Ellie's Easter Program

On Ellie's last day of school before spring break (St. Patrick's Day!), the preschool held a little Easter celebration that included a concert, parade and egg hunt.

Given how Ellie's Christmas program went:

Oh my.

...we went into this performance with much lowered expectations. A couple of weeks before the performance I was talking to Ellie about it and, operating on a hunch that she only sulks like that when I'm around, I asked her if she wanted me to come watch her sing on stage. She answered "no," and I lied through my teeth and told her okay, I won't come. LIES.

I went. We all did. Eric left work early, Grammy came to visit, E.J. rode in the baby carrier on my back. But, we snuck in at the very last second, found seats in the back, and literally spent the entire show hunched down to stay hidden behind the people in front of us so Ellie wouldn't spot us. We must have looked absolutely ridiculous.

The glamorous world of motherhood, my friends.

BUT IT WORKED. She still didn't sing, but I didn't expect her to given that in addition to seeing her prior performance, her teacher specifically mentioned at our parent-teacher conference that they can't get Ellie to sing. So I didn't expect singing; I was just hoping for at least a neutral expression on her face. Not only did she rock a neutral expression, but she DID THE HAND MOTIONS. To every song! She actually did it! It was so great.

GO ELLIE!

Look at her doing it!

Here's a little snippet of the closing number so you can see for yourself:

VIDEO: Ellie's Easter program

(pardon the shaky camera work - I was hiding and just holding my camera up, plus had an antsy E.J. strapped to my back!

After the performance, the parents were invited out to the walkway alongside the church building to watch the kids in a little Easter parade, led by the Easter Bunny himself. They were all so cute - each class made their own Easter bonnets and looked adorable!

E.J. waiting for the parade to start

Here they come!

E.J. was so excited to see the Easter Bunny!

Ellie on parade!

When the parade reached the front of the church, each class posed for photos with the bunny.

The cutest.

Then, they went into the garden for an egg hunt!

They're off!

Ellie on the hunt

I don't think he was supposed to, but E.J. couldn't resist lending a helping hand!

Ellie gave him a soccer ball egg!

Ellie had so much fun playing with her friends, even after all the eggs had been found.

Playing with her best friend

It was such a nice morning! I'm so pleased with how it went. We're so proud of our Ellie!

Way to go, Ellie!

And you better believe that we're going to be hiding behind people in the audience at Ellie's ballet recital this month!

St. Patrick's Day 2013

Hey, would you look at that? I'm exactly one month late in talking about St. Patrick's Day. Happy April 17, everyone! Luck o' the Irish to you!

My Irish self always enjoys St. Patrick's Day, and I was especially excited this year as it was Ellie's last first holiday. I'm a sap and I get sentimental about stuff like that.

As you saw in my actually-on-time St. Patrick's Day post, Ellie was gifted a very festive outfit courtesy of my best Irish friend, Megan. She looked adorable.

Rocking the shamrocks

The Irish kids

I had some work to do that morning, so Eric entertained the wee lass and got our traditional crockpot Guinness beef stew going while I finished things up. I wrapped it up just as Ellie was waking up from her morning nap, which was perfect timing as we had places to go.

My dad was playing in a band concert with the Awesome Original Second Time Arounders Marching Band at MacDinton's Pub in downtown St. Pete, so we made our way down there to watch him perform. We kicked things off with a green beer (and our first time taking the baby to a bar, so that's exciting) and then watched the performance. Yay, Dad!

Eric looking handsomely festive

At least all the drunks liked Ellie's dress?

The Second Time Arounders Marching Band

Go, Dad!

Left: Ellie and me watching the performance; Right: Ellie needed a better view, and that's what daddies are for, right?

After the performance we met up with my dad and he spent some time playing Proud Papa and showing Ellie off to his band friends.

Ellie and her Papa

Don't look now, but this is as close as Eric has ever been to being in a band, I think.

Ellie still needs a little more time to grow into the uniform before she can join.

By that time we were getting pretty hungry, so we said good-bye to my dad (who had a little time to kill before heading off to another concert) and went to Ale House for some fish and chips. Hey, maybe Ale House isn't quite authentic Irish fare, but it wasn't crowded so, win. I also had the sliver-iest sliver of cheesecake ever.

The skinniest piece of cheesecake there ever was

We then went home and spent the rest of our St. Patrick's Day relaxing and eating beef stew. No drunken debauchery over here - just good old-fashioned family fun while wearing lots of green. It was quite nice!

Happy belated St. Patrick's Day, everyone!

Broadway on Broadway 2012

Two Sundays ago, Eric and I took Ellie into the city for her first taste of Broadway (aside from the shows she attended in utero, naturally) at this year's Broadway on Broadway concert, which is always held in early September to kick off the new Broadway season. As you may recall, I first went to this concert with my mom and Aunt Debbie in 2009, and it was a blast - all of Times Square was blocked off (so there was plenty of space for all the spectators), so many great shows were featured, and the whole thing ended with a confetti drop that gave us a taste of the New Year's Eve experience. Eric and I went back in 2010 and also had a delightful time, but we missed it last year. This year, we figured it would be a nice, easy-going event to take Ellie to. So, into the city we went.

Unfortunately, this year it was set up very differently compared to the other times we've attended. Instead of blocking off essentially all of Times Square and setting up the stage at the south end (under the ball), they had the stage at the north end, right in front of the red steps, with only that segment of Times Square blocked off for spectators. That meant it was crowded. We couldn't even get into the pen, actually, and even if we had been able to, it wouldn't have been fun - super crowded and right in the sun. Because of the location of the stage, that also meant that if you wanted to stand behind the pens to try to get a view, you were largely out of luck because the red steps blocked the majority of the stage. Very disappointing.

But, it was a beautiful day so we made the most of it. We started by walking through the little row of booths promoting the various shows, then found a shady spot by the Olive Garden behind the red steps. We were late, so didn't catch all the performances, but we saw a few by shows like Chicago, Mamma Mia, and Newsies, plus a medley in celebration of Nederlander's 100th anniversary on Broadway. Kathie Lee Gifford hosted the show.

Times Square

Ellie and I made the front page at the Newsies booth!

Hanging out, enjoying some show tunes

The cast of Chicago on the CNN screen

The cast of Mamma Mia on stage

As in past years, the show ended with a rousing rendition of "New York, New York" - always a crowd-pleaser! However, that brought yet another disappointment with this year's production: no confetti drop. We were really looking forward to it, so that was a bummer. I don't know if they couldn't do it now with the stage in the new location or what, but it was definitely missed.

All the performers on stage for the big finale

Crowds trying to get a good picture of the stage

Despite our few disappointments, we did have a very nice time at the concert, and I think Ellie enjoyed it, too. Once again, she was an angel for the entire outing. I could tell she was getting sleepy on our walk back to the train, but she handled it like a champ.

Nestled in to her mama

Holding on

This picture has nothing to do with Ellie or the concert, but we happened to take it that day and it's pretty! Ha!

It was a great afternoon in the city! And I hope it was a good introduction to Broadway for Ellie - I would love it if she would enjoy the theater as much as we do!

A Waltz in the Park

A week or two ago, there was a free New Jersey Symphony Orchestra concert at Pier A Park on a lovely Thursday evening. So, I decided to treat my kids (and myself) to a very nice musical evening in the park.

Ellie, Achilles and I walked down to Pier A and found a nice spot under a tree. We laid out our blanket in the grass and waited for the concert to begin. I thought it was supposed to start at 7:00 p.m., but it didn't actually get going until 7:40! Luckily, both kids were in good spirits so we killed time just relaxing on our blanket.

Crowds gathering for the concert at Pier A

Happy baby, ready for her first concert!

Happy to be out with his family

My kiddos

Just lounging around!

Such a nice night!

Just as the concert got started, Eric arrived home from work and came to join us. After a 40 minute wait for the music to begin, Ellie was getting a little wiggly so she and her Daddy shared a lovely waltz in the park.

She's always so excited to see Daddy when he gets home from work!

Sharing a delightful dance

The concert was quite nice but we only stayed for a few songs before packing up and heading back home. We probably could have stayed longer Ellie-mood-wise, but we wanted to get home and have dinner before starting Ellie's bedtime routine (oh, parenthood!). Although she didn't say so, I think Ellie agreed that this was a good plan, as concert-going is clearly an exhausting activity for babies.

Passed out on the short walk home

Although we didn't stay for the entire concert as we would have in our former pre-baby life, it was a perfect evening, and just what I always dreamed of for my little family: a gorgeous summer night, beautiful music, and the four of us happily passing the time together in a cozy spot under a tree. Perfection.

A Tribute to Motown at Carnegie Hall

Last night Eric and I crossed one of the few remaining items off our NYC To-Do List: "see a show at Carnegie Hall." Let me tell you, we have rocked that To-Do List. The only things left remaining on it are to see as many Broadway shows as possible (which is clearly in progress from now until we leave NYC), and to visit the Guggenheim and the Met. Yes, we're slacking on our museum attendance. Shameful. I'm hoping we'll get to at least one of those in the next seven weeks before the baby comes (!!!!!!!!!) but frankly, I'm just not feeling very museum-y lately, given that I'm tired and my feet hurt and my back hurts and waaaaah, other general whining. But we'll try to make it happen! When the day comes for us to leave New York, I will not leave with any regrets! Mark my words!

Anyway, back to Carnegie Hall. Yesterday morning I saw on Twitter that there was going to be a "Tribute to the Music of Motown" concert at Carnegie Hall that evening, and tickets were still available in the balcony for rather cheap. Eric also thought it sounded like a good show, so he ran out and got us tickets during the day and ta-da! A date night was born. And we were Carnegie-bound!

Carnegie Hall

We were a little rushed in getting to the show, thanks to some baby-related errands, a quick dinner, and a bathroom search (again, see above about a baby coming in seven weeks, and it all makes sense). But, we made it alllllll the way up to our super-high balcony seats just as the lights were dimmed for the start of the show.

Let me tell you, those are some close quarters up there in the balcony. I have no idea if the rest of the seats in Carnegie Hall are like that, but those seats in the balcony were the most cramped we have been in any venue in New York City. The leg room? Oh yeah, there wasn't any. You couldn't even bend your knee at a right angle and put your feet flat on the floor, because there wasn't room - your feet would hit the seat in front of you. You had to keep your feet tucked back under your seat or twisted at weird angles to even be able to sit. It was crazy uncomfortable. But, the rest of the venue was nice - about what I expected!

Looking down at the stage from the balcony

The concert itself was great. It was hosted by CNN anchor Soledad O'Brien, and directed by Ray Chew. They had an orchestra onstage, and a variety of artists took turns singing Motown hits. The artists included Boyz II Men, Dionne Warwick, Paul Shaffer, Martha Reeves (of Martha and the Vandellas), Bebe Winans, Melba Moore, Kindred the Family Soul, Anita Baker, Dennis Edwards (of The Temptations) and American Idol contestant Stefano Langone. Miss USA and Miss Universe also made an appearance to introduce a song.

My favorite number was the first medley that Boyz II Men performed, covering the Four Tops - they were so energetic and fun to watch! They were dancing all over the place and really getting into it, which of course brought the crowd into it, too. Actually, the crowd was into it throughout the entire show - singing along, dancing in their seats, etc. They also did a quick experiment to show how you can recognize a classic Motown hit by just the first few notes of a song. The musicians would play the first few notes of songs like "My Girl" or "Let's Get It On," and instantly the audience broke into song. It was really fun!

You can't really see her, but Dionne Warwick is on stage!

They're crazy washed-out (iPhone photos, my apologies), but Boyz II Men is dancing around down there!

I'm so glad we found such a fun show to help us cross this item off our NYC To-Do List!