Homeschool Homecoming!

Well, let me just tell you about the excitement for this year's homeschool homecoming! The girls chose their outfits (and actually Brennen's too) a week ahead of time, while the two boys pictured in the middle were on their hunting trip. This was their friend's first dance, and loads of other friends planned to be at the event as well. I was hoping the professional photographer would have uploaded the undoubtedly massive photo file from the dance itself, but I'll just have to share those when they are available.

The day of the dance Brennen wasn't feeling great--major allergies happening--and wasn't sure if he was going to go after all. Right up until the girls were styled, make-up'd, and dressed to the nines (whatever that means :), he still hadn't decided. But as Graysen set out for an evening at our neighbors' house with his buddy, B appeared dressed and ready to go (with a pocket full of kleenex and later cough drops from his friend's mom :) Actually, Graysen helped Brennen with his final outfit arrangements--which initially included suspenders. However, they quickly determined that the fact Brennen had outgrown the 'spender-span could pose a health risk to anyone dancing near him. Ping! Ha!

We decided to do pictures at our pastor's family's house, because we had already arranged to chauffer his son and because it is so beautiful there! At first we planned to coordinate with a whole carful of girl friends, but their driver (my friend C) said they were still working on hair and make-up when they were supposed to meet us for pictures. I'm sure the teens still got to get some pictures together AT the dance. 

Technically, these pictures posted backwards. But I'll still tell my stories in chronological order :) Obviously there was a risk of Covid by attending this dance, but our kids thought there were just as many students there as last year (in the hundreds), so fears weren't running too high. There are no follow-up reports of anyone getting ill as a result of attending, so that's great news. 

For the duration of the dance my friend C and I sat in the little ice cream shop across the parking lot, just talking and munching burgers and fries. It was so nice to have that one-on-one time with her! She and I actually lived in our last town together for a short time at the same time, but never met each other! Last year, I got to do this with my NGF while she edited photos. Oddly enough, just like last year, there was a massive rainstorm, out of nowhere, when we haven't had rain in weeks (months?) right at the end of the dance! Soon a series of soggy homeschool dance attendees in all their finery (plus some neon face paint, as was the theme) filled the little ice cream shop. We saw the boys' good friends, the twins who rode with us to last year's dance, one on crutches from tearing and repairing his second Achilles this year--but still dancing the night away :) As our table was needed for hungry teens, C and I hugged a farewell and collected our exuberant carloads of fancy kids.

After dance report: Brennen danced with no one (which is okay because he was very mucussy), Caelan danced with the friend we brought with us and a tall boy three times (Brennen said, "I just stood there and watched them." Good brother! :), Gabby danced with her friend C's daughter and together they discussed all the other dancing people :) It was loud (really loud), the individually-packaged pancake snacks were weird, the daughter of the lady who organized the dance got homecoming queen (all the seniors were in the running), and the DJ wasn't as good as last year. Oh, Brennen remembered his sore feet from the 2019 dance and packed a pair of comfortable shoes into which he changed between pictures and arrival at the 2020 event without me noticing; I thought that was pretty funny and smart :) I'm sure I'm forgetting more details. I should have had them write this blog post. Maybe the dancers can fill in the blanks when those other pictures get posted. Overall, they all had a great time, and Caelan, of course, can't wait until her next opportunity to dress up Cinderella-style to go to the ball.