Happy Halloween! (Part 2)

Pumpkin stockings rock! Dee, Diane, Jenn and I decided to have a little fun dressing up this week---our efforts impressed the students, mainly the girls, who all wanted a pair of the pumpkin stockings. You're never too old for a little dress up!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween friends! Hope that you are getting more treats than tricks! Aside from buying candy for the trick-or-treaters comes the daunting task of a costume for the kiddies. Hunter is past the stage of wanting to dress up so he is on "door duty" delivering candy to our festive neighbors. (Plus, he has a rough draft of a story due Monday!) On the other hand, Evan likes to create his own costume. Ideas this year ranged from an ipod, Elliott from "E.T." and Santa Claus. However, my mom and sister had a better idea.....H1N1! Hours later a costume was created and Evan was off to the Batwing Ball!

Cutest nephew ever!

My brother, his wife, and son (Gabe), just visited us from California. They came out East for a wedding in Philadelphia and we were lucky enough to have them stay with us for the week. Although I was happy to see my brother and his wife, the real excitement was their son. He is just too cute for words! He has many expressions....

...loves to play the drums......and has found a buddy in Evan.

We loved playing with him, watching him teeter around the house, listening to his many vocal abilities, and of course, smothering him with hugs and kisses! It also makes you remember when your children were that age. I'm sure I bored them with rememberances of Hunter & Evan when they were little---time sure does fly by! Hard to believe that just a short time ago, I was watching Hunter play naked in the mud and now we're researching colleges! Crazy how fast time goes! It was a great visit and we all can't wait to see them again---hopefully at Christmas! (Which is only 74 days away...)

It's never too late...

Ok, so here goes...when I was in 7th grade, my parents took me to the orthodontist. He wanted to break my jaw in addition to braces. Mom would have none of that! Many years later, I decided that I could finally get a consultation just to see what they would say. I was happy because I wouldn't need jaw surgery BUT....I would need to have all 4 of my wisdom teeth pulled. So over summer break, I took the first step. Wisdom teeth were pulled 2 weeks before school started. Pain and a soft diet for a week.

The reason for me getting braces is simply because of my deep bite---can't see it in the before picture since I wanted to make sure you could actually see all of my teeth! (This lovely picture was taken at the orthodontist as a "before" picture.) Because of such a deep bite, my bottom teeth are slowly being worn down which will cause breakage and other issues later. Since I would like to keep all of my teeth, I decided to be pro-active and get braces.

This morning, I went in for the 2 hour appointment and came out a metal mouth! It is a very weird feeling and even weirder to get used to. I now speak with a lisp that I hope goes away soon. (Especially since I have many "S's" in my name!) So....here's to 2 years of braces and various appliances that will straighten these pearly whites!

Welcome to my world...

Happy Saturday! I have officially joined the blogosphere and will be sharing tidbits about my life from time to time. Last weekend, the boys and I traveled to Champion, PA. What's there you may ask? Well, Evan wants to be an architect so we decided to see Frank Lloyd Wright's houses, Kentuck Knob and Fallingwater. I reserved a Labor Day package at Seven Springs Mountain Resort. GREAT place! Our package included unlimited activity wristbands, which allowed us to have fun on the Alpine Slide, rock climbing, Euro Bungee, paddleboats, hydro-bikes, mini golf, swimming, bowling, and disc golf. Evan and I LOVED the Alpine Slide---after a 12-minute chair lift ride, we did have a 30-minute wait at the top of the mountain. But it was all worth it! Hunter is afraid of heights so he took pictures from the ground. The resort was awesome! Great food, great room, great activities, and great fireworks.

Kentuck Knob and Fallingwater were truly an amazing experience. Frank Lloyd Wright had such original and thoughtful ideas for designing houses. He believed in an "organic" living experience, so houses were created with small bedrooms. A suite was considered a bedroom, bathroom and terrace. (Often the terrace was twice the size of a bedroom.) He enjoyed nature so much and wanted everyone else to enjoy it as much as he did. Both tours were incredibly thought provoking and beautiful. Pictures were not allowed in the houses, but we made sure to take plenty outside.

Fallingwater was serene. It was set back from the main wooded path. You felt as if you were walking into an enchanted forest when all of a sudden, this majestic house appears. If anything, this trip heightened Evan's desire to become an architect. Everywhere we go now, Frank Lloyd Wright seems to be there. We've also discovered that there is a Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture with campuses in Arizona and Wyoming. Evan has even already mapped out his college strategy. Needless to say, I didn't want to leave. Of course, that could have also been because I knew I had to go to work the next day. Either way, our trip to Champion was enlightening and for Evan, life-changing. Well, until next time, keep on livin' the dream...

Coming Attraction: Two words----metal mouth.