We’ve baked a cake that is either PINK or BLUE on the inside. In a couple hours family members will cut it open to reveal HBaby’s gender. The anticipation makes Sydney really nervous. She made her guess on the HB poll. Did you?

Polls close at noon sharp, so get crackin’!

Thanksgiving reveal to come later, my friends.

Good news? What type of good news? Oh, I can’t wait. I love fortunes. Perhaps that is why I bought a large amount of fortune cookies.

Need a pick-me-up? Call me and I’ll read you your fortune. Forgive me if I eat your cookie though.

I love certain things that many people curl their lips to or mock my appreciation. For example, I love Garth Brooks and he’s coming to Las Vegas!! Have you stopped reading yet? I understand if you abhor Garth, but I really love him.

I found out on Friday that he’ll be playing 15 shows a year in Las Vegas starting in December. This is wonderful, thrilling, perfect news in which I have had difficulty wanting to talk about anything else. Barry seems to tolerate my level of excitement, but I have a feeling he thinks it a bit strange.

Tickets go on sale next weekend and I’m going to belly up to the computer and see if I can snag me some tickets. The fact that he’s only playing 15 shows, leaves me to wonder if I’ll be able to get any. I mean, there are a bazillion Garth Brooks fans out there, even if you aren’t one of them.

Excitement abounds at HBHQ.

Full Name: TBD. For now I just go by The Mini or Baby.

Age: not officially born yet. I’m just about to head into the second trimester. If everything goes according to plan, I should arrive at the end of April though.

Favorite Color: I’ve been seeing everything in black and white lately. I have a feeling I might lean towards either pink or blue in a few months.

Current Favorite Food: Chocolate milk and Hansen’s Soda. Yummy!

Favorite Place to Visit: I’d be cool with anywhere I can just take a breath of fresh air on my own. Although for some reason Sydney pops into my head like I’ve heard that name somewhere before.

Where do you see yourself in five years: Working as a line leader in kindergarten.

It only took 8 days for me to get my first cold. I woke up on the 9th day with a stuffy head and the need to carry a box of tissues under my arm like a football.

It happens like clockwork every year as each kid brings their own germs into the classroom and they mingle with my immune system.

We’re all snotty now.

That might be too much information.

But it’s true.

Our two readers (yes, we’ve doubled out readership) have pointed out that Hannah has by far been outpacing me with post frequency. While I don’t expect this to change, I do plan on narrowing the gap by trying to make one new post each week.

This posting goal is actually part of a bigger plan for my 29th year. I don’t have a 30 before 30 list like Hannah, but I do have a couple goals in mind that I’ll be sharing and writing about in the next year.

Since I plan on writing more and I love podcasts, I thought I’d pass along a resource that I plan on using called Grammar Girl.  She gives a weekly tip to improve your writing.  Look for some of these tips to start showing up on HBadventure.

Since this first post is short and sweet I graded my guesses for last weekend’s birthday activities.

I know, I know, this is like 19 posts on Barry’s birthday, but I couldn’t resist putting up this adorable picture. Today is the actual day, so I feel obligated to do a birthday-related post. I’m making delicious Carrot Cake for scratch for dessert tonight to celebrate his first day as a 29 year old. We celebrate BIG around here.

P.S. The little mound of hair that Barry’s sporting in the above photo still exists to this day. I’ll try to get a picture of it so we can compare and contrast.

Don’t act like you aren’t excited for that, I know you are.

This afternoon we’re kicking off the 2009-2010 Birthday Season.

In a few days Barry will be 29.

Yippeee for Birthday Season!

Tomorrow (Thursday) I’ll finally be done with my National Board test around noon.  Do something for me, will you?

Cheer, shout, dance and say yahoo!!

I’ll get up bright and early, pick up T-Diddy, and hit the road to the Testing Center.  I’ve had a few people feel bad for not knowing that tomorrow is T-Day, but, frankly, I’m quite fond of the idea of people forgetting about this whole experience.  There’s really not much to say about it, except that I’ve learned a lot about myself as a teacher and a person. The process has made me recognize my strengths and weaknesses.

The very, very best part about doing National Boards has been becoming better friends with Tamara. We have spent hours upon hours discussing our roles inside and outside the classroom; venting, laughing and even crying together.  Oh, friendship.

So, tomorrow morning around 8 o’clock sharp, I’ll have finally checked in, signed my identity away and become a number. I’ll be cozy in my cubicle with noise-blocking headphones (As if I really need those, given the current state of my ears…)wearing layers and tapping my forehead saying “I know this, I know this, I know this….” over and over to myself. That’s what my mom said I should do and she’s a smart cookie.

Will you think of Tamara and me?

Our brains will be working hard in a silent, sterile environment, trying to write about our jobs that certainly aren’t silent and probably not too sterile.  (Seriously, kids = boogers. I love ‘em (kids, not boogers) and they’ve got boogs like you’d never believe.) SO, think of us.

When that noon whistle blows, I want you to do your happy dance for us because we’ll probably be crying tears of pride and joy.

My life – and yours now- is much better now because I have a camera. That means you get lots more HB updates with fancy pictures…like this one:

or this one.

I can’t help it if I have the most photogenic (read: lazy) Pug in the PNW. I swear, she just eats up this whole photo shoot idea. Things around HBHQ have picked up steam with the weather officially deciding to switch over to Spring.

Barry mowed the lawn for the first time and we chopped down a zillion pieces of bamboo.  Have you ever in your life attempted to chop down bamboo? Here is  a valuable piece of advice: don’t.

Because I’m happy as a clam about my new best friend camera I’ll give you a bit of TMI (Too Much Information). I got punctured in my butt from a piece of stray bamboo. Punctured, I tell you. Wowie, wow, wow, it hurt. I think I’m still recovering. It was at that point that I handed over my chopping tool and let Barry have at it.I went and checked out the new blooms on the yellow thing outside our guest bedroom.

This is me as a clam:

Now that I’ve over-shared about my butt and the fact that Sydney should be on the animal version of America’s Top Model, I ought to get going to hang out with my man…..