Year 2, Day 129: Extremely Full Day/Prom 2017

We did it! Or rather God did it! Our oldest made it to his first prom!  Yes, he's only a freshman in high school, but because there's so few of them, all the high schoolers are invited to go to prom each year.  Sweet!  I think I was more excited than Benaiah was!  Being homeschooled in the "dark ages" = no prom for me :(  Anyway, very full day with errands, pictures before naptime, pictures downtown, I had one last MOPSnext meeting, and then the boys were picked up around 11pm.  Yup, full day.  I'll just post prom pictures here, and any other stray ones on the next blog posting.  Oh, and Jared says my day numbers are off again, and since I'm posting this a day late, I'm sure it will look off.  Sorry about that.

Awwwww!!!!!!  I FINALLY feel like all the rest of my Facebook moms who post their kids prom pictures year after year (different moms, different kids, but still, it's all over my Facebook feed once a year).  It's our turn!

Wowzers!  So big!

This was us 4 years ago!  A lot has changed!  It actually popped up on Facebook feed just yesterday!  I think Benaiah has grown almost 2 feet, plus there's now a 4th kid in the picture.  Time flies!

He's SO handsome and cleans up nicely!  Just like his dad!

I said be goofy and he gives me the "dub" thing.  Dubbing came from someone somewhere rubbing or blowing their nose, or catching their sneeze in their arm.  It's all the rage (as well as spinners).

He is wearing Jared's shirt, coat, and pants.  The bowtie is a clip on we had for a Doctor Who costume.  And the boots were purchased today, they are suede/work boots.

Absolutely!

The school hired a photographer (or maybe she volunteered?) and most of the kids took pictures down on the west side of the state capitol building.

Benaiah and his "date" Ethan.  Yes, the Ethan kid bought a suit off of Kohls.com.  Oh my word!

It was fun seeing some of the kids reacting to Ethan being there.  He had attended Southside last year, but now attends Herron with his older siblings.

Whisper, whisper, whisper, guffaw, guffaw, guffaw.  These two have been best buds since they were 3.  They do a ton together and have had many, many sleepovers.  They make quite the pair because Ethan is the youngest of 4 and Benaiah is the oldest.  Love them!

The boys guffawing over inside jokes.

Hey, Benaiah, how many stars are there and why that number?  Benaiah said, "I don't know." Oh, come ON, I did teach this didn't I?  Even your siblings know this one!  There's 19 stars because Indiana was the 19th state to join the union!

The man-children.

They couldn't stop laughing for the photographer.  "Going stag" is what she said they were doing.

Be serious.

Yes!  I got the infamous James Bond pose!

7 out of the 9 freshman that attended.

Aw, the single teens.  However, I was told later that they both had individual dances with her.  AND a senior asked Benaiah to dance with her!  All slow dances, too!  Johnson men do NOT dance, they only sway and hardly ever in public.  We had NO dancing at our weddings because Jared doesn't dance and I have no rhythm.

They took pictures as classes, so these are the sophmores.  I only took it because one of Benaiah's new great friend, Seth (dark glasses) is in it.  Seth is the son of one of Benaiah's teachers, who happens to go to our church, and has made the transition to private school a lot easier for me.  And Seth is one of those kids who seems shy, but will open up once he gets to know you.  He had some great one-liners!  Like, "Leave room for Jesus! (leave space between you and your date)" and "I don't like Jesus is on a diet! (leave A LOT of space between you and your date)."  Bwahahahahaha!!!!

Ethan saw me take the picture, so he gave me a face.

Most of everyone who went.  Out of a potential 48 kids, 34 went.  Pretty cool!

The "men."  Pictures took over an hour!  It was like being a wedding!

Be serious guys!

I love how Ethan gets stuck right in the middle on purpose!

Now the girls, who were all very lovely, and I was a little bit jealous of.  Sigh.  Oh, and I loved watching the photographer do her thing, wishing I was better at the craft, and I heard her say that she will edit out the smoke thingy in the background of this picture.  And I knew she would even before she said it!  Go me!

The morning after prom.  Lol.  You can't sleep in at our house or a baby will bring in pot lids to smash them in your face, lol!  They were home around midnight, so not too bad.

Rise and shine and give God the glory, glory! (That's a song, by the way).

Noooooo!!!!

And what do you do after prom?  Play video games!  Of course!

Benaiah said they an incredible time and I'm proud of him for asking a girl to dance and it was super fun to hear that someone asked him to dance.  You don't want your kid to be socially awkward like you were.  And slowly but surely, he needs to make those steps.  So, now he's talking about dating in general.  We told him he should wait another year.  He is currently reading, "I Kissed Dating Good-Bye" by Josh Harris, which is a book about courtship, which I read as a high schooler.  I'm not expecting him to follow the courtship rules, but to understand the principles behind them like we date in order to get to know someone with marriage as the long term goal.  I think it's fun, and interesting, and I am very curious about the process because Jared was my only boyfriend and we met when I was 16, he unofficially proposed a few months before I turned 18, I got the ring a year later at 19, married at age 20, and became a mom before I was 21.  And a lot of that was long distance dating.  So, I'm anxious to see and watch it all play out for our kids.  I'm not bemoaning the fact or trying to hold Benaiah back.  He will talk to us about some of it.  And he does listen, at least sometimes.  Anyway, I'm so glad he had a super fun evening with his new and old friends and that it's just that, a bunch of friends having fun!  And I didn't have to worry because I know the chaperones and all the kids that weren't part of the school had to sign a statement of some kind indicating they were good students and what not.  I'm so grateful it was a very positive experience for all of us. One down, 3 more years to go!