The OTHER Fall Ball

When we say "Fall Ball" at our house, we might be referring to softball. Last Saturday, though, was a different kind of Fall Ball.

Our stake youth leaders decided to throw a Harvest Ball for the youth, ages 14-18. I'm sure the idea behind this was to give the girls another opportunity to wear their formal dresses that otherwise, might have only had one wearing for an expensive dress. Since boys normally rent a tux, they could wear their regular Sunday dress clothes or other formal shirt-and-tie looks for this dance.

It would have been really neat to see all the girls at the dance in long formal gowns, but once again, I'm sure, in deference to those who might not have had a formal dress, they adjusted the dress suggestion to include, "Sunday Best." No one was asking girls to go out and purchase a special dress just for that evening.

Alyssa has only had one formal dance; but a few months back, a friend who was getting married, decided she would no longer need a yellow Belle-style formal dress, and GAVE it to Alyssa. So this was the dress she decided to wear for this Harvest Ball.

For Darcie, this was actually her first dance as a 14-year-old. Since she hasn't ever been to a formal dance, one of Alyssa's friends (from a family of girls) generously offered to loan Darcie one of their dresses.

There was all the typical flurry of preparations that afternoon, and when Emma saw the girls getting their dresses on, SHE wanted to wear a "pitty dress," too! (SO cute!!) Good thing that Todd does the DJing for the stake youth dances, and we were planning on going anyway. She would have been all dressed up with nowhere to go!!

Here are my girls!!!
One of the best things about this dress on Alyssa, was that it is LONG enough! She wore heels with it!! Her new haircut looks so pretty; she pulled the top back in a barrette and let all the curls do their thing.

The maroon and gold metallics in this dress really played up Darcie's red hair beautifully. During the summer, her hair bleaches out from the sunshine, but in the fall and winter, it darkens up and the red really shows. (Side note: ask Darcie about the season of Walter. Maybe she can answer before the giggles take over!) Normally her hair's straight, but for this dance, we did the headfull of curls look. I LOVE it, and I think it made her look more special.

Todd even broke out the SUIT for the occasion. I defy any young man to hurt his girls or break their hearts -- Todd will be most unforgiving!

And at the dance -- Emma LOVES to dance. Twirling and jumping to the music is a lot of fun for her:

For myself, I'm glad that they went to the efforts to put on this dance. I think sometimes that people have gotten lazy about how much time and effort is put into activities of any kind. No matter what the activity is, isn't it nicer when some thought and creativity and effort is put into the decorations, the food, and other details? I think that too many times, people seem to think, "why bother?" -- and so they don't. For once -- somebody BOTHERED to make it nice -- and it showed! Good for them! And good for my girls and all the other kids that benefited from it.

My Bloomers are Showing!

Our wacky weather sure has the plants at the Haven wondering which season we're in. Cool days, then back to warm ones have the plants really messed up. This is a primrose I planted last spring....... this photo taken Saturday, and yep ----- it's blooming again! (Looks a little ragged, I admit!)
One of the rhodies is also confused. It has two blossoms coming on it -- something we usually don't see until April-May.
Those are the confused ones. But, I have a lot of respect for the ones that are the Die-Hards. These guys just won't give up for the season. It's November, and they're STILL GOING. These yellow marigolds are winners in my book. Best cash I think I've ever spent on annuals:
And the red roses in the center of the driveway circle, also keep coming:

And finally, the dahlias. In our area, dahlias have to be lifted for the winter for them to survive. Sometimes when I put in plants like that, I just let them go. Lifting and re-planting is kind of a pain. However this year, I put in these purple ones and white ones that really worked so hard all season, I'm ready to snuggle them in a box of sawdust for the winter. I'd love to see them back again next spring.
I even cut a few blossoms for a vase before I whacked the plants down, in preparation to dig up the tubers. Now I have pretty blossoms on my kitchen counter. I love flowers -- they make me happy!!

Locks of Love

It is in the nature of youthful people to embrace change. I must be getting old, because I did not want change. At least, I didn't want THIS change........

Alyssa has been after me for a while because she wanted to cut her hair. I was such a fan of those long curly locks, that I didn't really want her to chop them off. So I was dragging my heels. But the Voice of Reason entered my head, and told me that if she were to cut it NOW, then it will have time to grow back before those major life events like senior prom, graduation, senior PICTURES, etc.

So, for her birthday, and -- I might add.... just after those photos in the last post were taken, we went and Did the Deed!!

It must be impossible for Alys to look anything but Gorgeous, because the cut turned out fantastic! See for yourself! Here's the Curly Look:

And another shot. Light was falling fast on me for these. I'll get more pictures later, I'm sure.

And she wanted to try the straight look. What would this world have done before hair straighteners??? Obviously, when you pull it straight, it looks a little longer.

She also wanted to donate her tresses, so she looked into "Locks of Love" which makes wigs and hairpieces for kids who have lost their hair to cancer treatments. Her package of locks went out in the mail yesterday. You can look up Locks of Love on the internet. I'm too lazy to post it as a link.

Alyssa shocked her friends last Monday morning, when she came to school with her new look. One friend might have taken it a little personally: she nearly cried. Of course, Alys also brought a mountain of treats to share that day, which is one way to divert excessive attention on the hair.

It will be interesting to see how she works this new style in the next few months.

Sweet Sixteen

I have nicknames for my girls. It's nothing weird or baby-ish or even embarrassing (I hope!). But I don't use them in public anyway. Just here around the Haven, when it's just us.

Last Friday, Alys & I went outdoors for a little photo shoot. I'm still working on improving my photography skills, and the girls are always willing candidates for my subject matter. There was a reason behind this particular session (which I'll get to in an upcoming post), but it was fun to take pictures of Alyssa, especially since she is really photogenic.

AND, because this is one of the BIG birthdays this year. Yeppers, she's turning sweet sixteen tomorrow! So in a way, this is a family history moment -- what she looked like when she was young, innocent, and just 16 years old.

Of course, I'm the mom, so I'm extremely biased. See what you think: I tell her she is unique, in part because of the mass of curly hair she has. With uber-straight hair being the be-all, end-all in adolescent fashion, I think her curls make her stand out.

(So, being six feet tall, barefooted -- also makes her really stand out!)

She's always up for some fun....

But still super intelligent, way talented, very confident, and definitely mature beyond her years.

So what's my nickname for her???

Gorgeous.

(Don't worry, Darcie & Em also have some superlative nicknames as well!)

I just want my girls to know that I'm behind them 100%, always cheering for them, and forever wanting the best for them. So, yeah. Is she gorgeous? You bet she is! And I tell her so, every time I call her by that nickname.

Happy Sweet Sixteen, Alyssa!!! Dad & I love you TONS!!

Fall Ball

We've had some beautiful November weather, so yesterday I sent the girls out to the back yard for some pitching practice. Standing behind the catcher is one of the few places I can catch the ball in the same frame as the pitcher: Darcie wasn't wearing her gear at first, but I convinced her to put it on. I don't need her injured, and Alyssa throws better and harder when she knows her catcher can take it.

You might have to click on this next photo...... because Alys is actually smiling on the pitch release! (Ok, so she was laughing because she could hear the continuous shutter release I was using on the camera)

Darcie was also wearing the new padded inner glove inside her catcher's mitt. It sure cuts down on the beating a catcher's hand takes.

And when Emma woke from her nap, she joined us outside!! She is definitely showing signs of preferring balls over dolls. I am loving these fall colors we've got!

Hugs all around! I think Alys should use this one for her Facebook profile. But that's just me talkin':

Em LOVES being outdoors! I think if today is as nice, we'll get some more throwing in, as well as jumping on the tramp.

Happy FALL!!!

In Concert

Last week, both the teen girls had their fall concerts for school. I think Emma is getting the routine down for this, and she sits pretty well for the performances. We didn't have to take her out at all.

It was Alyssa's first performance with Gold Voices. She enjoys that ensemble a lot. This year, they got new dresses for their performances. The new style has a sweetheart neckline, flutter sleeves and an empire waist. We know Alyssa is pretty tall, when she's wearing the longest dress there, and it's still slightly too short (no heels, either!). Alys is on the far right, back row.
She looks a little stiff..... must be first-performance jitters. She looks GORGEOUS in black, though!

And then at the end, the band played, in full marching uniforms. This is always impressive! Alys is the tall saxophone player, dead center of the photo:

And then, the very next night was the junior high's fall concert. Darcie plays in both regular band, and Jazz Band. They got new band t-shirts in time for this performance, so that was concert dress for the evening. Darcie is the natural redhead, in the second row here:

And then later, seated with the Jazz Band:

Congrats to the girls both on some great performances! We look forward to more, including next month's Christmas concert. YAY!!!!!!

Halloween is for Kids!

Just when my older teens were getting beyond the whole dress-up-and-beg-for-candy routine, along comes Emma Jo! This is going to keep me young if it kills me!!

Since she's such a big fan of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, we thought she'd get a kick out of being Minnie Mouse for Halloween: We were right -- she loved it!! It's hard to see the ears here. I really needed a better background. Her head was a bit small for the ears, and she actually couldn't wear them for most of the trunk-or-treat, because they kept falling off. And the Minnie gloves made it hard to hold her treat bucket, so those got ditched, too!!

Hugging her Minnie Mouse -- they're lookalikes!!

It was raining for the trunk-or-treat, so we took the canopy to stay dry at the back of the Suburban. Please note the carved pumpkins on top. Yep, those all came from the Haven garden this year. (good thing you can't tell most of them are flat-backed!! Ha!!)

And afterwards, we went to Grandpa & Grandma's for our now-traditional Halloween pizza dinner. Emma can't quite pronounce their names correctly. She transposes letters. So "grandma" comes out as, "Maw-gaw". And "grandpa" comes out as, "Buck-kaw". It is SO adorable!!

Happy Halloween!!!