That's What Makes You a One Direction Fan

There were a good amount of boy bands that were popular when I was in middle/high school. And while I could sing you word for word any of the songs that made it on the radio, I was never one to actually go out and get any of the albums and learn their entire discographies. I just wasn't a boy band kind of girl.

Apparently having children has changed me more than I know.

Let me tell you the story of how I grew to love a silly British boy band full of young men who I swear are only, like, 12 years old.

"What Makes You Beautiful" was so popular. But I hardly ever listen to the radio if I can help it. I normally subject Mary to my much cooler-than-pop music (especially after her whole Lady Gaga phase). Last summer, when it was too hot to be outside for long, I'd put on some music videos and have dance offs with her. I put on One Direction because I thought maybe she'd like the catchy tune, dance a little, whatever. I had no way of knowing that she'd fall instantly in love. No way. Who knew she'd fall down that particular rabbit hole at 5 years old?

Soon she'd spend all her time singing that one song which, let me tell you, is an exercise in patience to listen to over and over and over and over... I discovered an app through our library, freegal (through iTunes or google play), and if you have the option of using it I highly recommend it. You only need your library card number to sign up and then you're allotted three free downloads a week. You won't find everything you want there, but for some of the more popular songs, it's excellent.

Where was I...

So I started downloading the first One Direction album, three songs at a time, to my phone. Not soon enough for Mary, I had both albums (a friend sent me the second one which was the deluxe version, including 3 songs not included on the normal one) and that's all she'd want to listen to. Whenever we were in the car, 1D. If I was cooking, 1D. Taking a bath, 1D. Going to bed, 1D...you get the picture. All that exposure meant learning every single word to every single song for both Mary and me.

Those dumb songs are so fun.

I learned about their tour and thought, it could be a fun experience to take Mary. I had no idea how popular One Direction is. I severely underestimated the sheer volume of fans and their desire to see 1D perform live. All tickets were sold out. Mary was bummed. A friend told me to look on StubHub. I checked it out and lawn tickets at Tinley Park were something ridiculous, like $90 a person. Yeah, nope. I love Mary but not that much apparently. Mary was bummed again. But then said friend informed me that ticket sales had dropped. She was planning on taking her son and wouldn't it be great to go with the kids and let them have fun together?

Suddenly $40 a person didn't seem too bad. Mary was getting so excited. And honestly, so was I. The last show I went to was the Vans' Warped Tour before I got married! Yikes. I didn't jump on the tickets right away, though, and for that I am so lucky. I kept waiting and waiting. Prices kept dropping and dropping. Until the day before the concert, when prices were around $18 a piece. Woo. Hoo.

Anyway, Mary got to pick out a new concert outfit. She got some sweet 1D socks, 5 pairs that say I <3 at="" because="" boy="" boyfriend="" em="" harry="" her="" here="" i="" insert="" name="" notice="" ones="" put="" s="" she="" that="" the="" time="" was="" wore="" you="">at the time
because now she's telling me about dreaming of kissing Louis. I am not well right now). The drive down to Tinley Park was so loooooong. I fully expected Mary to fall asleep shortly into the trek down there. But she lasted until we were about a mile from the amphitheater. It's a good thing too, because just waiting to get into the place and park took a whopping half hour. I kid you not. They didn't allow parking until 5. I got in line (IN LINE) to park at 5:02 and didn't get out of the car until after 5:30. Good grief!

We met up with friends and waited yet again in another line to get into the amphitheater. We passed the time by singing some 1D. Mary impressed everyone with her voice and dance moves to What Makes You Beautiful. I don't have a video of it, unfortunately.

 

Notice Mary's awesome tattoos. Hearts with Harry and Zayn (at the time, her second boyfriend) inside them. She was really upset when they washed off.

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This is where we were at on the lawn. Notice all the people behind us. And that doesn't even take into account all those in front of us on the lawn and those in seats. It was crazy. I have never been to a concert like this before. Even Warped Tour wasn't as nuts because there were so many different bands performing it broke up the crowd nicely. There were plenty of pre-teen and teen girls. But there were also plenty of older girl (maybe I should say women) and guys. One of the highlights came from a group of college aged hipsters who I'm sure were ironically attending the show. The irony was lost as one of the guys started singing along to every song. Heh. 

 

 

This is Mary with her newest best friend, James. They had a lot of fun dancing/moshing with each other. It proved helpful because anyone trying to crowd around us to get a better spot soon left to avoid getting kicked or fallen on.

 

One Direction's opening act was an Australian band called Five Seconds of Summer. They reminded me of every punk alternative band I listened to in high school/early college. The highlight of their set came when they covered Teenage Dream, something the crowd loved.

 As the sun set, everyone's mood amped up because that meant ONE DIRECTION *SQUEEEEEL*

 

Before One Direction took the stage, however, Mary got her groove on to Single Ladies between the sets. I'm not even kidding when I say that everyone around us stopped to watch her. I wanted to record her doing Beyoncé's moves but I was worried she'd stop when she saw me (something that happens all too often). After she was done, a teenaged girl came up to us to compliment Mary on her dancing. It was so cute how proud Mary was of her awesome skills. Natural performer, that girl.

 

A lot of what happened after is a bit of a blur. Mostly I remember Mary screaming THIS IS MY FAVORITE SONG every time they started playing. Also, I think I suffered from some semi permanent hearing loss from those screams being directed at my ear since I held her pretty often so she could see better.

 

Getting out of the venue once the show was over was INSANITY. The only plus to getting out so late was the lack of traffic (though to be honest, once I got into the city proper again it was still pretty busy). Mary fell asleep pretty soon into the trip home. She was exhausted from all the dancing, singing, screaming, and playing.

 



 

Brent was gone for the night, staying with a friend in Wisconsin to watch a mutual friend perform in Fiddler on the Roof. I barely managed to get Mary out of the car, she was so gone to the world. And once she cried herself all the way upstairs, she plopped down on Brent's side of the bed and didn't move an inch until the next morning. Thankfully she didn't kick my face.

Mary's already planning for the next tour. She is determined to sit in the front row (something she lamented not being able to do this go around.) and hold up a giant I LOVE HARRY (subject to change) poster.

It's summer, it's summer time!

the end of may brought an end to preschool for mary...which means only a few short months until she starts kindergarten. as;dlfka;dflakdfadflkaj nope. not prepared for that. not one bit. it also meant dance recital time! this year mary was in the jazz/tap combo class instead of just pre ballet. that meant she learned two dances to perform at the recital. the theme this year was I Love Rock n Roll and mary had a blast (as usual). i actually went through the blog earlier and reminisced about mary's first class, back in utah. she was so tiny and adorable and just squeezable (she's still squeezable, but you know what i mean). it's crazy to see how far she's come in just a few short years.

in the first video mary starts off in the front, third from the left (please excuse claire's loud cheering for her big sister).

in the second video mary starts off in the back, third from the left but comes up to the front to see better.

now that summer is officially here, along with warm weather, there are lots of opportunities for fun in the sun. we're lucky enough to live in a subdivision that has a pool we get to use. though, to be honest i can't really go when it's just the girls and me. claire doesn't like going in it and i don't like being that far from mary while she experiments in the water. but whenever brent's home, we go. 

but never fear, there are plenty of opportunities to play in the water. from the splash park nearby, to hurricane harbor at six flags great america, to the sprinkler set up in the backyard, mary and claire have already taken advantage of all these sources of fun. 

i wish claire actually liked the sprinkler...

you should know mary took this picture of claire trying to drink and take off her clothes at the same time.

she took this picture as well

brent and i have already managed to get pretty nicely sunburned. and if you follow me on instagram, you've already seen my aloe gel art. actually, if you don't already follow me on ig, you should probably do so. since it's often times easier to pull out a phone to capture a moment than it is to always have my camera on hand. there are a ton of pictures of the girls (and then the occasional ones of tiggy, brent and me). 

May Day, May Day! It's an actual post!

In honor of Claire's first birthday (HOW IS SHE ALREADY ONE I DON'T EVEN KNOW), I'm extending a gift to all of you who even bother to look at this thing anymore. Let's pretend it hasn't been almost a year since I posted last. And if you do want to point fingers, I'm gonna go ahead and direct your wrath toward Instagram and Facebook. Devil sites.

So. This year has zoomed past us. I don't know how it's possible for time to speed up with your second child, but it's happening. I swear it was just a few months ago she was a little blob of of a baby. But, despite my best efforts to keep my baby just that, a baby, she's growing like a weed before my eyes.

For Claire's birthday, I forewent the usual slave over a cake I inevitably find lacking because of imperfections thing and bought a cute little flower cupcake from Marianos. I tried going to different grocery stores to see if they did free cakes for first birthdays, like I did for Mary's first, but that was a no go. Either Illinois isn't as nice as Utah (possibly true) or grocery stores are stingier (also a strong possibility).

I was really excited to see how crazy Claire went for her cupcake. Especially because I remembered how Mary went all out with her cake. But it looks like Claire is too dainty and delicate (despite the fact that she screeches at a level only dogs can hear) to get too messy.

Anyway. I know why you're all really here. To see some pictures! So without further ado, TA-DA!

checkin out the sweet mow job brent gave our backyard.

mary. i don't think this needs any other explanation.

claire is not a fan of grass.

the cupcake.

just not sure yet

really. she wouldn't touch it. brent had to keep bringing it up to her mouth.

but why is it so messy?!

maybe...

mary still has no problem diving into her food

okay, it does taste good

but don't make me touch it!

the spoon is full of frosting. the heart is accidental after she headbutted the spoon repeatedly.

sharing is caring

mary!

somehow, despite her best efforts, mess happened. 

Now that she's one, can time finally slow down? Please?