so, i had a birthday in september. it was hardly surprising, it happens every year in september. i decided to get a ham to make for dinner, because i have a 'late' class on thursdays and it takes quite a while for the ham to bake in the oven (i used the steam roast option, have i mentioned lately that i love my oven??)

tommy kept giving me presents in the morning, lots of old or useless things, but it made me laugh which is a good thing. sasha made me a picture and gave me some money (12 yen), which was really very sweet of her.

the kids also loved singing happy birthday to me. i managed to get some on video:



i don't actually make my children call me by my first name, she just thought she was being funny.



with the ham i also made potato salad (which always goes with ham, yum!) and green bean casserole, because i love it. it was really quite fabulous!

the kids enjoyed it, too.



lastly, i made a yellow cake with chocolate frosting. my all-time favorite!