Last year on our first night at the fair, Adalyn noticed a pageant was going on and asked if she was going to be in it, too. I quickly said no, that I didn't send in the form and maybe we will do it next year. I hurried her along and off we went to ride rides. Fast forward to July and out of the blue she said, "Momma? Do you remember that time I was in a pretty dress and daddy walked me out on a stage? Can I do that again?"
Ummm, yes, I do remember. I was totally caught off guard and came back with, " Yes, I remember. Go ask your daddy".
lol
Of course, she did ask and we said yes, if she really, really wanted to.
Once I wrapped my mind around the fact that she was going to be in it, we needed to start looking for dresses. We went to a few places and ended up falling in love with a turquoise dress. One of the colors I said I didn't really want because I assumed that color would be popular and worn by multiple girls. Which ended up not being the case. I may remember 1 or 2 other girls in that color. But she looked absolutely stunning in it and we knew it was the one!
She had so much fun wearing it and practicing her walk in our living room. This was her first pageant that she had to walk on stage all by herself and she KILLED it! I was so incredibly proud of her. All the tips that were given to her she literally took to heart and followed every instruction to a "T".
My mom also had so much fun practicing with her and we would Face Time so my mom could watch and give her pointers as well.
I told her over and over that we are doing this for fun and to think of it as getting an AWESOME princess dress out of the deal. She understood and we went with it!
My mom checked her out of school that Monday so she could have an afternoon nap. If you are friends with me on Facebook or follow me on Instagram you have seen her fall asleep after school at random places throughout the house. Kindergarten is tiring! We knew it would be a late night so I thought the idea of letting her nap for a few hours was a great idea. Had to get permission from the principal first, but it was no problem. hahahaha
Homegirl has the best head of hair I have ever seen. She took a shower and we let her hair dry on its own and it turns into a beautiful head full of curls.
#lucky
Get ready for a picture OVER LOAD!
I brought a bag full of snacks, books, colors, and her iPad to keep her entertained throughout the night.
Adam was in charge of photography for the night and I am so thankful for all the pictures he took! I have a lot on my phone too from being backstage with her.
She was contestant # 24
(out of 28 girls)
Beautiful, right? Ah, I was just so proud of her!
It took some time to get through all 28 girls so once the last little girl went, I then explained to her that all we needed to do was wait to hear if they called her number for Top 10. I told her if we didn't hear it, we were changing clothes and hopping on some rides!
We heard her number so she went back on stage to do her walk again.
You see how excited she was by the look on her face? This was when they called the Top 10 on the stage. 5 at a time I believe.
And this was her reaction as she came off the stage
After I took this with my cell phone, she said,
"Can we change and go ride rides?"
hahaha
I then had to explain we need to wait to see if we hear her number for Top 5, and if not, we would change!
Honestly, she was more excited about the possibility of riding rides than anything. lol Which made me feel good. I love the innocence of a 5 year old!
They called her number for Top 5 so out she went again to do her walk across the stage.
I was tickled pink by this point. There were soo many beautiful girls, and lots who obviously did pageants all the time, I was just so proud that she made Top 5. She really did such a good job considering this was her first time doing it solo.
Top 5
Notice she is holding her flowers like a softball bat.
That's my girl! lol
We then told her to hold the flowers like a baby lol
One of my favorites :)
We are so proud of this sweet girl!!!!
We had lots of friends and family there to watch and Aunt Patsy and Uncle Bo even made the trip to town and surprised her! We had no idea they were coming.
It was truly such a fun, memorable night.
We had a happy little girl on our hands!
After all the pictures, we went to the truck and changed her clothes and hit up some rides! It was late by this point and the most of the riding crowd had died down so we had little to no wait for rides. My mom and dad walked around with us and we just had a great ending to a very exciting night! Oh yeah, wouldn't you know, my phone died RIGHT after she won! I was only able to take a few of her with her crown on before it shut off. I wasn't able to text anyone or more importantly, post to Facebook!
hahaha
By the time we got home and gave the kids baths and put them to bed, my phone was charged enough and 19 text messages came through and my Facebook had blown up due to others posting her picture on there. I remember seeing 12:00 AM before I shut my eyes for the night.
Whew, what an afternoon/night!
So proud of her!
Oh, and just for fun...
;)
24 years later!
