Ten has been very excited all week. Why? Because she knew that today was the Father/Daughter dance at her school. That meant she got to glam up and have Daddy all to herself . What could be better?
Last week I bought their tickets, found Ten this neon polk-dot number to wear (I loved the post-Easter 60% off, she loved the giant polka-dots), and orderd her a tiny Tenley-size corsage as a special surprise.
Then we made a plan: Jenny's Nails for a mani/pedi, and then to Aunty Meg's house to do her hair- because if anyone could get Ten's hair to curl (and stay curled) and look cute for 3+ hours, it was Aunty Meg.
Right after school, we headed to Jenny's where Ten chose neon green for her toes and neon pink with glitter over it for her nails. She sat very still, and by the time my pedi was done, she was all dry and ready to go get curls!
Aunty Meg and Uncle Dan celebrated the milestone of "1st Dance" by buying Ten her first piece of "real" jewlery. Ten was overwhelmed with this dainty little pearl and diamond on a 24k chain. They had the chain shortend so she could wear it, and it provided the finishing touch to her ensemble.Aunty Meg had her arsenal of styling products and piping hot curling iron ready to go when we got there. She patiently pulled the front of Ten's hair back into three twists and then curled the whole thing in ringlets. She finished it off with ribbons and pink crystal hair screws.
We had just finished when the doorbell rang, signifying that her "date" was here to pick her up. She squealed and said "Wait! Don't let him see me yet!" as she ran down the hall to put her dress and sandals on.
Daddy presented her with her corsage. She didn't get it until we explained that it was a boquet you could wear. Roses you could wear??? She couldn't wait to show her friends!
I'm glammed up, wearing roses, and I'm the center of attention. Life is good!
The 2 best things that ever happened to me!After patiently posing for the family paparazzi, they were off to the dance! I stuck around Aunty Meg's long enough to hand her kleenex as she teared up looking at Tenley's baby picture hanging in her room and muttering "Oh she's just so grown up!!"
The line for pictures was painfully long when they arrived, but Jeff & Ten dutifully waited so we could get pix of them before they were all sweaty and Ten's curls were gone.
The line for pictures was painfully long when they arrived, but Jeff & Ten dutifully waited so we could get pix of them before they were all sweaty and Ten's curls were gone.
About the dance itself, Jeff said:
" The dance was more crowded than I expected. My first thought was that all the dads would be lined up around the outside of the room while the girls stood in the middle giggling and talking to each other. To my surprise, everyone was dancing. There were girls of all ages, and Tenley immediately found her friends Emma, Ashlyn and Makeda. They were all so cute and loved comparing dresses and hair.
The DJ was playing all kinds of music- he had a pretty good mix. At one point he told all the girls to pay attention to the dads because they would know what to do with this song- and he played The YMCA. Tenley loved doing the hand motions, and I found it particularly funny when the DJ abruptly turned off the music and all the dads were singing.
We did The Chicken Dance, The Hokey Pokey and had a mean conga line going at one point. When the DJ played Butterfly Kisses, Tenley grabbed my hand and said, "This is slow sappy music. Let's go get a cookie." We got back in time for me to overhear one dad
tell another one that the next time he dances with his daughter to this song it will be at her wedding when he's giving her away.
tell another one that the next time he dances with his daughter to this song it will be at her wedding when he's giving her away.
All the girls enjoyed themselves, and I even got to take a little break when Tenley and Ashlyn decided they'd rather dance with each other.
Just a short while later, Tenley informed me that she would like to go to dinner now, because her legs were going to fall off. We collected her swag ( a pink carnation and a magic wand) and said good night to her friends. "
Jeff told Ten she could pick anywhere she wanted for dinner, and she chose......Coco's. Ok. It was apparently during dinner that she asked her dad if he knew how to make spaghetti tacos. He was clearly confused, so Ten finally supplied that she was talking about the ones that Spencer makes on iCarly. Jeff inquired if she had ever had spaghetti tacos, and since she had not, how did she know she liked them? Her response was to fix her father with a what-are-you,-stupid?? stare and say "iCarly likes them!" with all the DUH! tone her little voice could muster. The woman sitting behind her nearly chocked on her $7.99 steak she was laughing so hard.
At 8:15 2 very excited dogs let me know that 1 very very tired little girl was home. I knew she was wiped by how heavy she was, and the fact that she begged me to take out her hair and get the dress off that just 3 hours earlier she couldn't wait to put on.
She managed to stay awake for stories, but she was gone the moment we turned out the light- my tiny Cinderella, dreaming happily of her first ball.