Soap-a-doap's 4th birthday!

Sophie turned four! I can't believe it. She has grown up so much this year. She told me a few times that she's ready to start 3rd grade! She doesn't want to bother with the other grades I guess. She's so smart and so beautiful. She and I have a lot of fun together at home and it's hard for me to imagine sending her to Kindergarten next year! But there will be no holding this child back. She is actually spelling words and even doing some simple reading. The other day we were in the kitchen and she asked, "Mom, what happens if you don't go to college?" She and I have talked some about going away to college and I can tell she thinks about it a fair amount. I thought it would be fun to walk around on my old college campus when we were in Utah a couple of weeks ago and so close to BYU. It was way too cold so we drove around it instead. The girls didn't seem too interested as I pointed out the building I had all my classes in, or the bridge you walk on to get to the Marriott Center, but now I think Sophie was listening and taking it all in. She loves to help take care of Claire and other little kids when we're around them. She also has a baby doll named Leela who is practically part of the family. Last night she said, "Mom, you're the best mom ever because you bought this outfit for Leela." I thought to myself, "Sweet! That's all it takes?" She has a great sense of humor and is always trying to make us laugh. Especially during dinner when I'm trying to get her to eat!

We had Sophie's birthday party at a hair salon here in our home town. Our friend Lydia did this for her birthday and we thought it was a hoot! She was so excited about it and has been talking about it ever since. The girls come in and one of the hair academy students does their hair up, then paints their nails, then puts a little bit of makeup on. It was so fun to watch the little girls excitement as they got all dolled up! I made cupcakes for the girls and tried to make them look like the Pinkalicious cupcakes from the book. I loved the way they turned out.