The Weekend with the Benefit Ball

Happy Monday, everybody!  We’re coming off of a wonderful weekend and I’m wondering how in the world it’s already over!

Saturday was drizzly and low-key.  We lounged around most of the day and the kiddos played with Play-Doh for four or five hours straight.  It was crazy.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything hold their attention for as long as that darn Play-Doh did!  While they Play-Dohed I finally got the Valentine’s Day decorations finished! 

Saturday evening our sitter arrived and then B and I were off to our annual benefit ball for the kids’ school.  We have been attending since 2009 (before we even had kids) because the ball is affiliated with our church and the school from which I also graduated, and every year we have such a great time!  Loads of my old teachers and friends from elementary and high school are always in attendance as well as the current teachers at the school and all of the students’ parents.  My mom and all of her siblings graduated from there as well, so most of my extended family is usually in attendance, but this year only my mom and dad came from our family. 

B and I dressed to the nines and then had our sitter snap a couple of pictures of us on the way out, and then we snapped a couple of car selfies on the way.  We realized about halfway through our picture taking that we had been photo-bombed by Olivia’s penguin.  Haha. 

We arrived at 6, just as the cocktail hour was kicking off, and we all grabbed drinks and chatted with old friends while the band played.  One of my best friends since high school is always in attendance and she and I always have a great time hanging out.  We snapped a few pictures on the red carpet in front of the step and repeat with the professional photographer (those pictures will be in a different post once they’re available) and then it was time to head into the main ballroom for dinner. 

We typically sit at a table with my parents and extended family, but this year my parents were invited to sit at one of the other sponsored tables, so we sat with three other couples who have kids in Jacob’s class.  We already know all of the couples because two of the guys at the table went to school with me (one of which who’s wife is the current Pre-K 4 teacher so Olivia may have her in the fall!), and the other couple has a son who has gone to daycare with Jacob since they were just a few weeks old.

More wine was poured when we sat down and dinner was delicious as always.  They hire the best chef in town every year to do the meal, and as always it was perfect.  The first course was salad with homemade dressings followed by the main course of steak and chicken served with a potato cake, carrots, and green beans.  The presentation started shortly after dinner was over and coffee was served with chocolate cake for dessert.  Some of the kids from the school sang a few songs for us, and then the guest speaker spoke for a bit, and then they called the winner of the raffle. 

Once the presentation was over, it was back out to the first ballroom where the band was starting back up.  We put another round of drinks on our tabs and then it was time to dance.  The band was great and they played a lot of old favorites, and on their breaks they played all of the very classy rap music that all of us younger people love, so we danced even harder.  We danced for almost three hours straight, y’all, and I was exhausted on Sunday.  And when the band was done a bunch of us weren’t ready to stop dancing, so they put on some more old faves like The Wobble and Low and Cupid Shuffle and we all danced some more.  The ball was technically supposed to end around 11, but we kept partying on until they finally shut the music down to kick us out around midnight. 

A few people who I went to school with were trying to arrange an after-party at one of the bars downtown, but after standing around for a good 30 minutes with no concrete plans, B and I decided to call it a night.  By then it was almost 12:30 and I’m getting too old to stay out any later than that.  Haha.

It was my favorite ball that we’ve attended yet!  We adore our church and school family!  And we made the local paper's website!  I love this picture that they took of us.

And here are the pictures taken by the professional photographer!

And I was so caught up in the moment that I barely took any pictures, and I didn’t even think about posting anything on Insta Stories either.  #BadBlogger

Sunday was drizzly all day and we did all of the usual Sunday things… lunch with my in-law’s and dinner with my parents and we also attended a birthday party for our friends’ daughter in between.  The kids got to play on the playground and burn some energy after two days stuck inside because of the weather, and the adults had a chance to sit around catching up.  It was a win-win!

Another whirlwind weekend in the books!  Happy Monday, y’all!

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