Halloween Sweet Treats

The Great Pumpkin Carving of 2011

Yes folks, that is a power saw. If we didn't have this, we will still be here trying to cut into them.

The finished product at night. I put four tea lights each in them. And they looked great from the road.

A New Smile

Before

I think most of you who read this blog know my teeth story. I was about 8, riding a bike, popped a wheely. Came down off that bike and my mouth hit a brick sticking up out of the ground. Blood and pain like you cannot imagine. One tooth had fallen out. After several years of dentist treatment and abcesses..........it was one of those things I didn't really think about. But it has always bothered me that I didn't have a very pretty smile. Those two front teeth are not very attractive as you can tell from the above picture.

Fast forward to the past couple of years and they had started to bother me. I thought I wanted to have them pulled and implants put in.........very expensive to say the least. But after one consult with a dentist who could do that, he wouldn't. He said I should save the teeth. And that he could never make my two front teeth look right because of the way my gums were designed. I appreciated his honesty.

I found a dentist here in M'ville who could do the root canal on my right tooth. It was the right one that had a cyst/infection in it. So I had the root canal about a month ago and they packed it with medicine to get rid of the infection. The infection had also started to eat away at the bone up there. Thankfully I could see that starting to be reversed on the x-ray today. Today, they finished the root canal and then I headed to the other dentist who does veneers. The ones in the picture below are only temporary. But I am so happy to have a better smile!!!! And can I just say that I think my mouth was stuck about 10 different times for all the shots..............ya'll this was huge for me. I mean, who really likes to go to the dentist??? But when it comes down to work like this.....it takes alot of courage. Thank you God!!!!

After
So, what do you think??? Can you tell the difference?????

Annual SC State Fair

We always have to check out the animals when going to the SC State Fair. This was the stop that started the conversation of Tug wanting a hampster. Is there a 'p' in that? Who knows. Anyway, I just don't want to go there yet. Our last 'pet' was a fish and that was nice. It was low maintenance. We shall see................

I always love to see what the year's sand sculpture will be. This is the state capitol building, very cool.

This picture was taken after partaking in some snow cones. As usual, even though Columbia is less than a 2 hour drive from our house, it's always much warmer there. I dressed the kids right for once. Love all the mums and fall colors.

That hand you see in the car...........my husband. This was a huge feat for him. He's just as much afraid of heights as I am. But he was willing to do it for his little girl. I was proud of him!!!

Cutie

Getting this picture was like pulling teeth so it had to be on here. I posted several things today............cannot believe we are nearly mid-way through October and I hadn't posted. I can't believe how crazy our lives are right now. Practices, games, work, school. I really don't know whether I am coming or going half the time. So many things going on.

Here's some big news: I am about to be a hip-hop drop out. I haven't told the studio yet, but there are two reasons. Todd's class in the spring is on Tuesday nights and I am not paying for those classes, dance class and then paying for a babysitter four nights a month. That would just be crazy. And the other reason is that they are doing a throw back to older music b/c of their 25th anniversary and I am not feeling it. I am just not having fun with it. So I think by the end of October I will be done with hip hop for this year and stick to doing zumba.

Baseball Time

Here's my lefty batter. Tug is doing machine-pitch baseball this fall. This is another sport we went out on a limb for. Tug played t-ball about 2 years ago and was bored out-of-his-mind. He said he wanted to do baseball this fall instead of soccer so we went with it. He has really enjoyed it. The first few games were rained out as you can see from the pictures below. However, today was a beautiful day for baseball. They have won all their games except one..............we lost today 5 to 4. It was a tough game.
Taking a few practice swings..............

Bummer...........another game rained out!

Soccer Time

This fall Nor is playing soccer. We didn't play in the spring, because last fall she didn't seem to be 'in to' it. So we figured we'd give it another try. Boy were we surprised at the first game. She was up and down that field like a champ. She has really enjoyed it. Perhaps we have finally found her niche. Or it could be that as long as she has an audience she'll do great. At least that is what our friend Rhonda T. says. She does great at goalie too!!! Yesterday she took a ball to the face, got right back up and defended that goal. Not a tear in her eye.

Fall Fun

Recently we have been to two apple festivals. These two pictures were taken at the Wilkesboro Apple Festival. I must say I was not mentally prepared for that one. Everyone said it was a great festival and they were right. We had a good time, bought apples this time............which I have made 3 apple crisps from. I tell myself that it isn't too unhealthy when made with splenda, right????

The other apple festival we went to was in Hendersonville..........a long drive. I followed the directions from mapquest, not sure I would do that again. It would have been quicker to go to Asheville and then drop down. It's a cute little town, but not nearly as huge a festival as W'boro. And for some unknown reason we didn't get apples. I think we didn't want to carry them around all afternoon. Although we did score some of the best apple cider I have ever had. Oh how I love this time of year!!!!