January 12-16, 2017-Lily's Ballet Recital

Peg and I are pretty fortunate Grandmas as Trish flew us out to Dover for Lily's ballet recital.  We rented a car from the Baltimore airport (even lucked out with an upgrade to a Jeep Cherokee) and drove the 1 1/2 hours (better that the 9 hour drive from home) to Dover.  We were treated to a weekend of activities and even a trip to the beach.  The kids didn't have school on Friday so we drove to the beach and did a little shopping at the outlet stores on the way down.  It was a little chilly but the beach is still the beach and I loved it!

We couldn't stay too long at the beach as Lily had her dress rehearsal at 6 and Luke had a soccer game.

Saturday morning we were up bright and early for Lily's soccer game at 8:30 and Luke had a game at 11.  Well what should we do in the time between games?  Go to IHop for breakfast, of course! I'm just glad I didn't have to run after the breakfast I ate.  Luke did great and even scored a goal but his team lost 8-2. The age group was 9-14 and I'm pretty sure all of the 14 year olds were on the opposing team.  It was fun though and I was so glad I got to see  both of the kids play a game.

Lily listening to her pre-game tunes!

This evening was Lily's dance recital.  I can't remember if it is her 4th or 5th but I do think that this was the best so far.  It was also the first time the girls were on stage without their teacher on stage with them.  The recitals are held at an auditorium on the Delaware State University campus about 5 minutes from their house. It is so much fun to watch them and to see the progress from one recital to the next.

Lily is on the left, Ms. Tricia on the right

Caroline and Lily in the wings waiting for their cue to enter the stage.  They are watching the older dancers.

There was a little drama both Friday night before rehearsal and then again on Saturday before the performance.  Lily had her ears pierced over the summer last year and for the recital the girls are not allowed to wear any jewelry.  Well, Lily threw a huge hissy fit when we tried to get her earrings out.  I'm pretty sure that they didn't hurt but she was convinced that the pain of taking them out would be unbearable. It took nearly 40 minutes to get them out. I might have gotten them but no one told me that the studs she had actually screwed into the backs. So after 5 minutes of me pulling and Lily screaming Grandma Peg tagged in and she was able to get them with Chad holding Lily.  I do believe that Peg may have come away with a few teeth marks on her arm which leads us to drama #2 on Saturday afternoon. Lily was chewing gum during Luke's soccer game and her loose tooth came out, well not exactly all the way but let's just say if she sucked in, she would have swallowed a tooth. It was hanging by the proverbial thread and looked as though it were floating between her top and bottom sets of teeth.  Once again, she refused to let any one near enough to even see it clearly.  She went the entire afternoon with that tooth just hanging.  Finally Trish and Chad took her upstairs and after a short scream it got suddenly quite and the tooth was out. For as tough as this little girl was fighting her neuroblastoma she is quite the "drama queen" now and we love her for it!

Here is one of the videos that I took during the recital.

Tuesday, January 24, 2017 -Catching up!

My, oh, my!  I am woefully behind posting to our blog.  So this will be our Christmas/New Year's blog.  This was the first year we did not celebrate Christmas as an entire family due to the fact that Lily had an extreme case of strep throat the day that they had planned to drive to Ohio.  In order to save poor Lily a 9 hour drive and to spare her cousins the possible gift of strep, Trish decicded to stay in Dover for Christmas.  We still had Christmas with Sara, Matt, Evie and Arthur ( who was especially cute this year!) and my brother and his family.  It was a full house and a great time but it felt just a little empty by 4 people.

As luck would have it, Trish and Chad made the trip with the kids on Wednesday before New Year's weekend.  We spent a day and a half at Great Wolf Lodge in Cincinnati with the cousins, both Foulks and Neufarths and grandparents included.  Unfortunately, Trish got sick as we were leaving and did not enjoy much of the weekend. (Lily told me that it was her fault that mommy got sick, but it wasn't strep so we decided it must have been someone else at the water park)  It wasn't the Christmas we had planned but it all worked out and we had lots of fun. (except for the sickness and the Ohio State-Clemson game, that wasn't fun)  I did take Luke and Lily to see the movie Sing which we all enjoyed.  Best animated movies of 2016:  Zootopia, Storks, Moana and Sing.  Best soundtrack: Moana!