Dancing with Cinderella

She spins and she sways to whatever song plays

Without a care in the world

And I'm sitting here wearing the weight of the world on my shoulders

It's been a long day, and there's still work to do

She's pulling at me saying, "Dad, I need you"


There's a ball at the castle
And I've been invited
And I need to practice my dancing,
Oh, Please, Daddy, please?

So I will dance with Cinderella
While she is here in my arms.
Because I know something the Prince never knew
Oh, I will dance with Cinderella
I don't want to miss even one song
Because all too soon the clock will strike midnight,
And she'll be gone.....


She says he's a nice guy
And I'd be impressed
She wants to know if I approve of the dress
She says Dad the prom is just one week away
And I need to practice my dancing
Oh, Please, Daddy, please?


So I will dance with Cinderella
While she is here in my arms
Because I know something the Prince never knew
Oh, I will dance with Cinderella
I don't want to miss even one song
Because all too soon the clock will strike midnight,
And she'll be gone....


Well, she came home today with a ring on her hand
Just glowing and telling us all they had planned
She says, "Dad, the wedding's still six months away,
But I need to practice my dancing"
So, please, Daddy, please?


So, I will dance with Cinderella
While she is here in my arms,
Because I know something the Prince never knew
Oh, I will dance with Cinderella,
I don't want to miss even one song
Because all too soon the clock will strike midnight,
And she'll be gone....
----Words and Music by Stephen Curtis Chapman
He wrote those words after losing one of his daughters in an accident when she was five years old. He knew the power of those sweet moments between daddies and daughters. We know that here, too. The dances that will never happen perhaps make the dances that do all that much sweeter.

Daddy and Miss Mouse went on a "date" to a Butterfly Ball last Friday evening. Miss Mouse had a countdown going for weeks. Weeks. This event was perhaps the ultimate in cuteness and sweetness. A room full of cuddly bunnies and ducks could not have surpassed the amount of "sweet" at the Ramada last Friday. There were proud daddies and adoring daughters lining the entire ballroom. I was excited to have captured this shot showing Miss Mouse's obvious admiration for her Daddy.

They not only danced the evening away together; they also went through a grand march which is shown above where Daddy is introducing himself and his little girl. My heart melted at how tightly she held his hand as they went through their "parade". I'm told Miss Mouse went all out and danced on a chair at one point. She told me that "they played some wild music and some calming music". Daddy told me he had to reign her in as she was flailing her arms and legs around so wildly with her eyes closed, dancing her little heart out. That must have been for one of the "wild" dances. Aaahhh, sweetness.

I have a Daddy who danced with his two little cinderellas anytime they asked. Now my two little cinderellas have a Daddy like that, too. He's creating very big shoes for some prince to fill someday!

*As a sidenote, when the song that I have written out above was played at the dance, I am told most of the men had to, at the very least, swallow really hard. On the way home, Miss Mouse noticed three deer (displaced from their riverside homes due to the water, no doubt) on the street and commented, "Oh, Daddy, I wish you had your gun, so you could shoot them. Then we could have meat!" Apparently, that was the tear-shedding time for my Prince Charming (though I just got a sideways look when I asked how the song was for him....). The funniest part, though, is that Miss Mouse didn't so much want them to be shot just to be shot, but she wanted them to be shot more to make her Daddy happy and to eat them!

First Track Meet

On April 6, Miss Mouse entered her first track meet. She called it her "marathon", but it was a kiddie track meet complete with directed stretching exercises. The partial line of children pictured is only the "age 4" line....there were also lines for ages 3 and 5. Lots, lots, of small children all attempting to follow directions. It was hilariously chaotic.

This is Miss Mouse in line for the "medal race". The four-year-olds seemed to have a lot of trouble understanding the idea of "line up"; many also didn't understand why only two children ran at once. The whole "get ready, set, go" thing, to them, meant that all of them should "go!". Miss Mouse took off with two other little boys and had to be chased down by the official. She apparently didn't understand that "Pink, come back! Come back here, Pink!" meant that she was supposed to slow down and return to the starting line to wait her turn.

And no, I didn't interfere.

When it came time for Miss Mouse to run her "medal race", she and a little boy headed out. He started before she did, and, when she was about to catch up to him, she slowed down so that he could go first. My polite little non-competitive Mouse. Again, I did not interfere....and I was proud that she wore her "second place" medal so happily. I'm not sure I was thrilled that they actually gave out first vs. second place medals to four year olds, but Miss Mouse was proud (and polite); therefore, I was proud and happy, too!

The last event was a "hurdles race". This was, perhaps, the funniest race of all in that Miss Mouse started out with her two running partners, ahead of them both. That is until she got to the approximately 2-inch hurdle bar, stopped, looked down at it, spread her legs wide, and pushed off in a gigantic jump over the hurdle. There were two sets of hurdles, so this process was repeated....both times the kids ran that particular race. She's not only polite; she's cautious, as well, and had many onlookers chuckling. Way to go, Cautious Mouse!

Afterwards I asked Miss Mouse was had been her favorite part of the events. I was shocked when she said her favorite part was getting to run with the "green thing" (baton) in "that race where we just ran to someone and gave someone else the green thing". It was an attempt at a relay race, but even the adults organizing the thing weren't sure where each child was supposed to be running. It ended up that when a child would get the baton, he or she would start running in a random direction and would eventually be intercepted by an adult who would then shuttle the baton to another child. It. Was. Chaos. It drove me batty, even though I'm usually very process-oriented. When it comes to running, I have a definite need to know where I'm going and how to get there. Apparently, Miss Mouse does not have that need.

All in all, the afternoon was a fun time. We didn't go back last Tuesday because I really am not a fan of encouraging a first and second place winner among tiny tots, but I'm glad we did go the first week. Miss Mouse still periodically wears her medal around the house.

Another Simply Saturday

We're still trying to dig out from our winter wonderland here, but it's been fun seeing glimpses of sunshine (i.e., spring, gardening, warmth, etc.). Even these simple rays of sunshine can carry me through a week of unseasonably cold temperatures!

Check out other Simply Saturday photos here: