Finally at Grandmother's

This post goes with the you tube video posted yesterday
here. 

Grandmother is a name given a pageant director 

Who is laying down her crowning skills. She getti

 A little older and forgetful and needs all the help 

She can get to pull off her pageants now, so they 

Say. 

So she gave a farewell pageant and we participated 

And enjoyed it and learned some valuable pointers 

. 

And finally Brooklyn did it at Grandmother's pageant.

The princess cheer outfit, and pompoms, and he

Smile won her Grand Supreme.

She had fun. And did so good all on her own. 

She placed grand Supreme

In 0-5 age division. Which is the  highest score in

That age group breakdown. There were 3 other age 

Group breakdowns with a Grand Supreme also. 

The only other higher award was the Ultimate which was 

The highest score of all the contestants. And that went to a 17 year old.z

It really is fun for a day. We never know what the outcome will be or how she will act.
We show up definitely not knowing what to expect each time. 

gin

You have received a YouTube video!

This is a video of Brooklyn at a pageant. A post about it will follow in a few days. It is poor quality video and is sideways. But I can't fix it. It's for her to watch years from now on my "mominthewilderness'" blog. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tV9piV0X9Hk&sns=em


Ginger

Beach Bums

Not every person made it to the beach for vacation.  I am that person who didn't make it. I like the water, the sand, the sun, the amusements, the hotel life. But so far have not enjoyed it this summer.

So,  instead of me at the beach, here are my little beach bums at the beach. They went the same week. One to Fort Walton. One to Destin. And the parents sent me pictures everyday. Those  of you who see me on FB have already seen most of these. Those who have not, enjoy!

His very own sand castle!! 

Just getting started with her sand castle. 

Even the pool is good. 

They said she liked the waves coming in. 

At the beach everyday for a whole week. 

Waves big as her.

Can't keep him out of the water. 

Or her either. 

A nap on the beach is heaven.

.I can totally relate!

Happy 2nd Birthday Party, Cohen

This two year old is a happy awesome little guy today. 

His party was today celebrating with his 8 year old cousin who shares the same birthday. Next Thursday they will be 2 years old and 8 years old. 

Today was the big day for double the fun, double the guests, double the gifts, double everything with a monster truck party.  

Food, cakes, gifts, and swimming for the two of them. 

Happy Birthday Big Boy Cohen!

Gin

Birthday Treats

Being the wife, momma, and mawmaw of the brood I make sure birthdays are highlighted, acknowledged, celebrated, and special. I actually want to celebrate everyones birthday exactly the same way every month.  The birthday party for June and July birthday's were for Jennifer, Cohen and Brynlee's actual birth-day being a newborn. The day ended with a bang with fireworks for the 4th.

We first met for a birthday dinner. The waitresses sang the Happy  Birthday restaurant song and both honorees were given their own little Mexican desert. The baby slept and didn't participate much. 

Cohen liked the attention of them singing  to him and he thanked them for his own special birthday dessert. Jennifer was embarrassed with the attention, but didnt mind eating her own special birthday dessert from them. 

Towards the end I excused myself to the restroom and snapped a few pictures of the group as they were packing up. 

Then cake and gifts. 

The real party for Cohen's 2nd birthday is in a few weeks. But there is something in me that has to give a party anyway no matter how many more Bday parties they may have.  Jennifer's real bday was in June. But I am a month late with her

Also July is my dad's birthday month.  Wish he was here for his birthday party, he passed away over a year ago. But I will be thinking of him and acknowledging him in some way.

Happy Birthday!! 

Gin

Fun 4th

I had bought some cute patriotic decorations to have a little party.

Red, white and blue paper light lanterns were hung across the porch.  

A flag I keep hung inside the closet under  the stairs was brought out and put at the door steps. 

Patriotic fabric I had in my stash was wrapped over the porch rocker cushions. 

And a little BBQ, salad, beans, grilled corn on the cob, brownies and watermelon was a table decoration in itself. 

Only things missing were a few people and pictures of my decor.  

But I do have a few pictures to show. 

The little ones swinging on the swing.  

We pushed them high. It tickles your tummy, you know. 

Higher and higher. 

And we threw in the sleeping baby for just a second to get them all in their red white and blue.

May God Bless the USA everyday including July 4th. 

New Arrival

Baby grand #3 arrived 10 days ago, June 4. We're thankful for a healthy bouncing baby girl weighing in at 6 lbs 25 oz 20 1/2 inches at 12:44 am via emergency c-section. Her name is Brynlee Rae.

We made it to the hospital to keep big sister and wait in the waiting room. We looked at all the magazines, ate Zoo Cookies and water from the vending machines, and showed a few acrobatic skills. Big sister stayed up the entire time until we left at 2am decked out in her pjs.

She wasn't fussy at all and never showed any signs of sleepiness. 

We had one section of the waiting room to ourselves and had enough space to run around to pass the time. 

The magazine scene before they kinda got torn up. 

Baby and mom doing well and get to come home in a few days.

While I get to keep big sister all to myself for a few days. 

So since this post is about the new arrival , I must add one more picture of her. 

Gin

Merry Month of May

May has slipped by and a few happenings were left out of my documentation of life.

Birthday bash for Brandon:

An adult child in the family had a birthday. This made 34 birthdays in his lifetime. We celebrated well with a little oooing & ahhhhing over his life achievements with food, cake, and gifts. 

Happy Birthday.

(That makes mom seem old. But I am only as old as I feel. And I don't feel old at all.)

New house for Trent:

Another adult child in the family bought a new house. We helped him move in and set up housekeeping.  This is the model home. His is similar. 

Of course I babysat:

For my own remenescing, I have some little ones picture of our play date. 

I call them my AR (Accelerated Readers). FYI: AR is a school implemented reading program which my kids were in in their elementary days; and it's still a part of the classroom today. I'm starting these two out early. 

Enjoying snack time.

And primping in the mirror.

And the next two pictures. 

And taking care of stuff going on that one does just because it comes up and needs ones' attention. 

Gin 

Weekend Show

I attended the state level Our Little Miss an hour and a half away. Even tho you may not be into pageants, keep reading and get a glimpse inside a full scheduled pageant. 

The pageant was well organized and we were told when to do what, where to do it, what to wear, when to leave, when to return.  So yes, we weren't in control of most of our time. 

Some was at the hotel ball room. Most was at the Strand Theater, an old style theater in the downtown area that had been restored and made the whole experience really nice. 

The theater stage was set with bright lights and filled for two days and nights with beautiful young ladies from 0-19.

1st event was "upclose appraisal" for baby division by judges at the hotel ball room. Jennifer said Brooklyn was fussy, so that didnt go well.

2nd event was talent at the theater.  0-2 years old and 3-6 years old was not mandatory to do talent, but they encouraged it. They want to see every inch of character in each contestant. So this was an optional event for her age group. And mandatory event for all contestants 7 years old and above. So I came up with the idea for her to go on stage with a tiny picture book she has, and to "read" the book with a microphone.  It went really good. Jenfr walked her on stage, Brooklyn carrying one of her stuffed animals and her book. They handed Jenfr the microphone. The first 3 pages went real cute -- "fish" "dog" "cat" -- she said them nice and crisp and plain in the microphone . Then Brooklyn took the microphone from Jenfr and banged it on the floor 3 times.  (You know how a microphone sounds when you do that?)

Jenfr calmly took the microphone and turned to the emcee and she came to the rescue and graciously thanked her for her performance and ended her talent. The rest of the night between events going on and trips to the restroom people would stop Jenfr and comment on how cute her talent was and how her words were clear and crisp in the microphone. One lady said she wished she could have finished reading her book for them . One 10 year old boy who was seated in front of us with his family said he liked her talent especially when she banged the microphone on the floor and then he laughed. She definitely left an impression.

3rd event was the theme party "UnderThe Sea", at the theater. Attire had to be a theme-wear. So she wore her bubble guppies suit from the prelimanary pageant in BR. 

There was mingling on stage, then costume parade and two winners, 1 from 0-6 years old and one from 7-16 years old. 

There was movie time in the theater, showing The Little Mermaid on the big screen. Free drink and popcorn was a treat for everyone with a $5 admission for all. 

4th part was sportswear. Mandatory for all ages.  She wore the sailor suit. The sewing of it is posted a few posts down. 

5th part was beauty dress wear.  She smiled a few times, waved once, and kept her tongue out the rest of the time.
Told her mother "no" on stage in the lineup with her age group when Jenfr tried to move her hand out of her mouth.

We weren't allowed  to take pictures. But I took a few anyway, just like everyone else was doing. 

The final results::::
For photos she submitted she got 4 medals for different categories.

For talent she got overall optional talent in 0-6 years old combined division. The other little girls in that division either sang or did a little ballet dance routine. She got a trophy, a banner, and a crown for talent winner.

She got prettiest eyes in 0-2 years old and got a trophy.

And for the actual beauty dress pageant division she got Baby Personality Plus. Receiving a crown, a large trophy, and a banner.  

So no official queen title. Would have been nice to get queen. But queen has to go to nationals in Miami in July. And Jenfr couldn't go with new baby plus she didn't want to go to Miami.  If you got state queen and not participate in nationals in Miami, they take your title away and give it to the next runner up, and on down the line till one participates in the nationals. 

No queens crown but she came home with 3 trophies, 2 crowns, 2 banners, and 4 medals.  

The hotel had the hot courtesy continental breakfast. We had sandwich fixings in our room for lunch to have between the pageant schedule so Brooklyn could have naptime. And dinner was with the pageant one nite at the hotel.  

I think that about covers the details. 

It was an amazing and fun weekend.