Ah! Speech Competition!

I'm such a dum-dum. As you all can see, I have been making changes to my blog, making it all christmasy and all. I put it to where only I can see it so that it wouldn't look wierd while I was redecorating. I forgot to change it back to where you can see it though! Whoops! So, sorry about that. Anywho......... As many of you know, two Saturdays ago was the long awaited/dreaded speech competition. I had 3 speeches to give, and it turned out there were two rounds, so I had to give them twice. (I spoke 6 times for those who don't feel like doing math in your head right now.) It started at 11:00 in the morn and ended at 8:00 in the eve. A loooong day, let me tell you! There were probably around 50ish kids there to compete (so I think.....) And as far as I know, they were all homeschooled. The thing that had me the most flustered about the competition was what to wear. (yea, I'm like that) I was just gonna wear a nice sweater, but my teacher thought it not formal enough. So, below is what I wore

I blurred my face because it looked really fat. (yea, I'm like that too) I borrowed my mom's suit jacket because it looked somewhat right, and was purple. :) I have decided that suits are not my thing. They make me look fatter than I really am, and like I have football player shoulder pads on. ick This is what my sister wore. She looked really cute. :) At the end of the day they gave out awards for each category of speeches. I got third place (out of 20 something kids) for my Original Oratory speech. (in this one you can research/write about whatever you want in order to make a 10min speech) I was so excited! I did not expect to place at all!

My two friends got 4th and 2nd place too. So cheers all around! But in my other two categories I didn't place. :( All well, I still think I did well. I just think of it this way, 2 years ago, I wouldn't have been able to stand in front of anyone and give a speech, let alone be judged! That shows you how far I have come over the past few years. Praise God. :) Getting out of your comfort zone little by little really works. Trust me! But I would not have been able to get through the day if it wasn't for my friends. We had a great time together. Here is a video clip of us playing the card game Speed during a break. It helped us relax and not focus on what was to come. :)

Chili Cook-off

I know this is kinda old news, but I just now got to load these pictures on my computer. But anywho, on halloween night our church had a "chili cook-off"/ fall festival. 25 pots of chili, 3 judges, 3 prizes. It was on! Mom and I decided to make our "taco chili". We weren't going for the "Best tasting chili" prize, nor the "Most likely to put you in the ER" prize. We thought that we would most likely get something for the "Best Decorated" prize. So we decorated out table to a Mexican theme. (below) We thought for sure we would win something for that. But we didn't even place! We ended up winning for the "Best tasting chili" prize!!!! Whoa, what?!?!?! Out of 25 pots and many many great cookers in our church we won. My mom was very happy. :)

I'll have to ask mom if I can share the recipe. Don't know if she wants it to be a secret or not. lol

Over all, it was alot of fun. You all should have a chili cook-off sometime. Whether it's with your church, homeschool group, or a family reunion!

Have you ever won a prize for something you made?

ps. Later on today or tomorrow, I will tell ya how the speech competition went. phew, it was stressful!