The Civil War Ball

Amanda's Civil War ball was a HUGE success. By the end of the ball, people were already petitioning for another one.

I guess I should start at the beginning of the day because the beginning comes before the end{my wisdom is stunning}. In order to attend the ball, we needed to attend at dance class earlier in the day so we'd know all the dances before the ball. By the third dance, Mr. "I'll go but I won't dance" {aka Aaron}was having himself a wonderful time. He even zoomed over to me and asked if I'd like to be his partner for the next dance. It was so touching. It was also a complete "I told you you'd like it!" moment but I didn't say that out loud. I've lived with him long enough to know when certain things should not be said.
The rest of the day between approximately 4:00 and 7:00 didn't go quite so fabulously. Picture pure chaos then add more chaos. That's what our house looked like as we tried to get ready. Complete and unadulterated chaos. I'd rather not relive the whole thing, but let me just say that people who have curly hair should not be put in charge of curling someone's straight hair. Bad things are sure to happen. Let's move on to the pictures now.

I invited Hannah to sleep over so we could all have the fun of getting ready together. She was sick and couldn't come Friday night but she was at the dance class on Saturday morning and came home with us then. I felt horrible that I was the one making all her worst hair nightmares come true at the very same time she was sick. After an emergency call to our former hairdresser friend who fixed all my mistakes, Hannah was looking beautiful and ready to go. I'd like to add that she was very popular with all the young gentlemen.

Mr. William was having a little bit of difficulty with his sash.

Maybe it's because he went as a Confederate.

Willie and Hannah with their delightful mother. I love Hannah's dress.

I loved that Amanda gave all the ladies dance cards.

My favorite person to dance with was Keegan. He was around 8 years old and dressed up in a very impressive soldier costume with huge gold braidings and silver buttons. He came up to me, bowed and said "would you like to have this dance with me?". It was the Polka and we kept bumping into so many people that I thought he'd regret dancing with me, but he asked me again so I guess it wasn't that bad! At the end of the dance, he took my hand and asked me where I would like to go{like a good gentleman, he wasn't going to abandon me in the middle of the dance floor}. When we got to the edge of the room, he said "thank you for dancing with me this evening; it was delightful". To which I replied, "you are just SOO cute!". I didn't actually say that because it probably would have been below his dignity, but I was thinking it.

Something big happened the night July 24th: I made a new best friend. Her name is Malena and we bonded in front of an air conditioner. We were lined up and waiting for the next dance to start when she heard me say I was really hot and she literally pulled me by the arm over to the air conditioner. And just like that, we were each other's new best friend. I tried to be nice back to her by cooling her off with my fan but she had the audacity to say I was her servant. It's amazing we're still together after I received that type of treatment from her. Very few people at the ball got away from Malena. Whenever she'd see a gentleman that wasn't with a lady, she run over, grab his arm and drag him over to a lady who needed a partner. I got the feeling that wasn't very proper behavior for the event but it was funny. In her own words, she's an "EXTRO EXTROVERT!"

I only got a few pictures because dancing + taking pictures at the same time= difficult. Hannah has the picture Dad took of us all before we left so when she sends it to me I'll put it up. The whole ball was so much fun. I can't wait until the next one. I think we should try convincing Amanda do have one every month! ;-)