Welcome to the Masquerade!

Last night was our final night of GEMS for the 2013/14 season. I totally enjoyed being a GEMS craft counselor -- especially since I didn't have to come up with an idea every week. I was able to alternate with another creative lady who did the opposite weeks of me. It kept me busy enough to feel involved, but not enough to make me feel overwhelmed. The girls too, really enjoyed the year.

This is the second year that we've been attending GEMS at the church in our community (barely 5 minutes down the road) instead of the group at our home church (which is between 15-20 minutes away). It's still the same church denomination, but there are those subtle differences that make each church their own congregation and the same happens with the clubs/groups that meet. Although this GEMS program is a little different than what we were used to, we enjoy it all the same. It's been extra special for the younger girls as their friends from school all attend as well.

Last night was the mother/daughter dinner. It was a masquerade! The girls have been asking to do something masquerade at home for quite some time now, so this was super exciting! Of course, we did have a bit of an unfair advantage because I was in New Orleans just two weeks ago. If you've ever been to the French Quarter in New Orleans, you know there are masks available almost anywhere and they are very plentiful at the French Market. How could I resist!? The girls had no idea that I would be buying their masks -- and in fact I didn't either. I had completely forgotten how plentiful they were in French Quarter. We had planned to spend a weekend afternoon crafting our own masks, so our dresses had already been picked out. That made it a little easier to choose from the abundant masks that graced many booths at the market. They were very excited to see what I brought home.

The two youngest girls have masks too, but they are not old enough to attend GEMS yet. They were pretty excited to see the fancy big girls though!

 

P.S. The Engineer took these and didn't change lenses to accommodate the lower light. (He didn't have time -- or we'd be late. Thus why some are a little blurry. No worries, your eyes are not going.) :o)