All things Irish!

This past weekend (plus a couple days) have been a whirlwind of celebrating Irish dance and culture for St. Patrick's Day.  One friend described this weekend as the "Superbowl of Irish dance!"  Starting at 5:15am Friday, Evie was busy dancing on the news, at schools, community events, the Flynn, and finishing at Irish pubs on Sunday evening.  In the end, she danced 9 shows in 3 days, and I was so proud of her stamina and positive attitude even when she was exhausted.  The energy and enthusiasm of the dancers is contagious, and they had some very receptive audiences!

One particularly special part of the weekend was that Evie was invited to dance with the Trinity Irish Dancers at the Flynn.  This professional Irish dance group tours the world, so it was quite an honor for Evie to represent the McFadden academy with them.  She got to be backstage with the dancers before the show, and they were all incredibly welcoming, gracious, and inspiring.  One particularly memorable moment was when we were invited to join the dancers in their pre-show circle, where they offered each other a few words of encouragement and focus, then prayed the Our Father together before beginning the show.  This unforgettable experience was made even better by our friend, who offered up their front-row seats when they were unable to attend the show.  

In the green room

With the entire Trinity Irish Dance group before the show!

Evie with the other student dancers

Evie's moment on the big stage!

All of the dancers were incredibly talented and so gracious to Evie!

Evie had lots of support at the show, including many not pictured here!

With all this excitement going on for Evie, Noah was feeling left in the shadow.  We did our best to include him, and he ended up loving the Trinity Irish dance show (who wouldn't?!).  Unfortunately, we had to miss Noah's first Swish basketball game over the weekend, but Grandma and Grandpa came to the rescue!  (And we know they're the biggest basketball fans in the family, anyway!)

New Swish jersey for a new season!

Bingo night at Noah's school!

Having a show of his own in the basement

Now, we're on to the next best part of March...March Madness!