Seeing my debs off

August is the time of year when my deb girls take off for college and I finish them up, or get ready for a few fall fittings.  Mostly finishing them up.  Then the dresses go into storage.....

They're at home here for a couple of months and each day I have to say I marvel at their beauty and then I start thinking about how this little thing could be better or that little thing would be better here or there. 

There's a rehearsal the day before - this is my neice when she was a deb, with my brother-in-law to her right at the rehearsal.

Some helpful onlookers - My sister in the middle, my nephew to her left and my BIL's brother on her right.  Of course only the best support for my neice!

Then it's time for the ball.  I always have the girls over right before the ball so that they (and I) know that they fit well, and when they have the dress on, nothing more is needed - they look so beautiful on, I even marvel at myself!

It's the night of the ball and they are all dressed beautifully.  This is a past year, as I'm unyielding that no one sees the dresses but the girls till that night. 

The dads and girls gather to line up and have fun right before they are to be presented!

In line right before they go out....the ball committee puts an engraved charm on each nosegay which they are looking at.

Whew!!!  Finally presented - aren't they beautiful?!!!  Of course I'm partial to the one center front - my niece who is the most beautiful!

After the night, I go home early, and put my feet up and rest on my laurels for the evening!

A lot of people go into making the evening special - the least of which is the committee - having served on the committee for almost 30 years, it was a lot of fun, mostly because we worked our buns off to make sure that the kids all had a great time.  It's become a great secret in town that the ball is a great party for the kids as well as the adults.  Every one in my family had a great time that night!