March highlights: James' visit, sisterly love, cheerleading, performances galore

1) James in town! my brother's job takes him all over the country, and he's been able to visit family members in Massachusetts and North Carolina while on work trips. finally, he had a job close to Pittsburgh and we were able to see him at the bookends of the trip. he was a trooper and came along to hang out at the library with me and the younger three during Greta's cheerleading practice after his flight landed in Pittsburgh. then he finished up his work a little earlier than expected and was able to spend the night here before his flight out! 

this library has Magnatiles ... we are obsessed!

2) sisterly love. don't get me wrong -- there are plenty of squabbles at our house, usually between the two oldest, but each of them individually has such a sweet relationship with Elizabeth. Elizabeth and Victoria are starting to play more together too, although now that Victoria is on the move and interested in all of Elizabeth's toys, there's some jockeying going on there too. 

another fun place to hang out during Greta's practices: the play place at the local mall. why am I just now figuring this out as basketball and cheerleading seasons are over?!

enjoying the spoils from that library visit with Uncle James

I love these double slides that let pairs slide down "together" safely! (I'm fairly risk-tolerant with my kids at the playground but am too petrified of broken legs to let them slide down together on the same slide!)

two of my babies in a basket!

Greta truly took one for the team on this day, which was otherwise the definite low point of the month. the stomach bug struck me hard on a Monday morning, while Nick was out of town. by late afternoon I was totally out of commission. God bless him, he canceled classes and rearranged his schedule so he could drive back and take care of me and the kids. while he was on his way home, Greta played with Elizabeth for almost two hours outside, then got dinner for the kids and kept me supplied with water and Pedialyte. ugh, glad that week is over!

with some new selections from the Little Free Library outside the school gym

all of my girlies!

couldn't get them all to look at the same time

teaching Elizabeth to cheer for our team: "Let's go, Saints!" while Victoria pays close attention

3) cheerleading competitions. I knew absolutely nothing about the world of competition cheerleading prior to this month. this was Greta's first year on the squad, and boy, was I in for a surprise when we pulled up to the first competition at 7:45 on a Saturday morning to drop her off for warmups, and saw the line of parents waiting for the doors to open so they could get a good seat before the competition would officially start almost two hours later (!). it turns out that each team, from the preschool-age pep squads all the way up through varsity 8th graders, would run their entire routine between 8 AM and 9:15 AM, and then they would do it all again in front of the judges for the actual competition from 9:30 until 11:30 or so. then there was a jump-off, where girls would do a toe-touch jump in groups of four or five and then be selected out of that group for the jump-off finals, with prizes awarded in each age group. finally, the highlight of the entire competition for me was the Daddy jump-off where dads could sign up to do the same thing (some were hilariously inflexible, but some were shockingly good -- definitely way better than I would have been!). finally, they would announce the places and awards. the whole thing wrapped up around 12:30 PM. after the first competition, my friend leaned over to me and said, "and now, we get to do it ALL again the next two weekends!" 

Greta is front row, far left

Greta's toe-touch took third place in her age group during the first competition

the final jump; she said her hip flexors hurt for days after this!

so proud!

an incredible showing by a dad from our school! this competition was held on St. Patrick's Day, hence the leprechaun to the right who executed a little kick. that darn leprechaun was awarded the prize for the dad's division, but our man clearly won!

Nick's response to my text asking him if he would consider signing up for the Daddy jump-off at one of these competitions ;)

during the second competition, rather than sitting a school gym for two hours while the teams ran through their warmups, I decided to enjoy some rare solitude at a local coffee shop until the actual competition started. I'm not a big fantasy reader, but highly enjoyed Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman!

while Greta had fun with the dances and really liked competing in the jump-off, our school's squad was much smaller and less experienced than any of the other schools, so they came in dead last every single week. I learned that the scoring is based off of difficulty (i.e. number and difficulty of stunts, lifts, and tumbling passes) in addition to execution and style points, and while our girls danced their hearts out, their somersaults and cartwheels couldn't possibly compete with the other squads' back handsprings and back tucks (!). suffice it to say, Greta doesn't have much interest in participating next year. it's good she tried it but she much, much, much prefers basketball (and so do I!). 

4) nights at the theater, the ballet, and the opera! March was a wonderfully culture-heavy month! out of the entire Broadway touring season this year, I've been most excited for the March and April performances (The Book of Mormon and Company, respectively). the Book of Mormon did not disappoint. I don't think I've ever laughed so hard in my life. there were some irreverent moments that did push it a bit far for my taste, but other than that, I loved every single minute of it. plus, the themed cocktail for the evening was the Salt Lake City Sour: salted caramel lemon elixir, vodka, and orange bitters, garnished with a gold-dusted citrus slice. it was perfection!

then Cecilia and I attended her friend's performance in the Cinderella ballet, with music by Prokofiev (in some recess of my brain, I did know that there was a Cinderella ballet, but had no idea that he wrote the music). there are several reputable ballet schools in Pittsburgh, and this performance by the West Point Ballet studio was absolutely phenomenal. 

finally, Amelia and I went to the opera, La Traviata to be exact! it had been years since I've been to an opera and the singing, orchestral music, costuming and set were wonderful. it was especially fun to spot some familiar names from Duquesne's music program among the orchestra members. turns out, the theater was still serving that same delicious salted caramel cocktail, re-named the Brindisi Sour in honor of the opera's most famous musical motif ("Libiamo ne'lieti calici"; a brindisi is the Italian word for a drinking song). so we both got to enjoy it! 

a classy dinner of red wine, salami and cheese prior to the show

friends for *mumble mumble* going on twenty years this fall...