Why I love my job...

So, my birthday is on Sunday. And when I walked into my classroom this morning, here are a few of the things that greeted me:

  

Seriously, I love these kids! My birthday isn't even for two more days, but I feel like it was today. It was such a great day... We worked on a science lab project for most of the day (testing conductivity, buoyancy, etc. of different materials), then opened my birthday presents, ate cookies, and went to outside for P.E. On top of everything, it was "Groovy Dress Up Day," which meant the kids all looked really funny. Good times!

The best part of the day, though, was that I finally told my principal that I'm pregnant! I had my annual review this morning before school, and the "review" portion lasted for about a minute, as usual. We got into a conversation about next year, since right now it seems kind of uncertain who the 5th grade teachers will be. One of my teammates is trying to transfer to a school with a later starting time, and the other one is almost 27 weeks pregnant (yay!!), and isn't sure what she's going to do after the baby is born. So my principal was basically telling me that I would once again be the "rock" of the 5th grade (this will be the third team I will have worked with in 4 years... So really, I am kind of the only one who knows what's going on.). Sooo... it seemed like the time to tell her the news. Honestly, though, she was very happy (of course, because she is an awesome boss!), and said that my timing was good... I will be able to start out the school year and get my classroom routines set up the way I want... then I'll get a good sub to take over until after Winter Break, and then I'll be back in time to cram my kids full of knowledge before STAR testing. Hooray! I was just so happy to get that off my chest... I mean, I knew she would be supportive, but I was still a little scared. I'm glad it's over with!

The next step, now, is to tell the rest of the world ("What? You mean you haven't already told everyone??"). As of right now, the only people who know are our closest friends and immediate family members. We are waiting until Easter (April 8th) to tell the rest of our family members, and I'll tell my coworkers on April 9th or 10th. Why the wait? It's hard to explain... But the risk of miscarriage is so high in the first trimester... I didn't want my extended family to get excited about something, just to lose it... But only one more week! I can't wait! :)