NOOOOOOO!!!!! and Happy New Year...

So you may have noticed that many of my photos are missing from my posts. Well, with the integration of Google, blogger and the cloud, I accidentally deleted all of my blog photos from (May 2012 and later) from my handy dandy smart phone. Don't you just love how these phones are SO smart that their owners can't seem to figure them out?

So, sorry folks. Over the next several months I will be editing previous posts to include the photos (so painstakingly slow, but there's no other way). In the meantime, enjoy our year in review video...

Merry Christmas!

Labor Day 2012

Today we went to our favorite outdoor spot...Starved Rock State Park. We have had a ton of rain the past few days and we were hoping the waterfalls would be overflowing with water. Sadly, they were not. But that did not prevent us from enjoying the hike nonetheless.

I think one of my favorite memories of this summer would be the elusive jellybean bush we discovered today. David spotted one...

And the children enjoyed the fruits of his labor! It was a long hike, so lucky for us we found LOTS of jellybean bushes along the way. When Kate suggested we look for M&M bushes we told her that sadly, those weren't in season :) 

I think Annabel enjoyed the hike as much as I did...

And she got pretty worn out, just like I did!

Christmas 2011

To our friends and family near and far, Merry Christmas!

Here is how we spent most of our morning...and tonight we are exhausted from all the play! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9GRbQNRWSg&feature=youtu.be

Easter Photos

Click here to view these pictures larger

Happy New Year

The new year brought a visit from Grandma and Grandpa Cuesta. They got to see first hand what kind of imagination is at work in our little boy. Here he is flying in a home made Buzz Lightyear jetpack/wings (I have no idea what you call it)

Kate, as usual, can't stop sucking her thumb. New Year's resolution, anyone?

Grandpa Cuesta was unfortunately quite jet lagged after spending 5 months in the Philippines. Business as usual! But despite his off sleep schedule he got to hang out with the Snyder gang. Thanks for visiting, Grandma and Grandpa!

Christmas in Texas

This year we took another road trip down to Texas. We drove straight!!!! We were surprised to find that though we were on the road for a total of 14 hours, it was actually much easier (and less expensive). With the exception of two meltdowns (one of which was mine), the kids did great and were in good spirits by the time we arrived.

Some of you who are my friends on Facebook have seen this already, but I've posted a link to the photo album here.Snyder Christmas 2010

First Snow

Our first real snow! Enough to go sledding that is. Last night we were all bundled up and ready to go to one of the local sledding hot spots when we noticed our driveway had a slight incline. Hmm. Let's try that instead. It turned out to be just right!

Here's some video footage . I used the "night vision" setting on the camcorder at first, which resulted in some freaky looking faces! Then I discovered that our camcorder has a little light you can turn on. Perfect for nighttime filming!

Easter Day

Since Ethan's birth we've kind of started this new tradition of an annual Easter photo. Here is our attempt to take a nice family snapshot on the couch. You can see more photos of Easter posted on my facebook page http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=76190&id=610621963&l=b0da8af55d

I like this one of Kate and me...

An Easter Egg Hunt

This was probably one of the most chaotic kids events I'd ever been to...

There's a church in town that was hosting an Easter egg hunt...over 30,000 eggs, plus free lunch, and prizes to giveaway. What we thought was a "hunt" ended up in a blood bath!

It was a free for all, grab as many eggs as you can in 5 minutes! They blew the whistle and tens of kids with their parents ran out to the field and picked up as many eggs as they could. And that was only the 3-4 year old kid division.

Poor Ethan...I pulled him through the crowd, trying to get him to an open area with some eggs, Kate strapped to my body in a sling. But before Ethan fell, he did manage to grab one egg, while all the other kids around him snatched the others from beneath his hands. David found us in the crowd and finally took Ethan to the other side, where he could gather some more eggs for his bucket. Not as fun as I had hoped...

Ethan had lots of fun with his friends Cooper, Asher and Kayela, BEFORE the hunt started though. It was sort of like a playdate outside. It was good to be outside and expend some of that energy from being cooped up in the house yesterday, a rainy Good Friday.

Maybe we'll just host our own egg hunt next year!

Christmas Morning

Here is a recap of Christmas morning. Well, I should say Christmas DAY. It took all day for Ethan to open his gifts! And it's not because of the number of gifts. It's because he was so happy to play with each and every one of them!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas morning at the Snyders! It's been a full morning with presents for the kids. And we're not even done yet! Ethan saw the presents this morning but wasn't very curious about them. First he watched Curious George, then he ate breakfast. By that time, I had to feed Kate, then get everybody ready for Christmas Day mass at the Catholic church my parents attend while here. By 11:45 am we were back home and ready to open up the gifts. But once he found what he really wanted, he didn't want to open any more gifts! After lunch we managed to get him to open a few more, but not all of them! Right now, Ethan is taking his afternoon nap and hopefully we'll finish the last round of presents.

It's easy to lose sight of the real meaning of Christmas. Just last night, I fell victim to this. Preparing a special dinner, taking care of a baby, and making sure family members are comfortable is a lot of work! I wasn't able to get as much preparation done as I had hoped, and so come 4pm I was spent, stressed, and a little mad to be quite honest! My chocolate trifle wasn't done, dinner wasn't started, and plans for Christmas Eve services had to be cancelled because of a fussy baby. I was able to sneak away for 15 minutes and decompress, when I realized I was having a Martha and Mary moment. You know the story, right? It can be found in the gospel of Luke, Chapter 10, verses 38-42:

As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!"

"Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."

Oh, how I am Martha! There's nothing wrong with what she was doing. After all, opening your home to people is a good thing. But it started to get in the way of what was truly important--the gift that God gave to us through His Son. I pray next year, I will remember the lesson Jesus taught Martha.

Speaking of lessons...last night, David read the story of Christmas one more time to Ethan. As I was down the hallway, I heard him asking Ethan to choose one gift to give to the baby Jesus. He chose this little truck. Perhaps this will be the start of one of many Christmas traditions in our home. Though this truck isn't the most precious of posessions to Ethan, perhaps it will remind us that God gave us His most precious "gift": His son.

A Christmas Video from Ethan and Kate

Christmas has begun

Two days ago we finally got our little tree up! Our little tree decorating "party" came with a viewing of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer on TV, which really added to the holiday cheer.

This is the first Christmas that Ethan is interested in the tree, decorations and presents! It will be fun to see his reaction Christmas morning...

Thanksgiving Weekend

The weekend brought some nice fun for all the Snyders. We showed our out-of-towners the Peoria riverfront, and had lunch at a local pizza place.

The highlight of the weekend was probably our first snowfall! Sunday morning was quite a surprise, and a delight for Gayle and Joanna who were visiting from Texas. After church we quickly got dressed to go sledding.

But that wasn't enough snow for Joanna. After lunch she and her mom went out into the backyard to see if they could shovel enough snow to build an igloo.

I think it turned out fairly well! Big enough for Joanna to crawl into at least!

And the first snowfall would not be complete without a little snowball fight!!!

A special thank you goes out to Joanna without whom this weekend would not have been as fun for Ethan. Thanks for being his special bud and for giving him lots of playtime!

Vicky's First Thanksgiving Meal was...

...not quite what she thought it would be!

Well, that's what you get when you "guestimate" the cooking time when the Reynolds Oven Cooking Bag doesn't have your size turkey on their cooking chart. Boy, that turkey cooked WAY faster than I planned, so I overcooked it. Oh well. Nothing a some turkey gravy couldn't fix!

What else was on the menu? Onion and chive mashed potatoes, homemade stuffing, a greenbean dish, and cranberry relish. All homemade! For dessert I made pumpkin pie and apple crisp.

And as usual, I have pictures of the food and not the guests, ha ha ha! David's eldest sister and her husband joined us (Donna and Greg). Then later that evening one of his other sisters, Gayle, came along with her youngest (of five!), Joanna. They literally hopped on a plane from Dallas right after their own family Thanksgiving celebration.

All the family in town made for a great Thanksgiving!

Festival of Trees

What was intended as a merry precursor to the holiday season turned out to be much like pulling teeth! As some of you may recall, ever since Halloween Ethan has exhibited fears of all sorts of things. The latest in his scare craze? Snowmen and mice. There weren't any mice at the local Festival of Trees, but there were snowmen, big and small. We did a shortcut straight to the kids section in hopes of warming Ethan up to the holiday season. Unfortunately, Ethan didn't want to do much of anything, not even take a ride on a kiddie train! Here's a little video summary of our outing...

By the end of the morning, at least he was happy and we were able to finally walk around the decorated trees without Ethan whining and wanting to be carried! And nothing makes a kid's day like having a happy meal at the golden arches!

Happy Fourth of July!

The Snyders took a brief camping trip last week with two other families to celebrate the Fourth. Ok, by brief we mean overnight! We had never been camping with Ethan before, so we weren't sure how long we could last! We had a great time! The Owens are on the left, and they joined us the day after we got there, essentially taking the overnight spot of the Snyders (we even left our tent and pack n play for them to use). The Alkires are in the center.

Setting camp the afternoon we got there was fun. We grilled chicken and garlic toast for dinner and served it with salad and baked beans, heated right in the can. After putting the kids to bed we all roasted marshmallows over the fire and had some s'mores.

The next morning we got up EARLY! One of the rv's next to us decided to rev up his generator which was so loud that the kids woke up.

This is me realizing that it's 5:45 in the morning after getting to bed at about midnight.

But this is one of my favorite parts of camping: open fire cooking. Katrina made us some french toast and eggs, while I prepared coffee and sausages. Doesn't this look yummy?


The kids couldn't really wait, so Kayela had some yogurt while Ethan had some instant oatmeal.

After breakfast the dads took the kids to the lake while Katrina and I cleaned up and had a rest.

Later that morning, David and I took the kids to the nearby playground while Katrina and Andrew (Kayela's parents) tried to catch some fish. We are so glad Ethan had a playmate with him. It made the trip so much more enjoyable for him!

Riding around in our van, the two kids goofed off a bit. We kept hearing them giggling and squealing.

At lunchtime, the Owens joined us for sandwiches, chips and homemade, camp ice cream! It was Dave O's birthday, so this was our special celebration. Here is the video clip of how we made vanilla ice cream in gallon freezer bags.

After lunch it was time for us to go. The Owens stayed one more night, while the Alkires stayed two more. We enjoyed our time, but boy were we worn out! Ethan fell asleep about two seconds after he got in the car!

Christmas in New Jersey!

After our visit to NY we spent a few days in New Jersey to visit with my brother Fred and his family. Ethan got to spend a lot of time with his cousins Andrew and Elena, and boy did he get hyped up! I'm so glad that he had fun, and that he has got to see them twice this year. Grandpa Cuesta took us out to a fantastic buffet lunch when we arrived (all you can eat seafood, sushi, and other Japanese fare), and prepared lobster for us on Christmas Eve. I helped out by preparing sage-stuffed shrimp and steak. The feasting and festivities continued Christmas day with a turkey dinner prepared by Teresa, my sister-in-law. But did I mention the desserts? We had a smorgasbord of sweets that day: fruit tart, pumpkin pie, cheesecake, sfogliattelle, cannolis, and shortbread.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas in New York!

We arrived safely in NY without any delays on the 20th! David and I were grateful to grandma Cuesta for watching Ethan while we spent a couple of days going into Manhattan. On our way to the train station we walked through several neighborhoods. I was surprised to see how much Christmas spirit there was! SO many lights! So gawdy, it was wonderful :) My old neighborhood hasn't changed too much, but I admit that it becomes more and more Spanish-speaking!

We spent an evening having dinner with his sister, Donna, and her husband Greg. We had a fantastic meal at Knickerbocker's on University (near NYU). I had the braised short rib and David had the duck. These portions were big enough to split! It's always nice visiting with Donna and Greg and hearing about what's new on the horizon for them.

We got the chance to meet up with my old highschool friends, Maria (left) and Nina (center). These two sisters have remained some of my "bestest" friends throughout the years, even though we are physically separated by distance (Vegas, NY and IL). We also spent a few hours at the Museum of Natural History to see the Mythical Creatures exhibit, and the origami Christmas tree. Here is David standing next to the tree...all the ornaments were hand folded.

Onto our next destination...NEW JERSEY!