Other Happenings...

Just thought I would take a minute to post about a couple fun things from last weekend. Sarah and I went to Seattle with friends to our first Speech Tournament. Rachel took her turn staying home to help with little people. Sarah completed in two categories - Original Oratory and Duo Interpretation (along with her Duo partner - Macaela). Her original oratory speech was about William Wilberforce. The Duo Interpretation is a dramatic interpretation from a piece of literature done with a partner. They have to coordinate their delivery of the lines from the piece, cannot make eye contact with one another and cannot touch each other. They can add sound effects and dramatic movements. Their piece was from a book called Soup and Me. It was very funny. They made it to the final round, qualified for the Regional Speech tournament and took 2nd place overall in that event. Finally an outlet for all of the drama in our home! I was able to watch them in the first preliminary round and the final round. The rest of the time I was off judging other categories. Most events had a panel of three different judges for each of three rounds. My head was swimming by the end of the tournament!! The girls had a great time. Macaela also did an original oratory piece and her sister, Shelby, did a Persuasive speech. All three girls made it to finals with their oratory/persuasive speeches as well and qualified for Regionals. (Shelby got 2nd place!) Macaela and Shelby's dad will chaperone all three girls at the regional tournament in Colorado Springs this April and has made arrangements for them to stay there with a friend. Sarah is especially thankful for a regular babysitting job that will enable her to pay for her plane ticket. While Rachel was home helping Dad, she was able to participate in her first Tae Kwon Do tournament and came home with two 2nd place medals. She had a great time and is looking forward to her opportunity to participate in a speech tournament next season.