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.

Might be Paranoid

While cleaning up the living room this evening I noticed that one of the more loved stuffed toys we own had a decent whole in it's back. Knowing full well that any hole big enough to fit one child size finger (and this whole was already bigger than that) can soon become a de-stuffed animal in the same amount of time it takes me to wash the dishes (the most likely time it would happen as my back is turned...) I picked up the animal and put it on top of a bookshelf until I had the materials and chance to sew up the whole. I continued on with my evening until Mycal said "Why is there a cat up there?" I was confused as we don't own a cat. For some bizarre reason I assumed that he was talking about a live cat and was thinking 'where did a cat come from and why is it on our bookshelf?' until I turned around and remembered the stuffed animal I had set on the shelf.
"Oh that, I noticed a hole and wanted to make sure it didn't get any bigger until I was able to fix it so I put it up there."

"It's freaky."

"What? Why?"

"It's just freaky, sitting up there, watching us...does it have to be there?"

"No you can move it I just don't want the kids to play with it until I fix it."

Nothing for several minutes.

"Seriously it's freaky. I think it's eyes are following me." said while Mycal moves around to every possible position in the chair (pictured sans Mycal as he couldn't take it anymore...) "Yeah it's eyes are definitely following me. Why does it have to be up there?"

"It doesn't have to be up there - just somewhere where the kids can't get into it. You can move it anywhere you want to."

"We should move it."

"Go for it."

Yeah it's still sitting on the shelf. Mycal claims it to be disturbing. I don't think it's nearly as disturbing as this...
...the fact that I'm eating my girl scout cookies by the row because I can't get them to separate properly. Honestly what is the world coming to?

In Honor of the Day

This is what my ever-loving sweetheart brought home for me yesterday in commemoration of the day - what a wonderful husband!
(for more information on the significance of yesterday read the post below...)

A Manly Necklace...

In an effort to limit the endless amount of paper that piles up around our little apartment the last time we were at the store I gave Emmuska the option of getting either a coloring book or beads. She was very excited about the beads especially since they were a lovely mix of pink and purple. We got some string (also pink...) and have been making necklaces ever since. Emmuska is intent on making one for everybody (she gave one to the little boy who came with his mom to visit me, who was very excited about it...) so I wasn't too surprised when the other day she brought one up to Mycal and asked how he liked it because when she was done it was going to be his. Mycal told her that it was lovely but that he couldn't were it because it was a pretty necklace and he could only wear manly necklaces. Emmuska assured him that it was pretty AND manly and that he could wear it. Mycal told her that pink necklaces were not manly. This conversation went back and forth for a little while each reiterating their respective points. All the time I was sitting on the side laughing the entire time. Finally Emmuska said "Okay I will go make you a different necklace." Mycal asked what kind it would be and she said 'Pink, don't worry it will be pretty and manly.'

Some Additional Information

Regarding a question left in the comment section by a loyal (quite possibly solitary...) reader. Since when and how is Mycal faculty at the university allowing me to enjoy the benefit of a couple free classes. Mycal is smart. I know that you all already know this but it's the basis of this post so I thought I would mention it. You see many cadets (that I've encountered) don't really think about where or what they will be doing after they commission. It is generally assumed that they will be in their next training assignment pretty quickly afterwards. This actually rarely happens so often times they have to get some sort temporary job while they wait or work as an instructor at a previous training camp. Mycal foresaw the probability of not being able to get orders into training immediately after commissioning and made sure that he had one of the two positions at the ROTC house until his training date in February. It's really amazing it all worked out because you have to be able to work for at least 45 days to get the position and Mycal had something like 48 until he had to leave - talk about be watched over. Anyway apparently working for ROTC makes you faculty of the university (at least at this particular institution). As faculty his spouse is allowed to take six credit hours free. Yay for me. On that note it was a little bit of a struggle to get into classes that would work. I'm about 20 credit hours away from an associates degree and needed to get specific credits (a diversity credit, computer science, humanities, creative arts etc.) as defined by the school. I also had to take these classes during times when I'm most likely to have a babysitter - especially with Mycal leaving - and when the kids will be the happiest for a babysitter. I was pretty thrilled when I found all my particular needs available from 7-9am on Mon. Wed. and Fri. Alas it was not to be it turned out that these courses wouldn't work for me so I went to change them - amazingly enough finding the only other classes taught at that time with a couple seats still open. Turns out they are actually on an extension campus that I had no way to get to. Thankfully we managed to find two classes that fulfill credits I need online. (I'm pretty sure they are about the only online classes still available.) So long story short we finally got my classes to work with my schedule and I'm all set to go. Let's just hope the class work is easier than registering for them was.

more pictures

First Salute

Pinning on the rank of second lieutenant

Taking the oath of office.