Sarah is Talented and Gifted

Of course, we already knew that. But now so does Prince George's County Schools. We received a letter from her school letting us know that Sarah was identified for inclusion in the Talented and Gifted (TAG) program. There's a TAG school in Bowie to which we've applied (in a lottery system) for her to possibly attend next year. If we don't "win" the school lottery, she'll go to her current school again next year, but still within TAG. We don't know yet if that will mean a separate classroom (her current school usually has three classrooms per grade level) or special instruction during the week. One benefit of switching to the TAG school is that it starts an hour earlier (around 8:15AM) and Sarah can take the bus; some drawbacks are that she'd have to switch schools, which might also affect Girl Scouts. We'll be finding out more information on our options this spring. We're very excited and proud of Sarah!

David's Fortieth Birthday

David's 40th birthday happened last month. On his actual birthday, David was flying back from the AMS conference in Phoenix and didn't get home until after dinner time. We decided to combine a birthday party with the Super Bowl and have a big get together at our house, even though it was a few weeks after David's birthday. We had it catered by Mamma Roma, and served gnocchi, ziti with zucchini, and chicken marsala. Ali, as usual, thought that wasn't going to be enough food, so we also served party sub, mini hot dogs in crescent rolls, wings, salad, veggies, cheese, crackers, etc. We had a very full house; we even played some Guitar Hero: World Tour on the Wii. Some people left to go watch the Super Bowl elsewhere, and some folks stayed to watch the game - and the halftime entertainment. David was most excited to see Bruce Springsteen and E Street Band. We had a contest to guess the songs played at halftime. As proof that David had no inside knowledge, he didn't even finish in the top half of the entrants. It was a great halftime show, and a great football game at the end as well.

For archival purposes, here's the text of the Evite that we sent out:

Lordy, lordy, look who's forty. Come celebrate David "officially turning old".

Dinner will be catered by Mamma Roma, so save all your carb points for the party!

Dress: Sports casual

We've included an end time for the end of the birthday festivities, but the party will continue to watch the Super Bowl (commercials/half-time show), for those who wish to stay.

David's 40th birthday party - family, friends, Italian food, potential New York football Giants repeat appearance in the Super Bowl, Super Bowl football, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band halftime show -- it's going to be legen ... wait for it ... dary!