Summer begins

Here's our 4th of July weekend (and a few other days, too!) in pictures. I've got a separate post for our trip to Hershey Park, so stay tuned for that.

We used to spend a lot more time at playgrounds, but now the girls (Lizzie, actually) worries that it's babyish to go to a playground, so we ONLY go to playgrounds where there is NO ONE else around. Luckily the playground at poole forge is usually empty, so we went there to play:

 

The ice cream parlor that we've been going to for years closed over the winter and there was much sadness in the Rasmussen family. However someone bought the place in the spring AND kept it as an ice cream parlor so we did our best to support them on the 4th of July:

And, of course we NEVER miss a chance to support Yocco's so we drove out there on the 4th, too. Don't you love ROb's hat? Lizzie does NOT but she was loving the Yocco's so much that she barely noticed he was wearing it during lunch:

 

Cash was enjoying the summer weekend, too, as it was cool enough to drive with the windows open and what dog doesn't like that?

This was a momentous occasion this summer. I FINALLY got my clothesline. We're still working out some of the kinks ... like how to keep the heavy towels off the ground ... but I LOVE it. And for once the bathing suits and wet towels are not all over my floor or my deck. Summer WIN!!!

As I write this, the girls are at camp. They needed ALL new shoes for camp, so here they are. The good news is that (not including Lizzie's cowboy boots which were bought elsewhere) I got all seven of these shoes shipped to my house from Payless (those are my sneakers at the bottom of the picture, which are also new!)

THe girls LOVE Sonic and ROb hates Sonic, so we take summer lunchtime as Sonic time.

Here are some shots from our pool. As you can see Rob loves to do a little light reading. THat's Hannah in the background. I have no idea what she is doing! The dark spot underwater to her left is Lizzie:

We did go to WalMart and purchase some pool toys and here's the whale we got. Lizzie's holding him, but Hannah wants everyone to know that SHE was the one who blew him up, which was pretty impressive:

Our summer has been marred by some sadness, as Sunshine, our most beloved hamster (because she has never bitten anyone) passed away a week or so ago. We were all very sad, but Sunshine lived a good life and brought us lots of joy. She had a nice funeral and is resting peacefully in a hair color box in her grave out by the creek in our front yard.

THe girls each made grave markers for their hamsters. (Cotton died a year or more ago and has since been replaced by Cinnamon who bites EVERYONE). I had to mix the plaster. The kit came with this nifty mask, which I think makes me look like a surgeon ... oh what might have been...:

We finished off 4th of July weekend at Aunt Terry's pool/barbecue. It stopped raining for about 10 minutes so the girls took full advantage of the pool. Here they are being their usual serious selves:

While they were swimming Lizzie looked up and saw the sun shining through the clouds and said it was Sunshine saying hello, so I snapped a picture of it:

Next up ... Hershey Park with Uncle Dude!!!

 

The End of Spring

I know, I know ... it's been a month since I posted anything. Well let me tell you not only have things been their usual crazy busy around here, I also had computer problems. It would take HOURS for photos to load into blogger.
So, I solved that problem by purchasing a new computer. I'm trying to move some photos over, but I think I've got enough to let you know what we've been doing for the past couple of months.

Lizzie is obsessed with hummingbirds. I have no idea why, but when Rob took her to the store and said she could buy herself something special, she picked a hummingbird feeder. She and I made the solution (sugar water) and set the thing out. I had NO confidence that any hummingbirds would show up, but by the next day we were a regular truck stop for hummingbirds. Lizzie was thrilled:

The Girl Scout Father Daughter dance took up a lot of my time at the end of May. It was a terrific time though according to ME. I was the DJ as well as the host, but luckily I had a couple of crafty moms to help out with the decorations. Here are Rob and Hannah dancing. Lizzie wasn't into dancing as much as she was complaining that Hannah was hogging daddy all the time, but I think complaining makes her happy, so she had a good time, too.

Here's the gym at the girls elementary school that we turned into the dance hall. The white building with the pink door was the photo booth we hired for the night and it was a HUGE hit. The table in the foreground has a craft project that were bookmarks that could be made and decorated with the set of photos from the photo booth.

Here's my gang at the dance. They are standing in front of the balloon arch that the other moms made. It also was a huge hit, especially at the end of the evening when we took it apart and the girls got to take balloons home:

Here's the snack table with the chocolate fountain. By the time the girls and their dads all arrived this table was filled with snacks all great for dipping in the chocolate. Yum!

No sooner had the Father Daughter Dance ended then we had another girl scout event. THe Leader Daughter activity is just for leaders and their daughters to thank them for sharing us with the troop for the year. We've done cooking and line dancing and theater games and this year we made fairy gardens. Here is Hannah and her garden:

Lizzie's fairy garden:

A closer look at Hannah's garden:

A closer look at Lizzie's garden:

 We didn't get to have our last day of school picnic on the last day of school because it was pouring (and frankly it feels like it's been pouring ever since!) so the next day we celebrated with cinnamon buns on the deck.

Stay tuned for more posts now that I've got the computer up and running!!

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!!!

Thanks to everyone who bought ads or supported us with good wishes and thoughts. The Cover Girl award went to a girl who sold 12 pages of advertising.

Dance Demo 2013

Today was the girls' Dance Demo (otherwise known as a recital) for their Ballet class. They moved up to a more advanced level and while Lizzie loves the discipline (and she's got great feet for ballet according to her teacher) and the barre work, Hannah (who has terrible flat feet for ballet according to her teacher) does not like anything about ballet these days. However, when you look at the video that I shot during their dress rehearsal yesterday, she is the only kid smiling. Hannah may not like ballet that much, but she loves being on stage and like she told me, "no one is going to be looking at my feet!" :)

So here's their demo. It's my usual terrible video work an I only shot half the stage because that's all I could get in, and still be able to discern Lizzie (in the front row) and Hannah (in the back row, just behind Liz). So when they are standing their doing nothing, you can be assured that the girls on the other side of the stage are dancing.


Today I got a shot of the girls on stage:

After the show with their flowers (and while Hannah IS taller than Lizzie she was wearing boots and Lizzie was still in her dance shoes):

And finally with their biggest dance boosters Shelby and Aunt Terry (and dad!):

Beautiful girls

I love Hannah and Lizzie with my whole heart and then some. I love them because they are funny and silly and sassy. I love them for their faults and their strengths. But really I love them just a little bit more because they indulge my interest in photography. Hannah's pageant is in three weeks, and in our quest to come home with a round crown we are participating in the cover girl contest. For that we had to sell ads (thank you family, for purchasing them!) and then I had to make ads with Hannah's picture on them. Those pictures will be judged and if one of the pictures is loved best by the judges, Hannah gets to have her picture on the cover of the program book at the pageant AND win the cover girl sash and ROUND CROWN.

Which is a very long way of saying that we needed photos. Which gave me a chance to get out the camera and see what we could come up with. Then because I didn't want to leave Lizzie out (and because she indulges her mother) I did a photo shoot with her, too.
So here are the photos. I posted most of these on facebook, but there are a couple extra here ... just for my loyal blog readers!
This first picture is her official head shot photo for the pageant::

I got this shot by having her jump on my little trampoline:

Taking advantage of a little breeze and her (mom made!) curls:

Hannah hates this picture and I love it. I love that she looks kissed by the sunlight and I've seen this trying not to laugh face about a million times:

Getting a serious look out of her is not as easy as you'd think, but we got one:

Out back sitting on the wood pile (where the swingset used to be...):

I think this is my favorite picture because her smile is so natural:

Sassy girl:

And now for Lizzie ... she won't win anything for these photos (no pageant for her) except my undying gratitude that she let me take them:

This is Lizzie's photo from the trampoline -- pure joy!

Lizzie sitting on a different wood pile. She has such a great, natural smile:

 And here she is showing a little sass, herself.

Here she is in front of the tree. It is VERY hard for her to give me a straight face in a photo since she's smiling all the time (in her pessimistic way, of course!):

 I love this picture of her, even though she looks like she's 25. I took it when she was holding her face up to the sun at the end of our photo shoot: