Spoiled Rotten

I was thinking of writing this post later this week, since I know that I will continue to be even MORE spoiled, but then I might end up having to write a novel! Long story short, it has been a good week. Not only is it Teacher Appreciation Week, but today is my 31st birthday (yippee!) AND my coworkers threw me a surprise baby shower on Monday! I am currently overloaded with presents and attention! And I have to admit-- I totally like it. A girl could get used to this sort of treatment! :)

Monday started off on a high note, with many (most) of my students bringing me little notes of appreciation that they had written. Some of them were really sweet, and a few were hilarious! When the school day ended, I hustled them all out of the room so that I could head over to our regularly-scheduled staff meeting in the library. However, when I got there and opened the door, it was all dark... and then "SURPRISE!!" Pink decorations everywhere, a beautiful cake, oodles of presents-- all for Rainbow! It was so sweet of everyone! My boss took pictures, which I will post as soon as she sends them to me, but I did take this one of most of the presents we got. Rainbow got TONS of cute outfits-- the pictures don't really capture the cuteness-- and nearly $200 in gift cards to Babies R Us and Target. Holy cow!

Tuesday was another great day-- just about every student in my class brought me beautiful flowers, and one of the moms brought in a large vase to put them in. The vase wasn't nearly enough, though-- I ended up filling two other large plastic containers with all the flowers they brought. My classroom smells like the Stargazer lilies now-- incredible! Definitely improvement over fifth-grade body odor. :)

And then, of course, today was my birthday. I was showered with presents, candy, balloons-- you name it! My favorite part was that one of my students made me this sign out of Starburst wrappers (I have a notorious sweet tooth) and then had the other kids sign it as sort of a giant birthday card.

After work today (Wednesdays are our early-release days), my teammates took me out to lunch at Chipotle, where we sat and chatted for well over an hour. And when I got home, Gus had left me cards from him and Nikos-- and Nikos gave me a gift certificate for a massage! What a great kid! :)

So, like I said, I've been spoiled rotten. And Teacher Appreciation Week continues through Friday, so I'm looking forward to whatever tomorrow will bring. That, and my mom is throwing us a mini-shower (a "sprinkle") on Saturday. I am definitely one lucky girl. :)