Pride and Joy

My husband is sooooo lucky. Not only does he have a trophy wife, he's got a trophy son now, too! (Stop laughing. Part of that sentence is true, honest!)

Today Carter participated in a Knights of Columbus math, spelling and free-throw competition for Wisconsin Rapids students. It was something he thought a few weeks ago that maybe he'd do and then decided last night before he went to bed that, yes, he'd do it.

I think he was a little nervous. He actually woke up at 5:15 this morning and then, so he wouldn't wake us up, he finished reading a book he has to test on on Monday. I know. Some days I wonder, too. Whose kid is this?!

Both the math and spelling competitions ended up being written tests. So there was no spelling bee, per se, just 50 groups of words where Carter had to identify which word (if any) was misspelled, then spell it correctly.

When they announced the winners, they started with math. "In second place for 6th-graders is Austin Carter!" OK, we knew who he meant! Carter got a medallion for that (pictured above).

When they announced spelling and someone else got second, I figured Carter was out of it. Math, after all, is his best subject. He says anyway. But then they said, "And first place in spelling goes to Austin Carter!" Whoo-hoo. Then one of the Knights (who knows Jim, 'cause everyone does) said to the announcer, "That should be Carter Austin. Austin is his last name." No biggie. Not like they were engraving the trophy or anything! We did find out that by placing first, he'll have to compete at the district level in March. Thankfully, that's being held in Plover, a town only 15 minutes or so away.


The free-throw competition was happening after lunch so we took a lunch break at Taco John's and headed back to the school. Unlike the first two parts, we actually got to watch the hoops action. Each contestant had to shoot 15 free throws -- 3 rounds of 5 attempts. When Carter started out 4 out of 5, we thought, are you kidding me? Is he going to win this, too???

Silly parents. You gotta wait until it all plays out. He got cocky in the second round and then choked in the third. But managed somehow to finish second among 11-year-old boys. So he got another medallion for that, too.

It was quite a day for our pride and joy! We hadn't even gotten out of the parking lot yet and Daddy says, "Now Momma's got something to blog about Carter!" Seriously, it's not all about the blog. Well, sort of. This is how I can send a message to my whole family without having Carter make 10 separate phone calls.

He did call all the grandparents, though. He says to my mom, who always excelled in language arts, "Well, my mom thought you'd be especially proud of me, Grandma, since you like spelling so much!" Of course, she was proud. They all were.

We are, too. Nice work, son!