Pageant!

The pageant this year was one big long learning experience. Luckily we came home with a couple of trophies, but still no crown. I was very proud of Hannah though, even though she had a temper tantrum when she didn't win. I think it's a hard lesson to learn that every single kid there hopes/thinks she will win. Hannah was the youngest in her category (the other girls were at least in 5th grade) and one of only a few girls who hadn't won the overall title in their preliminary pageant. Hannah wants to win talent though, so that has never bothered her. I have to give a special shout out to Lizzie though, who really only misbehaved once, even though her sister was getting all the attention INCLUDING when she won 1,000 tickets on the big wheel at the arcade. Here are some pictures of our looooong weekend!

First, the good news! Hannah came home smiling and with two trophies!

 

Things started Friday night with the Winner's Circle Reception. Since Hannah made the top five last year, she was invited to participate in this event with the other winners. We got there a little late (and were exhausted!) but Hannah still had time to play a couple of games with the other Cindy girls:

 Then we had to get a good night's sleep because Saturday was a big day. We started of with orientation in the morning followed by interview and then talent in the afternoon. Hannah and I were on our own for the morning and part of the afternoon because Rob took Lizzie to see Falling Water, the Frank Lloyd Wright house that isn't that far from Pittsburgh. Here's Hannah getting ready for her interview:

 

And here's the finished look. She's in a division this year that allows a bit of makeup so she's wearing some lip gloss, eye shadow, mascara and blush, all done in very muted natural colors. Oh and by the way some people spend a lot of money on the perfect pageant outfits (and believe me it is tempting because there are some gorgeous outfits out there!!!) but I prefer to do this on the cheap. Hannah's dress and jacket combo for interview cost $20 including shipping from a pageant swap site:

 

After interview we had some down time so the girls went to the pool and then Hannah had to get ready for the talent portion. Hannah sang "On My Own" from Les Miserable. I posted the actual video of her singing on facebook, bur there is a lot of background noise, so instead I've posted one of our practice sessions at home. This is what she looked like though. The entire costume cost me $10 on ebay.

 

 Then it was time to relax, with the disco party. Here's Hannah dancing the YMCA with a bunch of other girls:

The next day they had the baby pageant in the morning, so we hung out at the arcade where (sadly for Lizzie) Hannah spun the big wheel and won 1,000 tickets.

 Lizzie was not happy about it, but I loaded another $10 onto a card and won her about 400 tickets to add to her own winnings, so she felt a little better (but not much!)

Sunday afternoon was the casual wear and formal wear competition. Here's Hannah doing her introduction with the International Beauty Woman. The dress is from Crazy 8 on sale, with a coupon. I think it cost around $9 so I splurged on the matching shoes for $12, but only because she can wear them again (and again!):

The last competition of the day was formal wear, which means we go all out and put on a pretty dress (this was $10 on ebay, with free shipping!), white shoes ($7 at Walmart) and hair all dooded up. Her hair takes forever because it is straight and thick, so when we're getting ready for beauty wear no one can light a match within 100 yards off Hannah ... there is that much hair spray holding these curls in place:

And here is a closer look at the hair and make-up. Oh, and they were selling these blingy earrings for $5 at the Cinderella gift shop, so I bought each of the girls a pair of those, and Hannah decided to wear hers for beauty wear:

So that was it for the basic pageant. They tally up all the scores from the five areas of competition (there's also a photo contest and I sent in a headshot of Hannah for that) and then the next morning they announce the top five point-getters and those girls re-compete in talent, casual wear and beauty wear and they select the overall winner from that group of five. This year, here's the group of five. Hannah was fourth alternate, but I was surprised that she made it into the top five so that was icing on the cake (and a lot of work for both of us Monday morning!!):

 Here are a few other pictures. This one is from the farewell reception on Sunday night where everyone gets to wear their preliminary crowns and white dresses (Hannah wore Lizzie's first communion dress). This picture includes Miss Tanya, the pageant director and the girl directly behind Hannah is from West Chester, not that far from us. Nearly everyone is from the other side of the state:

 This is Hannah at the farewell pageant with Emma Rose, the outgoing State Teen Queen. Hannah took quite a shine to here and she was gracious enough to pose for a few pictures with her:

Here's the gang just before the luncheon when they announced individual winners. Hannah came in third in talent (the top five were all really strong in talent!) and while she was disappointed (me too!) she eventually got over being angry and decided she'd just try again next year. I'm not sure that's going to happen, however on the way home LIZZIE said she might want to try a pageant next year, too. Oy!!!

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