The flower that ate Olivia's head

I'm not kidding. See for yourself.

I can live with this. It's the only costume-y thing that the younger girls wear during the annual spring performance, and that makes my life (and my basement playroom) a lot less crazy.

This year's performance was downtown at the Byham. Liv's case of nerves ("the stage is SO big!") was soothed by the fact that they had actual dressing rooms ("they were SO cool, mom"), and she danced beautifully.

I'm so proud of her and the effort she's put forth the last 18 months. The improvement is remarkable. *mwah* to my awesome, graceful daughter. Lord knows she didn't get that grace from me, though I'm pretty sure the awesome was all my doing.

After her performance, we traipsed over to Eleven for dessert (or, in the case of Liv, dessert AND pretzels with cheddar beer sauce). 

Papa came for the weekend so he could see the performance and spend time with the girls. It was an excellent visit and it's safe to say that both girls are big fans of Papa Weekends. And not just because he convinced me to let them have their breakfast (yogurt and berries) in a waffle bowl.

He pushed Bea endlessly in the cozy coupe and played ball with her. He listened to Olivia's crazy stories about school and friends. He fed them dinner and bathed Bea and made them "movie 'nacks" (popcorn).

They loved having  some 1:1 time with him. I think it might be the first time Bea's had that (or have I once again forgotten some crucial detail of that crazy part of 2011?) and she's hooked. She fell asleep on the way to drop Papa at the airport; when she woke up, her first words were a very indignant, "Hey, where Papa?" She was not pleased with my answer.

 

Comments

[Susan]

I love your family and your witty and eloquent writing Jen. Please don't ever stop this blog. When I read it it always makes my day brighter.

[Cari]

Congrats to Liv on her performance! She's so quickly turning into a young lady - and a gorgeous one at that!

[Grammie]

I love this post! Your Dad had a great time seeing all of you! He loved seeing how much Liv has progressed with her dancing - he missed her performance last year! He loved bonding with Miss Bea! He enjoyed not having to compete with me, but he was sad I missed it! It's good to have one on one time! Yes, each sentence ends with a !