35.

Today was my birthday, and there were just too many fun things for me not to mention it on my blog today. This morning Grant let me sleep in and he got the kids off to school (Tuesdays he goes in to work late and stays late.) While I was volunteering at Sammi's and Scotti's school, he folded the laundry (which he would have done had it not been my birthday and there was a pile of laundry to fold, but hey, I'm giving him birthday credit for it!)

Scotti put together a racing boat made out of legoes and wrapped it up for me. Sammi gave me a special rock out of her rock collection. Cooper made me a pile of pictures of all my favorite things. Ev sang me the loudest Happy Birthday ever. Grant and the kids made me a donut cake which had more sprinkles on it than frosting, and Grant surprised me with one of those leaf blower things for a big gift and a day at the Portland Home and Garden Expo next weekend.

One of the best things about the day was that the leaf blower has one of those handles that you have to pull in order to get it started. When I expressed my excitement over this, Grant commented that the salesperson told him that women usually like the one where they just flip the switch and it comes on, though the leaf blowers with the switches are less powerful. Grant told the salesperson that if he got the less powerful for me because it might be too hard for me to pull that handle that he would probably get in big trouble for not giving me credit and assuming that women would choose laziness over effective tools. I thought this was great, because it is so true. I would have been highly offended if I got the watered down version because I am a woman. It looks like a jet pack, and I can't wait to sport it around my gardens!

When my kids asked me what I wanted for my birthday, I told them that what I really wanted was to watch TV and have my kids put themselves to bed tonight. They tried it, but it was just too hard a task to as of them. Sammi and Cooper were pretty dedicated, though easily distracted, but Scotti and Everett were just so completely distracted by their toys that actually getting something done without someone keeping them on task was just way beyond them. It's ok. It gives me a birthday wish for next year!

Here's to a great year gone by and the promise for another one! By the way, thanks so much to everyone for calling and e-mailing and texting me all day long. You guys are all so great.