Everything Homemade

This week has been good. It seems like it just flew by. It was rainy most of the week so the kids had to stay in the house and entertain themselves. They were so happy when the weather changed and they could enjoy going outside on Friday. I took Cortlynn, Tristan, and Kyra to the movie Gnomeo and Juliet on Thursday for a kid discounted pass day and I am happy to say my
three children were the best behaved....even out of the adults. The movie was cute and they really like to be able to hang out with mom. Have I mentioned how happy I am I made the decision to quit my job??? Best decision!
This week Devin's father celebrated his birthday and I offered to make the cake. I had a different idea for the cake but with a 5 month old who doesn't nap, watching 2 other children, and making all of it from scratch---I ran out of time. I was happy with it and Devin's family seemed to enjoy it. There wasn't much left. The bottom layer was a yellow cake with Cinnamon cream cheese filling and butter cream. The second layer was chocolate with the same filling...all with fondant covering it. (EVERYTHING was homemade) I ordered a set of round pans that will work better than what I have so I'm excited to get those.
Kyra has decided that she wants to crawl. I think since she has older siblings-she is progressing quicker to keep up. Anyway-her favorite thing to do is crawl onto our table in the living room and than crawling thru to the other side. She is constantly doing this. She also enjoys to crawl over to the diaper bag and dig in it for diapers. While at the store the other day I was checking out with her in my left arm. I turned away for a moment and she decided to dig in the purse of the women behind us. How embarrassing.... ;-) She has also moved to her highchair. She looks so tiny in her seat but she thinks she is such a big girl. What a cutie.

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.

Kyra LOVES music and will play the piano with Cortlynn. I took a couple of pictures the other day and it really looks like she is playing the piano.

These are photos of Cortlynn in her Jazz costume the day of her recitals. So pretty.

All 3 kids sitting on the couch reading a book. Too cute.

Kyra being adorable.

Mothers Day and the Kiddos

You would think being a stay at home mom I would find more time to blog; that is so far from the truth. The dishes, laundry, cleaning is never ending and that doesn't include the playtime for all the kids and spending time teaching Tristan his shapes, letters, colors, and reading endless books. Over the last couple of days I made time to put together a 69 page photo book for my grandparents: kinda a anniversary/birthday/just because gift and there are a TON of photos. I sure home they like it.
Cortlynn won a Mothers Day writing contest and we were able to pick out a $300 gem from a local jewelry store. She was SOOOOO excited. She wrote it in a poem form and unfortunately the jewelry store kept it or I would have posted it on here. She is such a sweet girl. She also made me a lovely mothers day gift at her activity days. It is a bath night gift: Loofa, bubble bath, razor, all placed in a sundae cup so it actually looks like a sundae. So cute.
Tristan is still getting used to the fact he stays home with mom instead of going to his sitters. He did have a play date this week because the one sitter and his really good friend Casey was having Tristan withdrawals. I've never seen a 4 year old so excited.
Kyra is growing like a weed. She refuses to stay on her back. Nope-it is tummy time ALL of the time. She doesn't crawl yet but she pushes, rolls, kicks, and even tries to pull herself to where she wants to go. Nothing is going to be out of her reach. She has started eating cereal every night and she looks like a baby bird: mouth wide open waiting for the next spoon full of "yummy" rice cereal.

These are the kids on mothers day. What a cute bunch of children.


My bath time "sundae"

Not a great photo: but this is the gem we chose

Kyra with her cousin Clayton

Kyra getting ready to eat her cereal

Sleeping Beauty, Easter, and funny, funny Tristan

This last week has been crazy! Cortlynn had her spring ballet performance on Saturday which meant there were many nights of practices and hours of dress rehearsals until the big evening performance of "Sleeping Beauty". She did such a good job. Aunt Nicole was fortunate to attend; although after sitting next to my son I'm not sure if she thought she was "fortunate". Both Kyra and Tristan were so tired; 5 minutes into the performance Kyra proceeds to poop her pants and it leaked onto me. What a mess....Tristan didn't want to be there let alone sit on his bum for 2 1/2 hours. After Cortlynn was done he wanted to go home because all of this dancing was causing his tummy to hurt. (That kid and his tummy issues :-) He actually put his head down and fell asleep. He was not the happiest when he woke up and the ballet was STILL going on. Too funny. Kyra slept for maybe 15/20 minutes. The rest of the time she wanted Nicole to pay attention to her. She would squeal, laugh, make weird noises to get her attention and when Nicole had the nerve to watch the ballet-Kyra would get her pouty face and start to cry. Little stinker.

We decorated Easter eggs on Friday night and I think Cortlynn and Tristan had fun. Everything is a race for Tristan so he made sure he finished his eggs first and yelled, "I win!!" I've decided to use my old Chase shirts as craft shirts and they work wonderfully....I'll have craft shirts until my grand kids are grown: bags of Chase shirts. On Saturday Cortlynn and I used them while we were coloring and rolling fondant. So thankful I did-I had powdered sugar from my fingertips to my nose...it was everywhere!! and my lovely daughter just stood there and laughed. The fondant turned out great and my special Easter cake was cute. I made it in the shape of an egg. I made everything from scratch (including the cake batter). It was a butter/yellow cake layered with butter cream icing and fresh strawberries. We covered it in lilac colored fondant with yellow ducks and pink eggs. I thought it was a success. (there is a photo below)

Devin had Easter off so we decided to go out to Moore and spend the day with my grandparents. Heather and her family were there and so was Nicole. We had a nice dinner and the kids had an Easter egg hunt. Grandma Norma was so silly----some of the things she says really make no sense and the baking pan full of "funeral" potatoes was scooped up and placed in a different bowl??? What???? We just looked at each other and smiled. Grandpa Bud was funny too....he would mumble things under his breath (or at least he tried to be quiet); of course some of it may not have been that nice and grandma would hear it wrong and make a totally off the wall comment in response. There were a lot of interesting looks, laughs, wide eyes, and giggles during dinner. The kids had fun going to the park with Josh and Devin while they were metal detecting. (you can never leave home without the metal detector)

Today Kyra had her 4 month check up. She is growing like a weed and is getting such an attitude. She is now 13lbs 3oz and 24 1/2 inches long. Tristan was with us and was nervous for the shots. He kept telling me how he wasn't going to watch the shots. He would also tell Kyra not to cry, and the shots are going to hurt real, real bad. He is such a "helper".

Tristan is the pickiest eater unless it is in candy form. He will try any type of candy there is. He is also a freak with having dirty hands---he hates it. The reason I bring this up is this morning he did one of the grossest things he has ever done to date: he was eating a "push up" yogurt and had to go to the bathroom. I hear him go in, flush the toilet, and come back out. A minute later (while EATING the yogurt) he says, "Mom-I dropped the yogurt in the potty, it's ok-it was an accident." ME "Tristan, did you drop it in the toilet while you were peeing?" Tristan "Yes-but it's alright." ME "Tristan-QUIT eating that and throw it away right NOW!!!! That is so gross." Tristan "Mom-no it's not" ME "Tristan, you dropped it in the toilet and eating it so you're basically eating PEE!" Tristan than breaks into uncontrollable laughter and I wanted to go throw up. NASTY!!!


A few pictures of Easter. Cortlynn and grandpa look like they are up to something.

These are the infamous funeral potatoes in a bowl.

Grandma holding Kyra.

Cortlynn in her Sleeping Beauty costume

Cute Kyra

My Easter Egg cake with matching Easter grass. (this was not planned by the way)

Aunt Nicole and Kyra

Easter Egg Coloring

Cortlynn was walking around with Kyra the other night and she ended up putting her to sleep.

The Last Week.....

It has been a week since I said goodbye to my job and I'm only looking forward. The last couple of days was difficult....not at work :-) but at the babysitters. There were tears from everyone except Tristan; he really didn't know what was going on. Picking the kids up for the last time at both Kari's and Katie's was seriously the hardest thing I've had to do. Sure made me feel good that my children were loved and taken care of by wonderful "second" mommies. Wednesday was my official last day and sitting at work watching the minutes tick by was torture. Everyone was great at work: they had a nice card for me, a balloon arrangement, and the yummiest cake. I won't miss my job but I will miss my co-workers. The last week has been quite an adjustment: I'm still not used to getting up in the morning to get Cortlynn to school but not having to rush to drop off the other two and get to work. It's nice to come home and read books to Tristan, play with the kids, actually clean the house, and stay caught up on the laundry and dishes. Kyra is getting so big and she knows it. She rolled over the other night and had the biggest smile on her face. I rolled her back over and she looked at me, smiled, and did it again. Wow can she talk. She has a lot to say already. We can't wait until we can understand everything and our house will never be quiet. Cortlynn has been busy with her dance and her "Sleeping Beauty" practices but she is loving all of it. Her instructor is always telling me how well she does with only having one good ear and that she must feel the music. I'm continuing with my coupon shopping and I think I'm getting better at it. Yesterday I had a 62% savings and that included 4 boxes of Golden Grahams cereal for $4.00. I'll just keep trying to save... balloon arrangement from work Kyra loves her baths in the sink and enjoys being naked. The other night Kyra was on the chair lounging with her thumb in her mouth and the other arm behind her head. Too cute.

We dressed Kyra up in green for St Patricks Day and it was so cute. Cortlynn's spring pictures were really pretty this year. She is becoming such a beautiful young lady.

A change is a Coming....

There are some big changes in the McIntire household. They are big yet VERY exciting. As most of you know I went back to work on March 17. It was awful!!! There had been tears daily for two months prior to the return date and the morning of my return was no exception. Devin and I have been racking our brains since Kyra's birth to figure out a way for me to quit my job. Start a new business, babysit, work at night, work from home, book keeping, etc.....anything-but nothing really came up. I decided to go back to work and see what happens in the future. Back to the 17th----I did not want to leave the house. I cried and cried and looking at Kyra's face just made it ten times worse. When I went back to work after having Cortlynn and Tristan I was emotional and cried-but nothing like this. Maybe it's because I'm older, maybe it is because the world is such a different place and I think it is important to try to stay home with your kids, maybe it's because I don't have fun at my job anymore and my job made me feel negative all the time--whatever the reason-I was a mess. The first couple of days were difficult. I would text the sitter throughout the day to make sure Kyra was alright: of course she was, but I had to know for sure. On Monday March 21 (the 4th day back) my manager visited and after his visit my mind was made up. Sometimes you just need that final "thing" to take place that will make up your mind and that is what happened. I've put up with a lot over the last couple of years, but I drew the line and am saying Good Bye to my job. I am SOOOOO excited. I've been working since high school, and working with the bank for 12 1/2 years so this will be an adjustment for me: but I believe it was the right time and the right thing for us to do. Tristan counts down the days until he can stay home with me; and Cortlynn isn't quite sure of "why" I'm quiting to stay home. On the news the other night there was a story on a local job fair and she told Devin that "Mom can go there and find a job". Too funny! The morning I was planning on turning in my notice, Cortlynn came up to me and asked me why I was so happy. You know it is time for a change when your children can see how unhappy you are and it effects the entire family. Now the count down is on: just a few more days and I will be "free".

Yesterday was April Fools and Cortlynn thought I had plans to trick her all day. I picked up the kids after work and told them we were going to take pictures in front of the Weinermobile. Cortlynn thought for sure that I was joking because it was April Fools and didn't believe me until she saw it parked in the Fred Meyer parking lot. I took a few photos and none of the kids wanted to be there. Tristan ended up in tears and