Aladdin!!

Okay, I don't mind saying that I am SO HAPPY that Aladdin is done! It turned out to be a lot of work (for me -- ha ha!) during the last two and a half weeks and poor Lizzie was out of the house every day from about 7 a.m. until 8 or 8:30 p.m. But I think both girls would say it was worth it!
Lizzie was dancing/performing on a bruised heel/achilles tendon, too (because she wasn't already nervous enough!) but managed quite nicely.
Family and friends came to see them, too, which always makes them happy. I didn't get a picture of Terry, but she was there on Friday night. Also Lizzie's dance teacher Miss Michelle and our neighbors also came to check it out.
I saw it three times and enjoyed it (really!) each time! Here's a snippet of one of the songs where Hannah has a short solo. I thought Lizzie's leap came after this so I missed it (bad videographer!!) but you can see her dancing as one of the harem girls (pink pants) and running up the stairs.

Here are some other photos from the event!
Hannah was a matron and Lizzie and Phoebe were harem girls:

Hannah taking her curtain call!

Lizzie taking her curtain call:

Striking an Aladdin pose:

Hanging with special guests Aunt Linda and Uncle Dude after Sunday's show:

Lizzie (far right), the harem girls and Aladdin

Lizzie and Hannah headshots for the show:

The whole cast (Liz and Hannah are identified with arrows!)

Winning and Dancing and Cleaning

Well, it looks like photo number six has the edge over the other Hannah photogenic photos. It was not my top choice, but pretty much everyone who voted (except for me) had it as one of their top two. I'm still waiting to hear from some pageant peeps, but it looks like that will be the choice. One more thing checked off the list.

And these days I NEED a list. We get a lot done on weekends around here and I, personally, cannot wait until summer when things slow down a little bit.

This past weekend was no exception. In between working the girls continue to have lots of activities. On Saturday Rob and Hannah were up really early so they could clean up a stretch of the highway with the Lions Club. Rob's been doing this for years, but this is the first time Hannah helped. Hannah may not CHOOSE to pick up trash, but she's happy to do it when asked (by anyone other than her mother.)

Here's the gang:

While they were doing that, Lizzie was doing what she does every Saturday - dancing. In the morning she had her usual Rep rehearsal, but in the afternoon she got to go to a Master Class with Denis G., who formerly was a principal dancer with the Bolshoi Ballet.
Liz said it was fun, but she didn't like getting corrections (does anyone?!)

Here's the group of advanced dancers at her studio with Denis:

This weekend I also had to deal with a very sick dog. For reasons that we still have yet to discern, Cash went into liver failure on Friday. He spent Friday night at the vet getting fluids and IV antibiotics. He perked up enough on Saturday to come home, but when we returned to the vet on Monday his liver levels still showed failure, so tomorrow he goes in for an ultrasound to see if they can figure out what the problem is. Until then I have to give him four pills twice a day - which all dogs LOVE - and I have noticed some improvement. He still won't eat HIS food, but he is again showing an interest in MY food. We'll know more after the ultrasound.

Right now we are in the thick of Spring Break, which deserves its own post! Craziness as always!

Photogenic Voting

Hannah had some headshots done a couple of weeks ago and it's getting close to the time when I have to pick one (or, let's be real, two or three) and I can't decide. So I thought I'd let my loyal blog reader(s) let me know what they think. You can email me at tgr101@comcast.net or leave a comment, whichever is easier for you. Feel free to just tell me the number of your TOP TWO or comments about any of them.
These are straight out of the camera, so things like weird hair and blemishes will be fixed for the final shot. I am more interested in facial expression. Photogenic shots need to show both poise and personality. This is for MAC, which is more conservative. So what do you think?

PHOTO 1

PHOTO 2

PHOTO 3

PHOTO 4

PHOTO 5

PHOTO 6

PHOTO 7

 EXTRA PHOTO WHICH IS HANNAH'S FAVORITE BUT HAS NO CHANCE OF WINNING BECAUSE I LIKE HER SMILING!!!!! It does give you a nice look at her interview dress though.

Thanks so much!!!

Another whirlwind weekend - with Kleenex!

So this weekend was a lot like last weekend, except for a lot more sneezing and coughing.
I started to feel sick on Wednesday and fought it off valiantly for two days, but succumbed Friday morning to a headcold.
It wasn't too bad, except that the last thing I wanted to do was talk - and I had a party Friday night and then clients on Saturday morning.
But enough about me!
Lizzie's dance company performed at Walnut Woods Assisted Living on Saturday afternoon. It always amazes me how the dancers can adapt to just about anything and in this case it was a slippery wooden floor and an audience of people who thought they were whispering when, in fact, they were nearly yelling.
But all's well that ends well and the dancers got enthusiastic applause and lots of compliments when they came out after the show. Also I got Dunkin' Donuts on the way home, so that's always a win for me!
Liz performed her blue bird solo, but also learned the Little Red Riding Hood duet this week and performed that, too.
The group also performed Red Rain (Peter Gabriel) and had to work with large sheets of plastic. Here's a picture of that dance:

On Sunday I got my level 2 Reiki Certificate, so now I'm fully certified to offer this. Yay!!! Here I am with my graduating class. I've already reikiied Hannah and Lizzie and the dog, so I'm well on my way!

Then I came home and collapsed on the couch waiting for April the Giraffe to give birth - which she did not. And sneezed and coughed my way into Monday.

A work in progress

This is one of Hannah's songs that she'll be doing for pageants this year. It's from Thoroughly Modern Millie (which is why she's wearing a 20s style dress). It's a work in progress and the bird we're babysitting adds his own commentary throughout, but I thought I'd post so you can see some of the process. Oh and the heels she's wearing aren't the ones she'll be wearing for the performance but she needs to practice in heels and this is the pair we found first!

Enjoy!!

Wacky Weekend

I'm not gonna lie, our weekends are BUSY and sometimes CRAZY, but you know, with two teenagers in the house I guess it's to be expected.
However, it's weekends like these that I wonder about my sanity in adopting twin girls when I was 44. Now it's 14 years later and I am no longer 44 (I'll let you do the math...it's too sad for me!) and I spend a LOT of time running around (or more realistically DRIVING around.)
So this was our weekend. Not typical, but not totally outside the realm of typicality either.

It started on Friday evening when Hannah had to be at the 7th and 8th grade dance at the same time that Lizzie had to be at the dress rehearsal for her dance company's spring show. Luckily Liz had to be at rehearsal at 5 and the dance didn't start until 7. Unluckily Hannah needed help with her hair at the same time I was dropping Liz off. The pick up was a little more dicey since both had to be picked up at 9, but by that time Rob was home from work and both girls got home safely and in a somewhat timely manner.

The goods news is that I had THIS to get me too and fro. This is my new (to me) car! It's a 2015 Honda Pilot in dark cherry. I got it with about 35,000 miles on it and while I usually don't like a car that is smarter than me I'll make an exception with this one. My last car was a 2005 Pilot and this car has stuff like bluetooth and mp3 connections and an automatic hatch opener (and closer). It's got one of those back up cameras, too, but at the moment I find it too confusing to use.

So driving around this weekend wasn't so bad!

On to Saturday. On Saturday Rob took Hannah down to the shore to clean up Grandma's house some so Liz slept in and I want to work and did a few readings and then went to the store because Liz discovered that she needed clips for her costume and snacks for the evenings performance.

Then it was off to Performance One of Pyotr and Peter.
Here's Liz in her tutu for her extraordinary performance of Bluebird from "Sleeping Beauty" (that's the Pyotr Tchaikovsky part):

She was in several of the dances and was just so so good (yes, I am biased, but it IS TRUE!!) WHile Lizzie danced I sold tickets for the basket raffle (and I won a raffle!) By the time we got home (after our traditional post performance stop at McDonalds!) Rob and Hannah were back from the shore where they went to the Lobster House for lunch where they ate all the clam chowder and shrimp they felt like without Liz and I turning up our noses at it!

The next morning we were up and at 'em again as Hannah had her photo shoot for her pageant headshots, which kind of turned into a regular modeling shoot as the photographer had some time and Hannah wanted to go for it. I don't have the photos yet, but they looked pretty good on the screen - probably because Jim is a real photographer and Mary Grace is a real hair and makeup person. Here's a shot of them working:

And then it was back to the theater so that Liz could do it all over again and I could sell more basket raffles (I didn't win this time, but Uncle Dude did!) In between we got the house ready for guests since Liz had an audience for this performance (her first solo with her Rep Company.)

So here are the photos of the afternoon of dance and family:

Here's the gang, including Rob, Aunt Tina, Aunt Terry, Uncle Dude, Aunt Linda and Hannah. Uncle Dude is holding the basket he won!

Perhaps the only photo that will ever exist where Lizzie is taller than Hannah:

The Rasmussen contingent:

The Garrity contingent:

Lizzie with some dance friends Ashley and Mckenna:

Our little family:

Liz and her friend Aimee who has choreographed some dances for Liz and is a graduating senior from the Company and will really be missed!

Liz and Miss Diane who choreographed and worked with Liz on the Bluebird solo:

As you probably know, no celebration is complete without FOOD. We dined on sandwiches and chips and guac and root beer and Fresca and had that delicious strawberry shortcake sitting in front of Liz for dessert. Then everyone went home and we all took naps. :)

Way Back Wednesday Take 2

I loved this feature and so now that I am trying to get my blog up and running again (too much drama on facebook!) I thought I'd start with this.. So here is a way back photo:

This is three generations of Garrity men "communicating." Clearly my dad is offering instructions on how to get the rowboat to move and my brother is ignoring him and doing what he wants. My nephew Tommy is clearly saying "HELP ME!"

We started going to the Poconos together as a family in about 2005, when the girls were three (almost 4) and last year was our last year. Some years were freezing cold, some rained, some had perfect weather, but we always had fun.

We are actually heading back up there for a pageant in August, so the tradition continues - just in a different way!