Pat's Birthday!

Happy Birthday Pat!! Pat turned 44 on a Thursday so we broke up the celebration over a couple days. I decorated his office and we went out for a birthday lunch to Penn Station (I got Zoup!). Then once everyone was home from activities we had blueberry cheesecake (we will never make this recipe again...) and Pat opened presents! The next day we had lunch at Cornerstone!

 

Intrigue Downtown

This was Paige's third (and last?) Intrigue event of the season! It was a required convention but optional for competing so Paige and her friends decided to do their trio. They ended up being scheduled mid-day Friday so she had to miss the whole day of school but they had fun and did great. They were awarded True Artist and second overall! Saturday and Sunday were long days of classes and it sounds like there was a good mix of great teachers, good/tough combos and bad/tough combos. 

Hair is ready for trio!

Awards

Trio + Jessica

Emma, Miley, Paige

Miley, Carys, Paige

We walked to lunch and stopped for a picture with Alexander Hamilton

A picture from their performance

 

& Juliet

We bought tickets back in November for & Juliet and then a month or two ago we found out Paige was going to have dance pictures the same day. We were worried we wouldn't make it in time but they finished early and we got to the show with enough time to get snacks and peruse the program. I enjoyed the whole thing but the consensus at intermission was that the first act was dragging and no one was super excited about the second act. Luckily the second act was great because we all left with a positive impression of the show! The singing was great and the set was so fun!

 

Cheer Banquet

It's been months since Paige did any cheerleading but the cheer coaches have one banquet for football and basketball cheerleaders together at the end of the winter sports season so they don't have to celebrate twice! Paige won the "storm award" which was so nice but unfortunately we both spaced out and don't remember the details of what it was for. It's a shame honestly because they didn't give out many awards so it felt like a big honor! 

I was far away but I managed to get this bad picture of Paige accepting her award

Paige won the storm award for football and Alayna won it for basketball cheer

Alayna, Paige and Miley

She let me get a picture at home too!

Storm winners for all grades and sports

Paige, Siannah, Miley

Freshman cheer squad!

 

ID Competition!

The next dance competition was two weeks later (with an ODM convention in between). This comp was fun but the schedule was crazy because Paige had to be there all three days but Friday and Saturday each only had one dance. Sunday she had 9 dances to perform and we were there about 14 hours!! There was a time change too so when we got up on Sunday the clock said 5:30 but our bodies felt like it was 4:30am. Paige did amazing but I will remember this competition mostly for how long the awards were because they interviewed so many kids. Paige almost got through the whole weekend without being interviewed but at the very last awards on Sunday night she had to accept an award for her trio and ended up being interviewed She did a great job answering! Paige qualified as a finalist for the solo title competition and her trio placed in overalls, and won special awards for artistic execution and another for effortless connection between them. Her group dances did great too with too many awards and placements to remember!

Friday

Saturday

Sunday 

 

Rainbow

Paige had her first full dance competition (with group dances but minus production!)! A lot of details have been lost because of how long it's been but there were a few things that I haven't forgotten!

1. There was sickness everywhere! So many people were throwing up. Someone puked in a dressing room and in the bathroom. There were people walking around with trash cans just in case. So disgusting and we tried to not touch anything while we were there.

2. It was in a high school so space was very limited and it felt crowded the whole weekend

3. Paige was asked to cover for someone in the acro dance so she agreed, borrowed a costume, learned what was needed in a couple hours and went on stage and did amazing. High stress situation but she took it on and I was so proud of her!

I don't really remember what dances won or how anything placed, it was just really nice to get to see what Paige has been working on for months and so fun to see her dance on stage again!

Paige with...Fiona, Emma, Miley, Carys and Sophie

Solo and Trio awards! Paige was a dancer of the year finalist

Solo pictures

Trio

Charged Up, Million Reasons, Everytime It Rains

 

February

Celebrating Paige's last pediatric dentist appointment (and last toy reward!) with some starbucks!

Snow finally melted!

Hanging out with Owen and Griffin

Naptime

Naptime 2

Trying not to laugh while Pat says popular phrases we didn't understand

The snow came back!

Crepes and coffee with Jamie!

We love when Griffin sits like this

 

Valentine's Day!

Valentine's Day was pretty lowkey at our house but that's usually my favorite way to celebrate anything! Paige was having a few friends over so we put up some decorations for them and they had a great food spread (chocolate covered strawberries, chik-fil-a platter, shirley temples etc.). Owen brought some friends over later in the night and they helped eat everything that was left and Pat and I had a pizza picnic upstairs!