Holiday Talent Fest!

This is the first year that the girls had separate activities for the holidays. Lizzie continued dancing and was in the Nutcracker and Hannah has continued with her singing.
Due to a huge conflict I had to deal with Lizzie's dancing during Hannah's chorus concert. It was a little tense (but only a little!) as I was able to go see the concert during school hours. Rob handled the concert on the actual concert night and I handled the dress rehearsal for the Nutcracker. Whew. How do people with MORE than two children handle anything? Rent additional parents?

Anyway, here are some photos from these extravaganzas of talent.

Lizzie had three roles in the Nutcracker, which was not exactly the traditional Nutcracker we'd all come to know and love. It was still a good performance though. In the first act Lizzie played a little girl. Here she is with some of her friends from the dance company, wearing her fancy dress for this role:

 She was also an angel, again. We have decided (Liz and I) that because she's so petite that she's going to be an angel until she is 27 years old so she's just embracing it. Here are all the angels and FYI, Liz is standing on a step in the back that makes her as tall as the younger girls who are standing in front of her:

And here she is all by herself. These costumes were made new this year. I loved the dress, but the halos were a pain in the you-know-what to attach. I helped out backstage for several of the performances, but did manage to get to see most of the performance on the last day.

 

And finally, she played a friendly mouse in the candy cane dance. Here she is with some of her fan club (and Hannah -- ha ha!) This is Shelby, Aunt Terry and Rob with the friendly little mouse. 

 

Here's a picture of Hannah just before her concert. Even though I had to get Lizzie over to her dress rehearsal I was asked to curl Hannah's hair. And I mean she asked about 30 minutes before I had to have the dressed, bunned and made-up child over to the dance venue. So it was hectic, but we survived. Rob said the school concert was great (I had seen it the day before and had to agree -- better than usual!)

 

And while we are on the subject of dance, Lizzie has a big announcement. She's been approved to go on pointe! Yay (for her at least -- now I've got broken ankles and disappearing toenails to worry about!) Here she is with her first pair of toe shoes The need to be approved by her dance teacher before I can sew on the elastic and ribbons, but she's still begging to twirl around in them anyway!

 

 

Merry Meowy Christmas

We are having a great Christmas. Here's a short video of two VERY coveted gifts:
We hope you are enjoying your Christmas with family and loved ones (and your own version of very coveted gifts!!)

Thanksgiving birthday

So the birthday fun ended for about three days and then we went down to the shore for Thanksgiving and MORE BIRTHDAY FUN!!
Grandma Connie is recovering from cancer treatment so Aunt Linda and I did our best to recreate the family thanksgiving -- which includes birthday cakes (what? yours doesn't?) and PRESENTS.

Here is the photographic evidence of that extravaganza!
First, no self-respecting New Yorker (or former New Yorker or offspring of former New Yorkers) would even think of watching anything but the Macy's Day parade -- so we made the girls watch. This is the end when Santa makes his big entrance. See how THRILLED they are?

And then we took some time to celebrate birthdays:

Here they are making a wish (Lizzie -- it takes a while!) and blowing out the candles (Hannah):

The presents included clothes and earrings and (what a surprise!) Monster High dolls as well as some games and other little baubles:

Rob performed "Misty" for us. I know this because it's the only song he's been playing for about three months. No joke.  (I do love this piano though!)

And Aunt Linda (who refused to allow me to post any pictures of her ...) did Hannah's nails. The girls also put on a fashion show with Aunt Linda's very funky NYC boots and make-up.

Then it was time to eat. Here's a picture of Rob and his AMAZING turkey carving skills WITH HIS EYES CLOSED!!

Then after dinner it was time for a rousing game of Battleship. Guess who had the most fun (hint - not the 11-year-old): 

It was all over way too soon, but we saved the best for last when Hannah and Lizzie got to help deflate the air mattress. We Rasmussens really know how to party!

A month of birthday

I realize that the last time I posted it was a few days before the girls' 11th birthday. So long ago, in fact, that I was signed out of blogger and had to work VERY HARD to remember my password. Which I did.
So now I can post the birthday pix, the Thanksgiving pix, the Nutcracker pix, etc. etc.
But let's start with birthday photos and see where we go from there, okay?!?

We started with a celebration ON the girls' birthday, Nov. 21. They each got each other a Monster High doll (in fact ALL Hannah wanted for her birthday and Christmas was/is MH stuff -- she's obsessed!) They were both happy with the selection (made easier by Hannah telling Lizzie, I want Gigi and Lizzie telling Hannah, I want Venus McFlytrap) which made for a great birthday:

 Aunt Terry got them each their own magic 8 ball and Hannah's reaction was pretty much the exact same as Lizzie's. They were thrilled and discerned within 10 minutes that I was going to get them a puppy, let them stay up until 10 p.m. and pass gas in church. Jeesh!!

 I made cupcakes for their birthday and they each got to blow out the candle:

 And here's our favorite birthday tradition (well Hannah and Liz might like the gifts best) seeing if Rob can still hold both girls. Cash was jealous and Lizzie doesn't look all that confident but I am happy to say no Dads or daughters (or dogs) were harmed during this stunt:

The Saturday after their actual birthday they had a sleepover with six girls. They had originally invited 8, so I was happy when two couldn't come, since the noise level with just the six (plus H&L) was probably illegal. Here Rob's helping them with the pinata. Lizzie actually broke it open

 Before they could HIT the pinata, they had to find it. The theme of the party was "In the Dark" so they did all sorts of glow-in-the-dark activities. I set up a treasure hunt for them outside and they had to go around with flashlights (and they all had those alien headbands that were glow in the dark, too) and find the treasure chest. They were very successful (and very loud!)

Here they are hunting:

And here they are right after they found the pinata (which was in the shape of a treasure chest, in case you are looking at this on a teeny tiny screen!)

The girls ate in the dark (we turned on the lights when they were blowing out the candles) and I'd set out a bunch of glow in the dark bracelets and blinking lights and stuff. It was cool. They had pizza and all sorts of chips and other junk to eat.

After dinner they played around a bit more (really with 5th graders you don't have to plan anything -- they just like to hang out!) but then I gave them each a sample sheet of Mary Kay cosmetics (you can find ANYTHING on ebay) that had eye shadow, blush and lipstick on it. They also each got a hair accessory and some glow in the dark jewelry and had to (in the dark) make up their partner. This is the result (as you can see, some were better at it than others!)

 

Then it was lights out. Okay it was lights out again and again and again until about midnight, but eventually everyone fell asleep. Lizzie's allergies were bothering her (and by allergies I mean Hannah!) so she slept part of the night in her room instead of the basement, but still had a great time. here they are the next morning eating the pancakes and bacon I whipped up (in the microwave!!!)

Everyone had a great time and went home happy.. The girls were happy that they came over. I was happy that they went home! Seriously, the girls have some very nice friends and I always enjoy it when they come to visit (but it helps when they stay in the basement!)

 

Thoroughly Modern Lizzie

As most of you probably know, Hannah gave up dance this year in favor of singing more. In fact, she just made it into District Chorus!
But Lizzie decided to increase her participation in dance and was accepted into her dance studio's rep company a year ago. This means that she needs to take MORE dance. And she needs to be in MORE productions.
This means that she takes two ballet classes per week and has added modern dance to her repertoire. once a week. (That's in addition to rehearsals for Nutcracker on Wednesdays and Saturdays.) This past week they had parent visitation at the school and while I skipped ballet (it's ALL barre work and it's very very very quiet) I was intrigued by modern.
My thoughts on modern dance are thus:
1) The music is MUCH better. It was Adele and Justin Timberlake
2) Lizzie is going to have six pack abs in about a week -- most of the warmups (probably all of the warmups) involve the core. Lizzie often complains of a stomach ache on weekends and now I know why!
3) Lizzie is not really a fan of modern dance. Too few rules. And she says the music is too loud. :/

Here are some photos of her being all modern. Oh and if you notice anything, check out how deeply she concentrates -- she's VERY serious about dance:

Streeeeetttttccccchhhhhing:

Working with her teacher Miss Diane:

This is some sort of spot and spin across the room thing:

Way Back Weekly

I recently found an old snapfish account that contained photos of Hannah and Lizzie when they were about two years old. Oh the CUTENESS!!! I was surprised though, how much they are still the same and how much they are very different.

This picture reminded me how gorgeous my girls were and still are! It also reminded me that they (and still do!) want cat. Back when this picture was taken though, Lizzie was very disappointed that for reasons of physics and genetics she could not actually BE a cat. Instead she'd crawl all over the house and even wanted me to put her food on the floor so she could eat it there, like a cat. This picture was from Halloween when they were three:

And in this picture they are dancing and happy at two years old. It's nearly impossible to get them to dance spontaneously these days. And smiles are more often scowls (that tween thing can be TOUGH!) but I CAN still make them laugh and they STILL have messy hair and we STILL have a messy house, so those things have stayed the same (although the house has changed!)

Here they are .. still 2 and I think this was early summer. Stuff that's stayed the same? Well, they both still like to hang out on the hammock. But never with each other and certainly not playing with each other and LAUGHING. Once in a while I'll catch them being nice to each other and laughing together, but in general the sport of the day is annoying each other (but they seem to like it and the minute anyone ELSE tries to mess with one sister, the other sister will usually come to her aid.)

This picture made me laugh out loud, which Hannah and Lizzie can still do with great regularity. This was breakfast at the old house and the girls are two. I took a bunch of photos to turn into a photo book for Rob for his birthday in March (you can see there's a little snow on the ground in the back yard) and it was a day in the life of Hannah and Liz. The reason this picture cracks me up is because Hannah had finished her breakfast and cleared the dishes and then gone into the fridge to find some more food (a no-no then and now) and came out with a bottle of Worcestershire sauce that she wanted to share with her sister. I love that Hannah looks like she's presenting Lizzie with a bottle of wine and Lizzie looks like she's inspecting the label! (No I didn't let her put some on her froot loops!)

Halloween in '13

I thought I should post this before I'm all backed up with birthday/Thanksgiving and Christmas photos!
In short, Halloween was great. Although I am not a huge fan of the candy my girls bring home, I do love the dress up/make up creativity part of the holiday.
This year Hannah was a vampire zombie. Technically that can't exist anywhere but in the mind of a 10-year-old (since a vampire is already dead they are also already undead but not in the way zombies are....)
Lizzie actually wanted to be a centaur. Seriously, just let that sit in your brain for a little while. I explained to her that 1) it was a terrible idea; 2) there are no centaur costumes at Walmart; 3) It would be impossible to create a centaur; and 4) it was a terrible idea. So from centaur we moved on to EVERY. OTHER. COSTUME. IN. THE. FREE. WORLD. First it was vampire, then princess, then spy, then horse, then squirrel, then Elf on the Shelf (which was my idea and actually quite brilliant, but ultimately rejected) and then finally after we had looked online at EVERY. SINGLE. COSTUME. IN. THE. FREE. WORLD. Lizzie decided on being a spy, except that all the spy costumes were modeled by boys which meant a girl could not be a spy.
Eventually, about 15 minutes after I had poked my eyes out with a stick for comic relief, she decided she wanted to be a gangster. She had no idea what a gangster was, but she liked the costume so we went with it. I ordered the costume for 2-day delivery which was good because I had to alter it. And then I made her a huge money bag out of a pillow case.
The end result was that they were both adorable and I was exhausted. Here are some pictures of the day:
This is Hannah as the zombie vampire carrying the train of her friend Analisa AKA the evil queen from "The Huntsman."

And Lizzie the happy gangster:

I don't know how Hannah's hair held up all day, but it really did. I re-teased it and did more makeup when she got home from school (the school forbids blood, gore or any guns).  Lizzie was really pretty easy as all I had to do was turn her hat around the right way! So here's how they looked just before going out to Trick or Treat, especially scary in black and white:

Lizzie in living color:

 Hannah in undead color:

Oh, and while I was uploading these I noticed that I hadn't posted pictures of our pumpkin carving this year. Rob was visiting his mom at the shore, so the girls and I went out and picked out a couple (actually several more that we didn't carve!) and we made them into jack-o-lanterns and ate the delicious pumpkin seeds the next day. Here they are getting all the guts out. I carved and cooked, but I do not like the slime. I also had them give me a rough pencil drawing on the pumpkin of what they wanted it to look like and I took it from there.

 

This is Hannah's pumpkin that she named Frank. I have no idea why and find it best in these situations to just go with it. So here is Frank and his big smile:

And here is Lizzie's nameless pumpkin. It's a cat, which should surprise no one who knows her as she is regularly and loudly begging for a cat. So I made her one: