Spring Formal--2011

Our homeschool co-op has gone through alot of changes in the past couple of years. Along with relocating to a different church, we've added high school classes and tween/teen nights as our kids have gotten older in an effort to satisfy the social needs of older kids. And you know what? They LOVE it! The classes that have been offered to our teens have been truly a blessing providing our big kids with the discussions and experiences that tend to happen in a group setting. It's been amazing to watch our co-op's transformation. There's now something for kids of all ages which is just as it should be for homeschool families since a good bit of us have kids of all ages ;)

One of the requests we had from the teens was a formal dance. Of course, this request was from girls! (it's all about the dress!!!) They formed a committee of teens and, along with a parent volunteer, organized the whole evening. They did a great job! There were decorations, food and even dance instructors to show them a few basic dance moves!

When I first asked Brandon if he'd like to go he asked, "Do I have to dance? Can I just hang out with my friends?" Um no, you have to dance. Everyone participates! It's like dance lessons. You don't go to dance lessons to hang out and watch! He declined. But the closer it got, the more friends signed up to go. I think he was the recipient of some peer pressure encouragement ;) Then when his friend Kyle said he was having an "after party" Brandon was ready to sign up!

So this is how it came to be that Brandon went to his first formal dance :) And you know what? He did dance. And he had a great time! Thank you, Margot and the teen committee for all your time and effort in making this a fun night for our teens!

We were running late (of course we were) so I completely forgot to snap pictures of him before the dance all dressed up so I swiped some from facebook :) Thank God for friends!

I love this one of Brandon and his good friend, Kyle:

Here's a few more taken by friends:

Such a  good group of kids!

Obviously the entire evening wasn't taken up by dance lessons, just the first half or so, which is when I snapped these:

 Ethan has that what-did-I-get-myself-into look. I think most of the boys were thinking that the minute the instructor lined up the girls opposite the boys!

 These next two are pretty blurry but I had to have them :)

 A couple of group shots. Don't they look great?? I was really impressed with the instructors too. I was really impressed with the instructor. He taught these kids quite a bit in a short amount of time. He was funny too which helped ;)

I didn't want to go sneaking around the dance floor embarrassing everyone. I'd have more and better pictures if I had ;) Instead I stayed by the doors snapping what I could. There was a professional photographer there (who happens to go to my church!) and I can't wait to see what she captured! Hopefully, I'll have more to post soon :)

Yesterday, our Reluctant Dancer asked me if this was going to be an annual event :)