Quite the Competitor...

Darren says that Savannah retired from pageants like Brett Favre retired from football. (And yes, I did have to google to find out how to spell his name and to find out that he played football. Darren wasn't specific as to which sport.) But I really did mean it when I said we weren't going to do any more. But when this weekend rolled around and I got a call from a friend and I really wanted to do something just for fun, it sounded like a good option. :) Maybe I should change my statement to... Savannah might do pageants on occasion, but not nearly at the frequency she did before. Haha.

Anyway, let me tell you all about it. Savannah was in a fantastic mood. She really was hamming it up that day. In fact, in the dressing room, she laid on the floor and pretended to sleep (complete with snoring sound effects) just so people would come over and laugh. She'd peep at them out of one eye just to make sure they were still watching and then close her eyes and let out another snore. I just don't know what to do with this kid.



But, in spite of spending a considerable amount of time pretending to sleep on the floor, she did look pretty cute, huh?! I think she's a doll but I am aware that I'm at least a little biased.

People have asked me before what you do in a pageant with a baby. First of all, there is a group line up, where all of the girls competing against each other line up together so they can all be seen at once by the judges. Then, the girls go on stage individually. Well, the moms are required to accompany the child on the stage, and there are three x's that mark where you stop. So you walk the child to the first x, pause, proceed to the second x, stop for a minute, turn around, and proceed to the third x, where you pause once more before exiting the stage. Got it?! Before Savannah could walk (and got extremely independent) it was a lot easier because I could carry her and it wasn't hard to make her smile for the judges. Now that she has quite a mind of her own, I really can't predict what will happen on stage.

I usually coach Savannah a little bit while she is on stage, and I say things like "can you blow a kiss?" or "can you wave and say bye?" But this time she did not need any coaching. Let me tell ya.

We got up on stage for the group lineup, and Savannah was almost too over the top with personality. She stepped out from the rest of the children and clapped, waved, and then started to spin around and dance. Usually she gets great scores but gets comments like "she was a little shy." This time, that was not the case. I actually thought maybe she was too much.

When we went back on stage for the individual part, she did great. She stopped on each x without prompting, and when she got in front of the judges, she really hammed it up. She blew kisses and waved with both hands and then giggled and clapped.

This pageant was more involved than the ones we've done before because she had to compete in casual wear too. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of that outfit because she had to change so fast, but it was very cute. She did pretty good in casual wear too but this time she sat on every x. Haha. Ooops.

After that, we headed into the crowning ceremony, and each child's name was called for awards, but not Savannah. I thought she did really well, but you never know what the judges' personal preferences are, so its hard to predict who they will choose. I figured, we had a good time anyway and I was really proud of how well she did.

We got to the end of the crowning and they said they were going to give the highpoint and overall awards. Let me explain this part (because someone else had to explain it to me when we started pageants). In a pageant, they have a highpoint queen (sometimes called Supreme) for the whole pageant and its the one with the highest total score when they add up all events. For this pageant, it was the one with the highest score in photo, casual wear, and gown all added together. They also give overall awards in each category too. And for the overalls, its all of the contestants in the whole pageant, not just the ones in your age division. Clear as mud? Usually older kids win these things because they are old enough to know just what to do on stage.

So... with great pride... let me introduce to you....

Savannah Beckner, United Miss Supreme Highpoint Queen

Highpoint Most Photogenic

Highpoint Most Beautiful

Winner, prettiest hair

Winner, best attire

Winner, best smile

Winner, casual wear

I couldn't believe she highpointed in every category except casual wear. I was so surprised when her name was called over and over again at the end. Six medals, three plaques, a trophy, and a crown accompanied us home. Way to go, girlie!