Happy Birthday to Me!

Once again, I  had a super fun birthday this year. 

 I still can't believe that I am 41 (it sounds so old) I don't feel like I am, but I figure that I can stay in denial about being in my 40's for a few more years. . .

My birthday is actually on the 22nd, but it started off on Friday the 21st with Pancho bringing me a bouquet of flowers to work in the morning.  I love that guy . . . it was so sweet!

Then he gave each of my students a flower to hand to me as they walked into the classroom.  The kids loved it and I ended up with this pretty bouquet.

. . .of course the school day was filled with well wishes from my students and the other teachers, as well as plenty of homemade cards, a round of the Happy Birthday song and filling my white board up with notes.  If you give 5th graders any reason to celebrate, they are all in!

very sweet

After work, I met a group of my dearest friends at the Ring of Fire for a birthday dinner.  My friend Janet's birthday is on the 21st and mine is on the 22nd, so we have had a combined birthday for the past few years.  It works out great, especially when her husband rents a limo for the night!

Brenda got me a super delicious dark chocolate cake (my favorite) from Sweet Life Bakery.

Steph and Brenda posed for this picture with me while everyone was singing Happy Birthday to Janet and I.  Janet got her own cake too, but she was at the other end of the table.  I am regretting that I didn't get a picture of us together :(

"The Ladies"

We had such a nice dinner at Ring of Fire.  This restaurant has the best Thai food ever!

Kelli and Brenda

Steph, Me and Amy

Kirsten, Melanie, Kelli, Janet, Brenda, Me, Steph, Amy, Mary, Shelly and Darbi

in front of the Hummer Limo!

Inside the limo on our way to "The Bridge" (a new bar in town), getting the party started!

Darbi, Kirsten, Janet, Melanie and Amy

Brenda and Me (self portrait)

I took this picture of us in the limo!

At The Bridge, we all ordered some yummy drinks!

Darbi, Megan, Michael, Brenda and Me

My co partner in crime and fellow 5th grade teacher, Mike and his girlfirend Megan met us  out at the Bridge with a few of their friends,

It was so fun to be with all of the girls and then having Mike and Megan there too was even better!

 

At around 10:30pm, the limo took most of the girls home, but a few of us die-hards were going to keep the party going! Darbi, Melanie, Me, Mike and Megan and some of thier friends headed out to do a little Karaoke!

Mike (who absolutely cracks me up at work every day) serenaded me with the ultimate teaching partner song   "I Swear" - but he changed a lot of the words ha ha.

Mike's girlfriend Megan is also super funny, beautiful and so fun to hang out with.  I was in shock, then laughing my *** off when they sang Aladdin's - A Whole New World and actually acted out the Magic Carpet ride using Mike's jacket.  So funny!

Melanie, Darbi and I actually got up there and sang a few choice songs too, including "Earl" and "I Will Survive", but alas - no one took any pictures of that.  Probabaly a good thing!

On my actual Birthday, which was Saturday.  I was awakened by a group of singing kids - Mine!  Max, Sam and Lucy (and Pancho) came in my room with breakfast in bed and homemade cards.  I didn't take any pictures of this, (you can thank me later) but it was very sweet!

That day I went to 2 Basketball games . . . Max won, Sam lost.  Then we met up with the friends for another "Julie Birthday Dinner"!

We had some bad luck at first, finding a restaurant that we didn't have to wait more than an hour to get into, but we ended up at Mookies, and it was so good!

They even brought me a piece of cake and sang Happy Birthday to me!

Out to dinner with us were the Dacar's, Ficeks, McCarthy's and Hakala's.

The guys sat at one end of the table.

. . . then there was the girls end of the table.

These are my girls, the ones who have been with me the longest, my sisters!

I always love a night out with this group of people.

. . . and the evening ended perfectly with "Mookie", the cook, coming out to wish me a Happy Birthday too!  Ha ha - so random.

All in all it was an amazing birthday with so many fun friends, new and old, and lots of good memories and laughs.  I am so thankful  for the life I have been given and all of the wonderful people in it, especially my husband who planned such a nice day for me! 

God is good!



Three Day Weekend = Trip to the Beach!

I LOVE a three day weekend!

It is such a rare and exciting thing for me to get a three day weekend during the school year (the kids get them alot, but we teachers are usually still working).  Whenever one of these rare weekends pops up, I feel like I have to make it special.  So, when the McCarthys called to say that they were going to the coast and invited us to come too, I didn't hesitate, I was all in!  Pancho, on the other hand, has had a doctor diagnosed case of pneumonia.  He is on antibiotics now and feeling much better, but I have never seen him so sick! Poor Guy!  I felt so sorry for him. It is a huge relief that the antibiotics worked so well and so fast!  So, luckily we were all healthy enough to head over to Florence for a night!

Once we had checked in to Driftwood Shores, we all headed straight over to Moe's for some chowder!

Kevin, Amy, Pancho and Sam

heading in to eat at our favorite Chowder Restaurant.

Lucy and Brendan

Poor Lucy with all of these boys!  Luckily Brendan is always so sweet too her and includes her in everything.

Then it was back to the hotel for some swimming.

My camera was cold and the pool was warm, so the pictures were coming out a little foggy.

Max, taking a flying leap into the pool.

Oooops!  I caught Sam's amazing jump a little too late :).

After swimming, we headed back to our 3 bedroom suite for some cards and games.

It was so cozy and fun, with a huge windy storm going on right outside the window.  I love a storm at the beach! The suite was great too, because we had a kitchen and living room area where we could all hang out.

Max and I playing Apples to Apples.

Sam kept us all laughing with his choices of words to use during the game.

He is definitely one of a kind!

Brendan and Max

watching a little TV together

The next morning, Amy and I took the boys out on the beach.

(Lucy and the dad's stayed back in the toasty warm hotel room)

Luckily we made it out during a brief halt in the rain.  Most of the time that we were there, it was 30 mile an hour winds and a downpour of sideways rain. 

Max, leaning into the wind, it was a STRONG wind too!

Brendan was thinking he might get blown away!

We couldn't get the boys to come in!

Believe it or not, it really wasn't as cold as it looks.  Don't get me wrong, it was cold, but it wasn't freezing.  Amy and I found a spot guarded from the wind to chat and watch the boys play for almost an hour before we dragged them back in, with the promise of going swimming one more time before we left.

Uhhg,  I am looking and feeling pretty in this picture NOT! 

but I had to document what good Mom's Amy and I were to take our boys out on the beach ha ha!

It was only a one night stay at beach, so we went to another one of our favorite Florence restaurants on the way home.  Hot Rod Grill is so much fun for the kids because they get to eat in a real car!

The adults had fun too!

So glad that we went on this little one night mini vacation.  I love going to the beach in the summer, but there is something to be said about the beach during a winter storm too.  We had a great time with the McCarthys as always . . . lots of laughs and inappropriate comments (thank you Pancho and Kevin).  And luckily the weekend is not over, we got home and it was still only Sunday! Oh how I love the three day weekend!

The Opening of Oregon's New Basketball Stadium!

Thursday night was pretty special.  Our family got to go to the opening of the Mathew Knight Arena here in Eugene.  It has been a lot of fun watching this building being built on campus for the last 2 years, so it was really exciting to finally get to go inside and see the finished product.

The kids and I with Mom and Dad outside the new arena. 

 Pancho go the "fun" job of finding a parking space.  It was a nice coincidence that the Ducks were playing USC that night too  (always an interesting rivalry game in our family).

...another brother rivalry!

Most of the family was decked out in our Oregon gear from head to toe.  Then there was Pancho who was wearing an Oregon shirt, and a USC hat. . . . and then there was SAM!  He was fully decked out in USC. 

The whole evening was set up like a big party.  They had people making balloon hats, face painters and we all had free t-shirts waiting for us on our chairs.

It really was a fun night for all of us!

Sam got USC painted on his face. 

The face painting lady said that Sam was her only USC customer all night, but she liked his "individuality".  Later, he asked me what that meant :).

. . .getting ready for the pre game show to start.

We got there early, so that we could check out the whole arena and the controversial new floor!

There was so much to see!

"On the Rocks"  Oregon's famous a capella singing group.  They were on the TV show "The Sing Off".  On the Rocks opened up this exciting night by singing the National Anthem.

Then Phil Knight, or as the students were calling him "Uncle Phil", came out and spoke.

He introduced his wife and his son, and then talked about his other son Mathew who died in a scuba diving accident 4 years ago.  The Mathew Knight Arena is a labor of love devoted to his son.  He explained the logo and the meaning behind it, and told about the new floor as well.  It was quite emotional. I can't imagine losing a child.

Next thing you know, the Duck was being lowered from the ceiling!

The cheerleaders, dance team and band put on some cool entertainment as well.

Then the fireworks started going off.  The sold out crowd was going nuts!

USC kid!

Notice that we were sitting right next to the student section.

Sam was so into the game.  He was jumping screaming and cheering every time USC scored.  I was trying to get him to quiet down, as I was worried about what all of these Oregon fans around us would think.  Then I noticed that the student section was loving him.  They were all cracking up every time Sam got mad, then got excited.  At the end of the game, he was a mini celebrity.  At least 20 students came up to shake his hand, or pat his back and tell him that even though he was rooting for the wrong team, he was the best fan they had ever seen.  We kept hearing people say, "there's that USC kid, on our way out".  The funniest part was that Sam wanted nothing to do with ANY of this attention.  He was just really mad that his team lost!

Here is a close up of the new floor.  At first I thought it was ugly and looked like a dirty floor.  Then, when I saw that it looks like you are laying on a forest floor and looking up through the trees, I kind of got it.  Seeing it for real and up close on Thursday night was very cool though.  It looks so amazing in person.  I am so proud of Oregon and all of its innovative and original ideas .  Between the National Championship on Monday and the opening of the Arena on Thursday, it was a great week to be a Duck!