Happy St. Patrick's Day!

We thought we were adjusting pretty well after vacation, but my goodness, losing an hour of sleep for Daylight Savings Time really threw us off for a couple days.  

We had to laugh that Evie tied for the highest grade on her math test, so she got half of a gold ribbon.  Ha ha!

It was a busy week of St. Patrick's Day practices and shows for Evie, with the finale of all the shows today - St. Patrick's Day!  The first few shows have been lots of fun, and today, the McFadden dancers will be performing at 3 schools, as well as at RiRa Irish Pub at noon and Jericho Cafe and Tavern at 6pm.  This is always one of our favorite times of the year, because the Irish dance and music brings everyone together!

Practicing for Worlds, which is in a couple short weeks!

First show of the season at Holy Family

Show #2 in Montgomery

St. Patrick's Day treats

Homemade Irish Soda bread

Burlington Irish Heritage Festival

Evie and Donna

One not-so-good moment is that Evie's hard shoe ripped during a rehearsal on Sunday!  These shoes take months to break in, so she had to tape it back together for Sunday's shows, and she will be borrowing a pair of shoes while hers are repaired this week.  What an unlucky time for this to happen!  Hopefully the luck of the Irish will be with us for the remainder of the St. Patrick's Day festivities.

Noah has been enjoying having some free afternoons in this month in between sports seasons.  Now that the snow has pretty much all melted, he's been frequenting the neighborhood basketball court shooting hoops and other days playing catch with some friends.  We are excited for the season of playing outside to be coming back around!

After-school snack and a little relaxation time

Reflecting on a great basketball season!

On Saturday, Noah participated in the Vermont State Science Fair at Norwich University.  His project was about whether birds prefer cheap or more expensive seed (spoiler: they like the expensive stuff!).  It was a long day, with 3 hours of judging, a 3 hour break, and then an awards ceremony.  While Noah didn't win any awards, it was still a great experience and an honor to be chosen to represent Essex Middle School at the fair.