recital

Lauren has been taking piano for about 4 years, but has never performed in recital. Her first teacher did not do them, and she started with her current teacher during COVID, so this was a big deal, and she fought us hard to not do it. But we held strong and she did it and was happy that she did (small parenting win). The recital was in a cute little church in Mt. Airy. It was very informal and most of the students had only been playing for a few years, so everyone was comfortable.

Lauren played two songs and did a great job. I was hoping that this would spark her love for playing, but alas, we’re still struggling a bit there. Oh well, at least it was a good experience 😉

It also helped that her friend Noa also played. They were super cute sitting together waiting to play. I can remember how intense those nerves are until it’s your turn. And then it’s over and what a relief!

Read more

December kept us busy this year, including three performances. The first was different for us this year. Sophie got asked to as part of a small group from the Philadelphia Girls Choir to sing with a Canadian group called the Tenors who were touring the US with a Christmas show. The performance was at the Keswick theater in Glenside, PA and it was really great. The girls sang four songs with the Tenors, and they were amazing. It was a sold out show, which was also pretty neat.

Unfortunately she was standing in the middle of the girls behind a tall girl, so we could only see the side of her fact for most of the performance.
The girls got a picture with the Tenors after the show. Sophie is front row, fourth from left.

The weekend after this concert Sophie had her regular Philadelphia Girls Choir holiday concert at the Temple Performing Arts Center.

  • After the concert, Sophie with her friend Sophia Nagel, who she knows from Green Towne Montessori

And the final performance of the holiday season was Lauren’s ballet show, which was Hansel and Gretel this year. The performed at the Suzanne Roberts Theater on Broad Street. There were two performances in one day – one at 2pm and one at 7pm. I watched the 2pm show and then was a backstage parent for the 7pm show, which was a little insane. It was a long day for the little kids, and by the second show exhaustion was definitely setting in.

The full cast for the final blow. Lauren was a butterfly and is sitting front row, third from the right.
  • backstage butterflies
  • the ballerina after the show
Read more

On June 15 were both Sophie’s choir concert and Lauren’s ballet recital. And they were of course at the same time! We split up with Mom, Kathy, and me heading to Lauren’s show and Dad and the Daves heading to Sophie’s show. But it ended up working out well – for the moms at least, because Lauren was the 4th group to dance, so we snatched her up right afterward, jumped in an Uber, and headed up Broad Street to Temple Performing Arts Center, where Sophie’s group was just starting. The timing couldn’t have been more perfect!

  • Striking a post before leaving the their respective theaters
  • The whole fam

Here are a few shots of Lauren’s dance:

And a few of Sophie’s concert.

  • Sophie is 5th from the right in the front row
  • With her friend Sarah
Read more

As the school year comes to an end, so do the girls activities (I think we’re all ready for a little break and a more relaxed schedule).

Last weekend Sophie had her end of year choir concert at Temple’s Performing Arts Center. The girls gave an amazing performance for a nearly full house.

Here’s the full group – Sophie is up on the balcony, middle. There are three groups, Sophie is in the youngest, called Etude. They all performed separately, and then all together, which is pretty amazing to hear.

The singing star afterward.

This weekend Lauren had her spring ballet recital at the Suzanne Roberts Theater on Broad Street. There were two sections of her performance where the kids were allowed to “free dance” and she was the start of the stage – gracefully twirling around and showing off all of her moves.

 

Some still shots of the performance.

IMG_3552

And a video of her dancing. While she likes to go to ballet class, it’s being up on stage that’s her favorite. Afterward she was already talking about next year’s recital.

 

Striking a post afterward.

Finally, Sophie had her end of year French play last week. Each second grade class puts on the same production, which lasted about 30 minutes. Sophie was a snail, or rather escargot.

 

Here’s the entire cast of animals, and Sophie with her fellow escargots talking to the main character, Spot. The entire play was in French, so I have no idea what the plot was. But I’m sure it was deep.

IMG_3484

A video of one of the songs all the kids sang.

Hamming it up with a couple of rabbits.

Afterward parents were invited back to the classroom where the kids sang a song and each demonstrated why they were smart. Sophie talked about how much she loved to read because she has such a good imagination and can picture everything she’s reading in her mind. She read the class a poem and then showed us a picture she drew of what she imagined.

Last week Lauren had her last day of preschool and next Friday will be Sophie’s last day of second grade. The days are long, but the year is short!

Here are the girls on Lauren’s last day of being a preschooler! It was also field day for Sophie, so she wore her Eagles shirt for the sports theme.

And here’s Soph a few days later on her last day with her Principal, Dr. Martino. Good-bye 2nd grade!

Read more

The girls had their end of year ballet recital recently. My family and the Sharps were all there and the girls both did a great job.  Here are a few shots from the dressing room before the show started.

Striking a pose

Sophie with some of her friends pre-show.

Lauren and her friend Hofsa, who also goes to Bala House Montessori with her. 
Read more

The day after graduation the girls had their spring dance recital. This was Sophie’s second time on stage and Lauren’s first. They both did really well!
Sophie and her friend Rachel

Lauren and her class prancing across stage. Their class danced to Dr. Seuss songs – it was totally adorable. 

Sophie’s class was divided into birds and flowers. Here’s Sophie as a bird standing behind her flower. 

Read more