Fun With Static!!!

I never knew that slides could give such static! Helps to have little people with hair longer than 3 inches!! Staci in the purple and Sydni in the pink -- with those long strands of hair shooting straight out of their heads! I think Staci did the slide more times, hence the more-static (staticky??) hair!
Now that I think about it, I do remember the boys coming off slides and then touching me and giving me a jolt. But their hair just wasn't as fun!
I know it's strange to see my kids in jackets, but we were at Volcano, at the 5000 foot level -- a whopping 65 degrees! Cold, for Hawaii! And a bit breezy.

Tanner knows how to turn on the charm! Gotta watch out for his winks!

Teagan's Reward

As stated before, Teagan did a wonderful job of taking care of hs sisters during our little jaunt to Oahu. As part of his reward, we brought him this rocket set -- it has taken many tries to get it set up just right, but the boys have had several successful launches of the Hydrogen Rocket!

For me, well, I just get a kick out of seeing the four boys (5, when Shan joins in!) out on the lawn "working" together!
Should I be nervous, though, when TANNER is the one holding the "detonator"?!?!?!?!?!

State Spelling Bee

March 11th was the Hawaii State Spelling Bee. Talmage was the only 6th grader in the Bee, and therefore the youngest. But look at that smile-- not TOO nervous about the whole thing!
Talmage drew #2 for this Bee. His practice word was "zenith", which he easily spelled correctly. Then, he correctly spelled: anchovy, chronic, access, simile, gregarious, crescendo, and borzoi. Then, in round 8, Talm hit a snag with "affiliate." He wasn't sure if it was one "f" or two. His voice was a little garbled as he started to spell, so we appealed to see if he could be reinstated, but the judges determined he was still out. (They did watch the replay 4 times though, so he really made them think about it!) So, Talmage tied for 5th place, being beaten out only by 8th graders! Great Job!


After the Bee, Shan, Traci & Talmage hurried to the airport with chocolate cream pies from Sunny Side. We got to Grandma Nakamoto's house in time to watch the spelling bee on tv and have a pie party! Shan got these great pictures of us all watching Talm! Heather (left) and Shayli (far right) were the main cheerleaders with Teag, AJ & Tag!

There's that "affiliate" word!
When we finally got home, there was this great sign from the crew! We should note that Tag & Tan went to Heather's for the 32 hours we were gone. Teagan stayed home with Sydni and Staci pretty much alone. Grandpa came there to sleep for the night, and several aunties came by to make sure Teagan was sane (okay, at least like usual). But Teag and the girls did so great that he didn't use ANY of the present/treat/bribe items left for his use. (More on one of his rewards in a later post!) What a great weekend -- a great speller and kids who handled absent Mom & Dad so well!

Tee Ball (aka Repentance #2!)

Taggart in action!

Our hiatus from blogging was necessitated by spelling bees and tee ball. Our first child to do a team sport (Ok, Teag did a season of track in 2000, but that is before child #4!). We learned a lot about cooking in crockpots and keeping kids entertained in the car while we ALL waited through practices and games each week. Why would we do this? Traffic from our house to the practice field takes 45 minutes to cover 5 miles, so we would all just stay after school and double up spelling bee practice with tee ball and make a day of it . Three times a week. It was loads of fun to meet new friends and spend time with people from Shan's youth, but we are a little relieved that we are done. Next sport should bring more predictability with the girls and maybe include Tanner in the sport too! Yippee!!!!!!!!!!
One girl, ten boys. What a bunch of cuties! Our only complaint -- our kid in a RED uniform! Wish it was BLUE!!!

Island Spelling Bee (aka Repentance #1)

Spelling Bee. Round 2:



So, Feb 24th was the Big Island Spelling Bee. Yeah, I know. Ancient History! Talm was nervous, but you'd never guess. The practice round was fruits and vegetables. Talm correctly spelled "grapes" and was off and spelling.

After 16 rounds, Talmage had finally outlasted his competition. Winning in round 17, he spelled "Conceited" correctly and WON THE BEE!!! Look at the hardware for this baby! The five hours of practice with his teachers each week paid off, not to mention the HOURS spent spelling with Dad!

Talmage's words for this bee were: safari, diorama, topography, conjecture, analysis, clementine, hassock, libretto, spherical, babushkah, paprika, lethargy, confetti, virtuoso, credenza, parallel, and conceited.


Talmage with Kayah Ignacio, a 7th grader from another ward in our stake!
And these two lovely ladies are Talm's coaches, Melinda O'Herron and Georgia Goeas. I think Ms. O'Herron has spent too many years with tweens and middle schoolers! They are the most delightful ladies. But, their job's not through yet! The State spelling bee was only 15 days away!