Santa vs. The Tooth Fairy

I am a little sad as this Christmas season comes to a close thinking that my kids aren't so little anymore. We still have two believers in this house, but I'm afraid by next year, it will only be one. That doesn't mean the excitement is gone (between the three kids, we had at least one of them in our room every hour on the hour and finally resorted to Benadryl--horrible, I know!), but it just means I feel like they are getting so old.

It started with Kinley losing her first tooth on Wednesday night (after getting five shots that morning at her well-child check-up in which we found out she is now in the 90th percentile for height for her age), and then her second tooth came out on Christmas night. She looks so different with those two bottom teeth gone and she sounds hilarious. Good thing the Tooth Fairy didn't forget about her amidst all the excitement. She was really worried that she wouldn't come since Santa had been there the night before and because she had just lost a tooth two days before. It didn't help that Kaiya and Kinley have been sleeping in Kaiya's room almost every night up on her loft bed. The poor tooth fairy and her helper (Bennett) had a heck of time finding her tooth, which was lodged under her pillow up against the wall in her sister's loft bed. The Tooth Fairy is much too old to climb. When I suggested that Kinley just put the tooth under her own pillow, Kaiya reminded her that the Tooth Fairy travels by flying, so being up on the loft bed is really no big deal.

We really had an enjoyable couple days. We enjoyed a get-together with friends, saw our traditional Christmas Eve movie, had a nice dinner with my family, and let the kids open some new jammies that night. Christmas Day started at 7 a.m. and didn't wind down until about 5 p.m. My mom and I were even able to sneak in our annual run on the icy pavement.

One nice thing about the kids getting older was being able to eat some breakfast between Santa gifts and wrapped presents. We were so slow this year that my family showed up before we were done! The kids really enjoyed buying for other people this year and there was genuine appreciation for everything. Love seeing the joy in their eyes! It has been so fun watching them play all day bouncing from one activity to the next. Santa is one smart dude!!

All dressed up

Loving having Uncle Bennett home!

Christmas Eve jammies

iPod land!

A dollhouse as big as she is

Her own balance beam

So proud to have bought this for her sister

A BB gun that surprised mom as much as Cooper

Taking it all in

Getting a gift explanation--looks important

Uncle B's "munchkin"

The year of the atrocious Snuggie

Being Papa the Trooper

Official ORU fan club member now

Sporting our upcoming marathon and 1/2 marathon personalized t-shirts

Kinley's turn

After sitting through Kaiya's meets for the last 4 months, it was Kinley's turn to shine on Saturday. Her dance studio had their Winter Gala a/k/a recital and it was super cute. Kinley was so excited to get to do two dances instead of one. I still hate putting make-up on my 5-year-old, but it is fun to see her enjoying something so much. She was a bit bossy on the stage during the second performance telling everyone what to do at times, but it was honestly because she knew the dance and there are a couple of kids in her group that spend more time in time-out than dancing during their class. She was especially happy that her teacher pulled her aside afterward and told her she did a great job and thanks for being a leader. :)

After the performance, I see this family waving at us and shouting Kinley's name and I had no clue who they were. They followed us out into the lobby and it turns out it is the family of a classmate of Kinley's. His name is Jake and he is all Kinley talks about when she comes home from school. They are best buddies and his mom tells me he is smitten. Had to snap a few photos of them, too! Of course, Kinley loved having my family there as her audience, too.

Ready for the show

Loving the stage

Loves getting flowers afterward!

Proud siblings

Kinley's fan club

The jazz/hip-hop dance to "Celebration"

The big STATE meet

Miss Kaiya had her big USAG Level 4 State Meet on Saturday in Denver. After months of training, she is so happy to have made it there. It definitely had that "big meet" feel. The meet was held at the Colorado Convention Center in LoDo and was such a neat location. There were 61 qualifiers in her age group and it ran very smoothly. Kaiya was super thrilled to have her own cheering section (should have taken a picture of them all in a row). There were 10 of us there to cheer her on!

She started on bars and did a great routine. The score was low, but the judges were being tough. Next was beam and her only goof was on her dismount. Her floor routine was as good as she has ever done and her last event, vault, was her best of the night. She ended up with a 9.05--her personal best on vault and an 11th place finish! Overall, she was super happy with her performance and we were a proud bunch. Yesterday, she was already back in the gym working on the Level 5 skills hoping to be able to move up soon. She came home with blisters on her hands the size of quarters.

Ready to go on floor

Feeling pretty confident on beam

Love this pic--waiting for judges to give her the green light.

Vault action shot

Good looking handstand on beam

A bit of a nervous look

It is Kinley's turn to shine this weekend at her winter dance recital and then Cooper's basketball games start in a few weeks. Good thing we have no life other than being spectators at our kids' events! :)