Christmas 2012

I can't believe Christmas has come and gone already.  I swear it goes by faster every year.  Last Christmas Eve the kids opened a package of jammies.  This year they kept asking me about it so I decided to try to make them some jammie bottoms.  After DAYS of trying to find fabric, cutting, and sewing, I'm quite pleased with the outcome.  I did forget to wash them before (okay, I ran out of time) and poor Tristan turned blue due to his pants.  I thought it was hilarious--he didn't.

 

 

I didn't get the gifts completed before Christmas Eve-so I had to do some of the Santa gifts after our Christmas Eve party.  This was such a pain.  Kyra's doll bed took over an hour and Cortlynn's bean bag took two bags of beans to fill it.  Unfortunately I missed the opening and half of a bag fell onto the floor and than stuck to me.  I came close to just putting a bow on the bags and having Cortlynn fill it herself.

 These two photos were special "Santa" photos.  After he left the gifts and before the kids woke up.

This year we hosted the McIntire Family Christmas Eve party.  I think we had 26 people over to our house not including us.  It was a lot, but I think everyone had fun.  Santa even made an appearance.  Everyone that wanted to had a chance to sit on his lap--Even Devin and Kyra sat on his lap.  Tristan was mesmerized by his visit and was excited for him to take Tinsel-the reindeer- back home with him.

 

Christmas morning came quickly.  Tristan and Cortlynn woke up around 7:30 but actually let us sleep until 9:30.  Not too shabby!!!!!

Kyra LOVES her new baby bed.

Tristan's blue foot.  This picture doesn't really show how blue he really was.

Kyra had a long day.  She climbed up on the couch and pretended to go to sleep.

 

I had to post the outfit Kyra wore to grandma and grandpa's house Christmas night.  Sparkly skirt and boots.  Too cute.

Today was cold but Tristan and Cortlynn wanted to go sledding.  I love the fact we have a sledding hill just up the road from our house.  They had a great time and I sat in the car relaxing while Kyra slept.

Happy 2nd Birthday Kyra Crystal

On Sunday December 23, we celebrated Kyra's 2nd birthday.  We didn't go all out this year, but we did enjoy the day with grandma and grandpa Swanson.  In the morning she opened one of her gifts and it was a pretty dress she was able to wear to church.  She looked so pretty!!!!!  I just can't believe she is already 2.  Time sure goes by quickly.



 

 

She wasn't quite sure what to do with the gifts, but after the first one or two-she decided she would just have grandpa help her.

 She received a tea set and a little people home.  Kyra loves to play with the little people.  Her grandparents also gave her a singing card---she loves it but it is quite loud and obnoxious.

 This year I am quite the slacker.  I didn't make her a birthday cake.  ;-(  Grandma and Tristan made some sugar cookies and we thought we would just use one of those.  That was until we dropped off a goodie plate to one of Tristan's friends and they gave us cake pops.  PERFECT!!!!  We took one of those and placed two candles in it.  Voila!  Instant birthday cake.  (Next year I'll do better)

This face almost looks like she is annoyed by the fact it isn't a cake. 

Nutcracker 2012

The last couple of weeks have been extremely busy in the McIntire household.  Cortlynn has been practicing for the Nutcracker production for months and the last two weeks she has had practices 6 days a week.  I don't know how she does it; I'm exhausted and I only drive a few nights since I carpool with another mom.  Her first performance was last Friday night.  She than had a matinee performance on Saturday with another evening performance that night.  On Monday she performed for all the 5th graders in the district.  This Saturday will be the final 2 performances and than we will have a break for about 2 weeks.

 

She is such a performer and I am so proud of her.  I can't believe just a short 6 years ago she was the baby mouse, now she is in pointe shoes.  Cortlynn is obsessed with the Nutcracker and will watch all the different version they have on TV during the holidays.  The other night we watched one of the Russian versions and a lot of the choreography was familiar.  She was shocked that they were doing the same dances that our studio does.  I explained to her that they are doing a lot of the same movements but they are adults in a professional company---you guys are school age kids.  The production they put on here in Pocatello is absolutely beautiful!  There is a cannon that shoots, "magic", it snows, and the talent amazes me and brings me to tears almost every time I see it. 

 

This year I volunteered to help in the dressing rooms: Friday night I helped with the little 5 and 6 year olds.  WOW----I often sit there and wonder why did I volunteer???  They are crazy little kids.  On Saturday I helped with Cortlynn's age group.  They aren't as crazy but it was still a lot of work.  Since they are an older group-their dressing room is under the stage area and I could go backstage and watch some of the performances.  That sure opened my eyes to the fact backstage is no bigger than a sardine can.  Several times throughout the performance, dancers dance off one side of the stage and come in on the other side:  No big deal, right??!  Wrong---they have to either run down a set of narrow stairs-across the dressing rooms in the basement, and back up another set of narrow stairs-or they have to go out a door, run thru the lobby, and enter the other door on the other side.  Those poor dancers are sweating and breathless from just running back and forth let alone dancing. 

 

I also witnessed how tough dancers are.  They aren't little petite girls in tights and a tutu---Nope-they are tough women who deal with a ton of pain with a smile.  One of the girls a year older than Cortlynn ripped her toe nail off last week and can barely walk--but she wraps it with a ton of tape and padding and dances on her toes.  Another girl on Saturday began dancing her solo as the Sugar Plum Fairy and she tripped on a piece of tape.  She actually tore a ligament in her foot/ankle.  She continued to dance thru the pain until her number was done.  She than went off stage-still smiling and had to be packed to the car and taken to the hospital.  Devin was shocked that she was able to continue dancing with that type of injury.  She was so good that no one had a clue: she actually  took off her costume gave it to another girl, and that girl finished the performance---no one figured out it was someone different.



Cortlynn as a party girl

She is also a Gingersnap in the Land of Sweets

She HATES this photo, so I just have to post it on the blog.  Teeheehee

 These photos I tried to take during her dress rehearsal.

 

Beth and Sergiu:  The Artistic Directors of the studio: they are extremely talented

 Cortlynn also had a Christmas choir concert at school and had a duet with one of her friends.  She looked so nervous but did a really nice job.

 

 

 I'm sure you have heard of the Elf on the Shelf--well, we don't do that; we have a reindeer named Tinsel come to our house.  He hides every night, keeps an eye on the kids, leaves little gifts, and than goes back to the North Pole with Santa on Christmas Eve.  Tristan LOVES Tinsel.

The second 6 weeks attendance has been completed so I had to update the bulletin board.  This is what it looks like.  Yes---those are all hand made (by me) snowflakes.

 

A little piece of mind....a little comfort.

Where do I start? I debated on whether or not to write about what happened last week but where I use this blog as a sort of journal and actually try to print it off in book form each year--I decided I needed to write.  Not to tell people how they should feel or what they should believe, but for me to have an outlet and in a way "piece of mind".

When I heard about the shooting in Connecticut that took the lives of 20 little, innocent, and sweet 6 and 7 year olds and 6 adults that sacrificed their lives to protect those children-my heart broke.  I mean, I sat at my table in complete disbelief and shock.  Yes I'm pregnant and very emotional-but this took it to a whole other level.  When the names and birthdates were released, again I lost it.  One of the special little boys had the same birthday and was the exact same age as Tristan.  I can't even fathom what those parents are going thru and I pray I will NEVER have to know that kind of pain and heart ache.  I drop Cortlynn and Tristan off at school every day and make an effort to tell them I love them and I think it is SO important to say those 3 small words whenever you can---you just never know. 

I will not say the name of the man who was so evil to do this to those 26 individuals because he shouldn't be the one that is remembered.  He will have his judgement and dealt with accordingly by God.  I don't think we need to "memorialize" his name---We need to remember the victims, the heroes, and the first responders--NOT the monster responsible. 

I also want to take a moment and vent.  I want to say how upset I am about the way some individuals are using this tragedy for their own personal "cause".  In the last few days I've blocked several people on facebook due to the comments that they made were just unbelieveable. 

I've read comments from people stating that the shooter must be a democrat because only democrats shoot people and cause harm.   How DARE you!  It is not a democrat or republican thing.

Some say that the children and faculty were shot and killed becuase God wasn't in the school--the government won't allow religion in the school.  How DARE you!  God has his loving arms around each and everyone of his children, especially innocent babies!  Tragic things happen and I know he was there with tears in his eyes welcoming them home.

Some have actually said that it is a government coverup----the same people responsible for 9/11 is responsible for this shooting.  The "shooter" was a scapegoat and didn't do the shooting--it was other individuals.  How DARE you! 

Some say that the President's speaches disgust them and that he is completely faking the tears; and that he's also behind the tragedy.  How DARE you!  Can you even imagine what the president goes thru when he hears this kind of news? I don't care if it is Obama or another person in office.  It is a horrible, nasty thing--and all eyes are on them and what actions they will take.  He has a heart, he has two children, he is (I know it's shocking) HUMAN! 

Of course the  Gun Control debate will be in high force.  I'm not saying I think all guns should be illegal; but something needs to be done.  Changes need to be made.  Stricter background checks? Perhaps.  Tighter laws? Maybe.  I don't have the answers-all I know is that what our country has now isn't working.

My final thought on this tragedy is this:  so many loved ones and good people have passed away these last few months.  I've attended more funerals this year than I've attended in all my other 37 years.  I believe these individuals (my grandparents included) are needed in Heaven to help with all the children that have been taken too soon--especially by all the violence in the world.  I know these 20 children are in heaven listening to great stories, songs, and getting great big hugs from our loved ones that have passed.  When nothing else has made a lot of sense in the last 3 days---knowing that my grandparents are hugging those children as their own grandchildren-brings me a little comfort.

Birthday's and Thanksgiving

 I can't believe I am almost 2 weeks behind posting Tristan's birthday.  I had issues loading photos to the blog and thru my hands in the air for a few days and gave up.  Finally-I was able to get them loaded. 

Tristan turned 6 last week and I can't believe how fast the time flies by.  On the Saturday before his birthday he had a "friend" party.  I'm still not feeling great and extremely tired so the initial plan was to just have a few boys over.  Well-if we invite one neighbor, we have to invite the other two--of course he wanted to invite Casey (a really good friend) and we couldn't forget Ian (another REALLY good friend)--yep, that would be a total of 5 friends PLUS 3 parents that decided to stay.  Only 5 minutes into the 1 1/2 hr party-I was ready for it to be over.  If you haven't experienced a birthday party with little boys--you have no clue how loud they can be.  They scream like little girls but they carry nerf guns while they are screaming.  They all ran around so much sweat was dripping off some of the boys. 

He opened presents and than we decorated cupcakes.  Yet again I wasn't thinking and made chocolate cupcakes with chocolate icing!  I had chocolate everywhere.  Thank Goodness for Sergiu and Beth you assisted with picking up the crumbs off the floor.  He was actually on his hands and knees scrubbing my floor with a napkin trying to get icing.    Overall--Tristan had a great time and a great party.  Next year I think I'll take Cortlynn and Tristan to the dollar theatre for a movie.  ;-)

On Tuesday we had Grandma and Grandpa McIntire and Grandma and Grandpa Swanson over for dinner, cake, and ice cream.  Tristan enjoyed having them over and loved the gifts he received.  I grew up with one set of grandparents just down the road from us and they were always at the birthday parties; I sometimes take that for granted and feel bad that my children's grandparents aren't that close.

 

 

I "blocked" Tristan in his room for his birthday.  When he woke up he saw balloons and crepe paper.  He loved it.

This year he wanted a spiderman cake.  This is what I came up with.  Double layered chocolate cake with a marshmallow filling.  I guess it was good-I didn't try-not too keen on chocolate cake right now.

This year we celebrated Thanksgiving at my aunt and uncle's house in Idaho Falls.  We've done this for years and I was so happy we kept the tradition going and had dinner there again this year.  It was definitely a different feel and a little sad not having both of my grandparents there.  I kept looking in the kitchen to see if grandpa was sneaking another roll or eating the turkey neck--but he wasn't there.  Dinner was SOOOOOOO good and I honestly could have stayed there for days and continued to eat the left overs.  Visiting with family was awesome and we had the chance to watch videos of my grandma and grandpa Angela put together.  :-(   It was a great day and I'm so glad I drove up to be part of it.

PTA, Masks, and Goodbye Twilight



While I was working I was able to go to the school and help in Cortlynn's classes: usually at least 1 hour a week, sometimes even longer.  It was nice to get to know the kids and the teachers.  Now that I'm not working outside of the home and I don't take the kids to daycare, helping at the school isn't really an option.  So-I decided to volunteer with the PTA.  I signed up to be the Perfect Attendance Chairman.  This has actually been quite a bit of work---writing out certificates to 200+students takes a lot of time.  There is also a bulletin board I post the names on, but it just can't be a boring board.  I have to come up with something "catchy".  So far I've only done the attendance for the first 6 weeks, but the next 6 weeks ends this week.  What to do? What to do???

 



 

Perfect Attendance Bulletin Board

 

Kyra loves to dress up in Tristan's masks and capes.  She found a spider man mask/cape and walked around the house all night.

 

 

Two weeks ago I tracked Devin down at the store and made him get his work schedule so I could see whether or not I could go to the Breaking Dawn 2 premier.  He worked an early-so I ran home and purchased 2 tickets for the 10pm showing on opening night.  I didn't tell Cortlynn about it because I wanted to surprise her.  For the entire time I kept quiet and had her thinking she wouldn't see it for weeks.  She was so depressed.  The evening of the premier I picked her up from dance and told her to change clothes in the car.  It didn't take her very long to figure out what we were doing.  We got to the theatre a little after 8pm and of course the parking lot was full.  We had to park in the mall parking lot and walk.  The line was very long and it was so cold outside.  I came prepared with blankets, gloves, and scarves.  The wait wasn't that bad.  They opened up 4 theatres and let the 10pm people in early.  Overall we waited in line for maybe 30 minutes.  The theatre we chose was packed, but we were able to find seats in the middle by the aisle (right now I really need to be able to get out easily and quickly).  The news crew was in our theatre filming for that nights news and Cortlynn was so excited to possibly be om TV.  Of course we had to have popcorn and waiting in the refreshment line took longer than getting into the movie.  Since I'm having cravings for pickles-I bought a HUGE pickle and Cortlynn was so embarrassed when I came back with it.  ;-) 

 

The movie was really good.  I didn't know what to expect but hoped it was fairly close to the book.  Cortlynn had been upset for a week because she had heard it had an R rating for all the be-headings and they had to edit it a little bit to get it down to PG13.  She didn't understand where all the violence was coming from because it wasn't in the book.  (I had an idea though)  That poor girl was on the edge of her seat.  She gasped, yelled, teared up, kept saying NO, NO, NO----I honestly thought she was going to be sick.  I am not a people person and I don't handle crowds well at all; but experiencing the atmosphere at a movie that so many are passionate about is really something everyone should experience.   There was yelling, cheering, crying, gasping, and every other emotion a person can have.  You would think the only people there would be women and girls and that wasn't the case.  There were so many men there---even high school aged guys.  I told Devin this and he just rolled his eyes.  (I know he would secretly enjoy it)

 

I'm kinda sad the series is over-but I have the books and the movies when I need my Twilight "fix" and her other book "The Host" is coming out in movie form in March....Cortlynn  better start reading since I make her read the books before seeing the movies.



Corltynn and me-almost 2 hours before the show begins.

Pointe Shoes =Dancing

In May we purchased Cortlynn's first pair of pointe shoes.  Fast forward a short 6 months later-she tells me that she needs new ones because they are too small.  ;-(  I scheduled an appointment and I took her in the other night.  This time I took her to a women in Pocatello not Idaho Falls and WOW-she sure know what she was talking about.  She discovered that they weren't too small---but the pads were causing her toes to curl, in turn causing the pain and blisters.  Sheila (the pointe shoe master) showed us what toe spacers we needed to purchase, which pads to purchase, and how to tape her toes together (yes-together) so the shoes will fit properly.  Amazingly--this worked and Cortlynn was a new dancer.  We hope that this will work for the next few weeks or at least long enough to make it thru all the Nutcracker performances.  Sheila and I told Cortlynn that if her feet grow before the end of December, we will shave her toes down. 

For a brief moment a few months ago I thought maybe I could work in a dance shoe store or even have my own; after this visit that would be a definite NO.  Sheila took the time to clip Cortlynn's toe nails (GROSS), worked and massaged her calluses (double GROSS), and than soaked her feet for 20 minutes, and rubbed them with a cotton towel.  NASTY!  Cortlynn started to laugh and Sheila apologized for tickling her feet.  Cortlynn told her that she wasn't tickling her, she was laughing because I was standing behind her making gagging faces.   I could never to this to peoples feet especially dancers feet that have funky calluses, blisters, and other things going on.  I don't like my own feet----Anyone that needs pointe shoes, I recommend Sheila at the Pointe Shop.  She's great!

On another note:  My children LOVE music and will sing and dance to everything.  Kyra being 23 months is no exception.  Her new favorite is "Gangham Style".  Yep-she actually does the horse trot thing and sings.  It is HILARIOUS!!!!!  Driving down the road with my three children is such a riot and for people looking in-they probably wonder what is going on.

Halloween 2012

This year for Halloween I debated whether or not to carve pumpkins.  I can't deal with the smell this year and the guts of them always gross me out but Tristan and Cortlynn kept asking me when we were doing the pumpkins.  On Monday I went out in search of 3 pumpkins and could not locate them anywhere.  Devin and I finally found 3 at Home Depot.  Yes-you read that correctly, Home Depot!  And believe me, the 3 we purchased were the best ones they had left (out of about 8) and they were not the best quality.  I guess that's what I get for putting it off until the last minute.

 

On Tuesday we carved the pumpkins.  Cortlynn was disgusted, Tristan lost interest, and Kyra had no idea what we were doing.  So our family carving pretty much ended up with me and Devin doing it.  Oh well-they turned out cute and the kids will have a memory to cherish.

 

On Halloween I let Tristan wear his costume all day and he was so excited.  He had to go to Fred Meyer and show his buddy Ryan (this would be Devin's boss/the store director) his costume and of course Ryan spoiled him and purchased a full size candy bar for him and his sisters. 

When I was trying to bake cookies and get the kids fed-Devin disappeared.  In typical "man" fashion, he decided that we didn't have enough decorations up so he was going to add more.  Mind you this was 4:30/5:00 o'clock.  Really????  He put up skeletons, more pumpkins with lights outside, and brought in our big ladder-climbed up to our ledge and placed pumpkins in our big window.  Nothing like the last minute.  :-)

 

Later that day I helped Cortlynn get read in her freaky doll costume and Kyra in her ballet costume.  Kyra wasn't too sure about the costume but eventually walked all over the house saying "I pretty".   Cortlynn is at the age she doesn't want to hang out with mom and dad so she went trick or treating with friends.  That left Tristan and Kyra with mom and dad.  We went to several houses-Tristan was all over it, Kyra not so much until she realized she was getting candy.  Her mood changed drastically.  She would walk right up to the door, knock, and than yell "Treeeeeeeets!"  (towards the end she would say "Treeeeets, trick)  She would always say "tanks" when walking away.  This was so cute!!!!  None of our other children were that into trick or treating at such a young age.  We hit the houses in our neighborhood and Tristan decided to take off his mask-good thing because every house had a special "neighborhood kids" bowl with bigger and better candy.  Cortlynn felt bad she didn't hit the houses closer to her own home for the bigger candy bars.

 

I tired out early so Kyra and I came home to hand out candy while Devin and Tristan canvassed the neighborhoods.  We had a lot of comments on our decorations and I handed out a bunch of candy.  The interesting thing was that the majority of the people that came to our door were teenagers and I even had a group of college students.  Really???!!!  This year I handed out actual candy (kit kats, DOTS, suckers, etc) and not the nasty 10 year old jawbreakers like last year: BUT-next year, I'm going to have a separate bowl for the ungrateful kids that come to the door.  I was shocked by some of the things the kids said--rude little humans.

 

All in all-everyone had a good Halloween and they can't wait until next year.

 

 

Tristan posed like this ALL day. Gotta love his "muscles"

Cortlynn is such a pretty "freaky" doll.

Pretty dancer Kyra

Not sure about this photo-Kyra would do this squat thing every time I tried to take a photo.  I think she was dancing.

Yes-I too dressed up as a witch.  The gray/white hair is NOT color-it is my actual hair.....