Keeping it even

The other day, I was talking to Autumn and let her know that I blogged her pictures. Apparently, my children keep score. The immediate response was, "On both blogs?" So now I am blogging on the "other" blog to help everyone keep it nice and fair. (Can I tell you how much I hate that word?)

The hardest thing about these pictures? Getting Autumn to tone down the "I just got my braces off" smiles and to stop laughing hysterically. Autumn recently got her braces off and I have to commend her for being such a sport. (excluding the first trip to the theatre that left in her crying because she couldn't eat popcorn, but we won't count that since I might have done the same thing.) She hasn't touched nuts, chewy candy, carrots (which she actually likes!), whole apples and everything else on the long list of can't haves for those folks with braces. I was constantly forgetting and she was constantly reminding me, in her sweet Autumn way, that would need a substitute.

I thought she rather enjoyed that whole experience, as she was always showing people the new color of rubber bands and what not....until they told her it was time to get them off. She started a count down and told everyone who would listen. And now that they are off? She is just as responsible with her retainer (good thing because I am sure you will all hear about me having to cough up $180 for a new one if she does lose it!) and always goes around with a big, teethy grin, showing off her perfectly aligned pearly whites. It makes it worth it to know that she can have such an unguarded smile, even if she could have had 24 American Girl Dolls instead.