PROUD DAY TO BE PARENTS :o)

I am not too sure that it gets much better than this at this stage of life. I wanted to post this yesterday, but I just ran out of time. Merrill and I received a letter informing us that LisaMarie was in the second grade math Olympics at school. Now this in and of itself is a huge accomplishment. Only the top five students from each class were chosen. So Merrill took off and I got a babysitter for MacGyver. Off we went. Now I am a little sadden to say that we did not really expect much to happen. We felt it an honor that LisaMarie had made it this far.

We got there a little early, got a good seat and sat back to enjoy the competition. Oh my, let me tell you we were on the edge of our seats after about three rounds. LisaMarie was faster than we even knew she could be. She was confident, poised and all together in control, not like her parents sitting out in the crowd. Maybe it helps to be the only girl at home with so many boys, you tend to have it more together than most....LOL. Round and round the competition went. After three misses you were eliminated and had to go sit with your class. LisaMarie held on, just doing so well. Before we knew it, 15 kids had been eliminated. She was going to win a spot for sure now. Then one by one the other children were eliminated, till it was just LisaMarie and another boy. They were flying, the questions going so fast that we could not even hear them. The kids answering so fast it was unreal. In the end, our LisaMarie only missed one question in the full hour we were there. She proudly stood there at the very end having two sticks in her hand. With all of our doubts, we stood there with tears of joy running down our faces. She sat down with the other four children. One by one their name was called as they got their ribbons.....then last the one name we never dreamed we would hear....LisaMarie, second grade math champion extraordinaire, rose to get her first place ribbon. What a wonderful feeling it was first and foremost for her and then very secondly for Merrill and I. It was an unreal feeling. Something so wonderful for our not so little girl.

LisaMarie receiving her award from Mr. Sandberg

LisaMarie with her First Place Ribbon and Medal.

On a second feel good note, last night we got to go to Super Student Awards. Again what a wonderful thing to know that your child worked very hard to get this far. In order to get Super Student of the Year, they had to get Student of the Month for seven out of eight months. This is accomplished by doing many required things. In the case of our son Joseph, he had a few goals he was working on. Each month that he did as was expected, he got Student of the Month.

Well, low and behold, wee get another letter informing us that both LisaMarie and Joseph qualified for Student of the Year. Again it was another shining moment for Merrill and I. Here is LisaMarie assisting her younger brother, Joseph across the stage so they could both receive their award. Many people in the crowd clapped for her. She is such a wonderful sister to each of her brothers.

The second picture is both Joseph and LisaMarie, proving that she is still a sister first...LOL!!