Mariah Plays 5th Grade Dodgeball

Tonight was Mariah’s 1^st night watching Brooke play dodgeball.

Mr. Stanley, the best 5^th grade Science teacher ever, is the coordinator of this event.  Mr. Stanley was also Mariah’s favorite elementary school teacher.  They arm wrestled all the time!

Mr. Stanley tells Mariah to jump in on Brooke’s opposing team with the mission of taking out the best player on Brooke’s team.

My all-star athlete gets into the game.  Much taller than the others, she says she doesn’t want to hurt them.

They annihilated her!  She was the target and they had no mercy. I could only laugh!

Mariah tells me the 5^th graders are BRUTAL and she has a new respect for Brooke for staying in as long as she does!  Maybe Brooke is onto something with the whole “dodging” technique?

I take picture after picture.  Everyone is moving constantly, so many of the pictures are blurry.  There is one common theme though.  In 75% of the pictures, Chad is right next to Brooke.

This is Chad and Brooke.

Brooke and Chad “dated” for 1 ½ years in 1^st grade and announced one day that they decided to “casually date”.  Imagine my shock to hear that!  They are dear friends and seem to gravitate toward each other all evening.

They are playmates on the playground.  Chad’s mom said he was deeply hurt by Brooke’s loss when her dad died recently.  He is the sweetest, cutie-patutie, and Mariah and I both adore him.

It makes me smile watching their friendship. I bet neither realize how close they stay to one another.

Dodgeball wraps up with Mr. Stanley giving a devotion.  Yep, that's Chad to the right of Brooke!

Seven weeks down, one more to go.