Basketball

We just finished Seth's first and Carden's second season of basketball. It was truly an interesting study of how different our two boys are. Carden made great progress, aided by our Craigslist find of a basketball hoop now presiding over the back patio. We are really proud of how far he came. Athletics take a bit of work for him, and he stuck with it despite a few moments of discouragement.

Watching Seth was like watching those old Saturday morning cartoons of Speedy Gonzales. We kept telling him that his teammates couldn't pass him the ball because he didn't hold still long enough for them to throw it to him. All the other kids moved in a pack around the ball, with Seth orbiting rapidly around the group. And after every contact with the ball he would bounce up and down, unable to contain his excitement at being on the court.

Unforgettable moments:

Carden on the sideline with the ball, ready to pass it in. He puts the ball on his hip and moves his index finger back and forth between his two teammates. I can see him mouthing "eenie-meenie-minie-moe" trying to decide who to pass the ball to.

Seth has the ball and is dribbling down the court. He lifts his leg up and dribbles the ball under it, Harlem Globetrotter-style. He is so short his dribbling only bounces the ball six inches off the floor.

Making the beds

Carden and Seth are the proud inhabitants of a new bunk bed. We found a great deal on one, and after making them keep their room spotlessly clean for two weeks, we set it up last weekend. Actually, we moved the guest room queen-size bed down two flights of stairs, disassembled two twin beds, reassembled one twin in Charlotte's room, put together the bunk bed, and made two trips to Provo for a full-size mattress--all without killing each other (the real accomplishment).

The real news in all this bed-shuffling is that Charlotte now has her own room. It's been the guest room up till now. She is loving her new Little Mermaid sheets (she won't allow me to cover them up with a bedspread). And I've put my very own personal interior decorator (my talented sister-in-law Marianne) on the job to transform the white walls into something fun for her and Claire.