Spring Break

It has been a busy couple of weeks for me here, and it's just getting started. At school, I've been working hard to prepare the kids for student-led conferences. In the spring, instead of sitting the parents down and going through their children's gains, we (first grade) have decided to have the kids walk their parents through the things we do in class to show off their skills (or in some cases, show where improvement needs to be made). It's a ton of work in preparation, but it all pays off when I watch those kids march in with authority, grab the clipboard and show off what they know! The kids display such pride and ownership as they finally get to show their parents what they are capable of in the classroom. One little guy, while reading his book to his mother quoted me word for word with phrases I use during Guided Reading. He would stop, look at him mom and say, "Now, mom... let's make a prediction based on what we know," and "Do you have any text to self connections with the character?" My heart was bursting with pride! Even my little guy with special needs totally pulled through, and with a little extra guidance, his parents were thrilled with his performance. Success!

The only bummer about conferences is that they happened to land on Seth's spring break. So the whole time he was here, I was working. The weekend he came in though, he gathered a bunch of us and took us fishing. The wind was atrocious, which made it tough on us "newbies", but everyone except for me and Jenn managed to catch one. I had two on, but lost them (Seth keeps telling me that's pretty good, but I really wanted a new facebook profile picture involving a fish). We laughed a ton, enjoyed each others good company, and I got my first face sunburn of the season. It was delightful to watch Seth doing what he loves - even if he spent the majority of his time helping me and Karen. Aubyn has more fabulous pictures on her blog.

Lunch on the river. Special thanks to Kocher the Cooker for figuring out how to cook brats and burgers without utensils. That's our girl!

Oh, I get it! THIS is why you guys like fishing so much! I could get used to that.

Karen caught a beauty after lunch!

The fisherman and his wife.

Seth left this morning, and I gotta tell you, it does not get any easier. Even with summer just around the corner (TWO MORE MONTHS OF SCHOOL!), and an imminent visit this week, it's still really tough to watch him drive away. So far, I haven't made any plans for a summer job, as I'm hoping to spend a lot of time in Idaho. We really need the money (Seth's not working has finally caught up to our budget), but the thought of another three months taking care of other people's children kind of makes my soul shrivel up into something resembling an evil prune. Can't do it this year. Everyone always told me I'd get burned out, but I never believed them. I get it now; this is why teacher's get summers off. It assures we will love our children when we return in the fall.

My spring break began on Saturday, and I will be busy visiting my lovelies. On Monday, Kayla and I are driving up to Missoula to nab Jenny and bring her back to Billings for her spring break. We will hopefully stop in Bozeman and nibble on some little boy cheeks on our way there or back (or both!). Then on Thursday, I will drive to Pocatello to stay with Seth for a long weekend.

It's not exactly Cancun, but I'll take it. Spring Break 2010 here I come!

I made a Spring Break Cake to celebrate Seth's adventure thus far. And also just because we love funfetti.