Bouncing Beans

As some of you may remember we lost our swingset a year or so ago to a freak windstorm that took down several trees -- one of them right onto the swingset.

We loved that swingset even though it was never used for it's actual purpose. It was something to do in the backyard and it served a variety of jobs; most significantly the leave-mom-alone-for-a-few-minutes job.

But we couldn't justify another swingset with two 11-year-olds. So instead we got a trampoline
Yes, you read that correctly. I got a trampoline for the two girls who can break an ankle jumping on their beds.

Here's a couple of photos. Since these were taken we did put the enclosure around the thing, to make a little safer. But I've still got the ER on speed dial!

High-Five on the trampoline!

 How high can you go? (Really lots higher than this!)

Happy, tired girls!

Model Citizens

As most (all!) of you know, I take a few pictures of Hannah and Lizzie here and there. They get annoyed at me AND I don't have to be in the photo, so it's a win/win. :)
However, with the pageant coming up I decided to pay someone else to take photos and to even get me in a couple. I wanted to see how someone else saw my daughters and what he or she could get out of them in a photo.
We got great pictures ... not necessarily greater than the pictures I take of them, but it was exactly what I wanted - a different perspective on them.
AND Lizzie wore a dress, so that was a bonus.
Here are the pictures:

First, my two favorites. This one of Lizzie took my breath away. I am always telling her how pretty she is and she is always disagreeing with me. But even she had to agree this is a great photo of her (and the real her -- the sort of intense, deep, tomboy her):

And this is Hannah, smiling, happy, always game to have her picture taken. She said she felt more like a model when he was shooting her, and wasn't sure if she liked it. When I shoot them, I just try to make them laugh so they look natural. But I do love this setting and the barn-wood against her coloring. 

Hannah, in black and white.

And in living color. It's hard for her to look serious in a photo, but Randy did manage to capture this one of her looking sort of pensive. Or pissed:

Okay maybe this one is my favorite of Lizzie  -- I call it her Mona Lisa pose. Hannah hates it because she's blurry and that makes no sense to her fashion diva self:

Lizzie looking all artsy. And it's a great shot of the dress. She loves it, but when she wore it on Easter she complained the whole day (THE WHOLE DAY) that it itched her.

 Lizzie in black and white:

The girls ... I love this photo and it made the whole session (an hour of walking around St. Peter's Village) well worth it:

Anyone recognize this chick?

So that was our adventure in modeling. I may actually pay someone else to take picture of us again in the future and Rob can come to and we'll have an actual photo of ALL FOUR OF US. Wow ... :)

Holy Smokes!

Was the last time I blogged really March 15? Wow.
Okay, so it's time for some catch-up.
First up ... the Lincoln Center Weekend.

Lizzie's dance company was invited to participate in an event at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall waaaaaay back in March. She rehearsed for it every weekend and she made the trip by bus while the rest of us Rasmussens were in the car.
It was ALMOST like Lizzie was with us, though, since she texted me about 15 times and sent me TWO videos of her on the bus. She called me a few times. For those of you doing the math -- this was all in the 2ish hours it takes from our house to NYC.
She was most impressed with the bathroom and the televisions on the bus. Oh, yeah, and NYC was kind of cool, too.
We arrived a little before the show started which was good because while Rob parked the car 17 blocks from LC (he had a coupon!) he also dropped me off about a mile away from the entrance. So it took Hannah and I a good 20-minutes to find our way. I did have to ask a subway cop how to get to Avery Fisher Hall (much to my chagrin he did NOT say "practice.") because we had taken so many twists and turns.
And I got a blister.
It was worth it though. Lizzie had a great time, looked beautiful and the other performances were good enough to hold my interest.
AND, we got to spend the rest of the weekend with the New York Garritys!
Here's the photographic evidence:

Lizzie, guess where? :

These are the somewhat iconic fountains at Lincoln Center. (And by iconic they were there when I lived in the city in the 1980s!)

 Here's the Lincoln Center Gang. We gave Lizzie the elephant Beanie Boo for her collection because we were going to Somers after the show:

Hey, who are those people waaaaaay up there outside the third balcony?

 It's these three. Lizzie and the rep company watched the show from way up here, while Rob, Hannah and I had orchestra seats.

 Did I mention it POURED the whole time we were there. (Even in the fountains picture above, you can see her squinting into the rain!)

And then it was on to Tommy and Brenna's house (as I was told 14,000 times during the show...) Here everyone is eating homemade waffles with chocolate chips.

 And being generally silly. It always amazed me how much taller Tommy is than the girls since he is only 5 months older than they are!

 Hannah, getting her hip hop on for the TALENT SHOW!! Yes, even though Aunt Anonymous was not there to coordinate (and you'll see how much we needed her, in a few pictures...) the kids sallied forth with a talent show:

The dog was already scared and it hadn't even started yet!

 There was a sword fight:

 Tommy constructed something (i have no idea what) from legos while Hannah did some sort of interpretive dance behind him:

 Lizzie was the emcee for the show:

 Brenna provided the cuteness and a few songs (and possibly a magic trick):

 But then suddenly, it all went horribly wrong:

I have no idea what's going on here ... but we did make the kids promise to never again attempt a talent show without Aunt A. :)