Bells - Lambs - Competition

 Aragorn found some beautiful antique bells for the back of church. A much needed item.

 We got some lambs from Aragorn's sister's brood of sheep. Their mother died the night of the day they were born. So we've been busy with lots and lots of bottle feedings again.

 They were named Theodore (the brown one) and Vincent (the black one).  They are really tiny, born at less than 3 pounds. They are about 2.8 pounds now.

 Diapering them while they are indoors is a must. Because they are boys, they need to be double diapered, one around the middle (like a band) and the other around the end. First we had to make collostrum milk replacer and then the regular lamb's milk replacer, which they are on now. They are both getting rather rambunctious. I would suppose that word comes from "ram".  Hopefully they just get their ramming enjoyment from each other and not us!

 Frodo, Merry, & Rosie were in a "Chicagoland" tournament.  It was one of those tournaments that ended in some disappointments, but sometimes we just have to live with poor judging, or other things that just plain old happen.  It's called life.

 The first chuckle was when Frodo got to his XMA floor. He is a new first degree black belt.  There were 2 - 2nd degree black belts and the others were all 3rd and 4th degree.  It was a laugh from the beginning. Frodo's been doing XMA for about 9 months, some of these since they were 4. They were all world champs or district champs, too.  But, as life is, it was a great learning experience! Lots of great ideas. It's always a good thing to be around people with higher ranking skill levels.

 The next chuckle was when he was first on board to do his XMA, afterwards some of the contestants were mad that creative wasn't being done first so they switched it.  So Frodo had to do his twice.

 All that said, he did a great job on his X-treme Form and Weapons as well as his Creative Form and Weapons.

 This boy was using a sword so he had special pants on. He was quite good (world champ), almost disqualified after an accidental loss of control of the scabbard. Aside from that it was a really great show.

 And here they are the 15-17 year old boys. Frodo is still in that class because you are the age you are at December 31st of the previous year through the end of the season which is April. Next year Frodo enters into a harder competitive age 18-25 (or is it 29).

 Now he moved on to traditional forms, weapons, sparring, and combat. Judging was a disappointment but such is life.

 Love this picture!

 Rosie. Also some big disappointments in the judging department. But again life simply doesn't present itself as fair most of the time.

 Rosie doesn't care much for sparring (she's really not the type to hit people) but if you compete at all, you have to spar. She much prefers combat sparring (as do many people). Then you get to his people with sticks :D

 Merry had a pretty decent ring so no disappointments here that I know of. He had a cold though and now isn't feeling well, but he did well. He has a nice crisp form and is good for a jab with a combat weapon (beware! :D)

 Rosie at combat

 Merry at combat. IT was a bit of a nuisance as all 3 were overlapping in their competitions so we were spread pretty thin. But it was still a fun day, just not our favorite tournament. Maybe it has something to do with being somewhat near Chicago!

They all did a great job! In the end they all placed.
Frodo: 1st in combat, 2nd in forms and weapons
Rosie: 3rd in combat
Merry: 1st in forms and combat, 3rd in weapons and sparring

This is the last tournament of the year and all 3 should be receiving at least one, if not more state champ titles, we'll see in a few weeks!

Frodo will be moving on to the district championships which is all the state champs in our district which covers Michigan, Indiana, Tennessee, Illinois, and Wisconsin.  He had a wild year for tournaments as he started as a colored belt (at that time he had 8 state titles) and then moved into first degree black belt so we'll see which ones he maintains, which new ones he receives in just a few weeks.  

In the meantime, back nearer to home, Pippin and Bilbo went to a chess tournament. Pippin came in 1st place and Bilbo came in 12th place.  They also came in 1st place as a team. Pippin does extremely well in chess and approaches sparring with the same thinking, which I'd guess is why he is is very good at sparring and combat sparring.  At the last in-school tournament one of the mom's mentioned to us that his son's one goal was to beat Pippin at sparring *chuckle*. Awesome job, boys! This  is their 2nd tournament.  4 of them will be going to one in Milwaukee in a couple of weeks. We were introduced to competitive chess at a local library where we stumbled upon a chess club. After a couple times the leader suggested Pippin attend a tournament.  They play together at home and also play on chess.com.