The Saturday "7"

1. I got to go on a field trip with Levi this week to the museum/planetarium. I've gone on this trip with each of my kids when they were in first grade, so I've seen the planetarium show three times now. Haha. I usually ride the bus because, as I mentioned last week, I hate driving downtown. But I've been having stomach problems lately and Levi was having anxiety about puking on the bus in front of his friends (he tends to get carsick), so I drove separately. I successfully drove downtown, parked in a parking ramp, and left downtown without getting lost, so I'm calling it a win! Haha. I was glad I drove separately because Levi was totally bored of the museum by noon. We stayed to eat lunch with his class, then went home for a while before we had to go pick up the girls!

2. I read a fun series of books this week: The City of Ember by Jeanne Duprau. I especially enjoyed the first one. While I don't usually love fantasy or sci-fi, I'm inexplicably drawn to dystopian novels. This book is marketed to young adults, which is another genre I don't usually enjoy, but this one was really well done, with none of that typical teenage angst (or at least very little). I read it because I'm looking for something to read to my 4th graders this quarter, but I loved it so much that I went on to read the sequels as well. They weren't as good as the original, but still solid storytelling. Hopefully the 4th graders like it as much as I did. (Lena's already lamenting my choice and asking why I can't choose a "girl book.") And hopefully I can finish it before the school year ends. We only have 10 more weeks of library classes!

3. It's that time of year again where I pretend to care about sports for a hot minute: March Madness! For some reason, filling out a bracket with my siblings/nieces and nephews brings out my competitive side and gets me suddenly interested in basketball! I've been watching most of the games and checking my bracket religiously. Right now I'm in third place, but 3 of my 4 picks for the final four are still in contention, and both of my final two are hanging on, so I have the potential to do well. My team of choice every year is Villanova, but they didn't make the tournament this year, so I'm hanging my hat on Gonzaga this time. Justin gets annoyed because I know nothing about the schools I choose. I don't know where they're located or any of the players' names, and I don't watch any of the games before the tournament starts, but then I'm all in when my bracket depends on it! 😂 In a fun twist, this year Lena asked to fill out a bracket, and she's just as into it as I am! She downloaded the CBS Sports app on her tablet so she can keep checking for updates, and saying stuff like, "I really need Baylor to win. I have them going all the way." Haha. She's actually doing pretty well too! As of 10:00 tonight, she's 9 for 9 in the Midwest region! (If Penn St. wins in the next few minutes, she'll be 10 for 10!)

4. I've got nothing else and don't feel like conjuring something, so enjoy these pics and memes instead.