Daddy-Daughter Prom!

With my being enormously pregnant and uncomfortable, we thought that for this year's Prom Daniel could just take Aubrey and let me have a night to myself. It was their first Daddy-daughter date but definitely not their last! After all, Prom happens every year. Plus, look at the adorableness--why wouldn't we repeat this every year for forever?

Aubrey's not one to pose for photos (she runs away if you ask for a photo), so we only got a couple. I did, however, manage to capture this interesting video.

Yes, she did say, "I'm going to the microwave to visit the Queen." The second half of that statement comes from a nursery rhyme she knows. The other part... who knows? And yes, she's dressed like Rapunzel. 'Cause who wouldn't want to dress like a princess for such an important night? ;)

Anyway, Aubrey had an absolute blast. Daniel says he's never seen her have so much fun. (Incidentally, he refused to write this blog post--ugh, guys--but I got the full story from him, so it works.) The way Daniel's school's Prom works is that they start with a formal, sit-down dinner. Aubrey, who had eaten before she went ('cause let's face it... she wouldn't eat whatever they served, even if it's something she normally likes), had a very hard time sitting through dinner. In order to get her to stay at the table, Daniel cut up the ice cubes from his water and gave them to her. That girl and ice, I tell ya...

To make sitting still even more difficult, they apparently kept playing Taylor Swift songs during dinner, so it took everything Daniel had to prevent Aubrey from getting up to dance. At one point, Let It Go came on, and she and all the other little daughters of teachers got super excited. And then, of course, everyone sang along.

Once dinner was over and the first wave of students started heading to the dance floor, Aubrey saw her chance and ran to the middle of the dance floor. Thankfully, Daniel captured the moment:

A little shy at first, but she went for it in the end! She even caught the eye of the professional photographer that was roaming around the dance taking photos. 

As you can see, all of the teenagers were super great with Aubrey. Even the boys would crouch down to her level and talk to her. Very impressive.

Eventually, Daniel dragged her from the main dance floor to avoid her getting trampled by high schoolers. But her new location on the sidelines didn't stop her from bustin' some serious moves with her new friend (one of the daughters of a fellow teacher).

And, of course, a game of Ring Around the Rosy was in order. The principal's older daughters took Aubrey and the other little girl under their wings, and of course Aubrey was in seventh heaven.

Aubrey and Daddy also visited the photo booth, with cute results.

Let's see the closeups, shall we? Here are cute smiles...

... and waving for the camera...

... and Aubrey apparently being too distracted by Daddy's silly face to make one of her own.

It was a night filled with Aubrey's favorite things--music, dancing, big kids, tons of space to run around like a crazy person, and, best of all, ice cream. She topped hers with two of her other favorite things: M&Ms and sprinkles. And then it was time to go. After all, it was 9:00! And even as she danced and played and laughed, she was rubbing her eyes like crazy. But Daniel said she'd have stayed forever if he let her.

As they left the Prom, Aubrey took it upon herself to say "goodbye" and "thank you" to everyone she passed on the way out. And in the car, she said to Daniel, "I love the kids. They're so nice! They were so nice to me!" D'awwww.

When they got home, I was waiting for my girl at the top of the stairs. She came bursting through the door with a huge grin on her face and--smelling of Aubrey sweat--she ran up to me and told me all about it. I'm so glad she had such an amazing time, and I'm so grateful she has a Daddy who can and does take time to show her how special she is!