The spring returns, the spring wind softly blowing.

It got up to 55 degrees today, and it felt like a glimpse of Spring. Sweet, wonderful Spring. Boston got to play with all of the toys that have been locked up in the shed for five months. He played with his bubble mower, his sit-n-spin, his sandbox, and he even got to ride his new bike - an early birthday present from Grandma and Grandpa. Since it was so nice we both decided to eat dinner in the back yard. "The spring returns, the spring wind softly blowing." Spring is good.

Are You Sleeping?

Are You Sleeping. Loosly translated by Boston Stansifer.

Are you sleeping?
Are you sleeping?
Brudder John.
Brudder John
Butter bells are ringing.
Butter bells are rining.
Ding ding dong.
Ding ding dong.

The Sickness

Tis the season for the sickness. We've all had it by this point. I served my term last week, and now Boston is suffering. The poor kid can't stop coughing, and his nose is a steady snot stream. Cara has been giving Boston breathing treatments to try to help with his congestion. You're more than welcome to come over any time for a visit. Just remember to sanitize on your way out.

Things have been going pretty smoothly as a whole. Boston is doing much better in swimming lessons now that there are only three kids in the class. He starts to cry for his mommy if he sits on the wall by himself for too long, so the small class size works out well. He starts gymnastics on Friday. I'm not sure if they're going to start with the uneven bars first or the horse.

*Flash back six months. School gets out May 25th? Neato! (9 snow days later) Last day of school...June 7th!?! Ugh. Things are starting to look a little nicer outside, though. We've seen grass for a whole five days now! It was even nice enough to picnic on the porch the other night (one of Boston's many great ideas). We hope all is well with everyone.

Scoliosis

A student drew this characature of me in a drawing class as one of her final projects. Widows peak: check. Argyle sweater: check. Gangly arms: check. My posture isn't that great on any given day, but it looks like I have scoliosis in the drawing. My favorite part of the piece are the students' expressions. Look how happy they are to be learning in my classroom, basking in my enthusiasm for the English language. I think the girl in front would probably stab me if she had any fingers.

You can't see the entire drawing because my scanner isn't big enough, but the question I am posing to the class is, "How many roots are in antidisestablishmentarianism?" I had Katie in Etymology last year, and we actualy talked about this question. Turns out there are seven morphemes (not roots) to the word. It looks like I succeeded in boring the life out of another one! :) Thanks for the drawing, Katie!

Traveling Conversations with a Two-Year-Old

Boston - "WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!"
Dad - "Boston, don't scream in the car."
Boston - "Huh?"
Dad - "We don't scream in the car."
Boston - "Huh?"
Dad - "No screaming in the car."
Boston - "Huh?"
Dad - *No reply
Boston - "I not hear you, Dad. I not year you say, 'No screaming in the car.' What, Dad?"


Boston - "I want a song." (meaning a song from his playlist (yes, a two-year-old has an iPod playlist)
Dad - "No, we're listening to Christmas music."
Boston - "I don't want to listen to Christmas music. Not EVER EVER EVER!"


Boston - "We going home?"
Dad - "Yeah, we're going home."
Boston - "Why?"
Dad - "Because it's time for your bath."
Boston - "Then I eat ice cream?"
Dad - "Sure."
Boston - "YEEEAAAAHHH!"

Fun in the Snow

It's here! Boston and I have been enjoying our time in the snow the past couple of days. Yesterday we took a walk and tried to make our footprints look crazy. Boston also insisted on taking his Fisher-Price lawn mower with him so he could mow the snow. Today he helped me shovel the sidewalk with his very own shovel (thanks Mama and Papa!). I promised him we would take the sled down the hill when he wakes up from his nap. If it keeps coming down then like it is now, we should have no problem. And if it keeps coming down through the night into the morning, will that make for a two hour delay? I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Halloween

It was a pretty mild Halloween this year. The ghouls didn't have to wear coats over their costumes, and the Mary Janes didn't get hard by the time we arrived home. Boston was Bob the Builder this year, and very excited about it. He wasn't too thrilled about the hat, though. We started at Dad's and moved to Stacey's addition after that. Carson showed Boston how it's done.







We also hit up the Great Zoo Halloween for the third year in a row. We didn't realize they were only open day hours this year. We met Mom at the zoo at 6:00 and were incredibly excited to see an empty parking lot...only to find out they had been closed for an hour already. We ended up going directly after school on the Thursday before Halloween, so it all worked out. It wasn't near as spooky, but we had a good time trick-or-treating and looking at the pumpkins. Boston couldn't figure out where all the animals went, though.






I hope your Halloween was a spooky one.