A Dance Show, A Band Concert and A Visit With Grandma

We've had a crazy few days and a number of set-backs but also a couple of items to report.

Abbie's winter dance recital was held Monday night. She was ready to roll then burst into tears while waiting for her class to take the stage. It seems she tripped and fell into a few dance friends who then said a few things to her that broke her heart. My big, strong, beautiful girl has a heart of marshmallow fluff and it gets broken rather easily. She didn't recover. I thought she was going to rebound and participate in the tap dance but sadly, she was done for the night. We did, however, get a photo of Ruby shaken her holiday buns. A first. Thanks to everyone that came to watch (our family plus, Grandma Sandy, Lindsay/Wes/Nate, Papa and Paul T.)...sorry you didn't see much this time around.

Tuesday night was Kyle's first band concert. I think all the parents of beginning band were a little worried about what we might find (or hear). Luckily, he has a great teacher and they sounded incredible. Really. It was way too loud for Abbie so she enjoyed the concert with Tripp's hands over her ears but otherwise, very impressive for a group of kids that just picked up their instruments in August. Tripp tried to get a photo of Kyle but the trumpets are in the back and he is rather short so we couldn't make it work. These were taken after the performance.

Grandma Sandy came to visit us over the weekend. She arrived Saturday and left Tuesday morning. Sadly, she ended up visiting on a weekend where: Abbie and I attended the longest birthday party on record, Abbie refused to dance in her recital and cried instead, my plans for our annual gingerbread house failed miserably (breaking two, yes two glue guns - next time I'll just stick to my normal candy glue) and Tripp and I both had terrible stomach aches. However, we did drive through the light display at Sunset Park and it was beautiful. Hopefully next time Grandma visits things will be more in order. Abbie cried all the way to school after we dropped her off at the airport. She loves her Grandma Sandy.