Happy birthday to Luke week!

Tuesday, we went to gymnastics, and it was the last day the helper boy was going to be there. A couple of weeks ago, the kids made a t shirt for him with all their hand prints and names on it, and they gave it to him this past Tuesday. He pretty much loved it, haha. The theme was Bobby Cars, so everyone brought in their various types of automobiles and rode around the whole time. The sun was in and out on this day, but I did manage to run home from W.TH in a little bit of sunshine to W-IH. I then went to class, where we did a lot of reviewing since this was the last week. After class, I came home and made some dinner, as usual (a spinach, cauliflower, and zucchini soup--yum).

Wednesday, I went for an hour run, and it's actually not any harder than running for 30 minutes. In fact, it's almost easier to just keep going! I, surprisingly, enjoyed it a lot. Who thought I'd EVER say that about running?! That night, Klaus had a meeting, so it was just me, Sib, and Benji. I made rice with grilled veggies (since Klaus was gone), and we got to try the hot sauces from Tijuana Flats again. We definitely thought those were going to last a lot longer than they did! After, we watched the end of Elmo and Grouchland--loved it!

Thursday was Luke's 24th birthday! Happy birthday, best brother in the whole wide world! He thinks he's old, but he's definitely not. He said he's just "too close to being on the wrong side of 25," haha. Despite the fact that it was his birthday, it was not good weather at all! Opa picked Benji up at the normal time, and I went to class in the rain (I waited until the HAIL stopped) and took a test since it was our last 'real' day. I only made one mistake on the whole thing! Awesome. The guys were here installing some more solar panels for Klaus, as well. Those are a really good investment here, I hear. When I got home, Klaus made dinner for me since I made dinner on Wednesday (his night), and Sib came shortly thereafter from Yoga. We started watching Elmo's World Wild Wild West, but it's definitely not as good as the movie, and I don't really think Klaus liked it at all! Oh, well. All that matters to Benji is that Elmo's there, haha.

Friday was another cloud-filled day with random sprinkles, but Benji and I still went outside and played in the puddles (his favorite thing to do with his new rain boots on). When he was napping, I went to class for the very last time! It was just a day to learn about everyone else and their home countries. We brought in pictures, stories, etc. to share with the people in the class. We had to do interviews with each other, and I was partnered with the guy, Zia, from Iraq. It was a pretty interesting interview! Question #4: "What is there to do in your home country?" Answer: "War. Period!" And then we both laughed. It's great that we could joke about it, although it is sad. I was pretty scared of saying something wrong, but it turns out we have the same feelings about the country, so it's all good. After class, the Chinese kid asked me to go with him to find some clothes, hahahah. I told him I had to get home soon, but I joined him for about 30 minutes. So funny. I ended up advising that he buy a green shirt and a purple shirt--which he did! My favorite colors. After this, I went home, and Benji and Klaus were playing outside. We headed to the supermarket shortly thereafter and got lots of goodies. I got a permanent marker, as well, to address the 3 boxes of stuff I packed yesterday to send home so I don't have to worry about it in a month. I'll probably ship them out next Tuesday or something. It's really weird to put my name in both the return and ship to address areas but with different addresses! For dinner, I made some yellow Spanish rice (courtesy to my mom) with some carrots and a salad with special European winter lettuce (mom and Aunt Debbie should remember this). After, I FINALLY got to talk to Valaree! It's been too long. I'm currently planning a trip up there in May for a couple of days, and we're both pretty excited about that--seeing as she's not going to be home until AUGUST! I also got to talk to mom, who's up in NC for the weekend seeing Luke off to Iraq. I'm sad I can't be there for that, but I hope you guys have a great time anyway!

Now it's Saturday morning, a bit overcast, and I'm getting ready to go on a run. Got to wait for the breakfast from 2 hours ago to settle for a little bit longer, though. And then who knows what the day holds!