Her first dance.

And his first dance, as well...with his daughter, that is. When Adam sent me an email asking if I thought B would be interested in going to a Daddy-Daughter dance with him last month,  I didn't even hesitate. Are you kidding me?? She'll be over-the-moon-excited about it! I thought. And I was right. From the minute he asked her if she'd like to go with him, her eyes sparkled and shone with excitement. She nodded shyly, but then-
'"Mama," she asked, turning her big green eyes toward me, "What do we do at a dance?"
So we explained about  the dinner with other girls and their daddies; and, of course, the dancing. This little girlie LOVES to dance; so she was ready to go right.then.
Only she had to wait a week :)
The next day, in Jo Ann's , she spotted some shiny, silky, sparkly bright pink fabric.
"Mama," She whispered, "I need a new dress for the dance with my Daddy,"

 I looked at the price and figured out I could make a simple, twirly dress (the main requirement, really) for about $6-so I said yes. And she picked out the fabric. And the rest of my week became devoted to a labor of love, in small snippets of time. When the day after Valentine's rolled around and she tried on the finished product, I could hardly get her to stop spinning long enough to take the dress off again...not that she wanted to. But I told her that it needed to stay nice for the dance; and instead we painted her toes while her baby brother napped so they would be sparkly, too.

  Then it was naps, change, a quick photoshoot (of course!) and they were off to the dance...(like Adam's pocket square? He asked me to make him one so they'd match :) Adam said she had SO much fun and, indeed, when she came home she told me every.single.detail...he said the only thing she was sad about was that the music ended much to early for her liking. But she learned the hokey pokey...and the chicken dance...and twirled and spun to her heart's content (almost).
I love that my Adam is the kind of man who takes the initiative to find a daddy-daughter dance to go to with our girl...our church doesn't have one. I love even MORE the sweet relationship developing between the two of them. The excitement and joy in Blythe's eyes at the thought of getting to do something special with just her Daddy-I pray she always feels like that. And that her love for her Daddy translates easily into seeing the Lord as a loving Father. Their relationship is so different-of course-than Adam's relationship with the boys; and it's sweet to see the tenderness vs. the rough-and-tumble of the boys (yes, even the baby...he's all boy!!). Daddies are important for girls AND boys, and I know my kids are blessed to have Adam as their Daddy. And my husband is a great daddy to our kiddos. But we both know that our kiddos bless us FAR more-even as we are stretched and grown through the trenches of parenting three littles 5 and under. Adam has learned (as have I) much about God's father-heart for us, His children, as our own have grown-and it's changed him. I love, love, love watching that man with our kids!  I know Blythe will always, always remember her first dance. As for me and the boys? We had a fantastic burrito-movie night, thankyouverymuch! and then got to listen for an hour as Blythe told us allllll about it :)