The McIntire's: Catching up....

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Catching up....

The problem with not blogging every day/week is that when you finally sit down to write there is a TON of stuff to write about and I don't know if people want to read a 10 page blog on the McIntire happenings. I'm not going to write 10 pages but I'm afraid it may be close.

We have been one busy family. Cortlynn had her end of year dance recital two weeks ago and I think both of us are glad we have a break. That Saturday was so long! Her first rehearsal was at 11:15am with a short break before she performed at 2:00. It ended at 3:00 and we had a little over an hour until rehearsal #2 took place before the evening performance at 7:00. By 9:00 all the kids and their mom were exhausted. She did such a good job and she looked so pretty.
School ended last week and she had a talent show on one of the days. Cortlynn and her friend Abby had been practicing their dance after school for a week preparing for the show: most of it was their jazz dance but they also made up parts of it. Right before it starts 2 other girls walk in with their jazz costumes on and my heart sinks. Yep- they are doing the same dance. with the same music. Cortlynn and Abby took it in stride and kept their heads high. I was a proud mom because I thought they were better. ;-) It's funny but when I was in school there were a few that really thought they would go to Nashville to be singers so it was difficult for the rest of us to "show" any talents. Kinda felt like you were 2nd class; anywhoo- Cortlynn has a girl in her class that takes clogging (her mom was part of the Fab Five on America's got Talent) Sweet girl and her mom is great BUT going up against a very loud CLOGGER is difficult. Last year and this year there was a "problem" with the music so they had to postpone the performance, go out in the hall, shut the door, and practice. When they came back in one of the kids was showing his things he built with legos (not singing or dancing but a talent to him and to me) and one of the other clogging moms whispered, "I sure wish they would filter some of this and only pick the good ones." I seriously wanted to smack her! Who has the right to determine what a talent is. It takes a lot of guts to get in front of people. It was long-but I enjoyed seeing all of the little 4th graders get excited to share their talents with their classmates, teachers, and the few parents that were able to make it.
This weekend the fire department had an open house so I took the kids. Tristan LOVED the firetrucks and had to sit in every single one of them. Cortlynn enjoyed the smoke house where she learned how to leave a burning building.
Last week we had a little family get together with my family. My uncle Larry (moms brother) who I haven't seen in 9 years and my cousin Abby (who I haven't seen in 25+ years) were able to come up here from Texas and spend some time with my grandparents. This was a perfect time for us to get together and celebrate my grandma's 85 birthday and my grandparents 65th anniversary. It turned out to be a lovely day and we enjoyed some great food.

When I quit my job I thought that I could watch a few children-just to bring in a little money. I posted an add in the paper (which I don't think anyone reads the paper anymore-that was money down the drain) and I also posted on Craig's List. This add was another mistake- I had 2 people call and were pissed when I told them I don't accept assistance from the state (a program that will pay a portion of childcare for individuals-I didn't even know this existed). I also had a sick psycho from England contact me requesting my picture and information so I could take care of his son while he was here on a secret mission. And than I received a phone call and a NASTY letter from the police department telling me that if I receive money to watch any child other than my own for ANY amount of time-I'm required to get a city license and if I don't I could possible receive a misdemeanor citation. (Sorry Cortlynn, I guess babysitting isn't an option for you) After this I pulled the adds. Last week a friend of mine asked if I was still willing to watch children and I was excited. Her children are 9 and 7 and my kids were so excited to have kids over to play. On Friday they didn't want to leave and my kids were bummed that they left. This made me feel good.

I decided to take a First day of school picture and a Last day of school picture and see how much the kids have changed in just a short period of time. Granted Cortlynn had a lot of her hair cut off-but she looks so much older-so does Tristan

Tristan took the camera and wanted to get a picture of me and Devin. He was so excited that the picture was "GREAT"

Kyra can sit up by herself now and will probably be crawling with the next couple of weeks--She is 5 1/2 months old but she is growing so fast.

These are a few photos of the kids at the fire station open house.

The other night we took a ride and stopped outside McKees to look at the animals. The sheep and goats were so funny I bet we sat and watched them for a good 15 minutes.They would chase each other and than jump up in the air. I was amazed how high they could get. This is a picture of one of them jumping.

A couple of family photos . The first one is my grandparents with their kids. The second one is of all 7 grand kids. The first time all seven of us have been in the same room. It was awesome

Kyra LOVES men and she hung out with Don (Tony's dad) for a good hour. This is a great picture of the two of them.

Josh and Clayton hanging out. He may be younger than Kyra but he looks so much bigger. He's such a cutie. The other kids wouldn't sit still so I wasn't able to get any pictures of them.

I made a birthday cake for grandma. This was my 3rd cake I've decorated with fondant and the little owl is made out of fondant too. I was pretty happy with it. The main cake was also homemade---NOT out of a box. I need to pick up actual cake pans so I can make more---I don't have a lot of sizes so for the top tier I used a loaf pan.