Spelling bee

Two days ago, Aidan participated in the Baldwinsville Central School District Oral Spelling Bee Championship, which determined the 14 finalists for the Post Standard/WCNY Regional Spelling Bee. Aidan was one of 54 students in grades 4 - 8 who participated and one of only seven grade 4 students who qualified.

There was a nice crowd in the Durgee Junior High School auditorium. We had no idea that all five grades would compete head-to-head, so I was even more nervous when the spelling started. Aidan's first word was "shamrock", which he spelled correctly:


In round two, he received and correctly spelled "praise" but was tripped up in round three by the word "quarrel" - he spelled it with an "i" instead of an "a". He handled it well and since he was by no means the first speller to go out, he was proud of his performance.

It took about two and a half hours to whittle the field of 54 down to 14. By the end, students were spelling words like "astrophysicist" and "slantendicular". I was spelling silently with the students and I held my own, thankyouverymuch. The audience seemed to hold its breath while each student spelled and we let out a collective "aww" if the student was incorrect. Even while Aidan was still in the running, I wanted each student to spell every word correctly even as I knew they were in competition with my son.

All students received a certificate of participation, and here Aidan receives his certificate:


Aidan had a great time, part of which I'm sure was due to missing the entire morning of class!

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Happy 500! Yes, this post is #500 in my little blog. It has been over four years since I started spouting off, sharing my stories and chronicling our lives. Here's to 500 more posts!

Food day

We drove into Syracuse yesterday morning to Saint Lucy's Church where we worked in the food pantry. Aidan's Cub Scout pack volunteers for several shifts throughout November and December, and two other families joined us yesterday. The food pantry is available to those who live in the immediate area around the church and, when possible, the clients are able to make choices among the food items available.

While some of us prepared shopping bags, the Scouts assisted the clients by pushing the carts and helping them select food items from the shelves:



Although there was quite a crowd at the beginning, we were impressed with both the staff and the clients; the staff members were pleasant and treated the clients with respect, the line moved quickly, and the clients were patient. James and I spent some time talking with several of the staff members to learn more about how their pantry is supplied and their needs. We agreed as a family that we enjoyed helping out and would like to do so more frequently, with or without the Cub Scout pack.

I suppose it is somewhat ironic that we left the food pantry and went to eat lunch. We chose Alto Cinco, a quirky Mexican restaurant in the Westcott neighborhood. The restaurant is tiny and we had to wait for an available table but it was well worth the wait. James had soft jerk chicken tacos, which were made even more delicious with mango salsa and chipotle mayo, Aidan chose chicken quesadillas, and I had the excellent California burrito. Yum! While we love living in Baldwinsville, we don't exactly have many interesting restaurant choices in the village so we take every chance we can get to try new-to-us restaurants in Syracuse.

We stopped at the Baldwinsville Library's used book sale on the way home. Aidan got "the best deal of my life!" by spending $6 of allowance money on 11 books. It seems our entire day was built around food: food for others, food for our stomachs and food for our brains.