I can't believe it's already mid-May. This month is flying by, we've had some busy weeks and just when I feel like things are starting to slow down I take a look at the calendar and realize it never does!
A few weeks ago we had a very special occasion...Ella's went to her first school dance! A little young I know, but I totally trusted her date to take good care of her - in case you didn't guess, it was a Father Daughter Dance. It happened to fall on the Friday of one of the busiest weekends we've had in awhile. I had a catering job Friday afternoon, the dance was Friday night and then there was a big fundraiser that Matt and I were both involved in, him with the organizing of and me with the food side of it. So needless to say that the reason I never appear in any of these photos is that I had just come from a Mexican themed meal and was prepping food for a Chinese themed fundraiser the next day and I wasn't looking too pretty (I'm being generous with that).
Friday afternoon Renee was kind enough to come over and help with the fun task of deboning and cutting up 12+ pounds of chicken for lo mein. Afterwards, as a way of thanking her, I let her fix Ella's hair for the dance that night! ;)
Love that Ella is totally playing with her toenails. She decided how she wanted her hair done, with a braid in front and pulled to the side. I was pretty impressed that, whether she knew it or not, she picked something that was in style!
Here is Renee putting adding a flower as a finishing touch. It was one of the ones they used for their Easter worship dance and matched her dress perfectly. (As an aside...anyone willing to place bets on how many years Renee will end up doing this? I'm thinking that it wouldn't be too far fetched to say 12, and counting Catherine, 14. Yikes!)
Ella and her dad, all ready to go!
A close up.
Before the dance we went over to a friend's house and met up with other girls and their families for a pizza party. It was mainly a group of us who have known each other for a few years as our girls were in preschool together and now that they are in kindergarten they have weekly playdates together as well. It was nice to have a break from the craziness at our house and just hang out with friends. The girls were all having so much fun that night I think they could have stayed there and played all night long. It was pretty cute because they were all dressed up, as soon as they got there, Ella and her friends went out in the backyard and starting collecting caterpillars. By the time they ate they had at least 30!
Here are all the girls....looking cute....I love that Catherine was included in everything...she fits right in with everyone
(good thing she thought to wear a dress! that's only funny if you know Catherine because she wears a dress for every occassion. she changes out of play clothes to wear a dress to a park....)
After 20 pictures later and much silliness this is how they ended up....
Again, I loved that they were so silly and falling down - I wouldn't have been to excited if they were taking it too seriously....I mean that's what is prom is for!
Finally, we couldn't not post a picture with the dads!
I didn't hear much about the dance other than Matt being dismayed that he didn't know it was a 60's (or 70's, don't remember) themed dance. I asked him if he would have worn a leisure suit had he known and he said yes - so I am hoping, praying, crossing my fingers that this theme is repeated at some point over the next 5-6 years and I can hold him to it!
Oh yeah, notice that Matt is wearing a tie. For those of you who know Matt, you'll know how rare this is and it is a result of major compromise on Ella's part. Initially she requested...actually demanded...that he wear "wedding clothes". She started to get mad that he wasn't making an effort to get wedding clothes so thankfully she was fine with just a tie (Matt on the other hand is saying "
just a tie?")
The first Father Daughter dance was a success and I will continue to look forward to every dance where my girls get to take their father as their date...if I have to think beyond that I start to get nervous!!! ;)
After 20 pictures later and much silliness this is how they ended up....
Again, I loved that they were so silly and falling down - I wouldn't have been to excited if they were taking it too seriously....I mean that's what is prom is for!
