Spring Broken

It's spring break for various schools over here, but you wouldn't know it from all the snow. We were in shorts and t-shirts last week, followed by a Friday snow storm. All the snow was gone by Sunday afternoon, so it was back to shorts on Monday, and then a blizzard on Tuesday. I'd say we accumulated at least 8 inches in less than 24 hours, with more to come this afternoon. But the temperature is lovely, and if we can manage it I'd like to be out building snowmen this afternoon.

It hardly feels spring-like inside our house, either, as our family has succumbed to a particularly bothersome bug: hand-foot-and-mouth disease. Or foot-and-mouth disease. Or something. The kids have taken turns with fever and now Anna has horrid sores all over her mouth and spots on her feet. Isaac may have sores too, but I can't see into that little mouth. He's certainly fussy, though. Apparently this is something you only get once, so I suppose that's a plus. Meanwhile, I have something that's wiping me out which is why the breakfast dishes lay untouched on the counter and the bathrooms will not be cleaned today.
It may be I'm simply wiped out emotionally, as the illness thing continues to get old. It practically has white hair and a beard by now. Not that this is any different from any other winter, but I had hoped that at least Anna would have developed an immune system by now.

Despite the illnesses, we continue to sprinkle in fun here and there. Isaac's been to the pool twice now, and both times he's spent a good portion in a floaty thing looking dazed and confused. Once he gets into it, though, it's splash-city. Unlike Anna he is less bothered by water in the face. This has proven useful when I wash his hair.

Sunday found me with my lovely female in-laws, cooking up a storm using Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Beef Bourguignon and Chocolate Bavarian Cream were my personal favorites. However, I think the green beans and potatoes would have been better with about a tenth of the butter.  I greatly enjoy cooking, and it's so fun to do with others. It's one thing to have a dinner party where you do all the cooking, or a potluck where everyone cooks at home and brings the food together. It's a completely different experience to cook all together, everyone bringing their own talents and (in my case) quirks to the process. Some of my best graduate school memories are of cooking together with other students. If you've never done this, I highly recommend it.

Another highlight of the last month was watching Isaac master walking. Such a different process than his sister: Anna took a few steps and gradually improved until I woke up one morning and realized she was running. With Little Man, you can almost see the switches turn on in his brain. I know the exact moments he went from on tentative step, to four steps, to walking halfway across a room, to (now) walking across the house. I wonder if the same step-wise advancement will happen with talking.

Time to tackle those dishes.