Cotillion grad!

It's Sunday afternoon and I have a "to do" list 15 tasks deep, so this is going to be quick.

1.  We have officially wrapped up Cotillion.  Gracie had her Grand Ball yesterday and was just as beautiful as can be.   As a member of the Advisory Board, I had to serve as a chaperone for the ball (the rest of the parents come for the last 20 minutes for a father/daughter or mom/son dance), which granted me access to seeing my girl (and her friends in action). It's fair to say they aren't ready for high society, but I'd like to think we're a little closer. 

Here is Gracie all dolled up, including COMBED HAIR, y'all.   Be still my beating heart!  Also snapped a couple pictures of her dancing with her pals, both named John.

2.  It's three weeks until Spring Break. No big excursions planned and that's just fine.  However, between now and then, I have a spring Book Fair and Teacher Appreciation Week, which includes 4 teacher luncheons and a breakfast. Thankfully, I have three awesome women who share the load for Teacher Appreciation Week, so I'm trying not to worry.  Except that I've managed to get behind in planning.  And it's the week before Spring Break when everyone has mentally, if not physically, checked out.

3.  The kids and I served breakfast for the homeless this morning up at St. Paul's for the Nashville Women's Center.  Although we are ready for 100-150, we only had about 65 women and children come through.  Although we had leftover breakfast casseroles, sausage, fruit and cereal, it was a good problem to have.  I'm always thankful for this morning of service.

In the course of writing this post, I've added two more things to my list, so I think I best start crossing some of them off.   Hope your weekend was full of sunshine like it is here in Nashville.

Music, math and formal wear!

12 snowflakes fell from the sky last night and we STILL had school today.

Can you believe it?

It's been a busy week or so since I last posted.   On Thursday and Friday, Matt participated in the Williamson County Honor Band.  He sat first trumpet and we were so proud.  They gave an amazing performance on Friday night.   

On Saturday, both kids were off to a Math competition a local high school.   Spending your Saturday doing math . . . .yeah, I'm not sure they are my kids sometime.  Except for the fact that they completely look like me.  Anyway, Gracie placed in one test, earning a 12th place medal.  Matthew placed in both Geometry tests scoring 7th and 3rd.   

Luckily, their dad is a super smarty.  I can give them all the band nerdiness, but math . . . I'm out.  

In the meantime, I have now purchased 6 different dresses for Gracie's cotillion.   It's over a month away, but I don't want to be shopping at the last minute.   It's hard to find something that is age appropriate and in her size.   We've now returned 3 of the 6 and the last one, which I bought today, just might be the winner.   Although I did notice Gracie has a few more opened on the laptop. When will it end?   In related news, she has also decided that when the time comes, she would like to buy her wedding dress at Kleinfeld's and be on "Say Yes to the Dress." 

Oh boy. 

School is continuing to keep us busy.  Matt missed Friday to participate in Honor Band rehearsals and literally spent the rest of the weekend (after the math competition, of course) doing homework. I hope his social studies teacher liked the project he turned in on Monday because trust me when I tell you IT WAS A FAMILY EFFORT!

Unless he gets a bad grade, and then it's all Matt.  Ha ha! 

Black tie weekend!

Yesterday was the long-awaited Junior Cotillion Grand Ball.

Was it "long-awaited?"   Maybe more "long time coming?" 

Either way, it was time for Matt to get all decked out and show off those cotillion skills.  Naturally,  we'd like to see them in practice EVERY day, minus the formal wear, of course.

On the other hand, the kid cleans up nice.  I love a fella in a tuxedo, don't you?   We had a near fashion faux pas when I noticed Matt was wearing TAN SOCKS with his tuxedo.  Ummmmm...black socks came with the tux.  What would possess you to 1. Wear your own socks, and 2. Wear tan!?!?

Once we got all that straightened out, he really did look quite dapper.  He even decided to wear his own Vandy tie for the ball, which was an especially nice choice given our awesome win over Kentucky yesterday afternoon!  Go Dores!

Mom and Dad got dressed up, too.  No black tie for us since we merely dropped off, went out to dinner and then returned for the last twenty minutes for the Mom/Son and Dad/Daughter dance, but in the spirit of the evening, we also took the traditional photo in front of the fireplace at Richland Country Club.

Truth is, this is a little more us . . .

Bow ties and football jerseys . . . .

A busy Saturday.  The day started with Matt's first Cotillion class.    

Could he look any snappier?  I think not!  Despite being kind of grumpy about having to go, he came out with a smile on a face.  He found a lot of classmates and kindred spirits in his class.   They practiced handshakes, introductions and started ballroom dancing.

   

Good times in the mind of a 12 year old boy, right?  

Matt's good pal, Parker, wasn't any more excited about going to Cotillion than Matt was. 

As I drove the two of them home, they laughed about the various things they did in class for about 5 minutes and then resumed their normal conversations about about football. 

Speaking of football, that is what spent the rest of our day doing.  First, we were off to Matt's flag football game.  His team lost.  From there, we went straight to Vanderbilt, where the Commodores lost to Georgia. 

Boo.  

Thankfully, both Illinois and K-State won, although I didn't see either game.  

As I type this, Matt and Bassam are watching more football on TV.    Me, I'm ready to hit the sack. 

Just another exciting Saturday night . . . . . 

My little Southerner

One week from today, Matthew has his first Cotillion class.

Growing up in the Midwest the word "Cotillion" was pretty foreign to me.  The closest thing I experienced was the 8th grade dance class I took at Herrick Junior High that met one Saturday evening a month.

 In these parts, Cotillion is more than ballroom dance, but also includes instruction on manners and etiquette.   The culmination of is in February with a black tie grand ball.

While I love my son dearly, I know that he needs this.  Maybe not the grand ball, but the instruction on etiquette, manners and poise from someone who is not his mother.    We are clearly in good company, as a large number of his friends are also participating.

For the monthly classes, boys are required to wear dress pants and shirt, a tie and hard soled, non-athletic shoes.   Jacket is optional.   Needless to say we had some shopping to do today.  I abandoned my hunt-for-the-best-price ways and figured my best bet was to find a single store that would have everything we needed -- Macy's.  With only a small amount of complaining, he picked out navy dress pants and a white shirt.  Instead of a traditional tie, he wanted a bow tie, which made me smile.   I do love a bow tie!

Shoes, of course, were the ultimate challenge.  Not only are most men's dress shoes decidedly "old guy looking," Matthew wears a 7.5, otherwise known as impossible to find.  Youth sizes end at 7.  The majority of men's shoes begin at 8.  No luck at Macy's, Rack Room Shoes or DSW finding something in his size.  

I called it quits on the search after that and decided to try my luck back home on Zappos.  Thankfully, there were a few options, but before heading out for his haircut at 5:15, we stopped at Payless to see if they had anything.   While I generally believe you get what you pay for in shoes, the fact that he will wear these no more than a dozen times before he outgrows them, I figured a pleather shoe would be just fine.  He also found something a little hipper in a Chukka boot.  I came to realize that as much as I hate the difficulty in finding shoes in his current size, what I really hate is that men's shoes (even pleather ones from Payless) can be so expensive.

Looking forward to seeing him decked out next weekend!