomach tightened. My siblings sqealed. This would be ride of the night. It was Mt. Everest. We got there two minutes later. "Here we go!" He shouted, clamoring into the cart. A second later, I was plunged into darkness, a deep, writhing darkness. Were those eyes over there? I didn't know. We were heading towards a white, blinding light. I blinked. Suddenly, we were sliding into the darkness. When the darkness enveloped me, I lurched forward. I was falling...and suddenly, the ride was over. For Now!

Look at her spelling and use of commas! Notice the verbs and adjectives she uses: hovering, tightened, squealed, clamoring, plunged, writhing, enveloped. Yes, I'm very proud. I'm going to take this to work and show it off to my fellow secondary English teachers. In fact, I can think of a lot of tenth graders who could learn from this. :(