Early Presents

It's my birthday, yay!!!!! And while I have to say that as long as today does not end with our apartment on fire, it will qualify as one of the best birthdays ever, well . . . a few lovely hours spent at the zoo that's A BLOCK AWAY from our new place? Check. Pics popping up on facebook shortly? Check. Super yummy ice cream cake? Check. (side note: a seven minute car trip on a sunny day with an ice cream cake in the passenger seat is significantly more nerve wracking than a two minute trip on an overcast day. Learned that one yesterday as I convinced myself that I was actually watching it melt as I drove home . . . ) And now Luke has gone to work for the rest of the day so I decided to spread the happy by sharing some fun stories from the week.

~ Katie's class made me birthday cards and they were standing up on the table waiting for me yesterday. Kinda made my day. :-) Some of the highlights: (all spelling/grammar verbatim, lol)

~One card was completely covered in happy wishes - "your lucky," "I wish it was my birthday," etc. Among the good wishes, a Foghorn Leghorn sound clip played in class occasionally: "NO NO NO your doing it all worng (wrong)"

~"365 days" . . . I'm pretty sure this was meant to express the fact that he remembers how any days there are in a year, thereby knowing how long it is until my next birthday.

~"happy cookus (cookurs? lookus?) day" . . . no idea. None.

~ One girl, instead of folding her construction paper like a card folded it into eighths. And labeled every eighth on the outside with "open." And asked me if I'd figured out how to open it. And looked relieved when I told her I had. I'm still giggling.

~ Two math related references - a caterpillar with body segments labeled "2 x 4 =" and a speech bubble saying "8" and on another card "your best timing person" . . . suffice it to say I have made quite a name for myself as someone proficient at correcting a quarter page of arithmetic problems and putting stickers on a chart. :-)

And last but CERTAINLY not least . . .

~"are you free to nithe(tonight), ou(oh) you Have a Husbind SORRY"

Ummmmmmmm . . . is this a nine-year-old girl attempting to use a pick-up line on me? She meant it as a joke - she asked me later if I thought it was funny, and I am still laughing . . . but I'm also still a little confused. Talk about kids saying the darnedest things!


~ Thursday. Lunchtime. Kids are coming in to check their reading points, and being the only adult in the room, I'm doing the checking. Jacob and Jehosaphat come in. The reading coach has a cute little teddy bear dressed up like Benjamin Franklin, and while they're waiting for their turns Jacob points to the bear and says "Hey look, (Jehosaphat), he looks like you!"

Not missing a beat, this most adorable little boy in the world looks at the bear and says, "Yep, I'm an old grampa," whilst . . . nodding really isn't the word. More like bouncing his head up and down. And you're all really missing out on the best part, because what really makes the story so funny that I couldn't speak for a good 3 minutes at least is the visual - this kid is seriously cute, and when you couple that with his absolutely darling accent and mannerisms it takes everything he says and does from just amusing and silly to hysterical. I'm really hoping I get to see more of him next year.


Good times. I'm ready for the end of the year, but I'm definitely going to miss these kids. What will I laugh at all summer?


P. ost S. cript
Okay, this is definitely one of the coolest things I've ever seen. I want one!!