It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas....

This past week has been extremely busy...since Erik has had his foot surgery and me getting into a car accident....life still goes on.  I did find a new car and Erik is out of a cast and into a boot.

Last Friday Ethan had his winter school party for 3rd grade.  I am so thankful to have such great volunteer parents to help me plan these.  The kids looked like they had a great time!

Friday evening the kids and I baked and decorated Christmas cookies.  Well more like I baked and they decorated!

Saturday morning Emma and I volunteered at the Christmas Store for the Church of all people with our church, Church of the Messiah, helping families in need receive clothes, toys, etc for their children for Christmas.

Saturday evening my parents, sister, niece, nephew, nephew's girl friend and great niece came over to celebrate Christmas with us.  Fun times had by all!

Catching up....

It seems that November and now December has flown by!  So here are some highlights from November including 2 Thanksgiving dinners!  Ethan's school had a pancake breakfast, he won a limo ride with his classmates and his principal for selling many cookie dough items for his school fundraiser and our Thanksgiving meals!

December is as just busy!    Emma has had a busy month with dancing for Tween Brands (Justice) for the annual holiday party which is private so we were not able to take pics.  Also she danced for the Rickenbacher employees for their holiday party and we saw our cousins The Stephens!  Then of course Emma danced all last weekend in her Westerville Christmas Spectacular with her dance studio.  Finally last night she sang at her first choir concert with Genoa Middle School.  I don't know how she does it, but she keeps it altogether!

October Come & Gone...

I feel like October came and went so fast that I forgot to blog about it!  Or maybe it was because we were so busy!  Here are some highlights of our month:


This is parent observation week at dance with Emma.  Great to see her enjoying her sport and seeing the new dances for this year!

We attended a Fall Fest with our church at Lynd's Fruit Farm!  Great time!

Emma performed in the last Westerville 4th Friday for the year!

We also attended and participated in our annual church Trunk or Treat.  The kids and I dressed up and even my SUV!

I am Ethan's 3rd grade class party coordinator and we had his Fall party at Fouse.  Can't believe he is in 3rd grade!

Then of course Halloween!  Emma went to her friend's house to trick or treat and Erik, Ethan and I met Ethan's friends and parents a couple streets over for his!

September is here!

Fall is around the corner and we cannot wait.  Erik and I celebrated our 21st anniversary on Sept 10th by going out to dinner last Saturday evening to Marcela's.  Then to do a little slots at Hollywood Casino.  We never win and still it was no exception...we did not win big.  But we had fun and relaxed for a night!

Sunday Ethan received his Third Grade Bible at church.  He was very excited since it was not a kid bible but an "older" kid bible!  Next we drove to Lynd's Fruit Farm and picked a large bag of McIntosh apples!  This has been our tradition since the kids were very little!

Lots to post for August!

I have not posted in a month so I thought I might catch up!  We came back from vacation at the end of July and went to our family reunion at my Aunt and Uncle's house and celebrated Ethan's actual 8th birthday!

The first week of August Emma started dance camp.  She of course loves this every year since the studio brings in guest choreographers!

Next is the first day back to school and work for me.  Emma started 7th grade and Ethan started 3rd grade.  I went back to Ethan's school as a lunch/recess aide.  It seemed summer went fast but we were ready to get back into a normal routine if there is such a thing!

In the middle of August, Ethan's school had a "Welcome Back" picnic for students and their families.  Kona Ice was there, face painting and the Genoa Township firetruck to squirt water on everyone.  Ethan had a great time with friends and Emma did as well!

Then a few days later was Emma's last Christmas present and birthday rolled into one!  I purchased her and I tickets to see One Direction in concert.  I am not a huge fan but she is a fan and this would be her first concert so I took one of all Moms out there!  We went ahead and got a limo from a Dance Dad who drives part time and a few other Moms and Daughters.  Xtreme Limo gave us a sweet pink Hummer Limo and the preteens had a blast.  Now I am spoiled and would love a limo to any concert I attend!

Happy Birthday

Ethan asked if he could have his birthday party early this year since we will be driving home the day before his birthday from vacation.  We said yes due to we usually are on vacation on or near his birthday for several years.  This year we said he could have his birthday somewhere else than my house.  We are leaving for the beach very soon and I really did not want to plan to have many kids at my house while I am trying to pack.  So Ethan chose Skyzone on July 18th!

His best friend Warren could not make it to his party so he came over a few days early to give him some presents too!  Also Ethan's Grandma Sherry brought over gifts on his party day.  

He invited many of his classmates and soccer friends.  Emma also invited her friend Anna to jump too!  The kids had a great time jumping for an hour and enjoying pizza and cupcakes!  We came home after the party and we enjoyed a game of Nerf gun fighting with his new Nerf toys.  We also surprised him with his new XBox One and some games.

All and all a fun time!  Ethan will also get to open a few more gifts from us on his actual birthday on August 2nd!

Family Fun

Last weekend the Kyre Family decided that we were kicking this dreary weather in the behind and going out for some fun.  However the weather turned out to be nice anyway!

Emma decided she wanted to enter her art in the Westerville Music & Arts Festival.  She had already drew something at the end of the year with her pastel colors.  She did not have art this year in school so she was a little nervous but I knew she could do it!  She drew it on her art paper and we had it matted with a hanger at Andy's Frame Setting.  He endorses the festival so I got 50% off for him to frame and mat it!  Saturday we went to the pool for a few hours and came home, changed and went straight to the festival.  The Youth Art division was being judged in the afternoon.  We came at 4 pm and she won 3rd place!  We are so proud of her and she wants to enter every year!  This is one of her dreams and I hope it happens!  Then we walked around looking at all the art and we got a yummy jumbo cream puff for dessert later!  In honor of Emma winning, we went to O'Charley's for dinner!

Sunday was family fun day!  We all slept in and drove over to the Olentangy Indian Caverns.  The kids and I have never been there but Erik had a long time ago.  When we arrived, we had an hour and a half wait so they gave us free mini golf.  It was a lot of fun and it was not crowded!  After that we still had 30 mins to spare so we let the kids gem mine.  Emma did the emerald bag and Ethan did the fossil bag since he like shark teeth.  Both were excited to find their treasures!  Then it was off to the caverns.  It was really cool to see them and it really was a little chilly!  We were down a 100 feet below the ground at one point!  After that we decided to go to an early dinner at a new place...Son of Thurman!  It was yummy (cheat meal) and had to bring boxes home!

All in all a great weekend!

Summer time!

July has come in like a lion!  Very busy but so much fun!  First things, first.  Emma danced in The Pride and Spirit of American on July 2nd at Westerville Central High School.  She sang and danced beautifully.  She was very exhausted coming straight from Nationals at TN to rehearse and go right into more dancing.  However this is what she loves to do and does it!

Then Emma danced in the Westerville 4th of July parade with her dance studio.  It was a gorgeous day but very hot!  She again did a great job!  Ethan had fun catching candy and watching his big sis!

We also had a cookout after the parade with my parents and a small firework show in our backyard.  In the evening, we also saw the Westerville fireworks with Emma's bestie Emily.  Exhausting day but everyone had a great time!

This week Ethan went to Westerville Central High School Soccer Camp. It is only for a few hours a day but he loved it!  The kids are broken up into teams by age and stretch, work on soccer skills and do a little scrimmaging.  At the end each day, they receive a popsicle!  He also received a t-shirt as well.  Little man loves soccer!

Dancing in the South....

This past week, the Kyre Family were quite busy.  Last Tuesday, Ethan's best friend had his birthday party at Dave & Buster's and back to his house for food and cake.  They made it during the week since they leave on the weekends to go to their boat near Cedar Point and we were leaving for TN the next day.  Fun had by all!

The next day we left for Emma's dance nationals at Gatlinburg, TN.  It was a long 7 hour drive but we made it and had so much fun!  She did not have to dance until Friday but we wanted to have a day of sight seeing.  Weds night we got it and drove along the main street (Parkway) with lots of shops and restaurants. We found a pizza place and ate.  Unfortunately it was very slow but we were hungry and waited.  Kids also did some indoor swimming as well.  Also we found out parking lots ranged about $6-$8 to park since there are no street parking or free parking.  Come to find out later, we could get free voucher parking since Emma was dancing in the Convention Center!  

Thursday we ventured out and took a drive in the Smoky Mountains.  It was beautiful!  We were hoping to spot some bears but did not see any.  We did not hike but just drove and stopped along to view.  Erik is still recovering from his torn foot ligaments.  Then we did some shopping and ate at Dick's Last Resort which was a hoot!  Erik and I had a LARGE margarita and had some great food!  

Friday Emma had to dance in the late afternoon so we slept in, had a late breakfast.  Emma danced her heart out.  She only had 1 dance that day and her Select Lg Group Tap won 9th Place Overall and Platinum award!  Emma had a 3 hour break before awards so we went to Blaine's Bar & Grill for dinner.  It was VERY GOOD!  Highly recommend it and Erik wished we had one in OH!  

Saturday, Emma and I had to be at the Convention Center bright and early at 7 am.  We rode over with the Stapleton's so Erik and Ethan could sleep in a little.  She had dances the entire day.  Emma's dances all did very well: Select Hip Hop Line-High Gold & 9th place overall, Select Tap Line-Platinum & 6th place overall, Select Ballet Line-Double Platinum & 5th Place overall, Select Jazz Line-Platinum & 6th place overall & Production-platinum & 1st place overall! So proud of her and all of the Gen-PAC dancers!

Saturday evening, the studio had a dinner on Ober!  We rode the tram to the top where the restaurant was located.  We had such a great time and Emma and her friends rode some rides and played in the arcade!

We left Sunday morning since Emma did not have anymore dances.  Our Elite dancers danced on Sunday along with our Premier Tap Line who won 1st place overall and was in the shootout!  2 of our Elite dances got into the shootout and one placed 2nd runner up!  So proud of all of them!  Plus 2 of our dancers one National titles whom they picked out of all the group dances!  

It was a great time and we made a ton of memories!  

Birthday Painting

Emma turned 12 on May 30th!  She wanted to have some kind of art party.  We agreed but it was difficult to find a studio close but I found a company with artists that come to your house (Pretty in Paint-Molly Coburn).  So Emma invited some girls over to learn to paint a picture Emma picked out which is called Forever.  Emma wanted to invite her dance and school friends so we had 7 girls and Emma paint and eat pizza and cupcakes.  Molly provided all the materials and instructed the girls.  It was so comical to hear the girls chatting as they are painting...just like tweens!  I am very proud how they all turned out!  We have been very proud of Emma this year since it was a little stressful for her.  She moved up to middle school, met new friends, moved up in dance levels, and becoming more moody!  However she still maintained honor roll or merit roll each quarter at school along with photography club and dance classes 3-4 nights a week.  She is almost a teenager...Lord help us...just kidding!

Sports and more sports!

This past weekend both my kids had sports!  However we made it all work...somehow!  Last Friday night, Emma had to dance in 3 shows and Saturday 5 shows for her dance rehearsal!  Erik was also performing in the last Friday night show with her.  So I was able to get her to her first show after school, pick up Ethan after school, eat, and he stayed with me while I helped with hair & make-up for the little ones.  Then at the 8pm show, Ethan, Sherry (Erik's Mom) and I watched the show for the Seniors graduating and Emma and Erik perform the Father/Daughter ballet.

Saturday we all had to rise early to get Emma ready for her first show at 10 am and Ethan and I went to his first U8 soccer festival (tournament).  Erik was performing again with Emma at the first show.  Ethan played three 20 minute games and had a great time!  Their season was tough for them but they tried their best!  Ethan and I rushed home, ate lunch while Erik cut the grass and then back to see Emma perform at her 3rd show of the day!  She also had her Great Grandma and Grandma Kyre  and her Godmother Irene all come and see her dance!  Emma danced beautifully!  She performed over 28 times when it was all said and done!

What a great weekend for all of us!  Can't wait to do it again!

Dancing, birthdays & Mother's Day!

What a busy week last week for the Kyres'!  Emma had dance recital rehearsals Thursday and Friday of last week.  She or maybe I should say "we" had to rush over there after she got out of school on both days so she could rehearsal all of her 9 dances.  The good thing is that Miss Emma is no getting the hang of the make-up thing so I do not have to help as much.  Woo hoo and boo all at the same time!

Thursday Ethan also had a soccer game so my mother in law picked him up from the bus and took him to his game for me.  I volunteered to help with hair and make-up with the little ones.  This is always fun and crazy busy but the little ones just love to see themselves in their beautiful costumes with a cute bun and make-up!

Friday was the same routine and Ethan asked if he could hang out with his Nana again so she agreed. Erik brought him back over while I was helping and he rehearsed with Emma.

Saturday was my hubby's birthday.  We celebrated with having family over and food!

We also celebrated Mother's Day with Erik's Mom and Grandma on Saturday as well!  Erik's birthday sometimes is on Mother's Day so he is used to sharing that day!

Saturday evening Emma had 2 of her friends over to practice some dance routines for recital this weekend.  It was so cute to watch them!  Emma really loves tap so she was helping the other girls with some of the dance steps...little teacher!

Sunday was Mother's Day!  I celebrated by sleeping in, taking a 2 mile walk by myself and having my parents over for a cookout!

Don't Take your Granite for "Grant it"!

Last week and this week, we have been doing some kitchen remodeling.  After many days researching and looking for contractors, we found our granite and tile!  We picked out our granite from The Granite Guy.  It was a very easy and painless process and it was installed last week in 3 hours.  Our tile was a different story.  We found a tile that we loved at Home Depot.  So we decided to hire them which they have a 3rd party install it.

To make a very long story short, after 2 days of installation of the glass tile, and several crews, the tile was uneven and crooked.  Yes it is a very long process and not easy but that is what we paid them to do.  Erik was not happy and as of today, we have a guy here from that company ripping off the old and putting in the new tile.  He only has 2 hours today and 2 tomorrow since I have to be at work.  Let's hope it is fixed and done correctly!

We also had a plumber install a new faucet that is touchless and has a LED light!  It is awesome and he also installed a new garbage disposal that is really quiet...love that too!

Here are some before and after: