Pageant!!

It's taken me a week to recover from the Cinderella State Pageant last weekend -- and I wasn't even the one competing. Although I WAS doing the hair and fingernails and toenails and outfit matching and yes, MORE hair.

It was fun and both Hannah and Lizzie did well and enjoyed themselves and made friends, so it was worth it. Oh, and Bob got to eat his way through a whole new resort, so he was happy, too!

Here's the recap (and I assure you this is the SHORT version!!):

We left Friday afternoon after the girls got home from Nature Club. It was about a 4-hour drive so we stopped for dinner at Burger King and made it to the Seven Springs Mountain Resort by about 9 p.m. Which would have been fine except once we got there I had to throw Lizzie into the shower, put curlers in her hair and do her nails.

So it was at least 11 p.m. before anyone got to sleep.

Then we had to get up at 7 a.m. to get ready for the pageant and have breakfast.

Lizzie was competing in a modeling competition, even though I begged her to do the talent competition. Lizzie dances and plays both piano and violin and I thought she'd do well in those categories, but you know Lizzie -- she wants to do what SHE wants to do.

Lizzie has never modeled before. Lizzie gets upset and worried when she thinks the WalMart checkout girl looks at her too long. Lizzie hates to fuss with her hair. Lizzie hates changing her clothes more than once a day. Lizzie wears a shirt and pants to the pool in case someone looks in our car during the 30-second ride.

So you can imagine how much fun she had getting ready for the pageant.

And you'd be right. I believe she broke her own personal record for blaming me for things when she told me it was bragging when I told her that her hair looked nice. She said I should just stop thinking about myself and how great I am at doing hair. That's my girl Lizzie.

The good news is that those of you who know her, know that she ENJOYS being a pessimist. So the opportunity to complain is one of her favorite things. And she took EVERY OPPORTUNITY!

However, her innate beauty and competitive spirit won out and despite her trying to do everything to the contrary, my little tomboy won third place in casual wear modeling and 1st place in photogenic. So there!!

:)

Here she is in casual wear:

And party wear:

Modeling party wear (they had these little taped runways they had to stay inside, but they could model however they wanted):

Lizzie and her medals (taken with my phone - sorry):

When it was all over she told me that her modeling career had come to an end. To which I said (to her), "Okay, if that's what you want." and (to myself) "Whew!"

And here's m y new favorite picture of Lizzie -- gorgeous, isn't she? And every bit as beautiful on the inside, too (even when she's complaining!) Oh and those are Grandma Jo's pearls, which they both insisted on wearing because they wanted Grandma to be with them. I told them both that she had a front row seat in heaven and would be cheering the loudest!

The next day was Hannah's big pageant. And let me tell you that girl loves to be on stage, loves to talk to people, loves to have her hair done, her nails painted and will sit for hours and talk to me about dresses and hairstyles and pageant songs. 

Here she is getting ready the night before (I had to do this again on Sunday night, too):

Hannah LOVED every single second of the pageant and that makes it extra fun for me, too. (Since as you know, I am not exactly a pageant person, favoring grey hair and leggings as I do...)

Sunday Hannah had to compete in interview (which is closed to spectators, but she told me it was fun and she wasn't nervous and I believed her) and then we had a break before talent. She wowed everyone with her song and I was crying by the second note. You'd think I'd stop crying because I've heard this song at least 14 million times, but she just nails it each time and I'm so proud of not only her talent but the work she puts in to make it better. She thinks that MAYBE she might want to take voice lessons, but only if MAYBE we might do riding lessons, too. (Both Hannah and Lizzie are negotiators -- luckily so far I am better at it...)

Here she is in her interview outfit. Is it just me or does she look about 22 in this picture?:

And here's a link to her talent presentation on youtube:

After talent, she modeled casual wear and then we had a long break until the Western-themed party that night. That was a real fun time for both Hannah and Lizzie who danced and laughed and drank enough soda to keep them up for the rest of the weekend!

Here are Lizzie and Rob getting ready to giddyup!

The next morning Hannah had to be back at the ballroom at 7:45 a.m. (ZZZZZZZZZZ!) to rehearse for the production number.Then she had to hurry up and get into her party dress for the final part of the judging to see if she made the top five girls.
Here's Hannah modeling her party wear (and yes, that's her first communion dress to which I added some appliques and she's also wearing Grandma Jo's pearls!)

YAY!!! She made the top five!!! One of the judges came over to me and told me how difficult a decision it was because there were so many wonderful contestants in this category, but that Hannah's abilities in both interview and talent put her in the top five:

Then she had to model and do talent all over again.

YAY!!! She was third runner up overall. Crowning was nerve wracking but Hannah was so happy to be in the top five that she didn't care what place she was. I love this picture of them all holding hands ... this pageant really does promote kindness and friendship. The winner is on the left, followed by 4th runner up, 1st runner up (a spectacular tap dancer who also won the talent-- she was extremely talented!), 3rd runner up (our Hannah Banana) and 2nd runner up:

Hannah getting her trophy:

Then there was a luncheon (although to be honest Hannah and I had a piece of pizza because it had been 7 a.m. when we had breakfast and seriously I don't think that pizza ever interferes with anyone's appetite!) It helped to pass the time before the luncheon, too.

At the luncheon we sat with Hannah's new friend Isabella. Isabella was at the same preliminary pageant and was named most photogenic girl. When Hannah saw her at states she was SO EXCITED!!! The two of them spent most of their time sitting together and chatting and it worked out that their numbers were next to each other so they even got to wait in line together. Isabella is a sweetie (as are her parents and brother) and I think there is a playdate in our future as they don't live that far from us!

Hannah and Isabella modeling party wear together:

Then it was time to name the category winners. Here they are waiting to see if they won anything else:

Isabella won 3rd (I think) in the beauty category and Hannah won 1st runner up for her talent and I was SOOOO proud!!! She was happy, too, although she had really wanted a crown. She said NEXT YEAR she'll get that crown!!!

Here are the happy winners and new friends:

Then it was time to come home. Here's Hannah and the two trophies she won (another phone photo, sorry):

Both girls fell asleep for part of the ride home (and I'm not going to tell you how short the ride was or how fast Bob was going....)
As you can see from this picture, I spent so much time getting Hannah ready on Monday morning, we sort of   forgot to even brush Lizzie's hair. Luckily that gave her something to complain about:

Oh, and speaking of Bob, it turns out HE came home with a crown....

Hannah's already choosing a new song for next year (we've all been singing "Tomorrow" in our sleep!)
She and Lizzie both want to thank everyone for their support and facebook messages. They loved reading them in between all the pageantry!!