Halloween Cuties

 Halloween was a big success around here.  Big girl was a greek goddess...we could never pin down which one...She is a big fan of the Percy Jackson books.  We figure she's a cross between Athena and Aphrodite. I made the costume...bet you didn't know I was soooo talented.

Little girl was Hanna Montana.

Hanna must not be popular this year.  I didn't see another one out there. I did not make this one but I did make the belt and found the matching gloves at Claires.  The wig was a huge pain! 

 The girls were lucky their Daddy got off work early to take them...he has a lot more patience and goes as long as they want to.  They walked for hours until people started turning out their lights!

I had a great time handing out candy.  Handfuls for the babies and little cuties, one candy for stinkin' teenagers who are too old to be scamming for candy (One of my pet peeves).  Anyway, everyone had a good time. Love the holidays!

My New Love

Finally found a new car! It's a Mercedes SUV.  It's awesome...Very gadgety.  I do love the gadgets!  Here's a pic.  It has leather seats, which I don't care for but these leather seats are not so bad...we'll see in the summer, though.  The kids love it, too...lots of outlets for their electronics.  I love the automatic lights and wipers.  I can learn to live without the electronic sliding doors...I've become one of those people who park a mile away from the store so little girl doesn't bang into someone else's car (and okay, so no one bangs into me).

Death of a Honda

We have recently experienced a loss in the family.  It was not altogether unexpected.  She was getting on in years. The loss still hurts, though.  She will be sorely missed.  Poor, poor Honda! 

Whyyyyy!!!!?????

I am car-less.  A pedestrian.  Hitching rides from strangers.  Poor, poor me!

I am car-searching but so far nothing speaks to me as Honda did when I first laid eyes upon her.  Oh, the new-car smell, the Navigation system, the DVD player, not to mention the electric sliding doors...BOTH SIDES!!!... sniff, sniff....

I guess I am just not ready to move on...the pain is too fresh!

Cinderella!

The big Cinderella ballet was Sunday. I wasn't able to take any pictures or video of the actual ballet but I got some pics of the rehearsal.  Forgive the quality of the pictures...it was very dark and I was pretty far away.

Big Girl is in the middle.  She played a forest sprite.

The performance was great.  The girls were fantastic. I was very proud

A Star is Born!

Big Girl did it!  She was cast as a Sprite in the Ballet Company production of Cinderella.  I knew she was a shoe-in!

She was thrilled, of course.  We are very proud.  This will be her 3rd time dancing with the company.  She was a mouse in the Nutcracker when she was seven, an angel in the Nutcracker last year and now she will be a sprite.  (Her dad teases her that she'll be dressed as a can of soda).

The ballet will be the middle of October.  I will try to get some pictures to post if I can get away with it.

Backs, Break-Ins and Ballet

Big Girl had a visit to Shriner's hospital on Thursday.  This was to be a regular check of her spine and we suspected a new brace would have to be made as she had grown so much it no longer fit well. 

After a looonnnggg wait we finally saw the doctor.  I can never figure out why it takes 2 hours to see the doctor when he only comes in the room for 2 minutes! 

The great news is her spine is completely straight for now and she gets to take a 6 month break from her brace.  She'll have to go back for x-rays in 6 months and may have to go back to bracing if her spine curves again.

She was ecstatic but she and dad were mad at me for giving the brace to the doctor to recycle...they had big plans for a bonfire. (You see why I was so anxious to leave it in Portland).

We had a celebration dinner at Joe's Crab Shack...a pretty fun place to eat. We went to our hotel looking forward to a trip to the coast the next day.  Our plans were quickly changed when we got a call from our alarm company.

We came home to find our basement had been broken into.  Luckily, the alarm scared them off and nothing was taken.  There was no damage.  Very scary, though.

We are now proud owners of a handgun and lessons are in my near future. I'm sure I'll be a natural.  I was pretty good at duck hunt on my playstation back in the day.

Today Big Girl is auditioning for a part in the Ballet Company's production of Cinderella.  Hopefully, later today we will have some more good news!

Orthodontia--The Sequel

Before

After

Oh, the joy of flossing a 7-year-old with braces!

Only 12 months to go!