In addition to March Madness, which is as big a deal around here (my house) as Christmas at the North Pole, we've had a few other things to celebrate as well.
Xena, the warrior Princess of the rodeo, turned 10. To celebrate, her grandparents from SoDak came to visit and they were here in time to see her Spring Concert.
I've probably mentioned it before but the school the kids go to knows how to do concerts. One class at a time, so no one has to sit through a bunch of kids they don't care about and the shows rarely run over 35 minutes. THAT'S how you do it.
It was a lovely early spring evening when we pulled up to the high school. The elementary school, which is right next door, does their shows in the high school auditorium. The parking lot was packed and people were streaming into the school.
"I hope there's something else going on, too." I said to Jay.
"No, this looks like a Spring Recital crowd." He said.
He was right. Everyone was there for the show. Fortunately for us, Tyler and his crew had gotten there early and saved us some seats right in the middle, about four rows back. As the kids files onto the stage, I looked for Xena. Jay pointed out a tall, slim girl and I said "that can't be her! She's not that tall."
I was wrong. In the two weeks since I'd last seen her, she'd grown an inch and looked extremely tall. She didn't tower over her class mates. I guess I just want' prepared for how big 10 really is. The theme of the show was "Be Your Best You and the Whole World Will Be Better." That's not a bad philosophy.
In between songs, handfuls of kids approached the microphones with lines. They were all cute, some of them clearly more nervous about it than others. I knew Xena had no lines, as the program had those names in bold and hers wasn't, so I was mildly surprised when she and a friend approached the mic halfway through. Turns out, she didn't have a line: She had the only singing solo in the whole show!
And she CRUSHED IT.
Turns out, the friend who accompanied her to the mic was just there for moral support, as Xena had gotten nervous at the last rehearsal. She had nothing to worry about: she has a lovely voice and no one hearing her would suspect stage fright. She gets her musical chops from Megan's family (mostly), which is filled with musicians. The Pivecs have tons of musical talent too but I come from a family filled with painters, writers and actors. Xena, Babalouie and Kitten may have gotten double doses of all sorts of good things from their ancestors.
After the show, we all went back to Ty's house and celebrated Xena's birthday. It was really fun and the food was delicious. I was happy not to have given up chocolate for Lent this year, so I got to have birthday cake with no special considerations.
Speaking of which, giving up TV has not been all that hard. I've read some very good books in the last few weeks. Giving up cookies has been difficult.
A week after Xena's birthday, we celebrated the Great One's 40th birthday.
The party was at Joe and Heidi's house and it was fabulous! Nearly everyone in the family was able to attend and we had a really good time. The new tradition of the last year or so has been that every time we have a family event planned, the weather fights us. It rained all day when Zach and Sara got married and blizzarded for Joe's 60th birthday but all it threw at us for the Great One's party was a cold wind that wouldn't quit. March can get a lot nastier than that here in Minnesota.
I had a wonderful time at the Great One's party but didn't stay too late. I couldn't: I had Kitten. She spent the weekend with me and Jay while the rest of the family went to a memorial for a friend out of state. Kitten was having a fabulous time at the Great One's party; she was the toast of all the young ladies. First of all, she absolutely loved all the attention of the beautiful grown up girls and second of all, she was thrilled to find that every last one of them was related to her. But before 11, I scooped her up and took her home. The party went on till the next morning. Several folks ended up sleeping on couches.
We had Kitten for three days. She slept like a champ on an air mattress. Not only didn't she give us any trouble, once she fell asleep at night, she was out like a light for ten or twelve hours. She also took three hour naps every afternoon. On Saturday, Josie, Nick, Katie and BoopityBoop came over to play. Zach dropped by for awhile, too. The tournament had started so March Madness was in full swing. Josie's bracket was the first to get busted. After that, like all good sports, she was just rooting for everyone else to fail, too.
As usual, the brackets are all taped up in the kitchen, covered with green and red checks as teams get knocked off.
It looks like Jay has won: he's the only one with any teams left. Will wonders never cease?
"Hall of Fame Basketball Coach Finally Wins Family Bracket."
Madness.