Pam, while putting Griffin to bed, told him to go to the laundry room and put clean underwear on. I busted him in the laundry room stuffing tools (he has his own tools and they happen to be in his toolbox in the laundry room) into his underwear - I suppose to bring to bed and play with.

Rowan is reading Harry Potter 2 now. A couple of weeks ago she decided that she was ready to start reading the Harry Potter books on her own (she and I are in the middle of Harry Potter 4), and she read the first one in about a week.

Pam and I need to talk to her teacher about bumping her up to the next reading level. She says she's bored.

Yesterday, I picked Rowan up from Rocky Mountain Theater for Kids and took her out to eat at the Spicy Pickle. Afterwards, Rowan told me that her favorite part of the day was spending time with me :)

On the way home, Rowan rolled down the window and pledged allegiance to a flag we were passing while at a stoplight. She also sang "My Country Tis of Thee" to it.

Griffin had a meltdown today about going to basketball practice (he had been crashing from all of the Valentines Day sugar). When I showed up, however, he was happily and aggressively scrimmaging with the other six year olds.

Last Saturday, he was dribbling down the court when Kaden came in front of him to try to steal the ball and ended up slamming his skull into Griffin's nose. Griffin bled like a stuck pig and sat out after that. I was able, before the end of the hour, to bribe him into going back in. So the game didn't end on a negative.

WOO HOO!! Yesterday, Berit found out that she got into her first choice middle school - Platt Choice. It's a lottery system, and Platt Choice accepts a small number of students, so it wasn't necessarily likely that Berit would get a spot. The school is a small charter school that is housed within Platt Middle School's building. They have six teachers, have multi-grade level classes, and an experiential-learning focus. Learn more about the school here.

The downside is that while Berit and another friend both got a slot at the school, the another friend didn't, which is of course a real bummer for her.

Lots happening with the kids and I've been remiss at not capturing some of the highlights. Here's a snapshot of what they're up to right now:

Last weekend, Rowan played Tigger in the Rocky Mountain Theater for Kids production of Winnie the Pooh, after months of practice. She was an exuberant Tigger - perfect for the role, and was highly complemented by the play's director. RMTK will go on to a new play now. Last night, we built an insulating box (making use of bubble wrap - based on the idea that air makes a good insulator) - that with any luck, kept an ice cube from melting at school today.

Berit is practicing for the PBP production of A Jungle Book, in which she has the parts of a monkey, an elephant, and a giraffe. Berit is also doing dance and voice lessons, so she's got the full-on theatrical triumvirate going on. In school, she's starting a unit on immigrants and in math, doing geometry - both of which she likes.

Griffin did karate with me for a month, but I think the twice a week commitment was a bit much when we have so much else coming up for him to do. He just started basketball, which he is having a BLAST with!! Very exciting for me to see the kids take to a sport, because I never really did as a child and I probably feel like it's my fault if they don't.

As an aside - it would be great if one of Griffin's basketball-loving Uncles would take him to a CU game sometime.