their tops are made out of rubber, their bottoms are made out of springs

Currently in our lives:

John interviewed for a different job at work, but he doesn't think he'll get it, which is a shame.  Now he won't even have the opportunity to tell them never mind, he doesn't actually want the job after all, which is what he always does.  He's a crazy cat.  He is a gospel doctrine teacher in our ward and is very good at it. 

I have started learning a new skill that I suck super bad at, but I am getting less sucky as time passes.  Churchwise I am a primary teacher now, and I like it, even though I don't usually like children very much and the class is huge and there are a couple of quite naughty children in there.  But I do enjoy my class, and we are having a good time together.  The first week we worked out what the new treat situation would be, and they are taking to it like ducks to water.  I bring stuff like apples and clementines and cheese, and even though there were a couple of kids who said they didn't like this or that thing I'd brought, by the end of class everybody was munching happily.  They are fun and full of energy.

Grant is done with his school basketball season.  They lost every game but the last one, so it was nice to end on a high note of sorts.  It was a hard season with a lot of hurt feelings and frustration for pretty much every kid on the team, and we're happy it's over.  He started lacrosse two days ago and spent an unholy amount of money on gear last night.  He starts practicing for his spring basketball league on Thursday.  It's going to be interesting to see if he is able to pull off playing two sports at once.  He auditioned for honor band on the baritone, and they told him he was a sight-reading fiend.  Imagine how good he'd be if he practiced!  He got a 4.0 on his last report card and has been admitted into the Junior Honor Society. 

Emmett is doing a robotics class once a week after school and is digging it.  A couple of weeks ago the teacher told him and his partner that their robot was a poor design, and then it proceeded to destroy the other robots and not tip over or collapse or fall victim to any of the teacher's dire predictions.  So nyah, nyah to the teacher.  Emmett wishes desperately that he could be playing indoor soccer right now, but his team only does outdoor, so he has to wait.  He also wants to take up lacrosse.  We talked to him about practicing his piano for at least 30 minutes a day, which he agreed to do, and then he practiced about five minutes and called it a day.  He loves school and his teachers and has excellent grades. 

Ike is playing basketball and likes it more than he thought he would.  He's also playing indoor soccer and loves it.  He plays goalie for half the game, and he is not too shabby.  He got a goalie shirt and knee pads because in the first game he tore his knees and arms up on the gross artificial turf.  He also wants to start playing lacrosse.  He is doing great in school and his teacher said a lot of very nice things about him.

Willa is taking an art class once a week and learning a lot.  She is doing great in school too, and loves her teacher.  She has had a rough go of it with math for a little while, but she's pulling through and still says she loves math, which I think is great, even though it seems like a lie sometimes.  She also wants to play lacrosse, but there is not currently a girls' lacrosse program around here.

So either Grant is a huge influence on his siblings, or they all just like the idea of buying a bunch of new sports equipment.  Probably both.