As promised!

Here are some photos of Rachael and Michael at her senior prom. Because of a time constraint, I cant do much editing or captioning. But if you know me at all, you know I won't be able to resist a few.

here are a few from the hairdresser.

Rachael has very long, heavy hair. The process behind even the subtle look she wanted was pretty extensive, in an attempt to get it to hold up for as long as possible before falling out.

The hairdresser even had her come back later so the curls could stay pinned until the last minute. She is right at the end of our block, and when she saw us out taking pictures later, come running down to see the full effect. She told Rachael she was ready for the red carpet. Ironically, outside the venue for the prom, there was an actual red carpet, and a photographer taking shots as they arrived!

(my apologies to the lady in the back waiting for her color to develop...)

 Michael arrives and they commenced flower pinning and I got lots of shots, of which here are a few. Don't you love her hair? Wait till you see the whole dress...

Beautiful flowers! okay so I 'm captioning like crazy...so shoot me...

The dress! And Rachael's cute look.

Michael's sister and family came to take some pictures too.

 Their baby is adorable! Malaika didn't want to let her go.

on the way

...and most importantly, they had a good time.  

Oh my, my #5 is going to college. This must mean something about my age....not sure what....

prelude to a prom

  Tonight is my daughter Rachael's senior prom. She has been thinking about and planning this for months and months. Which means~ I have also been thinking about this for months and months. She wanted a dress she saw online, and granted , it is beautiful, but having ordered my own wedding dress online (for the same reasons, but there were...problems), I know the pitfalls of this approach. Mainly size. Apparently, online companies use some special tape measures to plot their sizes than the rest of the world. In which one inch is the equivalent of about three. We are at their mercy until the dress actually arrives. But, as my husband stated, she has worked really hard all through school, and been an excellent student, and we want to give her this thing that is very important to her. I'll spare you the gruesome details, cause there were a lot of them, and skip to the *final* (ahem) arrival of the dress that alllllmost fit perfectly.

   We all know that a Good Mom can cook, clean, do triage, change a tire, rewire electronics and sew. Most of these can be done while talking on the phone. Somehow, while assigning genes, God must have also gotten an important call, and accidentally knocked the sewing one on the floor while doing mine.

   When I realized Rachael's dress was going to need a few small alterations, the cold sweat began.  Last Sunday evening, I got out my little tattered heart shaped cardboard sewing box, measuring tape and glasses, turned on every light in the house, and got to work. The parts that needed a bit of taking in were, forgivingly, all black; and conversely, all black+black thread=hard to see. But believe it or not, I finished it all that night, and I think it doesn't look too bad.

    Of course, I will post the actual pictures after tonight. The days' preparations start about noon for a leaving time of seven o clock. What royal wedding? I do get to drive them, something I like doing, (then at eleven thirty, a teeny bit less glad), and I will do my best to get some good pictures. ( My photography gene is working at about eighty percent, so, better odds).