Dance

My beautiful niece is a dancer at a dance college on a dance scholarship. She is amazing. And we all knew she was, partially because she's our niece, but mostly because she simply is. It's nice seeing a college see the amazingness in her, and recognize all the hours of hard work and dedication and TALENT in her, and have her audition for things above her age level and GET them, because again, she is amazing.

She just did a competition a few hours from her school with some other college dancers (8 from her school? I think? and probably 400+ from around the area not from her college). She did this one dance with another girl and two boys - very, well, different. The two girls danced together and the two boys danced together. Lovingly. It was a beautiful dance, truly, but probably a little weird for my 94 year old grandmom to watch. And maybe those in the rural town where the competition was. Anyway, as my sister in law texted me later that evening, she said my niece would NOT get an award, as they were only recognizing the top 12 dances, and again, there were hundreds of participants and probably over 1,000 dances, because dancers usually participate more than once.

So guess what? She and her 3 cohorts won Second Place. Tied with another group from her very school. And guess what again? She and her schoolmates (both Second place-ers) were invited to the Lincoln Center in NEW YORK CITY. To dance. Invite only. Just the top 3 placers in the competition. She's a freshman, did I mention that before? And did I say she is amazing? Because she is!

Here is a photo of her with her female partner in this dance that won second place (this was during rehearsal):

We 4 were able to watch the dance virtually, and naturally, afterwards, the kids got to dancing in the living room. They created a dance that was similar to theirs, and called it "The Bison." I won't go into the video here, although it is quite something, but more importantly, I wanted to share this picture.

I really don't think you can discern who the professionals are, can you? 

Hats off to my niece. As always, she makes me proud for every part of her, but it's definitely the tear-jerking kind when this kind of thing happens!

Happy New Year!

Traditions - David and Smith make their own sushi (new this year, mini pepperoni sushi! Fridge cleaning AND good eatin'.), Tate and I make our own pizzas, then the yummy chocolate fondue with fruit and marshmallows and pound cake. We all stayed up until midnight, killed some time watching Brave, all snuggled in front of the fire.

Really happy it's January now, and looking forward to some calm in our lives. Saying this, I just marked up our calendar for the early part of the year - goodness there is a lot on there already! How about some calm every day, does that work?

Happy Holidays!

Pre- and Post-Christmas new and old traditions

getting decorated like a tree with the Daisies

About to see SANTA! Same ole Santa, 11 years later. This was one of those nights where the kids were battling non-stop - we literally had to dry their tears and yell at them to smile as they walked up to see Santa

Josefina getting a MUCH needed new 'do (Mema and Tate went on a special date, including lunch and a giant cookie)

Marshmallow making with a good friend - and we didn't even hate each other afterwards! And we weren't even that sticky!! Tara, a new tradition is born!

The annual hot cocoa-then-run-around-the-courthouse with our first friends in our town. Love this family.

Tate's favorite, bubble wrap!

Just Dance 4 - SO MUCH FUN!!!!!

Oh, Kit. Movie, doll, our hearts. 

Bubble wrap in its unwound glory

Roller skating fun at a cool '50s-ish place! $5 per person, includes rental! They'll be seeing more of us, for sure.

David skates HARD! He left chunks of wheel all over the rink (that Smith picked up)

Dog sitting for some giant beauties - love these guys. The box on the sofa has a Smith inside it!

And today, New Year's Eve, has been a delightfully simple day. Smith has a good friend over, I'm going to do some sewing for the bunkbed Tate got for her American Girl dolls (pillows and sheets to match the quilts I made), Tate's watching a movie. Tonight we'll have some homemade sushi and homemade pizza, and CHOCOLATE FONDUE. Oh yeah. 

December

The annual things in our town - Friday night, Santa came through our neighborhood on a firetruck (don't know who is more excited...wait, it's Tate. She ended up rounding up neighbors about 45 minutes before we actually saw any firetruck action!). Friday was especially good because David and I refinanced just before the truck came through!

kids after chasing the truck through the neighborhood

Daisy reindeer fun - we're doing Project Elf, helping a local family have a better Christmas. There's that fine line of note writing with 6 year olds - "Have a Happy Holiday" is great. "We are sorry you are poor" is not so great. Our great leader (Great Leader - sounds very North Korean) headed that one off at the pass, though. Good call, Tara!

Our town's parade - our elementary school participated, and representatives from all the girl scout troops attended and passed out candy. Kids at the beginning of the parade had BAGS FULL of candy - seriously more than Halloween! Smith, being an alum, was looking forward to walking with his old school, and had to as David is out of town. The Assistant Principal asked if he'd help carry the lead banner! Very nice honor for Smith!

 These are just funny videos - Smith has been very into Parkour lately, and while we were waiting for David at the outlet mall the other day, they were practicing. Smith's getting there...and then there's Tate. Cracks me up.

And finally, after the parade Saturday, the kids and I went to DC for the afternoon. Smith wanted to do a museum but it was far too pretty a day to be inside, so we decided to do outdoor memorials instead. We saw Lincoln (who Tate kept calling George Lincoln Washington Monument), Vietnam Wall, World War II Memorial, Korean Memorial, Martin Luther King Jr (question - why did they choose the whitest of all white stones to represent him? Seems very odd to me, and perhaps a bit insulting??), drove by FDRs, then off to Union Station to have a Johnny Rockets lunch and walk around the building. What a beautiful building that is - it's where David and I had our wedding reception! I took the kids into B. Smith's to show them where we had our party. 

All in all, a GREAT day - from parade to DC to hanging out at home. Kids are ecstatic this time of year, as I'm swamped with work, which translate into a LOT of Wii, Minecraft, tv time. 'Tis the season!

Holiday Spirit

We did our 2nd annual "Freeze Your Gizzard" 5k/1 miler the weekend before Thanksgiving (our 2nd annual - it's been around for longer than that!). My brother ran the 5k with Smith, David ran the mile with Tate, and I walked with a few good friends in the 5k. As you can see, it was a beautiful day! One friend and her husband started behind us but ended up in front of us...twice...

We also saw lots of great turkey hats - I plan on crocheting at least a couple of the one below. I did not know this guy, but he was gracious enough to let me take pictures of him!

We got down to business two days after Thanksgiving - with a looming work project, it's tree time right after turkey day, or else it's mid-December, which makes us all sad and grumpy. So we are decorated!

The kids "helping" David put the star on

  

Success!

Messy/dirty, but happy, girl

On my (very giant) needles

My beautiful niece asked for a specific present for Christmas this year - an infinity scarf. Having her ask me to knit her something is like a present to me - she chose a beautiful, loose, quick scarf that I'm well on my way to making with just a couple hours in. I do feel like a cartoon character when knitting though...

I must have a work deadline...

...because I keep procrastination baking.