children

I’ll go ahead and end the suspense and say that Lexi didn’t place in the competition Saturday.  But that isn’t to say we didn’t have a great weekend.

Friday we headed up there late afternoon.  I realized on the way down that I booked the hotel in the wrong city.  Go me!  I was lucky to take the last room in the second hotel they recommended.  The kids were beyond excited about the hotel.  Lexi declared it “the best day ever”.  We were soon off to the pool party at a hotel just a few blocks over.  It was held in Hartsville, SC and let’s just say the highlight of the town seemed to be The Walgreens and The Sonic.  I do have the say the downtown area was very quaint and nice.  So no complaints there.

The kids had a fantastic time at the pool party.  Both of them were having a great time jumping in and swimming.  The pool was full of little ones so it was a little bit of controlled chaos.  They also served little cups of ice cream and gave out bubbles.  Lexi once again declared it “the best day ever”.

We stayed for the scheduled hour and then went to The Walgreens and picked up some snacks and a curling iron.  I’ve never been able to get Lexi’s hair to curl but hadn’t tried since she cut it.  We were all happy to see it was going to work.  Lexi practiced her poses (that she came up with on her own) in the hotel room and we all went to bed excited for the pageant.

I, however, got a fever and could not sleep.  I seriously think I laid in bed for three hours without sleeping a wink.  It was hard getting up the next morning.  But the kids were excited.  We went downstairs and ate waffles and I think Lexi might have declared it “the best day ever” again.

But sometime mid-morning Lexi decided she was no longer excited about the pageant.  She was scared, she didn’t want to do it and she hated the outfits I had brought her to wear to the rehearsals.  That’s when I started to worry a bit.

We made it to rehearsals with her hair and makeup done.  Her hair was cute but not like some of the girls who had updo’s by professionals that morning.  We practiced on stage and Lexi barely made it out from behind my leg.  She was nervous to say the least.  She told me on the way back to the dressing room she was scared of all those people.  I can’t blame her really.  I knew we were a little out of our league when I saw some of the girls practice.  These girls were trained to be in pageants.  Hands out, leg kicked out and a plethora of kisses and waves and I was just hoping Lexi wouldn’t hide behind my leg.

Lexi seemed excited though after getting her dress on.  Several of the girls commented on her dress and she heard one of them say she wished she had her dress.  I think that gave a little bit of confidence to her.  She was excited waiting backstage and kept asking when it was her turn.  She didn’t seem scared at all.

We had three X marks to stand on, the 2nd at the end of a red carpet with lights.  At the first, she did great and smiled, waved and I think blew a kiss.  But on the way to the red carpet I could feel I was having to drag her a bit and looked down to find she was walking on her heels!  Lexi don’t walk like that!  She walked the rest of the red carpet and I honestly don’t remember what she did.  I think she may have waved and I got her to do a quick turn.  I do remember she hid behind my leg a bit before I started pulling her to the last mark.  There I think she just looked at the crowd and then walked off stage a little bit before the announcer said her name.

Walking off stage, I knew it wasn’t enough to have won.  I was just glad to have it over with though.  She didn’ t cry and she didn’t make me hold her.  Definitely wasn’t worse case.  And she really did look gorgeous.  I kind of hoped she may have placed something just because she was so cute.

We were shuffled on stage two more times and the awards were given out.  Each girl got a participation trophy but Lexi didn’t get anything else.  They gave out Sweetheart awards and photo awards but we didn’t even enter those competitions.  I felt really bad when Lexi kept asking where her crown was.  But really, those crown were simply bought by money that the parents raised.  Minimum $250.  The photo awards were $150 just to enter.  I’m sorry, but first we know that Lexi is not one to take pictures and second, I’m just not spending that much after spending hundreds just to get her in the pageant.  Do you know how many toys I could buy Lexi instead?  Yeah, the $20 I bought her afterwards made her more happy.

I have to admit it was hard not to place.  I knew Lexi was one of the prettiest girls out there and if you think it’s just about beauty, you’d be dead wrong.  The prettiest ones didn’t win.  The girls that won are the ones that were trained.  They knew where to go, how to stand and they LOVED being in front of the crowd.  It was all about confidence and personality.  Not to say Lexi doesn’t have it.  She just didn’t have it on stage.  And we’re totally ok with that.  Neither Scott nor I nor Lexi for that matter want to do another pageant.  We’re not sore losers, we just know it’s not her thing.  And that’s ok.  She’ll be our dramatic, funny, beautiful Lexi just for us.

Here are pictures. Unfortunately the pageant doesn’t let you take any while the pageant is going on so we just have a few from before and after.

This is pretty much how my girls have spent the summer so far.  Gathering as much as they can, including food, in some other room besides their playroom and pretending.  Usually the word “boyfriend” comes up.

Emma and Lexi were playing outside.  Lexi stomps in my office where I was sitting, slams the door and then stands at their art table with her arms crossed.

Lexi: She’s aggravating me!

Me: Are you guys playing or is she really aggravating you?

Lexi: Emma is real life aggravating me!

The girls attended a tea party birthday party last week.  It’s the latest birthday trend for little girls in the area.  It’s run by a local lady who used to do it from her house but has since bought an older house that is entirely devoted to parties (Red Hat, birthday, bridal, baby).

The party consisted of a craft, dress up and the “tea party”.

The craft was a foam wand with their initial and jewels on it.  It was simple but the kids had fun with it.

Next, the girls were ushered into what used to be a bedroom that was turned entirely into a dress up room.  Racks of dresses, rows of shoes, shelves of hats.  They loved it to say the least.  The next dress up room was all for accessories and hair.  I think their favorite part was the platform to take pictures on.

Lastly the girls sat around the dining room table again. Each girl was given lemonade in a tea cup and then a plate of sandwiches, strawberries, grapes, pretzels and itty bitty cookies.  The girls LOVED that and both ate well.

The birthday girl was then sung to and each girl was given a cupcake.    During the food, the mothers that were there were ushered into an entirely different room and given “big girl” sandwiches and tea or soda.  It actually was a nice touch.

Overall a great birthday for little girls!  And guess where MY girls want their birthday this year now?

She did it!  Although I feel like I should say I did it!  Although a lot of times I *didn’t* do it.   If you’ve been reading since last August, you know Emma had a hard time at first.  Lots and lots of tears.  I think it was 3 weeks before she quit crying.

Yesterday I picked her up from school and she was walking with a little girl.  The girl pushed her playfully and Emma pushed her back.  The safety patrol says, “Please stay on the right side of the yellow line”.  Emma gets in the van and yells  back at the girl “Later”.  The girl does the same.  She tells me it’s a girl from another Kindergarten class.

Today she walked across stage and got her certificate.  Then sang a song and helped with a poem in class.

When it was time to go, I asked her if she wanted us to sign her out and go with us.  She chose to stay and play with her friends.

We get pictures with the teachers and I thank them for helping so much with Emma.  I mention the crying.  The teacher mentions all her talking.

Why yes, she’s come a long way.

It seems such an understatement to say I’m proud of her.  But I am.