An easy chocolate fix...

I'm interrupting the birthday stuff for a moment. I love brownies. They are possibly one of my favorite things, if they are done well. I've been looking for a good homemade recipe since my husband is allergic to some things and my sister-in-law is allergic to others...and I found the most simple and still tasty recipe. I just cut out the nuts for Emilie. :) And of course it's from Nestle.

http://www.verybestbaking.com/recipes/detail.aspx?ID=28489

Birthday Week Day 2

For Day 2 of birthday week, Paul had invited some of my closest friends to come play laser tag at a local skating/laser tag/arcade place. Mostly 13-year-olds hang out there. But we still had a blast playing unlimited laser tag! I haven't moved around that much in ages. Literally. Maybe a decade or more. I realized I need to exercise more! But don't we look fierce? Adhering to a spy-police theme, invited guests received awesome badges and had to pass through the security system to enter the fun! I have about a bajillion ideas for a spy-themed party for little boys and girls now, if anyone wants to hear 'em. Paul & I decided that if all of our future plans don't pan out, we could always start a themed-party-planning business together! And we'd move to Washington and let Kerstin do all the cakes. And we know how to stick to a budget. So we'd be awesome. :)

Birthday Week Day 1

On my actual birthday, Paul came to class and brought lots of sugar for the kiddos to have...and they sung to me in a robot voice. :) When I got home, there was a bubble machine going and my dog and I played in the bubbles (we're such a blur!). Then Paul took me to The Melting Pot, a fabulously fun restaurant that was a new experience for both of us. I highly recommend it--they had a signed birthday card waiting on the fondue pot for me and they gave us a private booth at no extra charge! And the food was delicious, too. It was a good birthday!

Exhaustion?

I wonder if anyone could explain this to me. I was sleeping almost never earlier in the semester, averaging maybe 3-4 hours a night, and I was exhausted. Then my sister gave us her car and my husband was able to drive himself to and from work, so I started sleeping 7-8 hours a night. Still exhausted. Now, I'm so tired all the time that even after laying in bed for 13 hours a day (on average) I am still exhausted...like, last night I slept 6 hours and then today I took a 7-hour nap with my husband. But no matter what I do, or how often I sleep, or eat, or move around, I'm always tired. Not just tired, EXHAUSTED. I could crawl right back in bed right now and sleep LATE in the morning, if only my schedule would allow it. Does this NOT make sense to anyone else? Should I see a doctor or something, or is this just an adjustment thing? How long do adjustments take before they are no longer adjustments and become actual problems?

Celebrate Today (because tomorrow's on its way!)

My 3rd graders earned four letters towards getting their morning recess back today. They also made a brilliant text-to-text connection and had a conversation about a poem that was almost college material. And on an ISTEP+ question that prompted them to write about someone who makes them feel important, some of them chose to write about me. It's days like today that make me remember why I do what I do!