The belle of the ball and her daddy.
Tonight, Lily and Justin prepared for a night of dancing, desserts, friends, and fun! "Double dating" with our friends Zack and Eliza, our little sweetheart and her loveable daddy enjoyed a night on the town. Justin's thoughtfulness shined through this evening. He surprised both of us by bringing Lily one red rose and a small pink corsage to match her dress. As he presented the flowers to Lily, her eyes got wide and she exclaimed: "Thank you, Daddy, for bringing me presents for my dance." She was thrilled! Lily also felt very fancy wearing the pearl necklace she got from Papa and Grandma for her birthday.
After taking a few pictures at home, we went to the Henson's house to take pictures. Then, our cuties were off to dinner at Brixx's (a favorite local pizza restaurant) before heading downtown to The Empire Room for a night out with several hundred other fathers and daughters. The event, hosted by our church, is in its 13th year, and a favorite of the congregation.
Everyone had to bring a dessert or appetizer to share.
Trying to get a close-up of Lily's special necklace.
Zack, Eliza, Justin, Lily
After the dads and daughters left, Kathy kindly made dinner for us. We were looking forward to a relatively quiet evening with our sons, who are usually content to play quite nicely together. Alas, this was not to be. Harrison screamed through most of dinner and was happy only for about the last 20 minutes of the evening. He's teething and cranky. Jacob was happy until the end of the evening, then he started to get fussy, so we had only a few minutes of both boys playing happily. Oh well. There's always next year! Due to the chaos of the evening we did not get any pictures of the boys.
Lily was very excited, but also a little anxious. She told me this week that she was worried that there would be too many people and she would be scared to dance. Justin and Lily have been practicing their dance moves and Lily loves to be twirled and dipped. I was hopeful that dancing with her daddy tonight would make her forget all of her worries. Justin says that they did dance a little, but she was more interested in watching other kids on the dance floor. There was also a huge dessert table, so Lily was happy to have a few snacks throughout the evening.
They made it home from their "date" around 9:30 and Lily was beyond excited. She told me all about the evening and wanted to show me how she danced in her dress. She insisted that Justin dance with her and we looked at the pictures of the room, the ice sculptures, desserts, and dancing. Lily said that next year when she was a little bigger she would probably dance more.
Her first look at the ballroom.
Sampling the desserts.
A little blurry, but talking with friends, Brynn and Eliza.
One of the few dances she shared with Justin.
Lily loved looking at the ice sculptures.
We all had a wonderful evening and look forward to more Father-Daughter activities in the future.
