all dolled up

you may have noticed that the teen's presence was rather limited during the bean's actual birthday party.  and why was that?  well, i happened to schedule the big bash on the same day as the homecoming dance.

yeah.  mom of the year, i tell ya.

but MIL had already booked her plane ticket to come home for the shindig, i'd already alerted a bunch of people as to the date well in advance to ensure their attendance, and it was just too late.  and so while we were ice cream social-in' it up here at home, the teen was out and about doing fun stuff like getting her hair and make-up done.

by the time i'd stuffed the last partygoer full of sugar and handed out the last goody box, she was finally home and killing the last bit of time before getting into her dress and heels for her big night.  she and her date were part of a group of about 50 kids, had already forked over the cash for the party bus and ordered flowers.  funny thing is, out of all those partiers, only one couple was actually going into the dance - and that was just to appease their folks by taking formal portraits with the dance photographer.  the hub and i just shook our heads as we discussed how this was all just an excuse to get all dolled up, take a whole bunch of pictures, and ride in one happy group to in-n-out for dinner (yup) and then out towards somewhere fun.  sheesh.

so a good month ago, rock-ell and i had made arrangements to get the teen out of the house one afternoon so that her date could make it official.  now, the way these kids do it these days is to pair up and go to these things as a big ass group - in most cases the couples aren't actual *couples* but simply friends who've decided to coordinate flowers and take pictures together.  still, it was fun to watch her come home, make the usual beeline to her room, and - well, this.

i was more aghast at the vast quantities of confetti that covered every square inch of the damn floor.

i'm pretty sure there's still confetti in the very darkest corners of the room.  ugh.

when it was time to head over to the house that the group was meeting at for pictures, all of the bean's party guests had already gone home.  most of the cleanup had already been done by then too, thanks to lots of hard work by the hub and MIL.  the bean was happily in the bathtub, playing with her grandma. the timing couldn't have been more perfect.

the first person we saw as we headed up the driveway was rock-ell.

the teen's date came over to say hello and introduce himself and his mother to me.  he seemed like a really nice boy, and we all watched and snapped away as they fumbled through putting their flowers on each other.  so cute.

do you love her nails?  bling bling, mofos.

BFFs.

you know i had to get one too.

the panoramic feature on the new iPhone OS6 is pretty snazzy.  how else would i have gotten a shot of the entire group?

i was exhausted and was in bed long before she got home.  i'm such an old lady.  haha!  and she reported the next morning that they'd all had a lot of fun.  the hub picked her up from the afterparty, there were no crazy shenanigans, and all was well.

now we have some time to relax until we have to think about...prom.  dun dun dunnnnn.