Beauty Queens

Last night we were invited to a party our friend Katie's parents were throwing for her in celebration of her recent graduation from college and a "send-off" for her because she's competing in the Miss Tennessee pageant this weekend! The party was way out in the 'burb of Lebanon and didn't start until 7. Fortunately, Lilli took a nice nap on the way out there and was fairly refreshed when we arrived (it was about a 40 minute drive).

A couple of years ago on my 29th Birthday one of my friends at work gave me a little tiara (for some reason they always called me princess....hmmmm.....) that I had to wear at work all day that day. Of course I've kept it and knew exactly where it was as we were getting ready for the party. I thought it would be so cute if Lilli would wear it! I had also hoped to make a little sash out of paper and write "Good luck Katie" on it but that just never happened. Def will if she makes it to Miss USA though!

We were one of the first ones there (since we knew we wouldn't be able to stay late!) and Katie just LOVED Lilli in her crown! She was an instant hit! She grabbed her crown from winning Miss Southern TN for some pics with Lilli.

I love this one!

Action shot of Katie's crown falling off! It scared Lilli for a minute but she made a quick recovery!
The two ladies checking each other out and admiring each other's crowns!Brent, Lynda and their two boys Micah and Levi were also there. We borrowed Levi for a little while and got an updated shot of Lilli and Levi together. This was their last pic, they've both grown a lot! This was around 8:30. Lilli usually gets in bed around 8:15-8:30 and she was just rubbing her eyes, but not about to miss a thing!
Someone stole Lilli's tiara....

Lynette Cole, a former Miss Tennessee who is from Columbia and went on to win Miss USA was there to support Katie so I just HAD to get Lilli's pic with her. I'm sure I'll never see her again and she was very gracious to pose! This was right before we left, Lilli was WAY sleepy so there was pretty much no chance of getting her to look at the camera!
Right before we left, one last family photo op with Katie, who makes me look very pale! Everyone was so impressed Lilli didn't mind wearing her crown! Somehow we have our kids trained well at wearing strange costumes, but with Pippin we do have to load him up with treats!

Fortunately she slept most of the whole ride back, and then went right to bed after a little milk. Sometimes keeping her out late gets her past the point of exhaustion where she puts up a major battle when she does get to bed, so we were really happy last night went so well!

The Miss Tennessee pageant is Sat night and while we won't be there in person we are going to try to watch it streaming online and hopefully watch Katie win the title!!!!!!