Oh my toe!

Have you seen these feet? They belong to my wonderful husband. Every once in a while Steve will ask me to give him a foot rub, and well, he knows I have trouble just being in the same room as his feet. They are just weird. I guess weird is not the technical term, weird bunions is more like it. He has has them for as long as I have known him, and they have not bothered him, until recently. So, he decided to have them taken care of. Well, at least one for now.

Day one after surgery, not much to see. He was a little nervous about having the surgery. Right before he was to go in everyone started telling him how painful it was. After 2 days he had to start putting weight on his foot and that was a little scary because he didn't know how much it would hurt. But he is a trooper. Didn't take much pain meds, they made him too sick, didn't need that much anyway.

After about 2 weeks he had to go back to have the dressing changed and make sure it was healing ok. Yuck!

I guess you could say it looks better. It is still hard to tell the shape of his foot because of the swelling, but I think it is better. Not sure if he is going to have the other one done or not.

15 weeks and counting

car seats
diapers
strollers
bibs
high chairs
nothing like starting all over again!

Cat's in the Cradle....

Mom Cat has a new place to nap.

I am sure Papa didn't think she would be the one sleeping in there, but that is a cat for you.

Christmas Morning

3:45 am...awaken by excited children
4:00.......children sent back to bed by tired mother
5:00........children allowed to get up
5:01........begin opening family presents
5:03........finished
7:00........over the river and through the woods, to grandma's house we go for breakfast, presents and family fun


steve tried to make waffles, with as much waffle mix as he put in the waffle maker i think he was trying to make all of them at once. papa did a much better job on the bacon, not too crunch for a me and ellyn.


pretty room, with many presents for kids of all ages, soon to be a pretty messy room with oohing and aahhing over the perfect gift.





a hand made gift from papa, a cradle for the girls.




even little kinley loves her new toy, a remote of her very own.

a new golf club for the boys, don't ask me what kind it is.

michelle always camera ready

merry christmas to all, and too all a good night (or nap)

We tried a new Snyder tradition this year. And I think it worked out quite well. On Christmas Day we always head up to Steve's mom's house for breakfast, but that always presented a problem. A very quick Christmas morning at home, not enough time to play with new toys and rushing out the door.

This year we opened presents on Christmas Eve, and it was great. We saved a few family gifts and stockings for Christmas morning, but everything else was opened. One thing that I like was being able to clean up a little before bed, normally we would rush out of the house and leave wrapping paper, bows and boxes strung everywhere. But this year I got the whole family to help clean and then we went out to dinner. Yes, we had Christmas dinner at Sizzler. Another tradition I think we should have.

The kids separated the gifts, and then we took turns opening them.

Oh, what could it be?

Thank you mom! It is what I ALWAYS wanted.

Books for Joy!

Now I have to explain this tradition. This is something I have picked up from the Snyders. They will sometimes give a "pre-gift gift." And that is something that has to do with your real gift, but not so much as you can figure out what it is. One year Steve's parents gave us a dryer (we had bought a washer but was in need of a dryer), so our pre-gift gift was a box of wet socks. As you can imagine we were very confused. And then they showed us our real gift. Well, for Steve this year I did the pre-gift gift; a box with dirt, rocks and flowers. Can you guess what his real gift is? A gift card to Home Depot. He always loves working in the yard in the spring and has to buy some type of dirt and pretty flowers. I was very proud of myself.

The gift card, the real gift!

Seriously, that's it?

Dad trying to get kids to bed. Mom Cat might have better luck.

The kids slept out by the tree this year. I remember doing that so I could catch Santa, but I never did. This year the kids almost did. I am going to have to rethink this tradition.

Ellyn's Gift from Grannie and Great Papa

For Ellyn this year, her theme was cooking. She has been helping me in the kitchen a ton and loves it. So, Grannie and Great Papa sent her a set of cooking utensils, her own set of towels and hot pads, a timer and a recipe holder.

I don't think she knew what it was when she opened it. Daddy had to explain what it was, and what the things were used for.

Once she understood she love it. She was ready to go cook!

First thing she made was sugar cookies,

with a little help from mom.

So proud of her cookies!

And what is a cookie without frosting and sprinkles?

The finished cookie! The were super yummy.

The Box

When a box arrives with the return address of Tennessee, the kids know who it is from; Grannie and Great Papa Jacobson (Joy's parents.) The box is just as much a tradition as stockings and the tree. With the blending of two families we are trying to keep some of our own family traditions alive and add our own special one. One that I had growing up was opening presents early. I think my dad just got tired of me bugging him so much that he finally gave in, either that or he was just so excited he couldn't wait until Christmas. To keep that tradition alive we let the kids open one gift a day from my parents. It helps to spread out the gift giving and then the remember who gave them what.

Now the kids are big enough to open the box on their own and sort out the presents.

I think Mom Cat is looking for her gift.