Happy Birthday Nevan!!!

11 years old....I can hardly believe so many years have gone by. He is almost as tall as I am and is wearing a size 7 shoe...that's men's size 7! He is becoming quite the comedian and athlete. He starts off his new year playing the part of Marcus in the Homeschool Family Theater production of Cinderella. Marcus is one of Cinderella's closest friends. Next week he is going to audition for a part in the AZ Homeschool Theater production of Peter Pan. His baseball season with the Bulldogs also begins this weekend with his first Spring practice. HIs baseball season runs from now until May. With concurrent rehearsals and practices all Spring, it is going to be busy busy for him from now until May. With theater practice on MOndays and Wednesdays and baseball practices on Mon/Wed/Fridays and home educ. classes on T/Th...we are gearing up for a very full Spring. I am going to have to get creative with family dinners...cooking more on the weekends to freeze for the week and reading up on crock pot menus so dinner is done by the time we get home. I am grateful for his enthusiasm and dedication to his chosen activities. We pray that he is always fulfilled in his endeavors. I am finding that he says YES to more than he used to...he is willing to try just about anything at least once, and has a wonderful attitude when it comes to competition. He engages in activities for the sake of having fun and he rarely approaches even competitive events with a competitive attitude. There is a difference between being enthusiastic and competitive...and he has shown us a very caring sportsmanlike attitude.

Funny story: I was driving Nevan in for his classes one day and had remembered that the program was running a Spelling Bee for the kids and I thought it was going to be held within the next few weeks. So I asked Nevan if he wanted to participate. He said sure. Before classes started we went into the office to sign him up and get the list of words, etc. and the secretary informs us that the Spelling Bee was actually that same afternoon. Oops! I asked Nevan if he still wanted to participate in the Spelling Bee since he had not had a chance to practice words or prepare. He said sure! Alrighty then. We signed him up, but I was not sure how that was going to go...this was his 1st Spelling Bee and he was going in cold. He didn't seem to mind. I think I was a bit more nervous than he was, more concerned about how he would take it if he didn't do well. When the Spelling Bee started I could tell that he really had no concern for whether he was going to spell everything *correctly*. He was doing this to have fun and he did! He came in 4th place in a multi age group...2-8th grade. He was pretty pleased with himself and I thought...how gutsy of him to walk into an academic event with no preparation and get up in front of an audience of people to spell words that he may not know. The highlight of the evening was that they spelled his name incorrectly on his name tag and on his participation certificate. yes...you heard me...his name was spelled incorrectly at the Spelling Bee...ironic, isn't it?? Ahhh...we had a good laugh.