Odyssey of the Mind Competition

Maggie's team right before they went in to compete

So this post is only a week late, not bad right?? Last Saturday was Maggie's competition, FINALLY! We've been running like crazy since January to practices and trying to get everything done in time. I will upload the video of their performance and link it in, I just thought I would throw up a couple pictures first.

Mema and Pop-pop came down on Wednesday and had a mini-vacation here. They stayed until after the competition on Saturday night. Pop-pop was actually nice enough to help judge the competition, so Maggie was THRILLED about that! Aunt Sharon and John Mark came down Saturday morning so they could see her as well. Here's a little background on what they have to do: The KIDS have to make everything themselves, they have to come up with their own lines, memorize them(we can write them down for them) and then make all the props. I mean, I couldn't even hold something while she cut it people, it's that serious! I got to plug things in for them, and I helped put the new glue sticks in the glue gun since that was a "safety" issue, but that's it! Anything they could do safely by themselves, they had to do ALONE! And yes, the judges ask the kids, "who made this" "what is this made out of" "who's idea was this" and you know 5 year olds, they tell the truth! So as hard as it was, they had to do it by themselves! I'm still cleaning up paint on the 3rd floor!!the team talking with the judges before hand, answering their questions

We surprised Maggie and had shirts made that all said "Team Maggie" on the front and had our names and a number on the back(baseball team style) Even Fionn had a shirt, and we all wore them to the competition! It was fun, she was super excited to see how excited we all were!!

The team was great, they had everything done in time, they had their lines memorized, and we were ready to go...You could see some nerves starting to show when they were in the "staging" area, but not too bad! Then they wheeled everything in to the room...all lined up, getting ready to go in

Maggie had been fine, her normal happy self running around before the competition. She got in that room, found her mark, and everything changed. I literally saw all the color drain out of her face, and for a minute I thought she would pass out. She rallied and all though the first couple lines were pretty darn quiet, she jumped back into it! The kids did great, and got a 3 out of 3 stars from the judges! The kids are already talking about what they will do next year!
The primary teams are not scored, just judged, so they all got their buttons and ribbons in a ceremony at the end of the day. They were so proud of themselves, and we were just as proud!! I can't believe that they are on the tail end of the school year already! It just blows my mind that she's 3/4 of the way done with Kindergarten! Didn't she JUST start??
Here are a couple pictures for you, enjoy!!

at the end, the award ceremony, in their SPS sweats

back home, on the front porch with her fan club!

maggie showing off her ribbon

Pop-pop and Fionn playing in the hammock chair