Spring Break Report...Spring Break Report...

Spring Break report! (clap clap)

Okay, so that sounds so much better if you say it to this rhythm:



(I absolutely love this show.)

My goal was to blog on Wednesday about the various adventures of Spring Break 2014, but I was sort of distracted by a great book (more on that later). The beginning of the week was a little shaky since my youngest suffered from strep throat. I've never had strep throat. My oldest has never had strep throat. My husband is pretty sure he's never had strep throat. Needless to say, I wasn't sure what to do about it. It turns out, one can treat strep treatment like hair lice treatment. I had to sanitize EVERYTHING that my little one might have put in or near his mouth: toys, blankets, cups, utensils. I even had to throw out his toothbrush. Then I had to keep his brother away from him because it is apparently pretty contagious. Fortunately, after 24 hours of antibiotics my little guy could be around people again. However, I was a little anxious releasing him back to daycare because I didn't want to be responsible for getting any other kids sick just in case. The part that was the craziest is that he really didn't have any symptoms of strep throat. His nose was a little runny, but I assumed it was allergy related since he definitely inherited spring allergies from me. The only reason I took him to the doctor was to make sure he wasn't getting an ear infection due to fluid and whatnot from the allergies (something else that happened to me a lot as a kid). Then BAM: strep throat! So a lot of stuff I wanted to do around the house had to be put on hold. All moms know that if you are watching a sick kid, nothing else gets done.

We have been able to visit the Arboretum since the weather has been quite accommodating this week. Both boys loved running around in their capes. Everything thinks it is cute, but really I just wanted to make sure I could find my children quickly in the crowd. The new Children's Garden is amazing but packed on nice days.

He was just too busy saving the day to be sick!

Then my husband took some time off yesterday so he and I could see The Lego Movie. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I was pretty convinced it wasn't really a movie for small kids. Actually, it was AWESOME (that's a joke-if you've seen the movie you'll get it). I enjoyed it very much, but my four-year-old, while getting a kick out of the action and explosions, would probably lose interest here and there. That's okay. We're probably taking him to see Mr. Peabody and Sherman on Saturday. What kid can't enjoy a talking dog? Of course, I'm going to see if it is anything like the original cartoon.

All week I have been slowly grading research papers. That has to be the most depressing part of teaching English. Grading essays is a special kind of torture. I get to see what my students still lack in terms of writing and expressing ideas, but I HAVE TO SUFFER THROUGH WHAT MY STUDENTS STILL LACK IN TERMS OF WRITING AND EXPRESSING IDEAS. It also is a lesson in patience since most of the students refuse to reference or follow explicit directions on how to conduct and produce research. I even made an example and said, "If the format of your essay does not match this example, you did something wrong and need to fix it." I am trying to remain positive though. I've already thought of various ways to make it a little better for next year. That's what a good teacher does right?

Since Spring Break is falling during Lent, and since I gave up television during the week for Lent, I am actually able to accomplish a great many things around the house and for fun. I managed to get under all the living room furniture and give the floor a good scrub down. I worked on some laundry (something I'll never catch up on). I am even about to patch up some pants for my oldest and sew a button back on a pair of my husband's slacks. The best part about giving up the TV is that I am actually reading again. I LOVE to read but am so exhausted after a day of work that I usually watch 30 minutes of television before crashing for the night. However, once I have the kids in bed it turns out that I can spend and hour or so reading without getting too tired. Therefore, I started this book:

Now my nearest and dearest know about my adoration for this man and the imaginative empire he created. However, nonfiction is not my favorite of the genres for reading. So I was hesitant in case this turned out to be a dry list of accomplishments in a very thick binding. I have been pleasantly surprised. It is written in a style that is close to narrative, so I can breeze through the pages. It is incredibly hard for me to set it down. I get that I'm a HUGE fan, but this man was a genius and not just because of The Muppets. The things he wanted to do artistically outside of his puppet creations (BTW-Muppets is NOT a mash-up of marionette and puppet-I already knew that but his book confirmed it) was so ahead of his time and fascinating. I have to stop gushing now or I'll abandon this blog and go back to reading.

So that's my Spring Break Report. I can now mark "blog" off of my List.