ain't no party like a speech party!

We officially, officially wrapped up the speech season last night with a party at my house. We started out with lots of food.

I think they were fighting about who could look fatter. All I know is Duy ended up looking pregnant!

Then we segued into The Paper Plate Awards. We did this at a speech party three years ago when none of these kids were in speech. Ruth and I remembered how much fun they were then, so we revived them!  We ended up with at least one award for each student. Some were more serious, like "Made Miss Becky Cry," but most were a bit silly.

Jane won the "Miss Becky doesn't know how to pronounce my last name" award because at one speech meet, she was going to get a medal, and the person who would be announcing asked me how to pronounce her last name. I blanked, said something stupid, and he butchered it from the podium!

Joey won the "Miss Becky can't watch me because she's going to laugh" award because by the end of the season, I couldn't listen to either of his speeches without cracking up. And neither speech was funny. So we decided I wouldn't go watch him at state, just in case I got the giggles!

After that, it was game time--some people played "Funglish," this word game where you have to get someone to guess a word by only using the adjectives provided (it's the one pictured below); others played "Swap," a very violent card game; some played Super Mario; and others played "Blurt!", one of my favorite word games.

Then it was time for more food--brownie sundaes--while Jessica "played" the keyboard for us.

We wrapped up with a sing-along and a massive game of "Swap." All in all, it was a great night!

They're all choir kids, and they burst into a rendition of "Rejoice," one of their favorite numbers. After that, we had a Les Miz sing-along.

I'd be remiss if I didn't post a picture of my partner-in-crime, Ruth. We coached together for seven years! (Too bad we weren't looking at the same camera!)

I'm so grateful my house hasn't sold yet and I could have this party. We had a blast!