The Spring Break week in which we did nothing

It's a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful week. We're not going anywhere, we're not doing anything (save the local fun stuff) and I have four more days of freedom with my family. Erick is at after hours with a raging case of strep at the moment, so we might have to count him out for a day or so. I am totally patting myself on the back for diagnosing him myself and shoving him out the door with a cup of hot tea 10 minutes ago. Makes up for taking R to after hours for the deadly 'ticks in the ear' ailment.

Anyhow, we're just having fun hanging out. Tomorrow morning I promised the kids we would clean out the canna beds in hopes of finding a bunch of garden snakes (which inevitably happens every time I clear out the dead winter goo). They have each allotted themselves four snakes apiece so I'm really praying we find at least two or three. Potential gnashing of teeth there.

I'm loving having a car with a third seat. Besides being able to pour a bunch of extra kids into the back, I'm also having fun digging the trash out of crevices from the previous family. I found a note with scribbly red writing with the questions highlighted in pink.

"Taking a chance here, do you have a girlfriend?" Y N

"We can start off slow, so do you want to go out with me? And if we do, we can't let anyone know." Y N

"Really!? Save me a spot at lunch." Y N

And so begins another middle school romance. I can't circle the answers here, but the boy said yes to each one (obviously). I mean, you don't ask a guy that circled no to save you a seat at lunch. Notes like this terrify me. I realize that in a few short years I might be digging out notes from the same backseat from a certain little blonde hair blue eyed first grader that I know. Yikes.

On the subject of growing up, I try to shelter my kids as much as I can from things that force them into maturity too early - T.V., movies, friend situations....etc. (especially with my daughter) No matter what I do, she is just desperate to be bigger. It's usually cozying up to middle schoolers at church or trying to speak ultra grown up to adults. This week has been the discovery of my ipod and in particular any Ben Folds song.

This post is way longer than I intended. I'm going to make sure Erick has taken his antibiotic, disinfect everything he has touched in the last 24 hours, and plan my garden snake hunting Thursday.

Hope you're having a great Spring Break!