Math Blaster, Special Somebody, and Sophie's Fashion Debut

T minus 3 days before summer vacation. I am a little scared. Wes works at home about half the day and without an office to shut all the chaos out, noise control is a huge issue. At one point this afternoon DB was blasting his favorite song "Drift Away" on a CD player, Sophie was watching Dora (who for some inexplicable reason always shouts), and Jake was playing Club Penguin on the computer with it's theme song blaring-all in the same room. And Wes wonders why he can't get anything done. But I digress, I've got some bragging to do so I'm going to get right on with it.

Jake received the Good Friend Award, the 100 Book Club Certificate, and the Math Whiz Award last week. That was awesome enough, but when he came home wearing his Math Blasters T-shirt today, I was extra proud. Only four of about 75 first graders at his school have accomplished the feat of solving 100 math problems in less than five minutes without any mistakes. Nice work, Jake! (For the record, I can take absolutely zero credit for contributing any genetic material responsible for math skills.)

Jake's moment to shine on awards day. (Thanks to the delay on my camera, a shot that was fantastic three seconds prior turned into a shot of the back of his head while walking away. )

Dylan was the special somebody at school last week. I learned things about him that even as the woman who gave birth to him was not aware of, such as the fact that he wants to be a vet, he is a huge fan of Darth Vader, and his favorite color is gold. Who knew? I am so proud of how far he has come this year and credit his amazing Kindergarten teacher. Life after Mrs. Dyer is going to be tough for DB and me. I really don't think there is another person on this planet that I would have rather entrusted my bashful, undersized, still four-year-old with for seven hours a day last fall. It is hard to see this year end for him. Dylan's wall of honor in the waning days of his Kindergarten Class.

Sophie took her first trip down the red carpet at last week's Mother/Daughter Enrichment night. We had a fashion show and she chose her polka dot Easter dress for the occasion. She was surprisingly poised and loved the attention so much that I could not keep her from running back up there for an encore performance.

Sophie truly believes that the world revolves around her. Her friend Lindsey had her 3rd birthday party last Friday, so Sophie became absolutely convinced that it was her third birthday today. Her actual birthday is still weeks away, but she would hear none of that nonsense talk. So I finally just went with it. We went to Cheryl's for a swim party/Home Evening. I had everyone wish her a happy birthday to which she politely thanked them, then we put the three candles that she had demanded I get down for her earlier in the day in a half eaten cake with no frosting, and we celebrated like it was 1999. Does this mean I am off the hook come July 8?

Sophie's blows out her "birthday" candles.

Sophie walks down the red carpet. (She did not take kindly to the girl behind her that tried to steal her 10 seconds of fame.)