Meet me in St. Louis

Today is our 3 year wedding anniversary! To celebrate we took an overnight trip to St. Louis--we just got back! We had just enough time to visit the zoo, the "Jewel box" and the St. Louis Science Center. What a fantastic time...

The zoo is enormous! We only spent three hours there yesterday afternoon, but it felt like an eternity on our feet! Though rain was predicted, we only felt a drop or two. There was blazing sun both days of our visit.

And at the Science Center we saw life-sized replicas of dinosaurs. They even moved! There was tons of stuff to see, but time was running out...we had to hurry home to make bedtime for all of us :) Ethan was zonked at the end of the trip!

Our first day at the pool

Today was Ethan's first time to the local pool. I was surprised to find that he wasn't all that afraid of the shooting fountains, the running kids (and adults) or letting go of mommy in the deep end! Don't worry, we held on real tight. Here he is taking a break before heading back home for dinner.

As mommy took a break, father and son continued to explore the pool and all its delights! Oh, we are going to have SO much fun this summer! I can't wait!

Congratulations Ben and Colleen!

I love weddings. With my posse up in Chicago it's not only a joy to celebrate new stages in life, but it's also a fantastic opportunity to catch up with friends. I LOVE WEDDINGS! David and I had a little night out, thanks to Grandma Cuesta who is visiting this week. She watched Ethan while we were dining and dancing the night away. My only regret is that we had to leave! Here is the beautiful bride with her posh posse, heh heh heh.

In between the ceremony and reception we went to the local Starbucks for a treat. Gorgeous weather allowed us to lounge outside. What a funny site to see such a dressed up crowd all having coffee outside. It was great to sit and chat and hear about everything that was going on in our friends' lives since we last met. Here are Emily and Amanda. Amanda is 6 months pregnant!



The guys seemed to keep to themselves as the ladies went on and on :)

Here is a picture of Heather and me. As my husband was taking the picture, I said, "wait, this is not a good angle fo r me!" And she says, "oh well, too bad!" She made me laugh so hard as the picture was snapped :)


This was also my opportunity to finally meet my friends' new arrival, their first baby, Lauren. Liz and Jace were VERY brave new parents bringing out their 3 week old to the wedding. But they had some good help with their grandma who watched her throughout the evening.

A Pool Party Primer

For Ethan's birthday several months ago we got an inflatable baby pool that we thought we'd try out. It's got a nifty shade covering so the kiddies have some protection from the sun. We had to fill it with some warm water so Ethan wouldn't get too cold! He loved playing WITH it, but wasn't too crazy about playing IN it. Nonetheless, we're looking forward to summer fun in the sun! I think we'll have to get him some new swimming trunks, though. The poor kid has got some plumber pants thing going on here...

It's a mother's day special!!!

Very cheesy, but the timing of this discovery was something out of a PBS kids' special! David was trimming some bushes on the side of our house the other day, but he hadn't noticed this magical secret treasure inside until after. Praise God he didn't trim down any further! What you see is a cardinal's nest, just a few inches into the top of the bush. Since this picture was taken one more chick has hatched. I think I will look in from time to time to see how they're doing.

We really have been enjoying the warm weather and we think it's finally here to stay. Here's Ethan enjoying the outdoors as dad does some yard work near by.

He's walking!

Yes, the dreaded day has arrived! Well, okay not DREADED, but we are nervous about all the tumbles and falls our little one will face now that he's on two feet! We were so excited to see him stand on his own, then take one step. This was just last week! Little by little he took more and more steps, and now he can take about 15 steps before crash landing. Here is some of the footage.

Mom flyin' solo

Ethan and I flew to NY a couple of weeks ago to visit with family and to witness Andrew's first communion (my nephew, Ethan's cousin). It was a great trip, but definitely full of some challenges. For one thing, Ethan was still battling his FOURTH ear infection since December, and a virus that was keeping him at a 101.5/101 fever. Not fun!

The first few days we stayed at grandma's house in Queens. This was a great opportunity for me to meet up with some old highschool pals whom I hadn't seen since 1996. Wow...I love to hear what's up with old friends, and visiting with them is even better. I was so grateful that grandma could watch Ethan while I went to the city for all my "little reunions". The second half of the week we stayed with my brother and his family. What a fun time getting the cousins all better acquainted! Ethan really took to his older cousins Andrew and Elena! Here's a picture of them on the trampoline. The dark-haired kids are the related ones :) The fair-haired boys are their friends Alex and Mark.

our little man

About 4 pm when I start thinking about cooking dinner is usually when Ethan watches his favorite video. For a long time it was Baby Mozart (from the Baby Einstein series), but now that he's older he can watch some bigger boy videos. Right now his favorite is this Baby Genius (hmm...sounds like a knock off to me) video with nursery rhymes. It never amazes me how music and images makes kids stop dead in their tracks no matter what they're doing! The trouble is making sure they don't watch TOO MUCH of the TV!

Ethan's Birthday Video

Happy 1st Birthday Ethan!

It is hard to believe that a whole year has passed already since Ethan's birth. I find myself a bit nostalgic and weepy these days, but at the same time I am full of joy at seeing how quickly he is growing and learning new things. This past weekend the party was a lot of fun, and a bit crazy! David and I have never thrown a party like this before, so we weren't quite sure what to expect (Did we make enough food? Will we have enough room? Where are we going to put the kids?!). Everything turned out great (and yes, we had enough food) and I think everyone had a good time. On the menu: bbq pork sandwiches, pasta salad, coleslaw, chips, fruit salsa and pizza dip. And for dessert, birthday cake of course! You can go to http://ethansnyder.shutterfly.com to see more pictures of the party.

Latest Developments

Ethan has been getting really good at crawling, standing and feeding himself over the past month. He can reach really high, so once again we've had to rearrange our living room, block off certain areas by keeping doors closed and keeping an ever-vigilant eye on our curious boy. He can reach most anything that is on our coffee table, and he can even reach the tv to turn it on and off!



The fun part of taking care of him is watching him eat. He can eat lots of different table food now since he's learned to chew pretty well with the 8 teeth that he has. Turkey cuts from the deli is one of his favorites.

Blizzard of 2007

Here it is folks...10 inches of snow and 3 - 4 foot drifts! We were snowed in last Tuesday and half of Wednesday due to the unending snow! It snowed for a full day before all was said and done. During the course of Tuesday David and I looked out our window and realized that our garage was being piled up with snow. We decided to get a head start on digging so that we wouldn't have to do much work the next day. We ended up shoveling the garage and driveway THREE times!

Crawling Critters

It's official: Ethan has begun crawling! He's also kneeling and pulling himself up! Just last week after a visit from grandma and grandpa Cuesta, Ethan took his first two "knee steps" towards our cat, Eddie. Ever since then, it's been a never ending game with those two!

Other adjustments: more baby proofing of our living room, and we've removed the mobile from his crib. I went to put him down for a nap, and as I turned behind me to look at him before closing the door, he sat up, lunged forward and began reaching up into the air for those dangling things. Yep, it was time for that piece of baby gear to go! No strangling accidents here, please!
Here's Grandpa egging Ethan on to crawl...

Baby Dedication

January was a big month for Ethan. We've seen his first wobbly attempts at crawling and standing, we've seen him nearly choke on his first few bites of table food (I don't think he's quite ready for it yet, to be honest!). And we've finally dedicated him to the Lord. A few weeks ago we had a small baby dedication ceremony at our church with about 20 of our closest friends in attendance, and the pastor who married David and me.

I don't know why it took us so long to do so. We knew we wanted to do this, because if there is anything we can pass on to our son, it is knowledge of and faith in Jesus Christ. But the months wore on, and then the holidays rolled in, and before we knew it, Ethan was soon going to be one year old and we hadn't done a very important and symbolic thing. I am glad we finally got our act together!

Christmas video

Here it is, hot off the presses. Well, we finished a couple of weeks ago. Here we are on Christmas morning...

Arlington, Texas

The holidays would not be complete without a trip to visit family...this year we went to Arlington, Texas to visit David's side of the family. It was also our first time to fly with a baby, and perhaps we chose the wrong time of day to fly because Ethan had just a bit of a rough time. He doesn't like to be held for very long, and 2 hours on a plane was definitely too long! But we're thankful for bottles and formula, and we're thankful that the flight was not delayed! We were also blessed that David's mom and sister were able to borrow a lot of the baby gear we needed, so all we brought with us was a stroller. Highlights of the trip...Dad Snyder's birthday and a trip to Whataburger...

Happy 2007!

To ring in the New Year we had an impromptu "soiree", complete with hors d'oeuvres. It really wasn't all that fancy, though!!! But we had a great time with friends as we munched on treats, listened to music, played games and watched our children play. It was a curious evening, looking around at all the kids and their parents. Just a year ago, our parties were very different. A lot of us were single, and there wasn't a baby in sight! But this evening, we had three babies sleeping in the upstairs bedrooms, two adolescent boys wrestling on the carpet, and a very sociable two year old girl trying to get into everyone's drinking cups! A lot can happen in one year... I wonder what 2007 will bring.

Here we are duking it out playing "Name that Tune: 80's Edition". It was the guys versus the girls.

Christmas celebrations

Christmas Eve was wrought with expectation, and a lot of fun! Dad is off of work so there is plenty of time for play. I particularly like this picture since I can see more of the resemblance between father and son. Especially in the hairline.

Other fun things we did was drive down to Peoria to look at the Winter Wonderland lights display. It would have been fantastic had it really snowed! But the displays were amazing nonetheless. They even built the Star Trek Enterprise...!

Ethan's new trick

A friend of ours let us borrow their "jumperoo" (I think they call it that) since Ethan does not yet have an exersaucer. Actually, neither mom nor dad want to add any more to the baby gear in the livingroom! But this little nifty thing allows Ethan to exercise his legs by jumping. The first time we put him in it, he didn't know what to do. I nearly returned the thing to my friend, but we kept trying and soon enough, he got the hang of it.

Movin' About

Ethan is moving all over the living room floor very well now. He is not yet crawling, but he rolls and rolls till he gets to his desired object or destination. In this case, our Christmas tree. He has nearly unwrapped several of the gifts already, and loves to grab the ornaments off the trees. Time to start childproofing our house I guess!

Thanksgiving Travels

This past turkey day we took a road trip cross country! Well, from the Midwest to the East coast. It was a 14 hour trip that we broke up into two days, spending the night at a bed and breakfast at the halfway point, somewhere near the border of Southern Ohio and Western Pennsylvania.

We arrived at our B&B at night, driving down the winding roads along the rolling hills (we forgot that Ohio can be hilly at times). The house was set on top of a hill, and the road to it was hard to find! It was a cool log cabin type place, someone's retirement home transformed into a B&B. It was a wonderful place, but even more beautiful when we woke up the next morning! There was farmland all around, and the grounds also held their own little petting zoo, it seemed. They had buffalo, deer, a camel, a llama, several miniature ponies, longhorns and probably much more that we didn't see. Here is Ethan taking his first look at a miniature pony.





But after two days of travel, we were glad to arrive at our destination! It was great for Ethan to meet his older cousins Andrew and Elena. They were so anxious to meet him that the whole family came over to see us the minute we arrived (even though it was past their bedtime). Cousins Andrew and Elena even gave Ethan a welcome gift--a new toy for him to play with. Here are all three posing before sitting down to Thanksgiving dinner.

Ouch!

A couple of days ago, Ethan has a little bit of an accident! Apparently he toppled over and fell on some pesky toy cups and got a busted lip!



According to Dad (who witnessed the mishap) it didn't bother Ethan too much. It at least didn't get in the way of shooting his latest Super Ethan episode: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OzrPyHhmU8

Happy Halloween!

Last minute I found the perfect costume for Ethan...Enjoy! :)

It's the most wonderful time of the year

The scent of burning leaves, the crisp, cool, October air, the red, orange, yellow and browns of the landscape. Autumn is by far our favorite time of year. It was high time for a scenic drive, so we packed up in the car and spent last Saturday afternoon driving through parts of central Illinois along the Illinois River.

We stopped off at a local marina, whose inactivity lent itself to a quiet stroll through the brush and woods. It was a nice moment for all three of us to breathe the fresh air and share a good laugh.

On our way back home we passed by a farm with all sorts of fall fun for sale...pumpkins, gourds of all shapes and sizes, mums, apple butter and arts and crafts. The owner's shop was inside an old barn with lots of hay. Very rustic, very much in the season!

Here is Ethan's first pumpkin patch experience!

Where does the time go?

Nearly a month has passed since our last update! Since then, I (Vicky) have been very busy finishing up a play here in town. We had a one night only performance October 7th to a very responsive audience of a few hundred. At our last rehearsal we had our local paper stop by to photograph us and interview some of the cast. These past few months of rehearsal have been very challenging, especially because Ethan would refuse a bottle. Our son has a sense of humor though. Two days after the play, he FINALLY accepted a bottle! I was taking my mom to the airport early in the morning and Ethan woke up. David decided to just try a bottle until I got back. Ethan took it and gulped down its contents. Go figure. Perhaps it's more of God's sense of humor...

Yes, mom was in town to help out that last week before the play. What a Godsend! We also celebrated her birthday on Oct 5th :)

Other milestones...Ethan is now sitting up almost completely unaided for several minutes at a time. He's still a bit wobbly, though, so you can't leave him completely unattended. And the best part...he could sit up long enough to take this picture.

We had formal portraits taken of the family last week...Aren't they cute?

The family invasion

We've had a busy couple of weeks. Last week, my brother, Fred, came for a visit, followed by David's parents for a long weekend. For them, it was the first time they set eyes on Ethan in the flesh. What a great time! Fred got the chance to check out our town and hit some hobby shops, and Mom and Dad Snyder got to see the annual pumpkin festival, followed by David's performance with the symphony.

Thanks for such a lovely visit!!! I was actually a little sad to see Fred and Mom and Dad Snyder go. But all good things must come to an end, eh? See you next time!!!

Happy Birthday, Vicky!

Yes, Happy Birthday to me! This year, we thought throwing a talent show might be fun, so we dubbed this year's celebration "America's Got Talent Birthday Bash". Here was the lineup:

AD-The "weed wacker" bit
The Schmidtgall Girls- ABC song, Jesus Love's Me
Alex H- tumbling
Tammy D and Mr. Goodwrench- My Guy
Erika- comedy bit
Dave and Em'ly O- dueling banjos
David S- French Horn (Japanese style)
Vicky S/Julie M/Julie P- "For Good" from Wicked

Thank you to our judges, Jeff, Marla and Kevin whose impersonations of Hasselhoff, Brandy and Nigel were quite entertaining. Ok, so they didn't really do impersonations, but their comments throughout the "competition" kept us laughing! Here they are tallying their marks...

If you're wondering about the pizza boxes, well, that's all the paper we had to write on! I thought the judges were quite resourceful, don't you think?

Here's David playing his French horn "Japanese" style. (You'll have to ask him about his bit, it was quite funny)

At last but not least, the cake! I LOVE cake!

Back online!

Well, with the new laptop that arrived this week, we are all back and reconnected! Lots has happened since we lost our old pc, so now it's time to play catch up.

David's sisters visited us last week. It was their first time to see Ethan live and in the flesh! We had a great time showing them around town, talking over breakfast, lunch and dinner, and sometimes well into the night. It is not often that all four siblings are all together in one place, so it was a special time.


A few days before that Ethan learned to roll over! He has now rolled from his back to his tummy, and from his tummy to his back. But he has yet to do them in sequence! Here he is after just rolling on to his tummy.

"Lightning Crashes"

Here we are at the university's computer lab. About a week ago our house (or our street or our electrical box) got struck by lightning. We lost power in the middle of the night, but luckily were able to restore it by resetting our fuse box. But alas! When we went to my (Vicky's) office the computer wouldn't turn on, nor would the printer. I'm sure all of you are saying, "But Vicky, what about your power surge protector?" HA! I didn't have one. My laptop got fried!!! Good thing I've been backing up my hard drive. The computer place confirmed my suspicions, too. Yep, your computer is fried.

No worries, friends, as we speak a new laptop is on the way thanks to Homeowner's Insurance. Don't own a home without one!

South Haven, MI

Oh, we are beach bums! As a "last hurrah" of the summer before David starts classes, we took a short trip to the lake front in South Haven, MI. We were surprised to find it very much seemed like a beach town, and the beach itself was gorgeous! We'll definitely be back next summer! By then we'll have a little boy on our hands who can walk on his own and sit on his own, and we imagine he'll have a great time.

Eat up! Ok, maybe later...

With his 4 month birthday we decided it was time to start introducing Ethan to solids. We figure by the time he gets the hang of it he'll be nearly 5 months. Here he is in his high chair for the first time. Needless to say, he didn't like his cereal very much!

Super Ethan

We recently saw "Superman" in the theaters and made the mistake of bringing Ethan! We quickly left the theater when it got too loud, and the next week managed to get a babysitter while we finished the movie. It seems that our children truly are sponges and pick up more than we think they do!

We did not pose him for this shot! Honest!