Father Daughter “Dance” Date Night

Well there was no Salado Father daughter dance this year which was such a bummer to me and the girls. They look forward to that so much every year and six grade is the last year for the Father Daughter Dance. We were really going to fix Jaina up this year but that just didn’t happen. But that wasn’t going to break our tradition they were still going to have fun this year.

The dance is always held in February and due to the coronavirus they have still canceled all events for this year. It’s such a bummer all the things that they have missed out on and we as parents have missed out on watching the girls do in school and out of school in the last two years.

So instead of not doing anything I told the girls that their daddy would be taking them out on a father daughter date night. They were very excited about that especially Jolee

I told them they could get dressed up in whatever they wanted to wear and they could choose whatever restaurant they wanted to eat at. And of course they chose both of their favorite restaurant which is the Olive Garden.

So we picked one day earlier this month and I hope to get the girls ready.

Though we have not went anywhere to go shopping for dresses because we were in quarantine and the weather has been so bad I told them they were going to have to wear some thing they already had and they were both OK with that.

Jaina chose to wear jeans and a plain black sweater that she had with some of her slats. She is now old enough where she is not into the big froufrou dresses which is understandable. And she didn’t have any sundresses to wear either so she went with jeans

Jolee on the other hand wanted to go the whole 9 yards so I helped her pick out one of the mini hand me down froufrou dresses that she has and help her fix her hair. With all of Jaina’s hand me down dresses she had a lot to choose from so she went with this dress. I still remember the day that me and Jaina went to the mall and picked out this dress Jaina was so excited To wear it to the father daughter dance.

Jaina is becoming such a pretty natural little girl. She does all of her own hair and make up and her nails so I really didn’t have to help her at all get dressed she does it all by herself now. She’s growing up on me.

Beautiful ☺️ 

Cherished moments for both of them.

I’m so happy that Justin is such a good father to his girls. He could never imagine not being there for them and being in their lives. He tries to spend as much time as he can with them and they will always remember that. Being a good father to your child is not that complicated but some men just can’t seem to realize that. And Justin is completely opposite he was always trying to look for a other ways to be Active in his girls lives and is always trying to sit down and just talk with them and communicate with them, play with them and be supportive of everything they do. 

He loves his girls so much! 

Jolee let me curl her hair and she picked out a hair clip her own earrings and she even picked out this little black velvet cover-up with her dress. It was fun spending some time getting her ready.

Beautiful 😻 

I even had to bust out the croissant Jose I made a few years ago and have them put them on like they were going to the dance. I just couldn’t break the tradition

Our little princess

They headed to the Olive Garden in Georgetown and spent a few hours together. He said they talked a lot at dinner time and shared stories and had a really good time.

While they were at dinner me and Jewell  went and ran several errands and got some things done that I needed to.

They had a great time and I am glad we decided to keep the tradition alive even though this world is so crazy right now. They may take the dance away from us but they’re not gonna take our memories away from us! 

 

Belton Junior Cotillion League

 This past year I signed Jaina up for the Belton junior Cotillion. Cotillion is kind a like a debutante or a Southern Belle. It teaches them etiquette improper ways of doing things and then when they get older in high school they have a big fancy dance. One of the reasons why we signed up was that my friend Rosie is the president of the six grade Cotillion so we decided to give it a try. Jaina has been very excited and has been looking forward to it since I signed her up.

A while back ago Rosie asked if I would join her team and be on the decorating committee with her for Cotillion so of course I told her yes. Cotillion is very new to me growing up in Alvin we did not have any program like this whatsoever so I was excited to see what It was all about

I didn’t know if I was going to be able to help her out because the western dance was scheduled just a few days out of quarantine and I didn’t know if we would be able to attend or not. But luckily we were all feeling fine and we had just gotten out of quarantine so Jaina was able to make the dance.

I went up on Friday with Rosie to help her set up and decorate the gym at the cultural activity center. The Cotillion puts on three dances in the spring. They have a teacher come in and teach the kids how to properly dance and do different dance techniques and also they learn how to properly dance with a boy.

With Covid going on there were some restrictions about having a dancing partner But luckily the first dance is western and they mainly learned how to line dance.

Since the first dance was a western theme dance it was super easy for us to decorate. The Cotillion has a big warehouse with tons and tons of decorations so Rosie went over I had a time and picked out what she wanted and I met her along with a few other moms on a Friday morning to help decorate everything. I thought it turned out really cute. They had several tables for the kids to sit at and take a break. And we also set up a table with their food that is provided to them. Normally it’s a buffet but with Covid going on everything had to be pre-package down in a box but it worked out. We had someone cater in lunchboxes for the kids and it all worked out just fine.

I actually had a lot of fun helping set up with the other ladies. It gave me a chance to see inside the event center since the day of the dance no parents were allowed to attend because of the numbers for Covid they had to illuminate parents from attending this year.

It was a drop and go event. I could walk her into the front door and take a picture of her by the sign and that was it. I had to let her go in on her own. I had mixed feelings about this. I wish I could have stayed and watched her but I know that she is getting up to that age where she wants to do things independently. She did not want me to stay anyways so it kind of worked out this year. 

Since Rosie is the president of the six grade chair she had to stay so she promised me she would take a few pictures of the kids having fun.

I asked Jaina if she wanted to go and buy a new outfit and she told me no she could wear some thing that she had. I also asked her if she wanted to wear a cowgirl skirt or dress and she said absolutely not mom. So we looked in her closet and she said she would just wear her black and white flannel shirt jeans and she would wear a pair of my boots. I can’t believe she is at the age where we can actually share shoes!

She does all her hair and make up by her self now so all I had to do was tell her that it was time to get ready. My beautiful baby Jaina is going up on us! I would say this is her first actual dance all by herself. She said she was kind of nervous and I told her not to be nervous that it wasn’t like a regular school dance so she would be OK.

She had several friends that she knew at the event from her school, from Girl Scouts and from Belton schools.

And Lily was there. I can’t believe these two have grown up together since they were Itty bitty babies. And I can’t believe the height difference either they are the same age look how much taller Jaina is, lol

Justin and I both dropped her off at the event. While she was at her vet Justin and I went over to Leslie’s pool and picked out a pool for the girls. We finally decided to get the girls an above ground pool. Something I have been saving up my money for and we tried to purchase last year but with the pandemic going on the pool companies were completely out of pools. It was crazy, they had zero pools available to the public all year long. Justin said if you wanna get that pool we better do it now before spring break and it starts to get hot then there won’t be any pools available. So we went ahead and went over and ordered one. Our plan Is to have it up before spring break but I guess we will just have to wait and see. And yes we got a ladder that pulls up and locks so Jewell cannot run out and just climb into the pool by herself. Our first priority is to always make sure our children are safe! 

Then we headed back over to the dance to pick her up. After the dance we all went out and ate. She got to tell us all about what she did at the dance she said it was a lot of fun. They got to eat their snacks and they learned how to do several line dances. She said she can’t wait until the next dance! 

And like that it’s all over

Last Friday the weather finally started warming up just above freezing so all the snow could start melting but what I didn’t realize is how quickly melted snow can turn into ice overnight. I did have to chuckle all because me and Justin were standing on the front porch watching everybody shovel snow off their driveway. I asked him why everybody was shoveling snow and he said I don’t know maybe they are bored. LOL we soon found out why people shovel snow out of their driveway. Duh 

I had to try and make it to work that afternoon which the main roads were clear it was just trying to back out of our driveway and get onto the main roads. I finally made it out around 1 o’clock in the afternoon but then it took me five different gas stations to finally find gas on my way to work. When I finally got to work I was so stressed out and tired and was only there for a couple hours before I left.

By Saturday morning all the snow had cleared and it seem like nothing in it ever happened because it was nice and sunny and almost 50° outside. Crazy how this Texas weather can be so cold in the negative numbers and by the next week it’s almost 75° outside. I do have to say I am so glad it’s over and honestly never want to see snow ever again LOL winter season is just not for me. But I did enjoy Seeing the girls have so much fun playing in the snow all this past week

So good to see that Texas sunshine out and shining away

Life is well almost back to normal the grocery stores are still pretty empty I tried to go Sunday and the store was out of all dairy there was no fruits or vegetables no meat just snack foods. But I was able to get what I needed for the girls to take to school this week for their lunches so that was good and we were pretty well stocked on meat. The only thing I have really been searching for Is milk you cannot find it anywhere at all. I am hoping by the end of this week things are back to normal and the stores are completely stocked.

Other than that the girls are finally back in school. They got to go in on Monday and Justin and I are both at work so life is as usual. Jolee was so excited because they even got to have their Valentines party Tuesday at school. She thought she had missed it because she was in quarantine and then the winter storm here but she made it back on time to be able to party down with her friends.

I am so ready for spring and warmer weather, aren’t y’all?