best bday ever.

My students have been excited for this day ALL week.

But it started before school.

Well, it actually started with this note yesterday.

but that was just a thank you note, not really for my bday.

At 3am I woke up for a potty break.  I opened my door and there sat this big, beautiful pink cheetah print birthday hat that said, "All Hail the Birthday Princess" on it accompanied by a card from Tedi, Katie, Lauren, and Alex.

So sweet!

At 7.15 am I opened my door to leave and there were pink streamers and a "Happy Birthday Heidi! We Love You!" sign outside my door.

the streamers and glitter confetti continued all the way down the stairs.

YESSS!

Love those girls!

Miranda has been counting down for almost 2 weeks.

"Miss Kendrick!  13 days until your birthday!!"

I was sitting at the back table when the 8.20am bell rang.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!"

5 of them walked in all happy and a slightly crazy.

I got lots of hugs, birthday wishes, and notes all day long.

Sally made me a bracelet, necklace, and earrings.

Then Miss Ellee came into class about 10 minutes late.

We'll let it slide this time because she had a pink present in her hands.

I opened it in front of the class.

A cute little Ms. Kendrick's Classroom sign for me with a turtle and starfish--matches our classroom perfectly.

The principal announced my bday with the announcements.

My kids told everyone.  Miranda said "happy birthday" to me every time she saw me.  She even held my hands and sang to me after recess.

here's a few of them singing to me at recess.

I walked back in the classroom after recess and 

"Surprise!!!  Happy Birthday!!"

About half my kids hid behind the bookshelf and jumped out at me.  It was great.

Theeeeeeeeen,

Garrett's mom is my Wednesday helper.  She brought a pumpkin pie that Garrett gave to me.  I cut it into 22 little pieces (well 24) and we shared it after lunch.

{I tell my kids everyday how much I love pumpkin pie.  At least they're learning something about this fall season!}

Tedi comes in once or twice a week to volunteer.  She came in yesterday and everyone told her it was going to be my bday.  When she came in today, of course they reminded her.  We took the kids to lunch and went to the faculty room.

God bless Tedi.  She stopped at The Sweet Tooth Fairy (here) and picked up a pumpkin chocolate chip "cupcake" (it's really a muffin with frosting--remember when she surprised me with one a little bit ago?) and a cranberry orange "cupcake" (also a muffin with frosting, which apparently is all the difference between a muffin and a cupcake.  i beg to differ.  muffins are not cakey and airy, they are like bread. duh.  there's a difference--trust me.  i hate cake.).

we split the muffins 50/50.  both were SO good.

thanks again, Miss Tedi!

We came back into my classroom after lunch.  And, to my surprise, one of my sweet room moms had snuck in and put up streamers on my table and counter, wrote "Happy Birthday, Miss Kendrick!" on the board, and left a present with 4 books in it from my 2nd grade class!  How sweet!  I LOOOOOVE getting new books!

and then we shared our pumpkin pie.

i came home from school and found this waiting on my table.

so sweet.

post-its are a teacher's best friend.

i LOOOOVE those crystal BLUE bic pens.

and we all know how obsessed i am with golden spoon, which was waiting in my freezer for me (pumpkin pie flavor).

and we also know how in love i am with flowers!!

[katie got me gerber daisies after my marathon. my bday seems a more fitting occasion for flowers, but i'll take them anytime!]

speaking of flowers...

i changed my clothes. i put on a super cute blouse katie got me!

and alex, lauren, katie and i jumped in the car and headed for salt lake!!

we stopped at fashion place mall in murray [south salt lake county] and ate at corner bakery.

LOVE corner bakery.

california favorite that recently opened in murray. please, bring one to provo!!

theeeeen we drove up to salt lake city and saw brandon flowers!!

it was SO much fun!  he is the lead singer for the killers that just put out his first solo album.  love him.

Lauren and I

alex is pretty much obsessed with brandon flowers (and the killers for that matter.)  so naturally she was rockin' out.  and i was as well.  i'm not much a killers fan, not because i don't like them. i jsut never really listen to them, but i enjoy it when it comes on the podski.  anyway, alex introduced me to b.flowers about a month ago and i got his cd and love it.  so i knew like 85% of the words. and it was SO much fun!  and fran healy (scottish lead singer for the band Travis) was the opener.  um, loved him.  he just had his little ol' guitar and strummed his little acoustic heart out.  so great.  and he is HILARIOUS.  and apparently the "f-word" is nbd in scotland, because he was throwing it down like nobody's business.

totally looks like i am jutting my chin out here and completely exhausted. because i was. and had been standing for 4 hours. and only 5 hours of sleep.

TOTALLY WORTH IT.

so many good things happened on my

23rd

bday.  i loved it.

especially since i wasn't feeling too excited about it, because let's just face it: the older i get, the less and less exciting my bday becomes (school, work, etc.)

but 2nd grade made it good. and as always, my good friends make me feel special.