Birthday Winner!

Hey Ladies!  Thanks for all of you who played along with me on my birthday.

We have a winner...

Karmen

@ 
Karmen's Kinders of Room 103

Karmen was the first to guess my correct age of.....  42.  Congrats!!!!

However, I don't feel 42.  I feel more like I am 33...or maybe 35....how about 18.  That's what they told the waiter at dinner last night....he just laughed!  I don't think that was very nice of him.  How does he know my true age?

Anyway, I got some FABULOUS gifts for my birthday.  So I thought I would share...you don't mind, do you?

I must preface with...teacher's ask for the most interesting gifts for their birthday...don't we?  Often, we forgo the normal birthday gifts and ask for stuff to help make our lives easier....hence, you know where this is going...stuff for our classroom.  Well, I did get a few gifts to help me in the classroom and then a few just for the fun of it!

So here is my first gift...

My mother-in-law, who is a former teacher herself, got me one of these with laminating sheets, of course!  She obviously knows from her 30 years in the classroom how important it is for a teacher to have her stuff laminated.  Yes, we have one at school, but now I can make that last minute center, that I have probably found on one of your wonderful blogs, and have it ready in the morning.  What an AWESOME gift!

Next, my hubby got me one of these...

I already had the iPad2 but I really wanted the keyboard attachment.  This one is really nice because it all fits in a case too and folds up just like my old case, very compact!  I can't wait to use this at my guided reading table.  I have lots of plans for this and I am sure I will share these ideas with you in later posts.

Next up, my seven-year old daughter picked this out for me...

Remember these?  They came out many moons ago.  Well, I had one and mine finally bit the dust (I think from overuse).  So my sweet pea decided I had to have a new one.  Yes, we are a family that likes grilled sandwiches....all kinds of grilled sandwiches:  Grilled cheese, grilled ham and cheese, grilled mozzarella,  grilled mozzarella and pepperoni, grilled salami, grilled pastrami, grilled peanut butter and chocolate chips....I think you get the idea.  That last one is one of my personal favorites...I highly recommend that you try it.  Your kids will think that you are the World's Best Chef!  And they will tell all their friends about you! And you will be the talk of the lunch room! I know you are envious!  Furthermore, I even took my old one to school several times to make grilled sandwiches with my littles.  Personally, I think whoever invented this little contraption is either a genius or a teacher who was looking for a time saver when it comes to making a quick dinner.  It was probably the teacher!

Lastly, my wonderful son, who knows I love to scrapbook, got me this...

For those of you who have no idea what this is, it is a scrapbook page holder.  This will display your 12 x 12 scrapbook pages after you make them.  I have the perfect place in my scrapbook room for this.  And...I already have several completed pages that are notable enough to earn the status to be displayed in this cutie patootie.  Yes, only my special pages will get the honor of being in this little puppy.

Now I know that a scrapbook holder has nothing to do with school, but I know I have some scrapping friends out there who read my blog and they are going to be so ENVIOUS of me because I have one of these.  Hee! Hee!

So that is what I got for my birthday.  It was a great day and we finished it with this...

This is my traditional Banana Cake.  My hubby had to search high and low this past week to find a bakery that would make me a banana cake.  We use to get it from Holiday House, but they closed down a few months ago and he didn't know how he was going to find a place who made banana cake. Amazingly, he found a sweet little old lady at a local bakery who knew exactly what he wanted because she too use to eat at Holiday House.  She did a FABULOUS job.  It tasted even better than the one we use to get.  I am going to have to stop by her bakery and thank her!

So that was my birthday!  Thanks for sharing in my fun with me and thanks to those of you who played my birthday game.  It was fun!

Until next time....Happy Blogging!
Ann