Birthday festivities went pretty well I think (?), but you’ll have to ask Christa for the real scoop.  Christa came to the realization this year that we are now at that age where our children are more excited by our birthdays than we are.  (This will not always be the case, of course.)  We also came to the conclusion that if our children are relatively content on our birthdays, then we will be content as well.   So quite a few agenda items were chosen with the kids in mind (i.e. eating dinner at KFC).  Anyway, here’s the schedule of events (with a few pictures thrown in):

• Morning – Christa gets breakfast in bed.  Scrambled eggs with cheese and sun-dried tomatoes,  carmel "macchiato" (sort of).  Gifts:  haiku(s) from husband, bracelets from the girls.
• Morning – Class (She wished she’d stayed home, but persevered through, anyway.)
• Noon – Gifts: received bouquet of flowers (gardenias, lilies, rose, carnations) from Chinese friend, Jessie; received bouquet of roses of light pinkish-peach color from her husband.
• Afternoon – Took a trip to the Cultural Park, ate Popsicles, and Christa rode in a goose-headed paddleboat with Anna.
• Afternoon – Picked up b-day package from the office.
• Dinnertime – Ate fine cuisine at KFC.  (Don’t worry, I’m taking her out to eat at a "finer" restaurant some other night this week ~ sans children.)
• Early evening – Ate b-day cupcakes and opened presents from girlfriends, family, and husband.  (The girls and I made our first batch of carrot cake, by-the-box, cupcakes and I must say they were quite delicious.)  Gifts:  Clothing, baking supplies, games, DVDs, etc.
• Evening – Had a small get-together at our home after the kids were in bed.  Import store food and goodies served in abundance (Doritos, chips ‘n salsa, A&W root beer, pretzels, home-made cookies, etc.)  Fun time of fellowship (because that’s the Christian thing to do.)  Todd administered the Christa Quiz and showed a "slide-show" of Christa’s Visual Resume.   Gifts: Obviously food, artful coffee mugs, etc.
  • If you’d like to take the Christa Quiz, just download it here:  Download a_quiz.doc
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      I think some of you can "ace" it without difficulty.  It was a little more tricky for our newer expat friends around here.  The high score was 15 of 20, I believe.  I’ll post the answers in the comment section over the weekend.
  • I can’t upload the PowerPoint slideshow, but all the pictures I used were from the last 5-7 years.  It would have been a lot more interesting if I had access to earlier (more embarrassing) photos, but I didn’t.
• Late evening – After party cleanup we read the instructions to Christa’s new card/board games: Ticket to Ride and Lost Cities.

Overall, a pretty fun day.  Thanks for all the e-mails and comments!  She appreciated it.