Gorgeous Giggling Girls!

Last July, when we were visiting Boise, all the gals in the family went out for a girl's night. That evening, Emily was bemoaning how her girls were so nervous about getting up in public and how she would really like them to be involved in theater or a talent show or something to help them gain some confidence. That night, the idea of a pageant for the little girls was born. Kerri, my sister-in-law, did a lot of pageants in her youth and agreed to put together a Christmas Princess Pageant. We invited the two little cousins from Kerri's side of the family as well and had a great time.

The girls spent the entire day together at Kerri's house. Kerri taught them a group dance and they practiced their talents. We all met at the church for a potluck dinner and the show. It was so much fun and the girls really adored it! Thanks you Kerri for all your hard work!!

Kerri shows the girls the little outfits she sewed for them

Hannah and Brielle
All the princesses...Brielle, Sydney, Kerri's niece that I can't remember her name!!!, Amanda (Kerri's niece), Emma, Hannah, Addie, and Lizzie

Practicing their dance

Waiting for Aunt Kerri to introduce them

The big finish

Kerri had each of the girls string a cute jingle bell necklace to wear in the program.

Addie working away

Sydney

All the girls with their bell necklaces

Kerri's nieces from her side of the family (MAN! What is that one's name...it is really bugging me!)

Pizza for lunch!

After lunch, the girls helped make decorations for the pageant by cutting out snowflakes.

Working very seriously

Sydney really wanted to DRAW her snowflakes, not cut them.

The girls LOVED it! Kerri is so creative!

After all that work, the girls relaxed with some popcorn and a movie before their big night

Off to the church to practice

Hannah showing off her hairdo in the dressing room (aka Primary Room)

Addie REALLY wanted french braids

Don't they look BEAUTIFUL?

These cute teenage girls from my parent's ward dressed the girls between numbers and did their hair. They were our kids babysitters from ages ago (when we lived in that ward as well) and every time we come to Boise they beg to babysit again. They were so thrilled to help out and we were amazed at how great they were at doing hair!

The show begins!

Hannah is always a drama queen (notice the snowflakes in the background?)

Karl told jokes to entertain the audience as the girls changed into their talent clothes

Emma's talent was art. Here she shows off a picture she painted

Hannah and Brielle danced to music from The Polar Express

Ahhhh...so graceful :)

Addie played the piano AND the recorder...that is one talented girl!

Lizzie sang "Where are you Christmas?"...so cute!

Sydney sings "The Wise Man and the Foolish Man" with the help of her mom (and the audience)

After the talent portion, the girls dressed in the evening wear and came out on stage. They then descended the stairs (with the help of Ammon and James) to meet their dads in the center of the gym.

Their dads were waiting with a rose for their princess. Some of the girls said this was their favorite part of the whole evening!

Gabrielle and Randon

Hannah enjoyed her moment in the spotlight. The pageant was her favorite part of the whole trip...it almost beat out Christmas!

Ugh...having some issues figuring out the focus on my new camera! Hannah looks gorgeous anyway.

Whispering sweet nothings in Lizzie's ear

Lizzie and Joe

Emma with her Papa

Addie and Randon

We surprised Kerri with flowers as well

They were all winners!

We had one small moment of drama in the evening. A little background...Lizzie has had this great desire to get a trophy for quite some time. Ammon and Hannah were both proud owners of trophies from some previous events, but Lizzie was trophy-less. Last year she decided to play baseball for the sole purpose of obtaining the elusive trophy. Needless to say, we were all a little dismayed when they didn't give any out at the end of the season! Lizzie was VERY excited that she was going to finally earn a trophy for her participation in the pageant.

Kerri gave the girls her own trophies left over from her pageant days. Unfortunately, they were all varying sizes. She didn't have enough trophies of all one size for the number of girls in the show. She and Emily discussed the problem but decided it was either different sized trophies or none at all. They decided to give the bigger trophies to the older girls and smaller ones to the younger. Usually Lizzie is very good about going with the flow and not caring about stuff like that, but after the pageant she was a bit sad that her trophy was not as big as Hannah and Addie's. It was a very happy moment for me, though, because after Hannah saw how sad Lizzie was, she offered to trade trophies with her! She gave up her big one to put a smile back on her little sister's face. It really made my day!

It was when I was trying to take a picture of all my girls that I noticed Lizzie getting a bit sad

Aunt Emily tries to talk to Lizzie

You can see Hannah thinking about the problem...weighing the options in her mind. :) Of course, I didn't get a shot of Lizzie after Hannah sacrificed her trophy. I'm consisently inconsistent like that, hehe.

Adeline Rosemarie Richards (did I spell that right?)

At the very end, as the girls were changing, SANTA showed up! What a surprise! Emma Sue (with her hair still cute, hehe, visits with Santa)

It was such a great success! We can hardly wait until next year!!! We love you, Kerri!