Once upon a time, In a galaxy far, far away

Alison and Hannah had a big day Saturday -- their first gymnastics revue.

They've been going to the local park community center to take a weekly class, mostly to determine if they like gymnastics. Alison dumped ballet after about 2 years. She'd gotten tired of it and I figure if I have to devote part of my Saturday to carting her around and watching, it should be an enjoyable event for both of us.

After having to almost literally drag her sorry butt to ballet for the last six months of it, it was a shock to have her push me out the door so we won't be late for gymnastics.

She'd lingered in ballet because she took that class with Jenna, who has been her best friend since before they'd each emerged into the world. We do miss seeing Jenna, but it was time to explore other options. (Jenna, by the way, is an incredible dancer who lights up the stage. I'm sure she misses having Ali around but there's nothing going to stop her from performing.)

Alison seems to have that same love for gymnastics. She does handstands around the house every chance she gets and she's trying hard to perfect her cartwheel. I don't know that she has competition on her mind, but she loves what she's doing now and we'll see how it goes.

Hannah likes it, too, and we've gotten into a good Saturday morning groove. When we're lucky, we hang out after and Alex gets into the mix after his basketball game. Yesterday, we did our gymnastics thing, then watched Alex's last game of his season and then Karin and I worked out a bit. It's been beautiful weather and I hope Spring has actually sprung.

We ended the night at the Ogdens at Alex's Star Wars party. He'd dreamed it up and was thrilled when we said we'd come over. He told Dale that he was so excited about the party that he didn't know if he could actually play basketball.

We had themed food and watched the movie in heaps on the floor, couches and chairs.

Other than Jeff and Alison's occasional cat-induced sneezing, it was a fabulous way to end a great day. We watched the episode where Carrie Fisher wears a bikini. Jeff and Dale could have recited the whole thing -- especially the parts where she wriggles around in that two piece...

Alison hangs around with boys all day at school and claims to love violence. When she's not upside down doing a handstand, she's trying to karate chop anyone who comes past her. But she wasn't really enthralled with Star Wars.

"It' s not really my kind of violence," she said. "My kind of violence is the kind that doesn't look real."

I guess I'm OK with that. Way more OK than when she told me she didn't have time for dinner Tuesday night because "I have a meeting with three boys, mom."

"Um, what?" I said.

Her "meeting" involved getting online at Club Penguin at 6:30 p.m. Three boys from her class were to get online, too, and they were going to be able to virtually play together -- or "meet" as Alison described it.

While the explanation mollified me a bit, I still haven't told Jeff that she's hanging out with boys -- online -- after school. I'm not sure he's ready for that....