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.

I had to sit down with Rowan tonight and talk with her about not throwing a fit when something happened she didn't think was fair. She had been playing Uno Attack with the other kids and Bridey, and when they all decided it was time to stop after an hour, she was very upset.

After I explained to her how she might want to learn to react, she said "Ok, but I'm not going to remember this."

"You're not? Why not?" I laughed.

"Because I have a short memory. I only remember really big things, like when Berit broke her wrist."

Griffin went to bed in a pair of sweat pants he told me he was going to wear for a year. I asked him why he was going to wear it for a year, and he told me he was going to set a record.

He told me he had worn them for 7 days, and then he asked me how many days were in a year. I told him 365 and he couldn't believe it. He smiled sheepishly like he half didn't believe me and like he half had to reassess his idea.

Griffin and I just got back from our first karate class at the YMCA. It was a class full of kids, but family members can take it with them. I was the only adult.

Griffin LOVED it. He did a great job paying attention to the sensei that was teaching us - even though it was hard not to be distracted by the non-beginner kids who were actually sparring while we were just repeating steps and blocks.

All the way home Griffin sang, "I know Karate," and then he talked about how he was going to tell Sully tomorrow about how bowing is part of karate, because it was something Sully wouldn't know. He definitely wants to keep doing it.

Last night, Berit and Bridey got on the internet and learned how to make crepes. They made crepes this morning for Rowan's birthday, and at lunch they made smoothies. We hung out at home and played games, and later on Pam's family all came over for more food and more games. Rowan had a great birthday.

Tonight, Bennett came over and Berit's friend, Bridey, and we all played games. First we played Attack Uno, which Bennett gave to Rowan for her birthday, and then we the kids played the State Geography game while Bennett, Pam, and I played Quiddler. We celebrated New York New Year with noise makers and bubbly.

Yesterday, we all went sledding - it was a blast until I let Rowan go down on the really fast inflatable thing and she ended up going backwards over a big jump, flipping over a kid, and really hurting herself - not injuring, but basically spoiling the rest of the sledding for her as she just layed there in pain. I felt pretty bad about that.

It's been almost two months since I've posted anything here. I'm going to try to do better than that, and I'll start with this video of Griffin singing "Grandma Got Runover By a Reindeer." (We had a blast with Mimi and Papa George here!)