Update in a Slideshow

Southwest Regional Tournament Results

1st place - Sac 1 (Delaney and Ranier)

3rd place - Sac 3 (Darilyn, Kayla, and Bethel)

All tournament team
Delaney - 1st, Oriana - 2nd, Darilyn - 3rd, Billy - 4th, and Kayla - 5th

This past weekend we had a Bible Quizzing tournament here in Sacramento, and boy did our beginners do a good job!! Our Sacramento Rock Church Beginner teams took 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place with a competative team from Rialto taking home the 4th place trophy. Sacramento quizzers took 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 5th on the all tournament team. Of course, I am especially proud of my two quizzers. Delaney and Darilyn did a great job on their teams. Delaney and Ranier (Sac 1) took 1st and Darilyn, Kayla, and Bethel (Sac 3) took 3rd. Delaney was the highest scoring quizzer of the beginner tournament with a 131 point average. Four of her 6 quizzes were perfect quizzes, meaning she hit 6 questions and got all 6 right, earning 10 extra points for quizzing out (the max # of questions a beginner can get right is 6, at which point they "quiz out" earning 10 extra points and recognition for the acheivement). In each of those four quizzes Delaney hit 4 twenty pt questions and 2 thirty point questions (her Dad's game plan) and earned 150 points for her team. Darilyn was 3rd highest scorer of the tournament, with her teammate Kayla taking 5th. They are a good team, very well matched. We go into each game with the job of each girl getting 3 ten pointers, 2 twenty pointers, and 1 thirty pointer. They work their hardest to do this and come pretty close most of the time. Darilyn had a one quiz where she scored 100 points for her team. All in all they did an excellent job and we are very, very proud of them. Sorry if it seems like too much bragging, but as this blog was initially for the benefit of the Grandparents, others will just have to understand! lol

Quiz Results

All tournament team (Delaney-1st, Kayla-2nd, Darilyn-3rd

Delaney and Rainer - 1st place team

Darilyn and Bethel - 2nd place team

Dr. Newheart's Christmas Cure

On December 14, Delaney and Darilyn participated in our church's children's Christmas production. They practiced every week since early November and it turned out wonderful. Delaney had a solo and also another part she sang with another girl. Darilyn was part of a sign language group and signed a solo. Both girls did fabulous. Sis. Tishauna Jones, who heads up the Music is for Kids program every year does a great job of using as many children in special roles as possible and then coaching them to their best performance. I am really glad to have been able to help out with the signing and as a chaperone in practices. I helped Kim a little with the costume stuff and although I didn't do much I was just glad to be a part. lol Seriously thought, it was great fun. I think I enjoyed it as much as the kids. Can't wait for the next one!!!

Darilyn's Baptism

On our way to church (yes, we walk)

Waiting to get baptized. Isn't she excited?!

Listening as Bro. Young explained the importance of baptism and what to do.

"I now baptize you the wonderful name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins." Just as in the days of Acts, our daughter is following the plan of salvation spelled out in the Bible (Repent, be baptized in Jesus name, and receive the Holy Ghost)

What a wonderful thing, seeing Darilyn speak in tongues after being baptized in Jesus name! There is nothing like knowing your child's name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life!

Feeling Great!!

Darilyn was baptized on Nov 29, 2008. We are so excited that another one of our children has received the Holy Ghost and been baptized in the precious name of Jesus. She asked us about getting baptized, so Kevin wanted to make sure she understood the importance and significance of baptism. We had a family prayer evening after she asked and we discussed this with the kids, complete with an activity to keep the youngest two involved. It was a lot of fun. I'll have to post pics of that evening as well. Darilyn was excited to get baptized, but more important, she understands why she needed to be baptized in the name of Jesus. We were also glad to share the important event with not only Kevin's family here in town, but my mom and dad visiting for Thanksgiving. Truly a reason to be Thankful!!

Darilyn's Award

Darilyn received an award at the monthly assembly. Her teacher honored her with a Sightword Superstar award because she can recognize and spell all of her sightwords (about 70 right now) and also the Math Whiz award because she has the highest math grade in her class. You go, Darilyn! Mrs. Askins, her teacher this year and last year, told me that Darilyn is also very responsible in class and is the type of student you want to have in class. We have a parent/teacher conference tomorrow and I am expecting to hear great things about Miss Darilyn.

Accepting her award certificate from her teacher.

Mrs. Askins, Darilyn and the other 2 award winners

Miss Darilyn proudly showing off her award

Darilyn showing off her empty space in her mouth. She recently lost another tooth. This one on top as you can see.

First Day of School

For those of you who do not know, my girls are in year round school, track D. Their track, as well as tracks B and C, started back to school on July 21, two weeks ago. So, they are already hard at work in school, even though summer's only half over. And for those who might feel bad for them, we actually like it, especially when October and February get here and we get 3 and 4 weeks off. Anyways, this year Delaney is in 2nd grade and Darilyn is in first. Darilyn has her same teacher from her 1st/kindy combo class last year, Ms. Askins. We really like her, so I know Darilyn will do well this year. And Delaney has Ms. Gaskins. She really likes her so far this year too, especially since Ms. Gaskins gives her students 'smart sticks' aka red licorice, for being smart and doing well. I think Delaney has gotten at least one everyday for things such as asking if stories can be past down 'from generation to generation' to coming up with 24 ideas for a story during a brain storming session (the page only had 14 lines, so she turned the page over and continued writing on the back) So far both of the girls have brought home great work, but as Delaney told Darilyn, "This is all review from last year, so it should be easy!" I think they are doing more than just review, but I am very happy with their work so far. And as to how Dallas and Denae are doing without the girls, well that is stuff for another post. In fact, a few more posts, probably!

Finally - BQ Finals Post

Okay, I finally sat down and did it. I made a slideshow of the pics I took at Finals 2 weeks ago. Wow, I am really slow! Anyways, finals was a lot of fun. Friday night we went to John's Incredible Pizza with everyone after orientation. We had a blast. I don't have any pics of that on my slide show because the pics all turned out too dark. But, the beginner girls all had matching outfits from Children's Place (Thank you Sis Horton for picking those up for us!) Everywhere I looked it was pink shirts and headbands! Then after a late night of partying (and even later night of Denae crying because it was very hot in our room and she was over exhausted), we got up for a big day of quizzing. Our church junior and beginner quizzers all wore navy, white, and yellow this year. Everyone looked really nice. After a long day of great quizzing by all of the quizzers, Delaney and Darilyn took 2nd in the beginner division. First place went to another Sacramento team, Karly, Oriana, Katrina, and Kayla. They were a tough team and quizzed very well. Delaney was highest scorer on the all tournament team with 99 pts per quiz. Darilyn was 5th. And this tournament, the juniors and beginners were able to participate in the Ultamate Challenge competition, normally just a senior thing. Delaney and Darilyn both did really well in this too. In the charting competition (locate as many 1 time words as your can correctly in 30 seconds) Delaney was 2nd and Darilyn was 4th. In the quoting competion (horizontal quote as many vs 1's as you can in 30 seconds -horizontal is quoting all of the same vs numbers through the material Gal 1:1, Gal 4:1, Gal 5:1, Gal 6:1, Eph 2:1, Eph 4:1, Eph 5:1, and Eph 6:1) Delaney took 1st and Darilyn took 3rd. Delaney actually quoted all 8 of the beginner verse 1's in 30 seconds. Juniors and Seniors, of course, have more verse 1's to quote. But, if I can brag a little more, according to Danny Barba, our Ultimate Challenge coordinator, Delaney did the best of all the divisions! And, Bro and Sis Horton, our beginner program directors, received coach of the year! In the junior division, my nephews Christian and Austin, took first place, with Austin being 1st on the all tournament team and Christian being 5th (that looks familiar). Faith and Caleb, our 'adopted' niece and nephew took 2nd, and Faith was the junior Quizzer of the Year. And Carlos and Denise, received Junior Coach of the Year. Everyone did such a great job and worked very hard. Of course, juniors and seniors are still working hard getting ready for Nationals just 2 weeks away, but Delaney and Darilyn are done for the year and this Mom is ready for the break. Kevin is working dillegently from the official side of things making sure everything will be ready for the National tournament and tonight is actually at Kathy and Craigs helping Christian and Austin study. So for all those still working hard, rememeber EVED (every verse every day!)

Now that's what I call quoting

Kevin made a deal with the girls this week that if they can quote all 184 verses in 40 minutes or less, they will get $5. 30 min or less earns them another $5 (or a total of $10) and 25 min or less gets them a total of $20. Well, Delaney's first try was 32 min. She tried again today and did her verses in 27 1/2 min (that's all 184 verses with NO mistakes!!) She is now stoked to get an extra $10 out of her dad tomorrow by quoting in less than 25 min. I think she can do it, but it will take some serious speed. Darilyn's first try was about 47 min, but she wasn't really motivated at the time. Today, we timed her on half of the verses (92) and she clocked in at 14 1/2 minutes with only 1 mistake (and that was just due to quoting so fast)! This put her on a good track to finish everything in about 30 min, but we weren't able to finish her session due to a mishap which I will post about later. So, tomorrow morning Darilyn will get to try again for her $10, and let me tell you, she can speed through them when she gets to going! Let's see how much money they can get from their dad this week! I think I hear the mall calling me (I mean THEM haha!)

Kids say the cutest things!

Dallas about why he was so excited about the Family Fun Night hosted by Bible Quizzing; "Oh, yeah, and God is going to be there too!"

Denae's version of what a kitty cat says: "Memow."

Darilyn's main concerning when finding out my mom was in the hospital again: "Does Grandma's antibotics (her word) taste like bubble gum?"

Dallas on why he wants to quiz next year: "So I can get first place!"

Denae, after mommy told her to tell daddy 'I'm cute': "Mommy cute!"

Delaney's obeservation regarding losing some quizzes and then taking first at the last BQ tourney: "I guess Jesus was trying to show us that even if we lose some quizzes, we can still win." (This comment struck me as kind of funny, but true, too. Even if we lose some, whether it be in a game or any part of life, including our spiritual life, if we keep playing, living, or doing our best, we can (and WILL) still win in the end. Even kids can have profound thoughts sometimes!)

All Done!

The girls finished learning all of their verses on Saturday. Yea! Now we just have to get them down enough to reference. They can reference 164 verses. The last 20, from Eph 6, they haven't started referencing yet, although they can quote them in backwards order, from verse 20 to verse 1. Tomorrow we'll mix that chapter up seperatley and by the end of the week, the last chapter will be in our reference stack with all the other verses. They enjoyed learning this chapter, especially about the armor of God.

Summer Bible Quizzing Tournament

Last weekend the Rock Church hosted the Summer Tournament for Apostolic Bible Quizzing. We had a great time and saw some awesome quizzing. I kept score for Beginners most of the time, so I didn't get to see much of the Juniors or Seniors, but my goodness, those little quizzers can quiz up a storm! They started the morning with a warm-up game similar to Musical Chairs involving all of the quizzers. It was a lot of fun and the quizzers really seemed to enjoy it. While we watched the quizzers march around the table, I looked down and Denae was marching around the judges table all by herself. Monkey see, monkey do hehe!

I was really proud of Darilyn this tournement. She, for the first time in her 2 years of quizzing, was on the All Tournament Team. She was 5th highest scorer and received her "very own" trophy. She has worked so hard at memorizing her verses and has really improved in her quizzing this year. But, since she is one of the youngest quizzers, it can be hard to compete with the older ones. Against other quizzers her age, around 5 and 6, she can hold her own, but when she's put against the 8, almost 9, year olds, she gets a bit intimidated. So, for her to get a trophy is a real accomplishment and we are very proud of how well she is doing. Delaney was 2nd highest scorer, with Karlee beating her out for 1st again. Karlee sure keeps Delaney on her toes! The girls ended up with 1st place, after losing to two of the teams in the Round Robin. They came back in the championship round to win all their quizzes, all though there were some close calls.

I just want to say, I am very proud of how well ALL of the quizzers are doing. What they say is true: Everyone in Bible Quizzing is a winner. When you think about what all it takes for a child to take the time to memorize 184 verses in just a few months, it really is amazing. And for those who maybe get behind and haven't quiet memorized them all, well, even half the number of verses is more than most adults take the time to learn. Way to go, Quizzers! Just one more tournament for our Beginners! You can do it! (Check out the side bar under quizzing to see the girls progress in memorization)

On a side note, Christian and Austin and their team captian Audie took first in Juniors, with Chrirstian geting 4th on the All Tournament Team and Austin tying for 1st. Great Job, guys!

Check back after July 19th to see how Sacramento does at the Regional Finals!

Darilyn's Kindergarten Graduation

The day after the zoo field trip, we had Darilyn's kindergarten graduation. It was really cute. We had it in the classroom with the other 8 kindergarteners and Ms. Askins even let Delaney stay with us. The kids sang a few songs. Darilyn got to do a special part at the end of one of the songs, and that was the high light of her day, I think. The kids then each got a diploma from the teacher. Then it was time for doughnuts and juice. What could be more fun than that? Funny thing is, we got up extra early that morning and took the kids for doughnuts as a special treat for Darilyn's big day. Of course they were all able to eat one more. We wouldn't want to waste an oppurtunity for eating sugar!

Trip to the Zoo

Darilyn's class went on a trip to the zoo the day before the last day of school. (That last week was a doozy between fieldtrips for both girls and pizza parties and holidays!) I was able to attend as a chaperone and really enjoyed it. Thanks Kim for watching Dallas and Denae so I could go!!We were able to see everything except the repitile house. The kids were disappointed about that, but had a good time anyways.

Our favorite exhibit was the penguins. They were so cute! We went to see them first and had a hard time getting the kids to leave. And then, they wanted to go back at the end, even though we didn't have time to. We always enjoy going to the zoo and hopefully I can take Dallas and Denae soon. (I've heard rumors that Zoo Train's last class might be at the zoo. How fun would that be?!)

Bible Quizzing Progress

Wow! Have you checked the girls' progress on Bible Quizzing lately? It is on the sidebar with the cute picture of them wearing quiz shirts when they were 2 and 3. We are already gearing up for the Finals Warm-ups tournament to be held here at the Rock Church June 6 & 7. The girls are in the home stretch of learning all their verses this year. They have 9 more verses to learn to qualify for this next tournament, so we will finish up Tuesday I think. But looking at the bigger picture, they are 40 verses away from having memorized all their material for this year! And they can reference it all, too. We are so proud of how hard they are working.


We also started doing one time words with them. The Beginners will start having questions about that this next tournament. Questions like "Abba. Quote the verse of study that contains this word." Or the question might ask them to locate the verse instead. Last night I played a game with them for the one time words. We used Monopoly money and they got $10 when they got one right, or they paid me $5 if they missed it. Then the other player would have the chance to earn $1 if they could answer it. That's what they are playing in the above picture. Darilyn was concentrating on locating a one time word. Delaney won by a little bit, but both of the girls had over $300 in Monopoly money by the time we were done with one page of our one time words.

They also did very well at practice on Wednesday night. Kevin has told them that whoever quizzes out or scores over 100 pts for the night can pick out ice cream to bring home after practice. And if one of them does both, then that one gets to pick out any of the "frozen novelties" in the ice cream department. (Dallas and Denae love this arrangement, too. lol) Well, Wed night, both girls got to bring home something special. Delaney played in 3 quizzes and scored 420 total pts and quizzed out 3 times that night. And Darilyn played in 5 quizzes, scoring 500 total pts and quizzing out 3 times. I guess they had to start subbing her in at the middle of the quiz. Of course it was only practice, but it was really good for Darilyn to realize that she really does know the answers.

Anyways, the girls have worked hard and are excited about Grandma and Poppa being here for the next tournament to watch them quiz. I am too!

Spring School Pictures

Okay, help me out here. I can curl my daughters' hair on Sat night for Sunday church and have curls that make it through two services, naps, school on Monday (including recess) and the various hairdos involved with these multiple activities. However, on school picture day, I curl the girls' hair the night before and fix it so cute for the pics and the curl doesn't even last until pic time. Of course, on this day they had to run laps for PE time before the pics. Hello! Does anyone understand this mystery? Oh well, the pics still turned out cute, but the cute curly hairdo was loong gone!