March Mayhem!!

Other than October, when the leaves are changing, and the fall air is crisp and fresh, March is absolutely my favorite month of the year.

Yes, my birthday is in March (I turned 28 again this year), so that's a big part of it, but there are so many exciting activities that happen in March, that I am already growing morose at the thought of the month coming to an end... :(

So, a quick recap of March...
March 8th- Mardi Gras
While I didn't do much this year to celebrate Mardi Gras, I remember with incredible fondness the Mardi Gras celebrations of my younger years. While in college, and for several years after, I made it a point to celebrate Mardi Gras - food, beads, beer, and amazing music. What's not to like?? I have always wanted to actually be in New Orleans for the celebration, but timing has never been a talent of mine...

March 9th- My birthday, yeah!!! I didn't do much this year for my birthday, mainly because it was in the middle of the week and my students had to take the state writing test the following day. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the purgatory of state testing, let me just say that for a teacher, this is a stressful time. It's worse for English teachers because we have TWO tests to deal with - reading and writing. Of course, they can't be scheduled in a normal manner - the writing test is usually at the end of February, with the reading test at the end April. Because of the snow days, the writing test was postponed a bit this year, thus all but ruining my birthday.

March 17th- St. Patrick's Day (pretty much a ditto on the above entry about Mardi Gras, but with a focus on Ireland and a desire to be in Dublin instead of N.O.)

SPRING BREAK!!! For a teacher, spring break is actually better than Christmas. Not only do we get an entire week off from school, but spring break also means we are only 8 short weeks away from the end of the school year. Many teacher families go skiing over spring break, but not the Whitewater clan (I despise snow skiing - but that's for another blog, another day). We typically save our vacation for the summer, and this year we plan on taking the boys to Dallas and/or San Antonio for a holiday. I'm sure they are bursting with excitement to visit the grassy knoll and the Alamo....

For spring break this year, we followed our beloved Woodward Boomer baksetball team to OKC for the state playoff games. This is two years in a row that Corey Miller and our boys have made it to the state playoffs, and the second year that we've had to face Goliath (aka Douglass) in the first round. Douglass is an incredible team - they haven't been beaten in Oklahoma in two years and have won the state title the past two. I had hoped to avoid playing them until the championship game, but it wasn't to be. I will say this - our boys SHOULD have won that game. It was a complete nail-biter from start to finish, with a last-second three point shot that would have won the game for us. Unfortunately, Douglass won 58-56, but our boys played like gods, and I couldn't be more proud!

After the games, we stayed a couple of days in OKC to visit some family, shop, dine, and catch a movie. I wanted to go see Gnomeo and Juliet, but the boys picked Rango. It was a cute film, and we all enjoyed it, but I still want to see the other...

I finally made it to a girls' night last night, and now I know why I only attend these things 2-3 times per year. Seven or eight women in one room with alcohol and food is almost like an episode of Wild Kingdom. The cackling in the room was so loud that I was choking down Tylenol by 9:30, and I was incessantly tormented and teased about my adorable Hello Kitty koozie (fun haters). However, it was all in good fun and I really had a great time. We are all so busy these days, that it's hard to find time when we can all stop and catch-up. At last night's gathering, I met a couple of new friends, and reconnected with a few who I hadn't seen in quite some time. I also ate entirely too much quesidilla cheesecake and nearly ruined my favorite Beatles shirt (not that!). From last night's fiesta, I learned a few things...1) Some people should not be allowed near a dolphin tank during vacations 2.) Everyone loves Colonel Angus and 3.) There is nothing "easy" about washing Easy Cheese out of your hair. Good times.

Last but probably the most important thing about March - you know...March Madness!!!

I am not a huge basketball fan. As a matter of fact, I may catch 2-3 college ball games during the regular season and zero professional games, but I LOVE March Madness (particularly if WVA advances and I can sing John Denver songs!). I know nothing about the rankings, but I love to fill out my bracket and watch the games with the hubby who typically pouts b/c my bracket destroys his! Ha!! Last year Kansas broke my bracket when they lost to Butler before even making it to the elite eight, but I've picked them to go all the way this year. We'll see if they can redeem themselves.

In other news...I'm reading a new book called Cutting for Stone, but it just hasn't hooked me yet. I'm trying to be patient. Tomorrow we'll start reading The Outsiders in my English class. This is by far one of my favorite units to teach, and I'm really excited to get it going. We'll do a group activity over social groups and stereotypes tomorrow, an Internet scavenger hunt about the 60's on Tuesday and Wednesday, and then start reading on Thursday. I can't wait...hopefully this year I won't cry when we hit chapter 12...