Best Birthday Gift Ever!

Last week I celebrated my 22nd birthday (seriously, shut up).  On the day of my birthday, THE CRAZY CLOWN and THE FLYING MONKEY decided they wanted to walk to the local pharmacy and buy me a gift.

As they were preparing to go to the store, they started asking me all sorts of questions about what I wanted for my birthday, what kinds of things I like, my favorite color, etc.  They were very excited about buying something for me.  Knowing that their options were limited at the pharmacy, I gave them a not-so-subtle hint that I could really use some sort of container to hold my pens and pencils on my desk.  I figured this would give them many options - school supply box, pencil pouch, coffee mug - even a small flower pot would work.

And here is my beautiful gift:


They said they couldn't find anything special enough for me, so they decided to make something on their own.

They bought a bottle of Smart Water to use as the container.  Apparently they planned to drink the water on the way home, but THE FLYING MONKEY was complaining that he was hot and THE CRAZY CLOWN decided that dumping the entire bottle of water on THE (unsuspecting) FLYING MONKEY in the store parking lot would cool him down.  I'm told that this entertained the other store patrons, so there are definitely some bonus points there.

Then they came home and decorated the water bottle, using something that represented each member of the family:

• Limited Edition My Little Pony figure - THE FLYING MONKEY is a closet Brony.  I was  completely touched that he sacrificed his favorite figure for me. (note: he has since told me that I need to give it back in a week...)
• 3 packets of Splenda - THE CRAZY CLOWN has discovered that he loves Splenda.  On everything.  He even put 2 packets on the peanut butter on top of his turkey avocado bacon sub the other day.
• A piece of cardboard - They wanted a piece of cardboard to represent the cardboard boxes that our kitten, THE LION CUB, loves to play in.  We had just taken the recycling out and didn't have any spare boxes, so they decided the best thing to do was to cut a piece from the box where I keep our family photos.... seriously.
• A penny - THE LION TAMER gave them a penny earlier in the day and told them to "invest it wisely".  Apparently *I* am a wise investment :)
• Black electrical tape - They went into THE RINGMASTER'S room, but they were afraid to go in too far - or to touch anything.  So they grabbed the first thing they saw.  They admit they're aren't even sure if THE RINGMASTER likes black electrical tape, but it was in close enough range for them to grab it and run.
• A Milk Bone dog treat - They tried to tape a dog treat on the gift to represent THE BEARDED LADY and THE HUMAN PIG, our pug dogs, but they had to take it off because the dogs kept trying to eat my gift.

 Best birthday gift ever!!!