Sophie, You're Amazing!

Sophie turned 12 this year (February 27, to be exact). Hard to believe that 12 years ago I gave birth to her in Sparrow Hospital in Lansing, Michigan amidst a terrible storm. I remember the storm because Dave cracked some joke about El Nino (from a Saturday Night Live skit - you had to be there). I also remember really NOT liking the first nurse that "helped" me because she predicted two things: 1. That I would be pushing for 2-3 hours, and 2. That Sophie would weigh at least 8 pounds. The worst part about it was that she was right on both accounts. I pushed for close to three hours and Sophie weighed 8 pounds 5 ounces.

Now she weighs a bit more and likes to do a little of her own pushing: Can I have a cell phone? Can I wear makeup? Can I have a cell phone? Can I have a facebook account? Can I have a cell phone? Can I watch this or that movie? Can I buy this outfit? Can I have a cell phone? You get the idea. I love her to pieces though. She's a great kid and has been a great example to all of us of dealing with adversity. I love her, I love her, I love her and she is becoming a beautiful young woman inside and out. I am one lucky mamma!

This year she BEGGED for an "Amazing Race" birthday party. I kept putting it off and putting it off because it always seemed so far away and lets face it, I'm a procrastinator, but before I knew it, her birthday snuck up on me and it was party planning time. I definitely went into stress/panic mode having to think of how to pull off a party like that. Thanks to the Internet, and friends who had done it in the past, I think we pulled off a really fun day for her...Whew!
I made t-shirts with iron-on logos from the show "The Amazing Race" for each of the kids (I would say girls, but Ryan ended up being a fill-in (much to his delight) for one of the girls that couldn't come) in four different colors for the four teams: pink, green, blue, and purple. They turned out really cute!

Here were the clues/tasks that the teams had to do:
1. "Get a Clue"
They had to complete a word scramble of words having to do with Sophie. Each word had numbers under some of the letters. They had to transfer those letters to the bottom of the page which spelled out where they could find their second clue (Thank you puzzlemaker.com for this, it turned out great).
2. "It's Puzzling"
They had to find where their puzzle was hidden, bring it back inside and put it together (I got easy 25 piece puzzles from the dollar store. The race went faster than I thought, so to do it again, I might get puzzles with more pieces)

3. DETOUR - LUG or BUG
They had to choose between these two tasks.

LUG - Each team had to LUG one of its members up the sidewalk to the street sign and then run back.

BUG - Each team had to find three plastic bugs hidden outside around the house.

4. "It's Jell-O-licious"

Each team had to go back into the house at their designated table where a bowl of jell-o and straws were waiting for them. They had to slurp the bowl of jell-o clean with their straws.

5. "Knock, Knock"

Each team was given mapquest directions. They had to drive with their supervisor to the location and go up to the house, knock on the door, and when the door was answered say "Fashion fades, only style remains the same" to get their next clue.

6. "Fashion Forward"

They were given a brown paper bag filled with funny hats, jewelry, sunglasses, etc. that they all had to put on then go back to the door and say "We're ready for our close-up". Their picture was then taken and they received their next clue. Oh and they had to stay in their "garb" for the rest of the race-hilarious!

7. "Zack Attack"

They had to go Zachary's playground which is across the street from our subdivision and they had to complete various tasks which were:

-Sit and spin on the dizzy chair 10 times

-Climb to the top of the rope pyramid and back down

-Go down the roller slide

-Swing across the monkey bars without touching the ground

8. "Hotta Hotta Chocolatta"

They had to drive to World Market, buy a "Chipotle Chili Dark Chocolate" bar and eat it.

9. "Awakening"

They had to drive to the park that has the sculpture "The Awakening" and count the bell-shaped lights in the park and the surrounding area.

10. DETOUR - PICTURE or PRANCER?
They had to choose between these two tasks:

PICTURE - Go to the mall, find the photo booth and buy a set of pictures making sure each team member is visible in all pictures. (Everyone ended up choosing this one. I was surprised and thought more people would do the carousel so they wouldn't have to wait for other teams at the photo booth, but what do I know?)

PRANCER - Go to the mall, find the carousel and each team member must buy a ticket and ride the carousel.
11. "Where in the Mall"
They were given a picture of something that was sold somewhere in the mall. They had to figure out what and where it was and go buy it and bring it back for proof. They were all pictures of different books that ended up being gifts for Sophie.