Blizzard

Apparently while we were in Louisville, there was a "blizzard" in Kansas City. We had about a full 6 inches. Look out! Anyway, the boys were happy about the snow and Jonathan was especially happy because in his entire life, there has not been a snowfall in KC greater than 3 inches! They both took full advantage...

It's nice to see Jonathan fitting into snow clothes that once belonged to Christopher. He especially loves his red snow pants, which were also going to school with him today, as Mrs. Marklewitz said they would get to play in the snow at school! After warning the boys not to throw icicles at each other, I should have instead been warning them to stay away from our vicious coffee table!

Poor J had a little run in with lots of blood but no stitches ended up being necessary! Poor Chris, on the other hand, was extremely concerned about the amount of blood that happens with even a minor head injury. We ended up at the urgent care where they glued and steri-stripped him back together. Today we just told everyone it was a hockey injury and you should see the other guy!

Mid-America Oireachtas 2018

We just returned from Louisville, Kentucky, where Christopher competed in his first Oireachtas! (Oh-rock-tuhs). It was a really cool experience and Chris kind of soaked in all the dancing. He danced great and went up against some really amazing dancers in his age group. On Sunday, Chris danced hornpipes and reel. He didn't get the recall (basically the third round) so he did not do his set dance but it was a great experience for him (and us) to get to see how a major dance competition works. In a nutshell, there are three judges and if you score in the top 50% of your age group you get recalled. For all of the boy age divisions, except Christopher's, there were fewer than 20 kids which means all of the dancers would be recalled. If there were more than 20 (in Christopher's case, there were 22), only 11 would get recalled. Chris was a little disappointed not to get recalled but we tried to help him keep perspective by letting him know that 9 of the 11 kids who recalled placed in the top 10 at Oireachtas last year. Also, he was the only kid who hadn't competed in an oireachtas before in his group. I mean, we didn't even know what oireachtas was this time last year! There were some incredible dancers who have been dancing for years! Although he was upset at first, he had a good attitude about it and recovered quickly. He told us he would be back next year in full force! Here are some of our dancing pictures...

We also watched a bunch of the older kids dance on Friday and it is fun to see how they have taken Chris under their wing. They all watched at the award ceremony on Friday as 5 of our dancers qualified for nationals and two of the older boys qualified for worlds!

We also went to the Louisville Slugger bat factory while we were there. It was such a cool tour and the boys loved seeing how they make professional wooden bats. Very cool stuff! I may have also taken a few swings myself...

 It was a great trip to a new city and a great dancing experience for Chris!

Birthday Party

Jonathan went to his friend Abigail's birthday party today and had a great time! And as usual, he was very happy to see his friend, Lina, who apparently has it in her mind that she is going to marry Jonathan. Not sure if he knows that yet!

Goofballs

Daddy spent the last couple of days in Michigan and U of M sent him home with a bunch of high quality gifts, including a multi-purpose hair thing and sunglasses. Each of the boys modeled them this morning in their own unique ways...

Later in the morning, we visited the Toy and Miniature Museum which was so cool! It was Jonathan's first visit. Daddy and I had fun looking nostalgically at some of the toys we had as kids...

They also have an amazing collection of miniatures that are so life like!

The boys had fun trying to "build" their own miniatures...

Winter Wonderland

Winter has come early to Kansas and we've now had our second, albeit small, snowstorm yesterday. We located a pair of boots that fits for Jonathan and we went out to make footprints in the snow. As you can see he was very happy! This morning it was 16 degrees when I walked the dogs but with my coat and snow pants it was not an issue. As one of the moms from dance told me this weekend, "There is no bad weather, just bad clothes." This is going to be my winter mantra this year!

PC!

No that does not mean politically correct--Christopher made Preliminary Championships this weekend!

We travelled down to Fort Smith, Arkansas (Irish Dance brings us to all the exotic locales) for the Arkansas State Championships and the Ozark Mountain Feis. A lot of kids from O'Riada Manning were there and we had a fun time as usual with our dance family...

Chris just needed one more first place in hornpipes to make the PC level and he got it on Sunday. He danced great on Saturday too, winning first in reel and treble jig and placing second in his hornpipe. Although he was a little disappointed on Saturday, he was happy for his friend Talula, who took the hornpipe first that day...

The grade dancers didn't dance in this feis until the afternoon on both days so we had quite a bit of time on Sunday morning. Chris and I decided to visit the local IHOP, where he enjoyed some Grinch Pancakes, also known as cake...

Later on, we hung out with the Jackson family (Christopher's friend Amaya) and watched movies, because there is literally nothing to do in Fort Smith on a Sunday (we did consider church but watched the champs dancers instead before getting together with friends!). Christopher has also developed some superstitions and we went to a gas station after breakfast to fuel up for the ride home. I pulled up to pump 16 and shut off the car. In the backseat I hear, "No Mommy, we need to go to pump 3, that's my lucky number." Many of you know me so you may be surprised if not shocked to hear that I actually turned the car back on and pulled up to pump 3. Looking back, it was a good move. I actually thought to myself, "What if that actually is the magic number in getting his dance into PC?" LOL. Anyway, here is lucky #3. It deserved its own picture...

Feis weekends start to mess with your head! Finally after waiting all day, 5PM was the lucky time to start Christopher's hornpipes. Now, there was a little strategy going on with Chris and Talula. They both dance in the same age group and once you get your first places in Prizewinner, you move up to PC. Chris and Talula used some teamwork to help move each other along. Because Chris already had firsts in reel and treble jig, he sat those dances out on Sunday to hopefully give Talula a chance to advance. Because Talula won a first in hornpipes on Saturday, she sat that one out because that's the dance Chris needed. It worked out well for both of them! Talula took first in the two she needed and Chris took first in the one he needed! Now Talula needs one more first in her slip jig (a dance the boys don't have to do) and she will also be in PC!

And if you are wondering what those fuzzy things are that the kids are holding, they are these (apparently) "lucky" bunnies. They sell all kinds of random cr... stuff at feisannas and occasionally I can be a sucker for them!

Fall Piano Recital

This afternoon, Chris had his fall piano recital! He played three pieces, the third of which was his own composition called "The Storm." But first, Jonathan was doing his lead-singer-of-a-band impersonation...

Here is Christopher's first song, called "The Phantom of the Keys:"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14mlcrZpWK4

His second song is called "The Piano Playin' Chocolate Eater's Blues:"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2Tk01n-duw

And finally, here is Christopher's original composition, "The Storm:"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVkApX-j6zQ

Party Time! Excellent!

We finally got to celebrate Jonathan's birthday today at My Gym! You may know that he ended up getting sick on the day when the party was originally scheduled so we just had to wait a month and it was well worth it. Everyone had a great time! My Gym runs a great party and we had pizza and cake--what could be better? Giles' mom made these great Henry vacuum cakes and we were able to salvage and freeze them for this party. They were amazing! Here are some fun pics from the party...