Aubrey's 11th Birthday

Aubrey turned 11 this year. It was a non-friend party year for her, so we celebrated with family. She requested a red-velvet cake, but I could not justify all the red food dye, so I made an old recipe for red-velvet that used buttermilk and cocoa to create that reddish color, and I felt much better about it. It was the cream cheese frosting that Aubrey cared most about anyway. It was pretty tasty! Her big gifts this year were a bike and tickets to go see Darcy Lynn, the 15-year-old ventriloquist who won America's Got Talent. She's excited!

Jump Rope Club

Aubrey and Grant both "made it to Barlow" with the jump rope club this year, which was pretty great since this was the last year Aubrey would be at East Orient with Grant.  He was SO excited. He learned to do double-unders, and Ms. Kai allowed a couple 2nd graders to go since she didn't have as many older kids in jump rope club this year. They performed during half-time at the Barlow basketball game (the same day as the spelling bee--big day for the kids!). They loved every minute of it!
Photo credit: Lynette Fay Photography

They performed their routines at their school assembly a few weeks later. We weren't able to go (I was subbing that day at West O), but Grandpa and Grandma M. were able to go and watch and sent us some video. They do a double-under competition each year with all the jump-ropers, and it became a brother-sister competition as Grant and Aubrey were the last two, with Aubrey as the victor in the end. So fun!

Spelling Bees

Grant and Aubrey both studied to participate in their respective spelling bees again this year, and they both qualified. Greg told them, once again, that he would help them study if they wanted his help. Aubrey memorized every word on the list, and Grant learned most of his list. Greg took a day off work to watch again and was very glad he did. Grant got all the way to the end of the 1st/2nd grade competition and won! We laughed and shook our heads each time he spelled a word correctly and laughed some more when he won the whole thing.  He had studied, but he hadn't been super diligent. It was so much fun to be there and see him win. He received quite the trophy, too. :)

Aubrey felt more pressure (not from us!), as she was the defending champion. She had studied and done as much as she could to prepare, so we assumed she'd do well. We didn't necessarily expect her to be in the final two, though! It went back and forth between them, and in the end the other kid won. Aubrey was disappointed, of course, but we were so proud of her and especially proud of how gracious she was in defeat. As soon as Mason spelled his word correctly and was declared the winner, Aubrey gave him a high-five and told him good job. Then she came back to where we were sitting and shed a few tears as we hugged her. She recovered pretty quickly and accepted the congratulations and hugs from her friends and her teacher. These spelling bees are so intense and emotional! I love seeing the students cheering on their classmates and supporting their friends so enthusiastically. We were secretly hoping for a 2nd place finish, since the regional spelling bee was scheduled for the same weekend as Joel's state basketball tournament in Bend. So, it all worked out--another student was able to experience the regional spelling bee, and our family was able to all go to Bend together. The Moffats dominated in the spelling bees at East Orient this year!

Meanwhile, back home...snow

While I was off playing in sunny CA, my family was snowed in at home. Greg was planning on 7 basketball games while I was gone, but all the Saturday games got cancelled due to the 4-6 inches of snow they received. Sounded like the kids had a great time with friends, and Greg got to relax a little at home in his pjs. :-) They were texting me photos of all the snow.

Disneyland with Jane

I had an absolute blast with Jane during our three days together in Disneyland. It had been a long time, probably since college, since I'd been able to spend that much time with her talking, laughing, and just having fun being together. We lived it up and milked this 40th birthday for all it was worth. :-) Jane is one of those amazing lifelong friends, the kind that you treasure always, someone who "gets" you, a "kindred spirit," as Anne Shirley would say. I will treasure the time we spent and the talks we had during those three days. Our bodies were definitely feeling the years, though, not used to walking 11 and 12 miles a day. We were hurting pretty good by the end, our backs, legs, feet let us know loud and clear that we aren't young anymore! Totally worth it, though!