Hard work + Lots of Time =

Our kids participated in our school’s Math Team this year. 

None of us had any idea how much time it would be.  They met twice a week, after school, and did 1-2 extra homework assignments that required roughly 2 hours each.  And it was completely voluntary!  We (the parents) felt like quitting a couple of times there, so we can’t imagine how the kids felt. 

Emma’s Fifth Grade team competed a few weeks ago and did well (13th out of 49 schools), but the real payoff came last Friday night, when Gabe’s Fourth Grade team competed.

His team took FIRST PLACE!  They are the Eastern Washington long-division-story-problem-negative-integer champs~

They were feeling pretty confident, but I was kind of poo-pooing it, assuming it was naiveté on Gabe’s part.  But when 4 of his teammates were in the top 6 of the individual award portion, we started getting excited.  Gabe’s team had won the team round in his room and so we knew they’d done well in that area, too.  We were thrilled when they announced that our school was the winner.  It was fun because cousin/best friend Mallory did it, too:

Here’s a short video of the announcement (see if you can spot 3 of 5 Romney kids):

Anyway, I realize this is a boring post to everyone else, but it must be noted for posterity:  my kids took on a challenge, stuck with it and performed well.  We are incredibly proud of both Emma and Gabe for doing something that was hard for them!