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seasons of joy

One day, baby

Soon enough sweetie you will be able to run and play with the big kids.

Towels

It seems like in the summer I have more laundry. At first I could not figure out why, and then I saw all the towels I was washing. From going to the pool once a week, to playing at the splash pad at the park, I was washing a ton. And my poor dryer was working over time. So to help save on electricity and save my dryer I have started hanging my towels outside to dry. It works great, most of the time. There was that one day when it rained and my almost dry towels weren't dry anymore. Steve said they were summer rain washed.

Fun with duct tape

A wallet, a baby gate or a shark trap, there are so many things you can do with duct tape. Let's just say Andy has been having lots of fun this week. It must be a guy thing.

Saturday Fun

Andy and Ellyn had a cookie and lemonade stand today. They did pretty good, maybe we should start charging rent.

Kelsey is ready for the pool! She loves to "swim", but also loves to just hang out with mom.

boys and girls

What started out as a science project, turned into a study on the differences in boys and girls. To me that has been one of the most interesting things about having a boy and two girls. Seeing just how different they are.

For science we are studying the skeletal system and for our project the kids had to make little guys (or girls) out of clay. The first figure had no "bones", we had to see what would happen to us if God had not given us our bones. The next step was to add our bones (toothpicks) and see if this was better for our guys. The kids had fun playing with the clay, making their guys and seeing the results.

After it was all said and done they wanted to just play with the clay. So I let them and they had a little more fun.

Andy's guy...

Poor guy, he needs some bones...

Ellyn's girl, with bones...Much better

Ellyn's free time with clay. What a cute picture. Such a girl...

And yes here is Andy's...What is a mom to do? Just enjoy having a boy I guess.

march 5, 2011

Happy Half Birthday Kelsey Anne!

It is hard to believe you are now 6 months old. It seems like just yesterday that we were brining you home from the hospital. We laid you down on your blanket in the living room and the kids just sat there and looked at you. We had waited for what seemed like forever for you to arrive, and we didn't know what to expect. And there you were, just as cute as can be. The kids just looked at you, and then at us. They both said " She doesn't do much does she?"

But boy (girl) do you do much now. You are a rolley polley, you love to sit in your walker (although you can't walk in it yet, you can't even reach the floor), you love to play with spoons, love your bro-bro and sissy. You are learning so much these days. Like how to eat cereal and how to eat your socks!

What a blessing you are to our family. We love you little Kelsey Anne.

For her half birthday party, Ellyn made her this cute crown.

letters

fkjdl jriwjrkhe 5e983w4pi3iroewiroq

oh letters, how we have missed you. did you know that you can't do much on a computer without a keyboard? well, here in the snyder house we have found out how much you can do. about a week ago our keyboard died. we could use the mouse to get around on some websites that had been bookmarked, and andy was the only one who could get on facebook because he was the last one on and it saved his info. i tried a friends keyboard and that didn't work. with the advice of my husband's aunt we called a cousin who is a computer guy. and he gave me some tips and, it didn't work. but later that day the "new" keyboard just started working. don't know why, don't care why. all we care is it is working. jason (steve's cousin who may have reached super hero status) was able to help us out with other computer issues.

something new...

you would think that after being married for what seems like forever (is that a good thing or bad thing that it seems that long? i think a good thing), you would think that we know all there is to know about each other. that there is nothing new under the sun...well not so boys and girls.

our running joke is that we learn one new thing about each other each month. and so far that is pretty right on.

the first time it happened we were at carl's jr and i got some fry sauce for me and Andy (this was before kelsey anne and ellyn) and steve asked where his was? i told him he didn't like fry sauce so i didn't get him any. he said that he did. and i asked for how long? and he said for always! well, what do you know? that was our first new thing of the month. it seems that he comes from a long line of fry sauce likers (snyder's call it gunk, if that is how you spell it.)

this is how we keep things new, fresh in our marriage. learning about fry sauce and such.

oh, for those of you who are not from utah and don't know what fry sauce is, it is just ketchup and mayo. simple and good.

oh mom cat

how can i do my Bible study with THIS in my way? why is it that cats want to be right in the middle of everything?

baking fun

while in dickson i got to see my dad in all his baking glory. and boy does that man bake. one of the many things that i loved was his french bread. it was the best! and it seemed super easy. so for one night i decided we needed to have french bread with dinner. now i knew that it needed 40 minutes to rise after it had mixed in the bread maker and it was to cook for 22 minutes. i thought i had it all calculated just right so it would come out just in time for dinner. what could be better than fresh french bread? well, i forgot to factor in the mixing time...one hour and nineteen minutes!!! that put my timing off just a little. well, it will be ok i thought. we can just have it as an after dinner snack. one other thing i forgot to factor in was our power going out. yikes! as we were eating a storm blew in and the power went out. not a big deal i thought. then i remembered the bread was in the oven. steve said i should just leave the door shut and wait. the power did come back on not too much later. i then turned the oven back on and started to cook. it had stayed pretty hot in there so i was very hopeful. and would you believe it turned out great. perfect i thought. but if you ask ellyn she will tell you that great papa's (my dad), his bread is still much better. thank you for your support ell.

fun with kitty

i think kelsey likes mom cat. but not too sure mom cat feels the same way.

sew much fun

For Christmas this year I received a sewing machine from my in-laws. I had been thinking I wanted one for a while and what do you know? Santa came through! I had learned to sew when I was really little. My mom did a lot of sewing and I learned some from her, but that was many moons ago. And this machine is very different from my mom's one. It does all kinds of crazy stitches. It even does button holes. We had our very first lesson on my new machine. I learned how to do all kinds of fun things. Now I am looking for my first project. I have a few in mind. I am going to keep it simple and see how it goes.





My first project! I did a bunch of different kinds of stitches. The kids think I should frame it, I just might. My mom would be so proud.


Thanks Kathy for teaching and picking up where my mom has left off. I love you mom!

journaling fun

this great book "wreck this journal" was given to andy by a dear friend of my mom's. it is good to have a son that likes to journal as much as my mom and i do. i do have some issues with this book. the point of the book is to let the kids explore their creative sides, to color outside the lines. i want andy to take care of this book. but that is not the idea. for example one page says you have to take it into the shower?!?! you have to draw different size lines, put something sticky on a page (gum, what else), one page andy had to rip out, put it in his pants pocket and then let it go through the was, then tape it back in the book. this book was written just for him i think.

pizza fun

saturday night is now officially pizza night!

i tried my hand at making my own pizza dough,

and guess what?

it worked

it was super easy

it was a success!

i had a veggie pizza.

the kids had pepperoni.

steve had a meat-lovers one.

oh mom cat

not too sure about this cat of ours. the other day i caught her licking steve's work boots.

mmmm, maybe she needs food?

or a therapist.

School Helper

what a cute little helper. with that smile it makes even math seem not as hard.

eeewww

one of the many fun things we do in our homeschool group is the annual dissection! this was the year of the frog. usually andy gets into the cutting and poking of the dead animal, but not this year. it was all i could do to get him to pretend to cut into if for a "blog moment" photo. ellyn was having nothing to do with the yucky frog either. so, it was me and the frog. it was kind of cool, still pretty icky. our good friend mike b. really got into the whole frog thing. we had to keep running over and seeing what was going on at his table. he and his kids were having a blast. we are looking forward to next year, well i am any way.

traveling fun

this trip to tennessee was my first time flying with an infant. i was a little nervous, not too sure what to expect. i didn't want to be "that lady with the baby" on the plane. you know the one, the baby that never stops crying and makes a one hour flight seem like two weeks? well kelsey did great! she slept most flights and then was very happy (like always) when she was awake. when we were leaving nashville our gate was by the play area. yep, a play area in an airport. it was so cool. i think the idea is to wear the kids out so they sleep on the planes, but it could have the opposite effect, get them all wound up.

while mom's away...

the boys will play...

steve and andy went to get hot wings and

yummy desserts.

photos by steve

fingers!

kelsey loves her fingers!

"tiny"

on our trip we got to meet the newest member of the Jacobson house hold. "tiny", is not so tiny orange kitty that my dad had adopted. he showed up on the back deck and was hungry, so of course my dad took pity on him and let him move in with the other kitties. sadie and katey were not as thrilled as my dad was. tiny started out very tiny, he could fit in the palm of my dad's hand. needless to say he has grown a bit. he is now 36 inches long and weighs a whopping 20 pounds. he is not fat like katey (mom's black cat) he is sold cat. and a lot of fun too. he loved hanging out with us and he let the kids play with him.

as most people who are owned by cats know, you can't tell a cat where to go or not to go. tiny likes the top of the bookshelf and the baby seat. he also likes the top of the scratching post and on top of dad's desk. do you see a pattern here?



he was also a good sport and let kelsey pet him.

one month

It has been just about a month since my mom passed away. She died in her sleep on January 4th, surrounded by the things she loved. Her cats, books and my dad.

As we were going through the house we kept finding one of her other favorite things; pens, markers and highlighters. There was a cup in the kitchen, the living room, her office, in her night stand and in the bathroom.

More Crafting and Gifting Fun

For my parents this year I came up with what I thought was a great idea. I got to use my now new favorite craft product, Mod Podge! I made a shadow box that holds my very first pair of ballet shoes. Once this idea came to me I couldn't wait to get it made. I want to thank my many crafting friends and family for teaching me how to Mod Podge. I was able to tap into the long lost creative side of me and have fun doing this.

I started with Mod Podge...

Found this fun shadow box (Hobby Lobby! My new favorite store. Hard to believe that just a few months ago I had never heard of this amazing store.)

Dug out the old shoes, because of the organized storage room was able to find them right away...

Picked out the paper...

And there is the finished project. Like most things in my life I thought it would take hours, or perhaps day to finish this...I took less than an hour.

It is pretty cool to see these displayed. I hope my parents enjoy it as much I as did making it. To me when I look at those shoes I see all the years of classes, rehearsals, friends made, blood (point shoes!), sweat and tears. But I wouldn't trade those years for anything. That was a huge part of my life, a life that seems like a lifetime ago. I am going to make for me a shadow box that has my first costume and first pair of point shoes.

Gifting fun

For Christmas this year we gave Steve's mom a "Grandma Box". It was full of games, crafts and coloring things. The kind of things that every grandma needs at her house. It was fun to get everything together. We also included a "post grandma day recovery bag" that was filled with lotion, bubble bath and some chocolate. I wanted to give her a special card that explained what the box was for, and her is what it said...

What could be more precious than a Grandma's special love?

She always seems to know the things that we are fondest of.

She's always ready with a smile

Or a loving word of praise,

Her laughter always brightens up the cloudiest of days

She has an understanding heart that encourages and cheers.

The love she gives so freely grows deeper with the years.

Her wisdom and devotion are blessings from above-

Nothing could be more precious than a Grandma's special love.

Here is a special present for you this Christmas day

A box full of fun and games to play

And when the day is all done

Open the bag and take a look

Grab a yummy hot drink and maybe a book

For grandma's day is over she is ready for a nap

Let's giver her some space so she doesn't snap!