Browne's Irish Street Faire

Christopher danced tonight at Browne's Marketplace's Irish Street Faire. The kids were great to watch! It was Christopher's first time performing at an event like this and he did great. The older boys were so awesome in helping him know where to go and what to do. It's nice that Chris has these boys to look up to because they are so nice and also amazing dancers! Here is Christopher's reel...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSMJ5mejanI

Here is the slow hornpipe (be patient, it takes awhile before he starts!)...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GT8gF4j8KU

And the finale...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TA3ncxQ3QfM

Irish Dance in Slow Mo

I don't know about your house, but in ours it has been dance, dance, dance all morning. This is what happens when baseball gets cancelled for the day! Chris had a private lesson with his teacher yesterday in preparation for the Rockland County Feis next week and he gets all fired up afterwards. He is also dancing at the Browne's Irish Street Faire tonight with a small group of kids from his studio. Video (hopefully) to follow! Speaking of video, Chris wanted his old parents to record him in slow motion. I guess it's not that hard to do but when your parents still say they are going to "videotape" you, you never know how it could go. Well, this actually came out pretty cool. Enjoy this "Treble Jig in Slow Mo."

UPDATE: So I posted this video to the blog before I watched the end of it and a certain three year-old makes a guest appearance that made Brian and I fall over laughing. He also adds his own little request at the end. Not to be missed...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5g5rkVWZoGg

Piano Recital

Christopher had his spring piano recital this afternoon! It was lovely and it's hard to believe he has been working with Mackenzie for just about three years now. We were there a little early to help Mackenzie set up so the boys practiced together...

Here is a picture with my big boy...

Here are Christopher's two songs...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jw8t4_fIUw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiGrH3PlyQM

We also stayed to help clean up after the reception and Jonathan was more than happy to contribute with his favorite activity!

This Week

We've had some random things this past week as the boys wind down their respective school years. Irish dance, baseball, piano, birthday parties... Although we spent Mother's Day in NY, I received a sweet little plant from Jonathan and this cute little piece that his teacher's helped him fill out. I think I see a theme emerging...

Christopher's final project of the year was Market Day. This is a project the kids look forward to all year. They learn about economics, how to run a business, etc. Chris worked with a group of four other boys to make products (tie dye shirts and hats, note cards, snap bracelets) and they sold them to us on Thursday. There were some great products and somehow we came home with stress balls, slime, rice krispy treats, book marks and dog toys.

Last night, the dogs were chilling on the couch together and it was so sweet!

Today, Jonathan had his first school friend birthday party. The weather held off and he got to jump in a bouncy castle and play on the park. He was the only boy there and just like his big brother, handled those odds very well!

Also, today is Daddy's birthday! We celebrated by having breakfast at Eggct. or, as J likes to call it, the Bookserie.

First Communion

We were back in New York this past weekend to celebrate Poppy, Elsie and Bennett's first communion! They did a great job and we are so proud of them! The kids had a great time together and remained in dress clothes for at least five extra minutes to take this picture before dressing down to play on the trampoline. It was a fun weekend for all of us!

Songs for Mommy

Today, Jonathan's class performed several songs for us in honor of Mother's Day. It was so sweet! It lasted all of about 7 minutes and almost rivaled the U2 concert!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zn462gTk3iE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShGJfdsThNg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qF0WUztIfmU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UGntDr6pf8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfnSMfwv4k0

Back to Black Hoof Park

Yesterday morning, we met Jonathan's friend, Jude, at Black Hoof Park, near our old stomping grounds in Lenexa! It was a lot of fun to be back at such a fun park and the boys had a blast together!

St. Louis

Christopher and I hit the road Friday morning to head over to St. Louis! Our main reason for going was to see U2 up close and personal but we also squeezed in a few other fun things along the way. The ride over to STL takes about 4 hours and I loved watching Chris in the backseat reading the atlas to see where we were. I used to do the same thing on our long drives down to North Carolina as a child. When we arrived in St. Louis, we grabbed lunch and headed over to the City Museum. I don't even know if I have words to describe what a cool museum this is! Definitely not for little kids! Chris was a great age to take there. It was full of crazy climbing contraptions and slides that made me think "Has this been inspected?" But it was so creative and so cool. We spent about an hour there because we needed to rest up for a late night but it was a ton of fun...

And then the reason we went to STL--U2!!! Again, words can't describe this concert. It was amazing! I tried to compare it to the Bruce Springsteen concerts I've been to but you can't even compare the two because they are so different performance wise. U2 is so innovative and can still rock and it was amazing to have this be Christopher's first concert experience. I don't think it can be topped! (Setting the bar high!). We had really awesome seats and as we were waiting for the show to start, The Edge's guitar tech, Dallas, came over and asked me what my son's name was. Then he introduced himself, gave Chris one of Edge's autograph inscribed guitar picks and said, "You are the only one I am giving one of these to tonight." I mean... WOW! We were both pretty much speechless. We had made friends with the people around us as we waited and they were all in awe! That would have been enough right there to make the night awesome but then we were treated to the stage being about 15 feet away and this band who I have loved since I was at least 11 were performing right in front of my face! Chris hung in like a trooper til the end of the concert and we were so fired up the rest of the weekend! Here are some pictures...

An unbelievable night! The next day, we visited the Gateway Arch. Unfortunately we couldn't go up in it because we hadn't bought tickets ahead of time but I'm glad Chris got to see it. We also saw a movie about how they made the arch which was very cool. It was a great weekend with my big boy!

May Day

Today was Christopher's 5th May Day at Pembroke Hill! For third grade, the boys don't really do anything except skip around the field in the beginning with everyone else so I only have a few pictures. But if you want a good parking spot for when the kids do field day, you'd better get there early! Before the skipping, here is Jonathan thinking he is a third grade boy...

Chris did some fast running for Field Day! He and Giles were neck and neck in the 50 yard dash and Chris made up some major time in his running of the baton race. Afterwards, we went and had ice cream at Yogurtini with about half of Pembroke Hill! Yogurtini didn't know what hit them! That picture will be coming later.