It's the GRADE 5 DANCE mom!!!

Sept 07 a friend of mine tells me how her son has started talking about the Grade 5 dance (which happens in February during the polar games)--who he is going with--who asked who to the dance--who 'dumped' who and is going with someone else etc.....I laughed at her having to deal with this 6 months before the actual event. Fast forward to this past September when Taylor announces at the dinner table "I FINALLY know who i'm going to the Grade 5 dance with". (To Chris this was a shock--he had no idea this event takes place or the fact that the 'planning/asking/dumping' begins 6 months in advance!!)

Well this past weekend was the Grade 5 dance/Polar games. But lets go back to last Tuesday:

Taylor and I decide to kill time at the newest second hand store while we wait for Kalli to finish her guitar lesson. I have never been in the store before so it was quite a shocker to be hit with "brand new gowns straight from New York" as we walk in the door!! Taylor's eyes lit up like it was Christmas morning!! So i had to answer the question before it was even asked "no-i'm not spending $100 on a 'gown' for the grade 5 dance". Now what i should have said was "i'm not buying you a new dress for the dance" because my statement--loosely translated--was "i won't spend $100, but i would still be willing to buy you a less expensive dress". So needless to say, we were suddenly dress shopping!! We go to Walmart and there was a choice of 4 different colors of the same 1 dress, so i suggested that i make her one instead. Off we go to the fabric section and she choses this pattern--A--which also means i have to make the shrug to abide by the school dress code:

and this fabric:

So on the way home--i'm only $20 poorer--i ask "so how many other girls are getting new dresses for the dance?" Her reply "oh i don't know, i haven't talked about it to anyone". How silly of me to assume she wants one because EVERYONE ELSE is getting one.....no.....she just wants one because hello...IT'S THE GRADE 5 DANCE!!! So this is what i was doing for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights:

So i tell her to find out from her friends who all is going to wear a dress to the dance--she reports back that her friend(s) told her that 'you just wear regular clothes'. (She is in complete disbelief of this--it's a DANCE people!!) She doesn't care--and we forge ahead--i'm so proud of her--she won't bend to the peer pressure--she's going to the dance, in dancing clothes!! So here is the final result--(again, where do my kids learn to pose like this?!?!)

So be fore warned you people with younger kids--coming to a future September--the Grade 5 Dance!!