My Fair Kara

Karalee took a cotillion class through her school. They learned social etiquette, dining, dancing, and other skills. I got to chaperone one of the lessons. The dancing was my favorite part. It was awkward, but adorable. 

They were learning about table settings when I was there. Kara actually knew quite a bit thanks to all of our Disney cruises, haha. She won a package of skittles for answering correctly. I don't recall the question though. 

I was surprised to see her raise her hand when the dance instructor asked for a volunteer to demonstrate a dance they'd learned already. She is actually a pretty good little dancer.

They were taught the waltz, salsa, and some line dances. 

There were about 6 more boys than girls, so they had to rotate them in. The girls were irritated that they didn't get a break. 

She came home and made sure that Kiersten and Evie learned her new dances as well. 

The night of cotillion, Kara asked me to wave her hair. It turned out cute. She even borrowed a pair of my shoes so she would have a bit of a heel. 

Ben opted not to go, but I think he really missed out. 

The dinner was at Missouri Athletic Club, so we had to drive downtown. That part is not so fun. But we actually got there faster than I planned for. So we had time to explore a little. 

Kara thought it was hilarious to have a fancy chair in the bathroom. She was laughing so hard trying to take this photo. 

She was the first girl there, so she found her assigned seat, and then followed me around for the next 15 minutes while I tried to socialize with the other parents. 

I had to keep sending her back over to the kids' side of the room. Then I'd turn around and she was right behind me again. I was glad to see the other girls start to show up, so she would stay over there. The adults had our own tables, and we were less scrutinized on our table manners, though the teachers did make a few comments to us. 

She had a great time with the group line dances. I credit all of our livingroom dance parties for her awesome moves. 

They had a dance competition, and she got 2nd place in both salsa and waltz. She won the first heat on both, but ended up getting beaten in the finals. She came over to tell me how relieved she was not to win. I asked why, and she said it was embarrassing. 

It was really fun to see her just cut loose and let herself have fun. She gets so stressed out with school and activities sometimes. I like to see her just being a happy kid. 

At the end of the night they all got a certificate. She said, "Now I have a PhD in etiquette!". 

Easter 2018

We decided to go casual with Easter this year. The girls were so adorable in their dresses. I did pictures inside because it was fairly cold out. I also let everyone wear boots since it was kind of wet as well.

Luckily we got outside for the egg hunt while it was still sunny. Within an hour of being back inside, it started hailing out there. The worst part of an early Easter is that we didn't have flowers in bloom yet. 

The girls were excited as ever to compete for those eggs!

Kara got her dress stuck on the prickly shrub at least six times. 

Evie is good about picking up all the eggs. She doesn't try to guess what is in them. She almost always has the most money in the end, so I think it's a good strategy. I saw Kara drop the golden bunny egg, so I went to give it back to her. She said, "that one is empty" and threw it down again, so I stuck it in Kiersten's basket. Little did she know that it wasn't empty, but just light because there was a dollar bill inside. She had regrets. 

They were pretty happy with their spoils. 

We had a fun morning. Cold, but fun!

They were dying to know what was in the large sparkle eggs. It turns out they had new bathing suits inside. 

Even Jingles got a new cat bed. 

Being April Fool's day, the Easter Bunny couldn't resist playing a trick or two. Poor Kiersten got all the tricks. She got an egg full of cat food, an egg full of only black jelly beans, and 2 plastic eggs with boiled eggs hidden inside. Luckily she takes pranks in stride. 

We found all of our lovely boiled eggs. 

Ben made us a fabulous dinner, and we were all stuffed.