Samantha's First High School Homecoming Dance

As a freshman in high school, Samantha has jumped in "feet first" into so many activities and events and her social calendar is filling up fast.  We are doing a pretty good job of juggling the shuttle trips (the high school is less than 2 miles from our house) and are strong supporters of letting her find the things that she truly wants to be involved in and then letting her choose when there are other things that she 'tried,' but didn't enjoy.  

Right now, she is doing 2 dance classes but is likely going to drop one due to time commitments and not having advanced to the next level like she had hoped (only because she missed the single day of tryouts at the end of July when she was out-of-town with her friend, Grace).  

She is involved in high school band AND marching band ... she practices every day on her trumpet and plays/performs at all of the home varsity football games.  

And, she is hoping to join Jazz Band -- an elite club of high school students that meet and play for "zero hour" at 6:45 am every school day.

Later this Fall, she plans to play girls' basketball for a full season (22 games!).

This last weekend, she attended her first high school Homecoming Dance and she was absolutely BEAUTIFUL.  When her dad and I saw her all dressed up, we both held back a few tears.  Seriously, I have only seen Steve tear up a few times in all of the years that I have know him (almost 18 years, now) and this was one of those times.

The dress was a hand-me-down from our neighbor across the street.  It was a stunning color for Sam and apparently sequins were definitely "in" this year.  But, it was strapless and Sam was uncomfortable with the idea that it might not stay up.  Me too.  So, I made some (many, really!) alterations to it -- putting darts into it and making straps.  I bought her new shoes, some booty shorts for under it, let her borrow my earrings and surprised her with a hair appointment with the friend of one of our neighbors down the street.

And then I took about 96 pictures.

Those legs, though.

I don't think that this would have normally been a color of dress that Sam would have picked for herself, but it was PERFECT for her.

A braid, a few extra curls and some light make-up.  She was so happy with the result.

So pretty!  And with a hint of the purple ends still leftover from when her dad allowed her to dye the tips of her hair purple over the summer.  I took her two days before the dance to try and get the residual purple color removed and the salon lady tried (five times) to lift the color, and in the end, it was the best that we could do.

When did my little girl get so big?!

Steve managed to pull himself together (ha!) and pose for a picture with his little girl.

Grandpa jumped in for a picture because he was over to watch a Michigan State football game in our garage with neighbors.

And Matt too!  He's the dad of the girl that we inherited the dress from ...

Later that evening, I left the football party to pick Sam up once the dance was over.  She had a great dinner with friends at Relli's Restaurant in Dewitt and definitely had fun at the dance.  She was tired though!