In Which Emmuska and Liberty go to the Ball

Apparently an organization on base hosts a Father-Daughter Dance each year around Valentine's Day, this year it was held last Saturday. Mycal forwarded me the email about this a little over a month ago and I thought it looked like fun. We didn't tell Emmuska until maybe three or four days before hand - which still turned out to be too soon. We drove to base twice after telling her and each time she was upset that she wasn't all dressed up for 'the ball' and even more upset when I explained that the dance still was a few days away.  Finally the big day came. We packed up the girls' dresses and got into the car. The second we were on base Emmuska wanted to know where the dance was and how close we were. The thing was Mycal had to work beforehand so we had come down rather early (the reason they weren't wearing their dresses down) and would be running errands before we went to his office to get ready. She was once again aggrieved at this turn of affairs but as before managed to pull herself together for the rest of the day.  Finally we headed to Mycal's office and started getting dressed up. I can't begin to describe the amount of excitement coming from this girl. She was so stoked about 'the ball'. She insisted that she be called Princess Aurora and Liberty was Princess Belle. (For the record I was Princess Snow White even though I didn't get to go to the ball - sweet eh?) Here are some pictures of us getting ready.

I couldn't help but let her wear some of my make-up (it's so light you could barely see it on her but it made the whole thing more ball-like for her).

And after I put some on for her she wanted to do it herself (naturally). It was fine by me as it gave me additional photo opportunities.

And then because Emmuska was getting all gussied up Liberty needed to as well...

Liberty's hair had started out much more curly and cute but hadn't worn with the day as it had only earlier in the week (blasted snow caused the girls to demand that their coat hoods stay on - hat's do mean things to hair). Still absolutely love this picture of Libster getting ready.

Examining the finished product...

Yep! Pretty as a Princess for sure!

Wait! Liberty still needs her lip gloss. (Yes she had to do this by herself...possibly the first time the eczema has been helpful...totally hid the gloss all over her cheeks ;)

Now they are all ready to go. Mycal didn't actually get the title of Prince as that was reserved for Samuel. Emmuska was at a bit of a loss as to what to call him. I think he ended up being the Beast. Yes I laughed at that.

Off they go to the ball. Mycal got the girls flowers which they have thus far cherished (leading to their earlier than usual demise I've no doubt...)

I sat in the car with Samuel. I didn't anticipate them staying too long and had to feed Samuel. They ended up staying for about an hour which was pretty good for Liberty. I think if Liberty and I had stayed home Mycal and Emmuska would have stayed a little longer but there was no way that would have happened without some major upheaval. And Emmuska didn't seem to mind her time being cut a little short. She told me all about doing her 'ballerina dance' and how there were balloons on the floor and you could dance around them but you had to be careful not to step on them or sit on them because then they pop. From the light in her eyes I think it was everything she had dreamed of.

As for me I loved watching the flow of fathers with their girls heading into the dance. There was quite an impressive age range from baby (I kid you not - the little one was bundled up in her car seat...) to late teen.  I have to admit that I was a little saddened by the realization that there was apparently a magic age (10-12 or so) when little girls no longer hold their daddy's hands. As I watched these older girls go into the dance I hoped that they would still take the chance to dance once or twice with their dads and talk about the things that are on their minds.