On December 28th we celebrated Lauren’s 9th birthday! My family was still here, so we celebrated Lauren all day and then that night had a combined birthday celebration with Lauren and Ari, whose birthday is January 6th.
Lauren had an indoor climbing birthday at Philly Rock Gym. Since the party was on a Tuesday and between Christmas and New Years there were a lot of friends out of town. But even with a small crowd, Lauren had a great time.
Lauren, Ari, Sophie
I even got into it!
Norah & Sophie
Lauren
That night the Sharps came over and we had pizza, chocolate cupcakes, and opened presents. Lauren’s favorite gift was moon bounce shoes from my mom.
Moon bounce shoes
The birthday girl!
Happy birthday to our sweet, funny, full of energy girl!
The day after Christmas Sophie got to do something very cool. She, along with the Philadelphia Girls Choir, sang the National Anthem and the halftime show at the Eagles game against the NY Giants.
The girls were originally invited to sing just the National Anthem, but a few days before the game the halftime show cancelled, so they jumped in and did halftime as well! They sang Deck and Halls and Jingle Bells for that one.
We got tickets for Dave’s parents and my family to all go. We got great seats behind one of the field goals. The game was good, but of course the best part was the choir!
Lauren and I before the National Anthem
There was a lot going on down on the field when the girls sang the National Anthem. As the girls stood down on the field waiting to sing, all of the players ran on to the field through smoke and fireworks. Then the Eagles drum line played and everyone sang the fight song. It was a lot. Finally the girls sang and they were excellent! The stadium was quiet and erupted when they finished.
The choir singing the National Anthem
At half time the girls came back out on to the field and sang two Christmas carols. It was a little tougher because the stands were loud and their voices are so delicate. But they were all featured on the jumbotron and saw a few good closeups of Sophie because she was in the front row.
The choir singing at halftime
Despite winter hats in these pictures, the weather was unseasonably warm, no jackets necessary. We were incredibly lucky because the day after was 40 and raining. It was such a cool experience and everyone had a great time, most of all Sophie!
Christmas is back! After essentially being cancelled last year, we were back in action this year. There was a slightly smaller crowd this year – all vaxxed and tested ahead of time – but we were all together!
Christmas morning came early – 3AM to be precise. We told the girls they couldn’t wake us up until 6AM, so they entertained themselves for three hours with stuff from their stockings. I can’t believe they woke up that early – or that there was not a huge crash that afternoon, which I really thought would happen.
When the girls came downstairs they both found exactly what they asked for under the tree.
Lauren got a Vespa electric scooterAnd Sophie got a phone!
After the morning of present opening and breakfast we cleaned up and prepped for the crowd coming later that day.
Calm before the storm
The Sharps, The Boyles, Don, Zoe and Maddie came from Dave’s side of his family, and Dan and family and Joan came from my side.
Don, Dave, Ed, DylanThe cook sous chefZoe gave the girls a tumble mat and Shannon taught them some movesFierce game of UnoDon and DaveDave and DonShannon, Sophie, me, Lauren, Zoe
As tradition goes, we performed a Sharp Family concert before dinner. Sophie played Carol of the Bells and Lauren did Jingle Bells. Accompanists were Kathy on clarinet, Dave on trombone, me on violin, and for Jingle Bells, Kish and Ash joined in with bells.
Later that evening my parents, Becky and Ari came up – just in time for dessert. It was a lovely evening, mostly because we all were able to be together again!
In December, both of the girls had their respective end of year performances/races.
Lauren did Girls in the Run this fall for the first time. She was extremely reluctant to try it (as she is with all new activities), but ended up loving it. She’s also a very strong runner, no surprises there. She had practice twice a week for about 2 months and then a celebratory 5K run. Each girl runs with a buddy so Dave was her running buddy. The day was beautiful and she did really well. Out of 600 girls she came in 10th!
Lauren’s Girls on the Run teamLauren and Dave (her running buddy) after the race
Later in December the Philadelphia Girls Choir had their holiday concerts. They did two this year – maybe to make up for not having any last year. The first was in a church in New Jersey and the second was at Temple Performing Arts Center. Both were amazing. Even though they had to sing with masks on, they still sounded amazing. This is also the first year that Sophie is performing with Cantata, the next group level up.
The first performance at a church in New JerseyThe second performance at Temple Performing Arts Center Sophie with her friends Ella and Jojo
Now we’re enjoying a few activity free weeks before everything starts up again in January
