Choir

It’s hard to even call the season that we’ve had winter because its been so mild. There hasn’t been one snow fall and I’ve barley even needed my puffer jacket, which has been fine with me, but the kids, especially Lauren, are pretty bummed. Sledding in the back and playing outside in the snow are what they live for in the winter.

Lauren had her winter school choir concert recently, which was very cute. It’s the first in person, all grade performance that she’s had since first grade.

And we went to our last Flyers game with the season tickets – the end of an era! Unfortunately they lost, but it was a good game anyway.

Dave and Gritty
Last game in the family seats!
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Amazingly, another school year has come to an end! The girls wrapped with some final activities before the summer break.

Sophie had her Philadelphia Girls Choir spring concert at Temple Performing Arts Center in June. It was their first concert without masks. It was great to see their smiling faces and really hear their singing voices again!

The full choir
Our beautiful singer
Sophie with her friends Jojo and Ella

Sophie also went to her first school dance!! I can’t believe it either. She had a good time, but we heard about some girls drama too – I guess it wouldn’t be a middle school dance without it.

Sophie with her friends Jojo, Camille and Rachel.

Sophie also did band again this year, continuing with percussion. This was the first in-person concert we got to see since they were either recorded and shared with families, or submitted via zoom over the last two years.

Lauren did Girls on the Run again this spring and their 5K was held at Montgomery County Community College. There were a ton of schools participating this time and many runners. We’re not sure how many, but one of the coaches told us it was over 1,000 girls. Dave was her running buddy again and they killed it. Lauren came in 10th out of the girls running! She loves it and we’re so happy about it.

Lauren and Dave before the run
Lauren with her team
post very hot run
Lauren with her coach and teacher Ms. D’Orazio

We also attended our first Bat Mitzvah for Sophie’s preschool friend Rachel. The party was held at Germantown Cricket Club and there was a special candle lighting ceremony for all of her preschool friends, which was really sweet.

Candle lighting with preschool friends
Me and my girls

Dave and I got away one night for a night out with the college crew, most of whom we haven’t seen in a long time. It was a really great night!

The college crew!

And finally, at the end of June, Dave, Don and I did the Rock Hall sprint triathlon – my first since my leg injury. I hadn’t planned on doing it, but decided to just give it a go – I’ve been feeling good – and ended up taking 2nd in my age group! Booyah! Actually, I was totally suprised and super excited about it. I’ve spend the last 11 months doing so much PT, strength training and mobility – I felt like it really paid off. I’m really looking to training throughout the summer to compete in an Olympic Distance in the fall.

2nd place, baby!
Oliver, Sophie, Lauren & Liam

The girls both had a great year, we all had a great spring, and we’re looking forward to this summer!

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So far 2020 has been treating us well!

We began the year with a New Year’s Eve sleepover with the Devine’s at our house. We had a “game night” theme, where we played board games and Dave prepared four courses of game meat. It was delicious and fun.

On New Year’s Day we all went for a hike in Wissahickon.

The girls with Ava and Emma Devine in Wissahickon on New Year’s Day.

It’s been an unseasonably warm January – in 40s, 50s, and a few days of 60s! One of the warmest days was also a day off from school, so I took the girls to the zoo, which was not expecting the crowds that it had. Note Lauren wearing shorts in the pics!

  • Up close and personal with a penguin

Dave and I went to the annual Union League Commodore’s Ball again. He’s not in yacht club leadership any more, but we went to support some friends who are. It’s always a fun, somewhat ridiculous evening.


At the Commodore’s Ball

Sophie is in her school’s choir, called Levering Mill, which is just for 4th and 5th graders. She’s also in the 3rd-5th grade all student choir, which held a combined concert in January. There were so many kids that they had to do it at Bala Cynwyd middle school, which has a large auditorium.

  • Sophie had a duet – front, right
  • the full choir

And then a few days later Lauren had her 1st grade musical, which was called Pirates, The Musical. It was very cute. All the kids do the singing and the teachers do the dialogue.

  • 1st grade pirates
  • Lauren and her friend, Gabriel

And we had a weekend visit from Shannon Boyle and her boyfriend Joey. They stayed over and we took them to the Flyers game, where they finally won one! The girls were very happy to be reunited with Shannon 🙂

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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
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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
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The PGC had their holiday concert in the middle of December at Temple’s Performing Arts Center. It was beautiful, as it always is. Sophie is in the Etude group, which is made up of the youngest girls.

Sophie was front and center in the Etude group
The last song the entire choir performed together was “Believe” by Josh Groban. It was pretty amazing.
Here’s the singer after the performance.
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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.

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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.

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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!

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This year Sophie auditioned for and made it into the Philadelphia Girls Choir, a pretty prestigious choir in the City, which is associated with the world renowned Philadelphia Boys Choir. She started with the group in September, and had her first concert in December. It was held at the Episcopal Cathedral on Rittenhouse Square and was amazing! There were 750 tickets available and they sold out.

Here she is at the house in her dress before leaving. She was so excited and also so nervous.

You can see her here, second row on the right.

The girls were allowed to audition for either a solo or a dance. Sophie got a dance part (back facing the camera with the braid). During one of the songs she stepped down and did a dance along with the song.

The choir is made up of three sections: Etude (ages 7+), Cantata (ages 10+), and Concerto (ages 12+). Each section sang a few songs on their own, and then the entire choir sang together. Each group was more impressive than the next. In the picture above Sophie is second row, center.

A shot of the entire choir with all three sections. Sophie is center, about second row.

Afterward she was so excited and happy, it was so great to see.

Doug, Vicki, Quinn, Carley, Mom, Dad, Becky, Ari, and Lydia all came to the concert and afterward we all went out to dinner. Here Dave and I are with Sophie in Rittenhouse Square before dinner. It was extra festive walking through the park, which was all decorated and ready for Christmas.

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