Dad And His Daughters

With much anticipation the day for the Annual Daddy Daughter Dance had finally arrived. This year the theme was The Academy Awards. Our renters didn't have any daughters to send to the dance so I signed Dave and the girls up. We struggled a little more than usual finding a fun dress-up theme to go along with the spirit of the dance. I couldn't find any great fancy modest dresses, so the girls went as 1920's movie fashionistas. I am sad that I didn't think to take pictures of all the fun getting ready for the dance this year. We watched You Tube tutorials on 1920's hair-do's, did the works in the makeup department and had the girls looking like knock-outs in no time. I know everyone thinks their children are beautiful. But I am always astounded by my children's good looks. I never felt pretty myself, so seeing these girls, my offspring, looking so darn gorgeous makes my heart swell a little. So even though there was no light and there wasn't any great place for taking pictures we attempted a little photo shoot. I used an unused science display board for the backdrop and had Chase shine Dave's work room light at the board. One day I am going to have a studio and master "high key" photography! It is so easy to photograph girls that are giddy with excitement. They were full of happiness.

Dave had planned on taking the girls out to dinner before the dance. He went to two restaurants only to be told the wait was like 45 minutes. So after two failed attempts he took them to one of his favorite side of the road hamburger diners. When they got to the dance the organizers had a red carpet all ready for the girls to strut down. Several volunteer Mom's and siblings were lining the sides taking pictures as paparazzi (it reminded me of the birthday I had planned for Emily last year but used for the girls Achievement day award party instead). I snapped some pictures of the girls strutting their stuff. This one of Kate was my favorite. It is typical Kate, full of spunk with a closed-lip smile!I stayed for about 30 minutes taking pictures of Emily and Kate dancing with Dad. Pour Dave said his arms hurt for days afterwards from lifting the girls up in the air for this favorite trick of theirs!

I loved watching them spin and twirl around the dance floor with the fringes from their dresses going every which way. I swear the only time they sat at the table must have been for a quick food break. The twisted and twirled and even practiced some of the moves Dave and I are learning in our classes.

This year Emily's friend Kait and Kate's friend Vivian came with Dave to the party. I think they both spent half of the time dancing with their friends. Emily is getting old enough that she and Kait were more into being goofy at the dance than dancing their hearts out like Kate and Vivian. Of course they met many of their other friends that they have been missing desperately since our move to Puyallup. Partying with Dad coupled with a friend reunion made the night extra magical!

Kate's Perspective:

I felt so pretty and Mom was saying that I looked like a darling. My hair do was so pretty. Mom put the hot curler in my hair, it made me really nervous but when the curls were done I felt really good. When she put the makeup on I was really scared because I thought the makeup would drip in my eyes. The blush felt really soft on my cheeks. I liked that a lot. When I showed everyone I felt really good and pretty and they liked it. Dad gave me a rose, it made me feel really happy and excited that I got to go to the Daddy Daughter dance with it. Dad let me drink a shake in the car. I wish Mom was there to taste the really good french fries. This year I was really excited to pick up my friend Vivian. I liked when Dad swinged me up in the sky. I like to dance with Daddy because I love him and he gave me a rose so I felt good. Vivian and I danced together a lot. We had dinner with each other. My favorite thing they had to eat was a cupcake with red and white flowers on it. It was fun seeing Mom there to visit. We got a whole box of candy. I got to dance with my friends. Oh yeah that's all.

Emily's Perspective:

I had an awesome time at the Daddy Daughter dance! First we had to get ready. That was kind of hard because we had to hold very still for hot curling. Make up is really, really fun. Usually I don't get to put on make up. It was funny because Mom kept accidentally getting mascara goobers on us. I had to wait with the hot curlers in my head. It was really hard to hold my head really still but walk around. My dress and my outfit this year was really cool. It matched my sisters and had little flappy strings on it that went all around when I twirled. It was purple and I really like the color purple sometimes. My mom twirled my hair and stuck a million bazillion bobby pins to curl my hair all up. None of my hair was down. Mom took our pictures of course...duh! It was fun because I got to do my own really crazy poses. It was kind of hard because Chase was shining light in my eyes. Dad gave me a rose. We tried to go out to Red Robin to eat but we couldn't even get in the doors it was sooo crowded. We tried going to Olive Garden across the street next, they said it would be a 30 minute wait. But 30 minutes was all the time we had. So we went to a hamburger stand named McFruggals. I got to have a shake and some really salty french fries. After that we went to go pick up our friends. When we got to the Daddy Daughter dance It was really beautiful. It was all dark except for flashing balloons and the spot lights. There was a live singer so we danced for a while. Then we saw Mom taking pictures of us. My Dad threw me into the air. It was pretty scary, I went so high my feet were at his chest. My favorite memory about the dance was trying to learn how to do one of Dad's ballroom dance moves. It was kind of hard because we kept stepping on each others feet. But it was really funny!I really liked doing the "knot dance" with all of my friends. When you do the knot dance you hold hands in a circle all facing inward and then you try to turn around without letting go of any one's hand until everyone is facing outward. It's almost physically impossible but we did it! We found some free plastic dancing canes and present boxes with scarves in them. We ran around with the scarves on top of the canes and it was really fun. I really love my Dad because he goes to special things like the Daddy Daughter dance with me!