A Magical Night

****The explanation for all these pictures is at the end. Posted all of this a bit backwards...****
Daddy showing Nina how he is going to dance. :)

Middle of winter, Nina finds bugs. This lady bug was on the floor of the gym, where pictures were taken.

That's the cupcake that I made. :) Of all the sweet treats she had to pick from, she wanted to make sure she got one of my pink flower cupcakes.

(those are a pair of Nina's legwarmers that I made her on the table. I had Andy take them for her carriage ride outside, it was so cold I didn't want anything to stop her from enjoying her ride!)

One of the horses.

The poor horses. They were covered in ice and snow.

Nina said the only thing that could have made the night better was if she could have had a ride on the back of the horse....Andy told me later that night that he promised her horse riding lessons. I have been saying for a few months now that we should do that for her, to which he has not liked that idea, safety wise...only took Nina's sweet eyes looking into his, and he caved. I wasn't even there! :)

Getting ready for her ride.

This picture just doesn't do justice to the decor. I tell you. Some high school students stopped by and asked the Mom in charge of it if she would decorate for their prom this year.

___ Okay. I had written the words below before I entered the pictures. I couldn't

figure out how to copy and paste in this program, and quite frankly, didn't have

the patience to find out. So, if you could, just pretend with me that the below

entry was before all the above pictures! :) ___

Boy, I sure have some catching up to do. This time of the year with the weather and the normal run around with the kids is hard on my body. I'll just do the best that I can!

Saturday night was a magical night. Actually most of the day was. You see, it was Andy's first Daddy Daughter Dance with his precious Nina. Harry took this opportunity to ask his Mama out for a date, which I in turn melted.

Saturday morning the boys took off to take care of "some things". Nina and I started the primping process. She chose a sliver polish for her nails, I stuck with a more natural look.

Our boys returned home with flowers for their dates and some small gifts.

I was going to take my date to South Bend to eat at Outback Steakhouse. There is a bit of history there. First, I worked there while I was in college and loved every minute of it, a very very well run restaurant. But more importantly, when Harry was little and Amelia a baby, Andy was working, traveling and finishing up his Masters...If anyone remembers that time, Amelia was screaming from 4 in the afternoon till 4 in the morning for 3 months straight. There were a couple times where I had just had it. Outback has call ahead and they will deliver to your vehicle (so screaming Nina could do her thing...). Twice Harry and I split the salmon & veggies. An enormous treat during a stressful time. I thought we could go and have that special meal once again, just the two of us. The weather had another idea in mind.

It was awful out. White-out conditions, with South Bend being 30 minutes away, it was best we stuck around here. We landed at a very fancy restaurant, Grande Mere. It was amazing! The waiter treated Harry as a man, not a little boy. Harry in fact ordered for me..."I'll have the lobster and she will have the swordfish..." I was sitting across from not only my little boy, but my child that is becoming a little man. The dinner was a little over 2 hours and he was a complete gentleman the whole time! I couldn't believe it. He engaged me in conversation, "Mama, what's your favorite...." He even told Andy earlier in the day, when running around town that he wanted to get a new tie to wear for his date. He got a real tie to wear. Andy showed him how to tie it, I was a puddle the whole night. So proud of my boy.

I gave such a long detailed description of our night because I don't have any pictures. :( Well, I'll be honest, I probably would have given the long description with or without the pictures!

Now on to Nina and Daddy's Daddy Daughter Dance! They both had been looking forward to this for weeks. Harry & I dropped off Nina's gloves at school (she had forgotten them and we didn't want to interrupt their fancy dinner plans), we got to sneak a peek at the decor. Incredible. It looked like prom. They went ALL out. Pink Green and White everywhere. There was horse drawn carriage rides, professional pictures in another full size carriage inside. There was a dj, playing all sorts of music, which the dance floor would be packed full when there was a slow song, all the daddys getting to dance with their girls. Andy said he was misty the whole time dancing with Nina.

Gosh, we love our school. What a gift they gave us on Saturday!

The majority of the pictures you will see, Nina took.

(did you notice Nina's dress?? Yep. That is her dress from my brother wedding. It still fits! She has only gotten taller!)