2017 Spelling Bee

Leighton was eager to sign up for the Spelling Bee again this year.  He was less eager study over the weeks until the big day, however.  Until 2 days before.  Such a procrastinator (just like his mother, so it's hard to fault him for it!!).  We did as much studying as we could in those last couple of days.  And it really paid off!  Here is a look at his journey ...

His first word of the Bee:

And then you can see after a few rounds there weren't as many kids left:

I LOVED the way he looked right at me on this word.  We had a little joke about it so the fact that he ended up getting it was SO funny for us both!

And then it started getting tense!  Even the kids in the audience were giving 'ooooohs' when he got it right!

He took soooooo long on this word that it worried me!

And even more tense!  After a couple rounds we got to this word.  If he would have gotten this word right, he would have won.  I thought he had it for sure.  We had talked about it the day before, but he forgot the 'i'.  I was really relieved he was able to sit and compose himself after because I was worried he'd get disappointed.  He wasn't at all though.  Just sat their grinning since he knew he had at least secured 2nd place!!

This was a brand new word for him and he did so well!

There was one more round to secure the winner.  He had never practiced this word but got pretty close.  It's a tough word to spell ... I think I would get it wrong!

He ended up in 2nd place.  He was so so so so SO proud of himself.  And we were so proud of him too.  I couldn't imagine standing up there in front of all those people.  So much pressure.  And he's in 3rd grade and was up against 4th and 5th graders!  The girl who won is also in 3rd grade!  Her brother won last year, and her mom and aunt had gone to the state Spelling Bees back in their day as well.  Hard to beat that legacy!

Here he is having his first ever press interview :)

After school we went to Costco.  He decided he needed to carry his trophy around with him.  Pretty cute kid!

I was in the middle of working on a big cake and cupcakes, but I NEEDED to celebrate my little guy with a special dessert, so I quickly made these little toppers and made him some special cupcakes, too.