My girls

oldest daughter

Daughter updates....hmmmm.

Let's begin here.

Some of you have sent me e-mails expressing concern regarding our middle daughter's fall from her horse this past weekend. Middle daughter is fine. She banged up her elbow and had the wind knocked out of her; but other than that, no major injuries. At the time of her fall, she was able to brush herself off and finish her ride. Her elbow is still tender and bothers her some, but our pediatrician tells us that her discomfort will improve with every passing day.

Now, just in case some of you think that we are wealthy, horse breeding millionaires, you should probably know that every year, all year long, our middle daughter saves her pennies to attend one weekend at Canyonview Horse Camp. This year, she had the time of her life and thanks to being thrown from her mount, she has a few extra tall tales to tell as well!

Oldest daughter also had an exciting weekend. As some of you may recall, our oldest daughter entered a beauty pageant earlier this Fall, the culmination of which was lived out on stage October 14, 2007 in a five hour extravaganza of hot lights, taffeta, silk and lace.

I'm not sure what to say about the pageant.

I mean, do you really want to hear how most of the pageant girls rolled in Sunday afternoon armed with their zip strips and hot rollers and fancy make up mirrors? Oldest daughter and I practically howled with laughter as we pulled out our little sandwich bag sized Ziploc baggie of make-up and set it down next to the gi-normous tool boxes filled with more make-up than any one person could ever hope to find at their local Macy's cosmetic counter.

"We", I mean "she", didn't stand a chance.

(In other words, we (I mean "she") didn't win the coveted title, the scholarship money, or the all expense paid trip to nationals. Boo hoo.)

Believe it or not, I'm not a disgruntled pageant mom. Really, I'm not. Does it bother me that my precious baby didn't win? Yeah sure, it bothers me; but truth be told, the whole pageant "thing" bothers me a whole helluvalot more.

I mean, just answer me this.

How in the world does spending a crap load of money buying gowns, shoes, make up and miscellaneous grooming tools help shape a young woman's character? How does parading about in high heels and expensive dresses prepare a young woman for a successful career, or more importantly, for a meaningful life?

Sheesh, my world is spinning. I feel dizzy. There's just so much more I could say about the pageant; but I'm still in the throes of my pageant hangover, so I'm going to keep my big mouth shut.

And friends, that's what the whole pageant experience was like for this mother. It was like some long, looooong drawn out drunk fest. It was like walking through life stoned. It was like seeing the world reflected in fun house mirrors. It was, well, it was bizarre.

And that's all I'm going to say about that whole experience.

On a brighter note, today we are celebrating our youngest daughter's birthday. She turned seven on Sunday, but because we were at the pageant all weekend, we elected to celebrate today instead. I'm baking her a four layer funfetti cake and we are having her favorite meal for dinner. What might that dinner be? Well, are you ready for this? It's chicken and proscuitto tortellini with a roasted red pepper alfredo sauce.

How many seven year olds do you know who would request chicken and proscuitto tortellini with roasted red pepper alfredo sauce for their birthday dinner?

What can I say?

My girls are special!