Dance, new Baby, and crazy Hair

A couple of weeks ago it was parent observation week at Cortlynn's dance classes so it was a perfect opportunity for me to get a few photos of her. She is doing so good and I can't believe how flexible she is. (She doesn't believe me when I tell her I used to be able to do the splits.) I watched two ballet classes and one jazz class. The jazz class was sooooooo loud. The music actually shook the benches we were sitting on. I didn't get any photos of that class.

She can actually touch her foot to the ground if there is a person helping her push it down, while she has a smile on her face. This stretch is a little disturbing to me---I hurt just watching her do it.

Check out her posture. :-)

This last week I became an aunt again and I couldn't be more excited. Dan and Jen had their baby on Monday January 16th. Little Bridger Garrett is such a cutie! We were able to meet him last night. What a beautiful addition to their family. Kyra wasn't too sure what to think while I was holding him. I think she was a little jealous.

Kyra woke up from a nap yesterday and her hair was CRAZY!!! I just had to take a picture of it. Unfortunately you don't get the true feel of what it looked like. OUT of CONTROL!

Happy New Year 2012

Grandma and Grandpa Swanson were able to spend a few days at house over the New Years Holiday. We ate so much yummy food; which included bacon wrapped lil' smokies AKA "Meat Candy" (my brother's name for them). We enjoyed sitting around and relaxing, opening a few presents, and also playing several games. Cortlynn and Tristan talked grandma into Just Dance and even GhostBusters on the Wii.
All of us stayed up way too late multiple nights playing Apples to Apples and Phase 10- which Devin continued winning; even though he had never played Phase 10 before. Beginners luck I think.
I can't believe how fast the holiday past and that Cortlynn is already back to school. Overall we had a wonderful Holiday and enjoyed being able to spend time with family.

Just a few photos of the kids opening gifts from Grandma and Grandpa Swanson.



Kyra has decided that she isn't afraid of hanging out with people other than mom and dad. She LOVED to spend time with grandma and grandpa. Kyra fell asleep on grandpa one night: my mom and I couldn't decide if she was so tired from playing or bored watching "Gold Rush" with grandpa....I'm thinking boredom. :-)
The morning they left Kyra had a death grip on grandpa: She wouldn't let go even to come to me or Devin. I don't think she wanted them to leave.

Christmas and Birthday.....2011

The last few days have been busy ones at our house. Kyra turned one on Friday and I didn't want her to think that we didn't have a birthday party for her so I decided to have a small one on Christmas Eve. I feel bad that Kyra's birthday is so close to Christmas and I hope she has her own special day(s) every year. We had a Christmas Eve party with Devin's family and thought we would open presents and have a cake for her. Making a cake in the middle of the holiday baking was challenging-but I think it turned out pretty cute.

Kyra wasn't sure what she was supposed to do when I set her in the highchair with a cake on the tray. It was too cute-she just stared at me until I gave her a little taste. After that first taste it was all over. She stuck her face in the cake and couldn't get enough of it.

Of course I had to get a picture of her in the sink after eating the cake. The water turned pink she had so much on her. The presents were a hit as well. I had to help her quite a bit-but she loved her gifts.

I took a few photos of the decorations before the craziness of the party and gifts opening.

Christmas Eve was fun. We enjoyed a lot of good food and treats. We also had a special visit from Santa. The look on Tristan's face when Santa came down the stairs was priceless. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of that thanks to my batteries being dead in the camera. Tristan sat on his lap and couldn't believe he was at our house! Kyra was terrified and wouldn't let go of her cousin Hayden. When Santa left-Tristan wanted everyone to leave so he could go to bed and Santa would stop by again.

This year we had a special guest at our house during the month of December. A lot of families have an "Elf on the Shelf" which I think is cute-but I wanted to do something different. Tinsel the Magical Reindeer arrived at our home while we were gone and he had a note attached. The note explained who he was and that he reports to Santa every day. He also likes to hide and spy on the kids so every morning Tristan has to find him. Tristan loved Tinsel and was excited every morning to hunt for him in his secret hiding spots. (tree, lamps, stockings, refrigerator, cupboards, etc) When Santa stopped by he took Tinsel with him. Tristan was sad until we told him that he would come back again next Christmas. On Christmas morning-there was a note on Santa's plate from Santa telling the kids that Tinsel left them special gifts---a pooping Santa,a pooping reindeer, and a pooping snowman.

Christmas morning was nice-the kids didn't wake us up until 9:15am!!! I know-I was shocked too. We opened gifts and had a nice relaxing morning. That evening we traveled to Idaho Falls to enjoy dinner with Devin's family and open gifts.

Kyra LOVES her new baby doll. She is such a sweet mommy.

The kids are modeling their new Christmas Eve pajamas. This was a new tradition I wanted to start this year and I almost forgot. I had to get the kids out of bed for us to open our pajama gifts.

Overall-we had a great Christmas and I get a little sad when it's "over". I wish the Christmas spirit stayed throughout the year....minus the stress and crowds. :-)

Happy 1st Birthday Kyra!!!!

A year ago today at 10:02am, Kyra Crystal was born. She was 20.5 inches long, 8lbs 4 oz. I can't believe she is already 1. Where does the time go?? Kyra is such a spunky little sweetheart and our lives couldn't be better with her in it. She LOVES her brother and sister and can't get enough mommy and daddy time. She is beginning to walk everywhere and is in to everything. Kyra loves to play with her baby doll and will cover her up with a blanket and carry her around like a real baby. She may not be a sleeper or a napper but when you look at her face and her big smile-you don't care how tired you are. I love her sooooo much and am thankful each and every day that she joined our family on December 23, 2010.

Happy 1st Birthday Kyra!!!

Nutcracker 2011 and Trix on the floor

This last Saturday was the last performance of the Nutcracker and in a way I'm so glad it is over. Over the last two weeks she was in 4 performances and 2 mini performances for the schools. She has also been practicing for a minimum of 2 hours each week since October-on top of her 3 days a week dance classes. Every performance of the Nutcracker was sold out; and they actually set up folding chairs in the aisles. On Saturday they had a waiting list for even more folding chairs. All of the dancers do such a great job and it is very professional looking. I'm so proud of her and the talent she has. Even though she can only hear in one ear-her musicality is amazing. It isn't just me being a proud mother saying this-but also the academy owners/instructors. They can't believe how well she does with one ear.

I decided to help out backstage with the little "chefs" this year because none of their mothers signed up. I helped last Friday and thanks to one of the other mothers of a "cherub"-I almost went crazy. She was beyond obnoxious. Cortlynn told me that she was up there every night-even when she wasn't supposed to be. She's one of those people that has to be the center of attention and doesn't follow the rules or instructions. She actually told the dance instructor what to do and how to choreograph the dance. AAAAHHHHH!!!!!!

Cortlynn was a rat this year and was in the fan favorite "battle scene"

This week we made some ornaments with the kids. The ornaments came in prepackaged kits and I think someone or the machine had a sense of humor. The gingerbread man that went on Kyra's ornament had some stars and twirls in places that shouldn't have them. Cortlynn was the one that pointed this out.

Check out the "naughty" gingerbread man on the right.

I think I've mentioned in a past blog how Kyra has discovered the cereal cabinet. This is Kyra digging into the Trix box. She will actually move the Pops, and Rice Krispies to get to the Trix.






She spilled the cereal in this picture and the look on her face is hilarious. (I think she also had a mouth full of cereal)

We have a baby swing that Kyra was never interested in until I started watching baby Kloe. Now-she plays with it all the time. She will put her baby doll in the swing and swing it high. Last week I turned around and she had climbed into the swing by herself and started to swing it back and forth. She is such a little stinker but I love her.