Birthday recap!

What a way to start the day!  My classroom door was decorated nicely :)

Abby and Kayla's birthday song video. Brought tears to my eyes when I first saw it!!

Birthday flowers delivered!  From Tracy 

Birthday cookie from a student, and a dozen flowers (below) from another kiddo.
Look at the stick-she made footballs to decorate the flowers!

Traditional plant from my mom.  Beautiful flowers and balloons from Bailey and Justin!

Abby eating spaghetti at my bday dinner...

And this was the dessert face....ha! 

After the day was over....my desk looks like a beautiful garden!

Bday gifts from the family: a beautiful new centerpiece from Chel and her family; a tent and air mattress from my mom and dad; an Aaron Rodgers jersey and Packers pens from Jared; a wonderful artistic piece from Abby.  Not pictured: the adorable picture of Abby and Kayla--that's going in my classroom!

Overall, what an amazing day!! I had an entire hallway of students sing me happy birthday, plus multiple other celebratory songs.  Ma came by my classroom and brought cupcakes and my traditional bday plant :)

We ended the day by having a family dinner at Olive Garden!

A few short days left....

Only a few short days left of the big 3-0!  This has been a big year (but don't they always seem to be??). I really am glad that I have blogged for a while, at least for me, so I can look back at what I've posted in the past.  I posted a blog about the 30th anniversary of my birth.  Let's take a trip back in time:


(From my 30 reflection post).
So as my birthday approaches, I can't help but think what a milestone year this is. Thirty. 30. Three 10's. Six 5's. You get it. So it has brought up a few questions:
1. Am I where I thought I'd be at 30?
2. Have I accomplished all I'd hoped by 30?
3. What else do I want to do with my life?
4. Should I feel more pressure for this birthday?

I can't help but answer these, replacing all the 30's with 31's :)
1. I am still living in my dream home, my grandparents house.  Every day I count my blessings to know how lucky I am to live here, with all these memories.
2.  Well, over the past year I took my special education teaching certification test, and passed!  I hope to get a part time job teaching at one of the community colleges this year, just to expand my knowledge...and bank account.
3. I would like to become more financially stable.  Crazy, right?  That's something I really want to work on before the big 32 approaches.
4. No pressure.  Birthday's are a fun day...a day to celebrate.  :)

Alumni Game!!

I had a great time with Jared and Tracy at the first ever D-Backs alumni game!

It was fun to see all the 'old' players from back in the day.  Too bad Craig Counsell wasn't there!!

They played a total of 4 innings...and it seemed to be in slow motion compared to the regular MLB games.  But still had an enjoyable time!

My mom's favorite player, Durazo!  This is partially where her favorite for the numbers 44 come from :)

Haunted

I am haunted by the image of Lambeau laying in the back yard after the horrible dog fight.  Haunted, and brought to tears today.

Why do I feel like I can't let go?