o happy day...

I had absolutely the best birthday I can remember... save when I was like 5 or 6. My kids at school were looking forward to it as much or more than I was because they wanted to know what I was bringing for them! (When it's a kid's birthday, they can bring in cupcakes for the class, so it was automatically assumed that I would do the same. I brought ice cream sandwiches, which they were equally excited about. Like I told Rob, I think it's just the fact that it's sugar!) Anyway, first thing Friday morning, I woke to find really cool birthday cards and a "happy birthday" banner from my roomies. Then at school, when I got into my classroom after my morning duty, a few of my kids gave me cards and little presents. It was really sweet. They were home-made cards... those are the best, especially from 2nd graders. Judy, my directing teacher, bought lunch for me (because we order out on Fridays... except I'm always broke) and the second grade team all had lunch together. Judy also made brownies, and Katie, the other second grade intern, gave me a little bag of goodies, and there was a card signed by my team. It was nice. Then, after lunch, Judy gave me a book that she had gotten for me this week at our school's book fair, and all the kids had signed the inside cover. I about cried when I read it. The class sang me the "cha-cha-cha" version of Happy Birthday... it made me laugh. (For those who don't know, that's the normal version of Happy Birthday with "cha-cha-cha" thrown in between the phrases of the song. 2nd graders get a huge kick out of that minor alteration.) The class enjoyed the ice cream sandwiches at recess that afternoon.

After school, I came home to find flowers and a gift waiting for me from Rob in my room. He got me a Poloriod camera, which I am very much enjoying! (I'm going to have to stock up on extra film at some point.) Veronica gave me a home-made card with a picture of an elephant inside, which made me really happy, and she brought home some "birthday cake ice cream" too. Marilyn played dress-up with me for my date, except in the end we came back to the outfit that I had more or less picked out at the beginning. I think she was a little disappointed that she couldn't come up with something more creative for me, but the process was fun anyway. And we were all pleased with the final outfit. And she helped me accessorize, so it was all good. So Rob and I spent the rest of the evening out together, which was really enjoyable. I finally came home around 2:00am and hung my recently-taken Poloroids on the side of my bookshelf and then gathered up the piles of clothing not belonging to me (from the many attempted outfits of the night) before eventually putting myself in bed. Today I woke up and spent half the day with my parents and we just hung out around town. Later I went swimming with my roomies, and then had a "loner" evening of outlet mall and Barnes & Noble. It was great.

So there's the far-too-detailed account of my birthday weekend. Sorry for boring you. I really did have a great birthday though, so I thought I'd tell you all about it, whether or not you cared. Peace out!