The Snow's Nuthouse

Valley Forge

2011-12-30T20:51:00.019-05:00

We left Philadelphia and on our way back home, we stopped in Valley Forge. It was very awe-inspiring for me. These small log cabins were built quickly by the 12,000 men that came to prepare to fight for the Revolutionary War. They moved here in the winter. Many men came from different states to help George Washington fight for their freedoms. Some states had clothing for their men to be warm, but the majority of the men did NOT have enough clothing to keep warm. 2,000 men died alone of cold, starvation, and disease. There was not enough provisions for these men. They had a couple of the cabins open for us to see in them. One of them had a man dressed just as the soldiers would have been dressed and it was only their uniform and a hat. They did have fireplaces but they would need to keep the fire going at all times to keep the cabins warm. The cabins fit about 6-12 men. Did you know that the phrase "hit the sack" is from people sleeping on sacks full of hay? So, when you say, "I'm tire, I am going to hit the sack," it means you are going to bed. (just in case you didn't know)

There were all kinds of monuments dedicated to these men that sacrificed coming to fight for our rights. This is a huge one. It's called the Arch. At Christmas they put out 2,000 wreaths in memory for those that died. It was beautiful.

Now as we arrived here, Mike shared with us that his dad had been here in 1950 for a Boy Scout Jamboree. This is the field where the jamboree was held.....and they even had a picture of the scouts and the train station where they had been. It was so neat to have a bit of personal history there also. I could tell it meant a lot to my Mike. His dad has been gone now for 9 years and we miss him soo.

Here is Mike at the train station just outside of George Washington's home in Valley Forge.

Caitlin outside of George Washington's home. The steps to the right of Cate, to the front door are the actual steps where George Washington, himself, walked many times and we got to walk on them too. In fact, the whole house its the original home. They do such a great job keeping it up.

This is one of the bedrooms in the home. The way they had it all displayed....you could really imagine these amazing men hard at work and really trying their best!

When Mike and I saw this room, he said to me, "can you imagine the kinds of decisions that were made here?" It definitely made me think and be so grateful for our freedoms and the sacrifices these men made. Think of their wives and children too, away from each other. Valley Forge really touched me.

It was so cold!! Very windy but incredible. Caitlin really liked it too, she has been studying all this history this past month.

This is a Presbyterian church that was dedicated to George Washington and all he did for our country. The stainglass windows are beautiful.

This is the ceiling of the memorial.

Do you see what the picture is of? President Washington praying.

I loved this picture best of all. I love doors, all kinds. This is just so pretty and it's the entrance to the memorial. I will never forget this experience. I am so thankful that we came here and that we had a great trip! I love making memories......

Philadelphia in 2 days!

2011-12-30T13:41:00.036-05:00

Okay, friends and loved ones....this was all done in just 2 days. I took so many pictures, I just had to share a bunch of them .....

View from hotel in Philly. Mike got a screamin' deal on a hotel, so we were right in the heart of the city! The kids loved the balcony and view of it all!

This is a statue of Joan of Arc, gold plated. She is right in the middle of a round a bout! We took a tour on a double decker bus, so it was fun to take pics as we were going. Sculptures and statues everywhere in this town!"I'm thinking.....I'm thinking......." The Thinker"

These are the steps that Rocky ran up in one of his movies....so the kids "had" to run up them....well actually running, taking a small break and then running up them some more. Below is the accomplished "victory" stance!

This sculpture pretty much says it for itself.....

The kids are standing infront of the oldest iron ship still floating! On the other side of the river is New Jersy! (the state!) Crazy huh? I can't believe we live in PA sometimes! It's literally across the country!

We are tired but having so much fun!!!

Betsy Rosses Home. It was really neat to be in her home. She was an amazing seamstress.She had a very hard life, lost her first husband in the war and then lost her second husband. She did so many great things! Like sewing one of the first American Flags.

This building is called Independence hall. This is the room where the Declaration of Independence was signed. Also the Constitution! The front chair facing everyone is where George Washington actually sat. It's the real chair! I couldn't even fathom the discussions going on in this room, the decisions they made and voted on! It was just amazing to be in this room! Just think of it, the decisions made in this room helped us have the freedoms we have now. What a blessing....

Cate and I with some men dressed up in character....what the men wore in that time period. They even had british accents. It was pretty authentic.

This is where Benjamin Franklin was burried. People put pennies on his tombstone because of one of his famous quotes, "a penny saved is a penny earned." They collect over $4000 a year just from the pennies being collected from those tossed pennies. We also went to the Mint to see how money was made. Did you know that it costs 3 cents to make a penny?

Chinatown! Caitlin loved this place! Philly has one of the largest Chinatowns. Chicago and San Francisco are the 2 largest and then Philadelphia. Caitlin loves Chinese food, so she thought this town was great!!

This is an arch in Chinatown that means "friendship". When they built it, they didn't use screws or glue. It's all pieced together like a puzzle! Can you believe that?

This is the Cathedral of St. Peter and Paul. It is all brownstone and a beautiful building. Buildings like this pop up all over the city with high rises right next to them. It's quite an eclectic city full of history!!

This is a bust of Benjamin Franklin. The entire bust is covered in all sorts of keys. It was really cool. I sure play "tourist " well , don't I? :)

This sculpture was HUGE! It's called "It's Your Move". So there are a ton of huge games pieces that we all posed by. It was so much fun!! From Monopoly games pieces to Sorry pieces. There was also Dominoes and chess pieces.

Great city picture of Philly.

Liberty Bell, need I say more?

This place was delicious!! It's the very first ice cream shop in the country! They had lots of different little places you could eat in this huge building. For lunch we came here and got Chinese, the boys got salmon and Mike and I shared the yummiest Philly Cheese and Steak sandwich, I have ever had!!! We had to get one of those since we were in Philadelphia!

Kiko Jane Snow

2011-12-21T15:50:00.003-05:00

Kiko was helping me wrap presents today. I had to blog this because this is what Kiko's does best. She carries things in her mouth all the time. So, I wanted to show you our Kiko in action. She cracks us up. She is a whole year in a half old now and she is a good kitty. We all think she is pretty great! Enjoy

My sweet Mila

2011-12-20T19:03:00.006-05:00

This is the story of Mila....She is a member of our church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. She was baptized about 8 months ago. She is struggling with her health. See, she is waiting to have a liver transplant. She is originally from Chile and is such a darling and kind woman. She has been in and out of the hospital all year with health complications as a result of her liver not working correctly. One time my parents were visting and Mila was in the hospital. I took my dad with me to go see her and they spoke spanish for awhile together. My dad served his mission in Chile and so they spoke a lot about that. It was so great to hear them together speaking Spanish so quickly and laughing at what each other had to say. It is definitely a great memory of mine.

The dish Caitlin and I are holding is a beautiful china dish Mila gave to me just before Thanksgiving. It is a piece from Chile and it was her grandmothers. It is over 200 years old and a lovely piece. Mila asked us to use it during Thanksgiving and then keep it, to remind us of her. It meant so much to us that she would give us this. The kids call her "Grandma Mila". She definitely has a special place in our hearts. I am so thankful I know this woman and how blessed my life is to have her in it.

Our dear friends, and family.....we are so thankful for you and love you so much! Have a wonderul Christmas and New Year! We 5 are heading to Philidelphia for Christmas break. I will definitely blog our adventures...Sorry it has been so long, it has been crazy busy here this last month and a half. Merry Christmas xoxo

Fun pics of the Snow kids

2011-12-20T17:22:00.009-05:00

Caitlin before braces......

Caitlin after getting braces on. She got them on last week. She gets her bottom ones at the end of January. She has been a trooper. She is officially a true teenager!!!(well, she already was acting like one, but now she looks more like one. )

Jordan wanted to dress up for the School Christmas singing program. Doesn't he look handsome!

Tommy looking mischievious....watch out, who knows what he's thinking about....

Jordan at Thanksgiving. We all 5 went to see Grandma and Grandpa Burdett, in Indiana. It was so good to be with them.

Tommy and Cate being silly on a hayride at a cubscout activity this Fall.

Tommy is so excited to be mowing the lawn. Granted after this picture was taken I quickly took over. The hill in our backyard is kindof steep and I didn't want the lawnmower taking Tommy for a ride. But he did well. Next summer will be good, I may not have to mow. Or just not as much. I still love to mow, don't get me wrong, but in the summer, it gets pretty humid sometimes.

Jordan raking leaves same Saturday, Tommy was mowing. He was pretending to have HUGE salad tongs for the "leaf salad". The boys were laughing so hard about this one. They are such BOYS that is for sure!!!
Good thing they are sure cute!

A new job for Kris

2011-11-10T14:51:00.005-05:00

This is what I do, very very very part time. I am going to help paint windows! Tommy's violin teacher has a painting business on the side and she was talking about it Sunday at church. She was saying how she wish she had more help. I piped in and said that I would love to help her, and learn. I would be her apprentice. So, yesterday(Wednesday) I went and learned from the amazing Judy! and Alicia(she is another lady from our church and good too.)
For those of you who don't know how this works.....Judy made traces of what we were going to put on the windows, on big sheets of plastic. (That in itself is amazing that she can do) Then taped up on the window where it is going to be painted. Go inside and start tracing with a brush and black paint. As Judy was doing that, Alicia and I were attacking the writing. Remember we are tracing from the big sheets of plastic that has written on it what it is supposed to say, but only BACKWARDS! from the inside. My big word I worked on was "Grille". I watched the 2 ladies for awhile. It's all done with stinky lead paint and the 1 " foam brushes you use on crafts. Trying to fill in and outline with these foam brushes was very difficult!....I am going to practice at home on my window. :) Judy and Alicia were very patient and encouraging and I got it done. I also did the peppers, guitar, and the specks in the taco shell. It was so fun to see it come together! So, I just wanted to show you what I am doing now to keep me out of trouble. Judy said the jobs are not very frequent but she would let me know when they come. Pretty cool huh? By the way, the food is super good here and they gave us lunch free. :)

Tommy's Show "Masterminds"

2011-10-31T19:40:00.002-04:00

Filmed Halloween Night 2011

Fun Halloween Pics

2011-10-31T19:15:00.009-04:00

This was Tommy's Fall party last Friday. They played wrap the mummy! This was Mrs. Bullick, Tommy's teacher. Then the kids wrapped 2 other adult volunteers. It was hilarious and a lot of fun to watch!!!

Here is Tommy's group, he is the one in the red baseball hat. It was crazy hat day. This is my new friend, Elaine, she was a good sport being wrapped up by 7-8 year olds.

This is one of our friends homes all decorated! Mike, the dad, gets WAY into Halloween!! It's great to see all the ideas! His yard was completely covered in other decor!! No thanks on the spiders!!

Here are our pumpkins all carved and ready for Halloween. Can you guess whose is whose? The top 2 are Tommy's and mine. On the bottom....Jord's, Caitlin's and Mike's. It was great!

Here are 2 of our very good friends....Demonter and the crash dummy. Liam and Mary Beth! What great costumes!!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

2011-10-31T19:03:00.004-04:00

Here is the Snow crew!! Mike even got in on the action this year!!! (You are workin' that breast plate Mike!) Batman stayed behind to hand out candy. The cowboy, hula girl, and Robin were all ready to go Trick-r-Treating! It was a rainy Halloween, but fun was had by all!!!

The Dynamic Duo!!!

Caitlin and her buddies all going on their own! This is Caitlin's last year to go officially Trick-r-Treating. I can't believe it, but it's true!!!

Caitlin's day with Anishaa

2011-10-08T14:34:00.002-04:00

Anishaa, on the left, invited Cate and Jillian to a Indian holiday, where they worship certain Gods in their culture. It was beautiful and the food was very spicy. (But remember, I am a complete whimp when it comes to spices.) Caitlin loved the food and it was so fun to be there and chat with her mom, Oosha, and they were so kind and welcoming. Caitlin has such great friends, that respect her and love her. I tell her she has good friends, because she IS a good friend. It was so amazing to see how Anishaa worshiped and how her culture was. We learned a ton! The girls even got to dress up when they went to see Anishaa.

Harvest time!!

2011-10-08T14:31:00.002-04:00

This is an actual watermelon from our own garden!! We cut into it and it wasn't too bad. It wasn't quite sweet enough but eatable. Watermelons are hard to grow, just so you know. And if they have a "sunny mark" meaning a yellow patch on one side, they are ready to pick. Atleast that is what we have found. TA-DA!

Jordan's Dragon

2011-10-08T14:30:00.001-04:00

Julie drew this dragon for Jord for his bedroom. It only took her about an hour, coloring and everything! I tell ya, that Julie is GOOD at what she does! And to think I am related to her. :) We love our Julie......

Tommy's Centerpiece.

2011-10-08T14:27:00.003-04:00

Mr. Tommy wanted to make the centerpiece for the lunch we had after his baptism. So, here it is, he really wanted me to blog it and "share it with everyone". It was delicious!

Julie and her swirlies

2011-10-08T14:19:00.008-04:00

Julie and her talent! Caitlin and I really wanted Julie to paint some "swirlies" so she did. Here Jul is painting them on Caitlin's wall in her bedroom. And below I was able to have her paint some in our bathroom off the front door. The one I took all that pink wallpaper down. It is so fun to see those swirlies in there now! Thanks Jewee! WE love them!!! The Snow girls are happy!

Tommy's big day!

2011-10-08T14:07:00.009-04:00

Sept. 24th, 2011 was a HUGE day for our Tommy.... He was baptised into our church and he was soooooo EXCITED! It was so great to have Mike's mom here, Cheril, and my parents, Tom and Toni with one of my sisters, Julie. It was such a great day and one I will never forget! All 3 of our cute kids are baptised now, crazy how big they get! We are so proud of Tommy and the amazing boy he is growing up to be. He loves superheroes, reading (he will pick up anything and just read it until he is done with it.) He really enjoys school, does not like math. Loves salmon, calimary, shrimp and pizza! His fav color is red and he plays the violin. Tommy is a super funny kid who has a quick whit and loves to laugh! We are so blessed to have him and Jord and Cate in our family! What blessings they are....(most days...wink, wink)

Fall Book Fair at Sloan Elementary

2011-10-08T13:53:00.005-04:00

Here it is!!!! "Reading is out of this World" Book Fair and it is over.....I chaired it this year and it was crazy!!! But so much fun! I worked with great girls that helped out a TON and another fair completed and we succeeded. It was great and so fun to see the kids all chatting about the fair when they would walk by in the halls, as we put up the decorations. This was our contest. "Guess how many aliens in the space ship". It was so fun and the kids had a great time guessing. The answer was 137! The kids that got close won a book. There was a winner in each grade.

Pittsburgh Pirates!!!

2011-09-10T19:41:00.011-04:00

Mike got us tickets for our family night, and we all went to a Pirates game! It was so fun and super good weather!! They play at PNC Park and the place is amazing!!!

When there was a break in the game these periogies came out and started running around the field! It was so funny to me! The boys had been to a game before, so Tommy told me they would be coming!
This was our view of the field, it was such a great night. We lost, but it was still very fun!

I love this picture of Caitlin. (But she looks too grown up.)

This huge statue is of a man named Roberto Clemente. He was a Pittsburgh Pirate player and died in 1971 in a plane crash. It is a HUGE statue!! Very cool....

Tommy turns 8!!!!!!

2011-09-10T19:08:00.012-04:00

This is how Tommy wanted to celebrate his birthday! It was all his planning and ideas.....He asked his 4 good friends from his 1st grade class to come. Camryn is on the left, she was the girl who Tommy recorded about last year, if you remember in a blog. He is whispering on the recording. Anyway, then it went Noah, in the back, Michael, Tommy and Maeve. They had such a great time and it was so fun to have them all dressed up in their "made-up" superhero costumes. Then they brought their "sidekicks". The girls brought their American Girl dolls and the boys had stuffed animals. (again, Tommy's idea). So, the games consisted of x-ray vision where they stuck their hand in a box and had to use their other senses to decide what it was. Set up an obstacle course. It consisted of a batman cave, they crawled through that. Then had to miss the bombs, by crawling around them as they swung from the ceiling. (I just used those squishy balls with the pokey things sticking out and they lit up.) Then they walked a tightrope, and did a somersault and at the end got their "Headquarters Handbook" stamped. They really liked getting their books stamped. That was Cate's job! We took pictures of them with the birthday boy and had a blast!!! We also played "Catch the villian!" Mike was the villian and the kids had a toilet paper roll and tyed him up with the rolls!! It was hilarious and the kids LOVED that game!!! Mike was a good sport! Tommy named the 5 of them "the avengers 5".

This is Maeve, she was Mermaid Girl. ( LOVED the tights and tutu!! She had those puffy sea shapes stuck to everything she wore.

Michael loves Percy Jackson, so his t-shirt said, "Camp Half-Blood" from the book. They were trying to do Moose ears to each other .

Camryn was Auqa Girl. I love the way she just happen to look at Tommy. What a crack-up!

This is The DArk Knight. Noah is his name in real life. He is such a great kid!

CATCH THE VILLIAN GAME!!!

HE IS ESCAPING!!!!

Tommy's friends knew him so well!! He got Bey Blades, which they are playing here, and a Scientific Contraptions Kit, and finally a spy gadget. The spy gadget is a ray that shines and beeps when someone "trips" the alarm. He loves it all!! Tommy had such great friends, just like Jord and Cate!! I am so happy that they have them!!! Happy Birthday Tommers!! When everyone left, he said to me, "mom, that was the best birthday ever!!" That was priceless and I so needed to hear it! :) Yeah!!! mom points!! I need those whenever I can get them!!!

Bathroom Overhall

2011-09-10T18:56:00.003-04:00

This was a project I did after Jord's party because I was so bored...hahahaha! Anyway, the wallpaper HAD to go!! It was the most time consuming painting project I have ever done! Wallpaper is NO fun to take down. But it looks so much better now and had to share in the beauty of it. :)

HAPPY 10TH BIRTHDAY JORDAN!!!

2011-09-10T18:20:00.013-04:00

I am late in blogging this, but better late than never! It was Jordan's 10th! birthday on August 30th. We cannot believe how fast it has gone!!! When I asked him what he wanted to do at his party with his friends, he said,"I want to jump on the tramp and play Twister". So, that is exactly what they did....plus a few more things. It was a Lego gift giving party! His good friends know him so well! He got so many lego sets and has been building them all week! He is a good guy and we are so glad to have him! Happy Birthday buddy!!!

This was a game where the boys had to have a plastic spoon in their mouths while balancing a ping pong ball on it. They needed to go to Caitlin and then turn back around. If they dropped it they had to go back to the beginning.

This is a set Mike and I gave him! He did it in one evening and it had more than 300 pieces. Good job big guy!

HERE WE GO STEELERS, HERE WE GO!!!

2011-08-21T15:56:00.020-04:00

Mike and I are driving to our very first STEELERS FOOTBALL GAME~!! We are sooooo excited and I still LOVEEEEE the city! I know this picture is blurry but isn't that cool with a bridge connecting two buildings and it is above the street! Mike in his "WARD" jersey....GO NUMBER 86!!! and me in my sparkling "Pittsburgh Steeler" tshirt...we are ready for this game. Mike got tickets from a buddy at work and we are totally excited to go!!

There are old churches like this one, all over Pittsburgh! I love them....the history and memories it holds. Right between the two modern buildings, just amazing!

We finally get to the stadium and Mike turns to me and says, "WE MADE IT!! WOOOOO! WE ARE HERE!" and then gives me a high 5! It was so fun to see Mike sooooo happy and excited! I wouldn't have missed it for the world!! Memories were definitely made here! When we walked into the stadium the players were right there! Scrimmaging and right up close! It was so fun to see them in action! I took a picture of Mikes favorite player, Hines Ward, number 86. It's blurry but I got it!

Postcard shot.

This is our Carnegie Science Center we go to. What a city, Pittsburgh is!!

What a view!

The ketchup bottles would pretend to pour out ketchep when they were at the 20 yard line, so close to making a touchdown! It was so fun! For those of you who do not know, Heinz ketchup is made in Pennsylvania. Sooooo, that is why everything is "Heinz".

The seats were high in the bleachers, but who cares, we could see great and still see the football being passed! It was so fun!!

GO STEELERS!!!

One happy Steeler Fan!!! 24 - 14. We won against the Phillidelphia Eagles. It was a great game!

Ahhhh....memories

2011-08-13T20:36:00.003-04:00

I finally remembered to ask my mom for her yummy bran muffin recipe. Tonight I attempted to make them just like mom.....AND I DID IT!!! Our kitchen smelled just like home....Caitlin sat down and watched me eat the first one and I started to tear up a little. You may think I am silly, but it was more the memories that the smell brought me. Oh the memories!!! Thanks mom for the muffins growing up. I am totally serious, they are little bit sweet and lots of fiber and soooooooooooo delicious!! Wanted to share in my moment. It meant so much to me.

Clever idea....

2011-08-12T19:49:00.002-04:00

My good friend, MaryBeth, gave this to me after a trip she took. It is so cute. It's 3 tiny bottles wired together, so when our kids give me little flowers and say, "here mom, it's for you" and you look at it and think "what small cup or bowl am I going to put this in?" I have something now. cute huh? Just thought I would share....I love it! (You can even put a little tiny bit of water in each one.)

Jordan and Indian Dance (the song)

2011-08-12T19:46:00.002-04:00

Jordan has been practicing this song over and over again for a week ina half and loves playing it! Here he is in action....you go Jord!

Tommy in action

2011-08-12T19:24:00.004-04:00

Here is Tommy in action.....you may need to turn your volume down a little bit, but the boy is trying we have to give him that.......He loves playing the violin and loves, loves using the bow. These videos are backwards.....you should watch the bottom one first and then the top one. Also, listen for Tommy's sighs, he concentrates so hard on this. It's very sweet.

Marshmallow Wonder.......

2011-08-12T19:15:00.003-04:00

This Marshmallow Crossbow really shoots far, atleast 30 feet, but in this video it doesn't shoot so far and it is really funny.....Jord is laughing so hard, it cracks us up!

Celebration for Export, PA

2011-08-06T20:32:00.021-04:00

Picture Note: Aaaahh poofy hair! From: Caitlin
Export is a little town right next to Murrysville. Today they were celebrating 100 years of being the town of Export, Pennsylvania! Our cub scout troop does several service projects and several of our boys in the troop live in Export....so we joined the parade!! It was so fun and Caitlin and I cheered really LOUD! We yelled "ALRIGHT TROOP 213!!! WAHOOOO!!" Then we would move down the route of the parade and cheer again. The parade route was only about 2-3 blocks but we cheered 4 different times for them!! They were embarrassed but you know they loved it deep, deep, deep down in their boyish hearts....It rained all morning but it was a great day!

Also,the anniversary means the first coal from mines were exported, hence the name, from Export. 1911-2011.

My mom loves bagpipes, they even played for us because we cheered! It was great!

Soooo, we went back to the festivities later this afternoon. The sun finally came out and the afternoon dried out nicely. There was a little petting zoo for the kids. They even got to feed them if they wanted to. Here are some baby pigs....ahhhh

This is an alpaca. It's looked like a mini llama. It was so cute and look how small he was. Tommy really liked him....Whenever the animals ate out of the kids hands they would laugh because it tickled. The animals were really good with the kids.

Jord has a great laugh, it is funny and makes me laugh. It is cute... Don't tell him I said that.
(Cate wrote this)

This goat would not eat out of my hand! It was smarter and it would only eat out of the cup. Some of the goats were fighting over the food. The one in the picture jumped up on me, and finally got the food.

The alpaca is byTommy, it was way soft.

Bounce House! Everyone JUMP!!

They had a mining backdrop you could get your picture taken. Caitlin realllllly wanted to do it! So, Jord is holding the lantern and Tommy and Caitlin are standing on the tracks....The mining history in this town is amazing and even in the city. To think how it was back then....I am going to do some studing on this subject and I will let you know what I find out.

We went boating on the Alleginy River about a month ago, and it was so fun! There were so many old mining "contraptions" on the sides of the river. To think how they were used and all the men and women that mined for coal in this state. It was so amazing to be on that river, to have the boys knee boarding under actual huge bridges! They loved it and so did we!!

Dirt glorious Dirt!!!

2011-08-05T14:14:00.002-04:00

This is a before picture....before we got the moved all the rocks and put dirt in. (This is the only picture I could find with the rocks on the edge. Tommy starting Kindergarten....wow! time has flown!!!) Below Tommers is the now/after picture of my wonderful flower beds along our driveway. Look at those 4 o'clocks go!! I feel so much better with flowers "about me" and dirt to weed. Ta-Dah!!!

My camera works !!!!!!

2011-08-05T13:46:00.008-04:00

(read this to the rhyme of Mary Mary quite contrary...)
Michael, Michael on his bycicle
How does your garden grow?
With acorn squash, and ears of corn.
Also swiss chard,bugs galore,
Let the sun shine down on you.
....by the snow kids

My camera has decided to work again, so here is our garden we have been taking care of alllll summer long. Mike is pleased with it and so are we! We have planted our garden in our friends yard, the Gingerichs. They live about 15 minutes away but they had a place and good soil and no one to till it or take care of it. They are a more "mature" couple in our church and dear people. So, they had a perfect sunny and FLAT part of their back yard and let us call it our own. It has been great and has done really well. Mike is in heaven when he goes there. My man, even made pickels this year and they are so yummy!!! We are going to try and enter them in the county fair at the end of the month. (The kids came up with that one.) Oh, I am so thankful my camera is working again.....yeah! for us

This is an actual watermelon and we have a few more too, but this is our biggest so far.

Wall of beans.....

Pepper plants, onion, and swiss chard. Beets in the back

Vegetable Dream

2011-08-02T09:12:00.006-04:00

Here are some substitute pictures of our veggies, since our camera isn't working.

Hello everyone! We have been having fun this summer, although it has flown bye! In the beginning of summer we started a garden, mainly vegetable garden. We are growing onions,watermelon,pumpkin,corn,acorn squash,cucumber,zucchini,peas, green beans,Swiss chard,beets,peppers, and one carrot. It has been like a giant vegetable dream! (for me at least). We love having nice fresh veggies for dinner! Dad knows how to prepare them so they taste super delicious!
~Caitlin~

So much to share!!!

2011-06-28T17:09:00.002-04:00

Well, our friends....my camera is on the blitz right now so I only have words to share with you. We are doing so good. Enjoying our summer and definitely busy!!!

Caitlin and I were able to go to D.C. again but with her girl scout troop this time! We did a lot of different things. We went to the Spy museum (way fun for all!), The Crime and Punishment museum....pretty graphic. The girls in the troop all picked these museums to go to. We also went to the White House, the Capitol, the tomb of the Unknown Soilder and saw the changing of the guard. We went to the Holocast Museum as well. That was so incredible and so well done. The museum was completely quiet and it had a very reverent feeling. It was so sad, but the way they showed the Jews and the life they had before Hitler came was so beautiful. I have chills just thinking about it. It is an experience Cate and I will NEVER forget. The last thing we were able to do is a tour of the Pentagon. That was so incredible!! If you stretched out the intire building it is over 17 miles long. They have 23,000 people that work there. They even have a dentist, eye doctor, floral shop, small grocery store all INSIDE! We were also able to see where the airplane striked the building on 9/11. We all learned so much! There is sooooo much to do in Washington D.C. We love going there.

So, I am at the Pentagon and we are all finished with our tour and are just outside looking at a memorial when who calls me JACKIE SANDERS!! She was trying to get a hold of me to see if we could come up and visit, because the Vances were stopping by to see them before they came back to Utah. These are 2 families that are dear friends of ours. So, Jackie came and got me at our hotel and then I actually was sitting at her table with her, Jeff and Jaime and Andrew!! The Vances and Sanders were actually sitting with me at the same table! Boy it made me homesick!!It was so great and what a small world! I loved seeing them and wished my family was there with everyone! It was so fun to see them both.....Thanks Jackie for coming to get me!!!

Infact....just this past weekend Jackie and Jeff and their 3 darling kids came and stayed with us and spent time together! We fed them Pittsburghs famous Perogies and memories were made!! Little Lucy wouldn't leave Caitlin's side, it was so cute. And Charlie and Henry loved our Kiko cat! It meant so much to have them in our home!! They came to Pittsburgh to see some sights with some friends of theirs in Virginia. We adore the Sanders and so happy they came! I wish I had pics for you all to see. I am so sad my camera isn't working......hopefully soon.

We are all 5 doing well. Cate is at girls camp this week. Today I am taking Tommy to go get fitted for a violin. Yes, you heard me right!!! He is so excited to play the violin!! He has been begging us for about a year now. So, hopefully it will be wonderful and just what he wants to do. We have a good friend, Miss Willmen, in our church that plays also and is going to teach Tommy. I will keep you posted on the experience. Jord is good and playing hard!! Mike and I are just trying to keep up with life and doing well too.

Disney World (Entry 2)

2011-06-07T08:29:00.027-04:00

This was our first day. I know i blogged these a little backwards. But you get the idea! We were all soooooo EXCITED!! We definitely made oooodles of memories!! This is the BEFORE shot on the teacup ride.....

This is DURING the Teacup ride. Inside my head I am saying, NO SCREAMING, get me off!!! Tommy is laughing so hard and Cate and Jord are spinning it as fast as they can. Those 2....the faster the ride, the better!

The Snow family infront of Cinderella's Castle. There was a cool Firework show that night!

My sweet cousin Angela got to come play with us. Remember she is the one doing the internship in the Animal Kingdom. It was a fun day!! Below, we did a traditional Disney Parade. They were singing and dancing.

We surprised the kids with lanyards. And then a bunch of collector disney pins they could choose from. Now the deal with this is that they trade them with other people or workers at Disney. It was really fun to see them trade. Especially when we went to Epcot and went to the different countries.

This ride was the "Rock 'N Roll Rollercoaster"! I loved this one!! You are standing in line and you see Aerosmith looking at you and listening to a track of there song in a studio. Then the group starts talking to you and telling you to follow them. They end up right where you get on the rollercoaster. It is dark like Space Mountain and you start out super fast.....going 60 mph in seconds!! There are lots of lights, like a lazer show and it is a blast!! This is one of my favorites!! Oh, Aerosmith is playing in your ears with speakers by them.!!! "Herbie" the one and only. You know from all those Herbie movies. "Herbie goes Bananas", "Herbie goes to Monte Carlo".

Okay, so this ride is called the Tower of Terror! Named very appropriately!!! You sit in a row of about 4 and there are about 12 seats. You are sitting in an elevator. You watch some Twilight Zone episode, remade, about a family that died in this hotel. You then shoot, yes, I said SHOOT, up 13 stories and then the elevator car/seat that you are in bungeys up and down about 3-4 times!! See the rectangle openings under the words....that is where you drop and you can see outside as you are bouncing up and down. Needless to say, Tommy did NOT ride this. Mike, Jord, and Cate loved it and I can just say I did it once! My motion sickness patch didn't work very well on this ride. Jordan quick as lightning, trying to find the ewoks in the forest!

Buzz Lightyear Float....see Buzz in the front.

We went to dinner at this place called the Space Drive in. You ate your dinner in real cars and watched cartoons. It was so fun!! Sorry the picture is blurry, but you get the idea. :)

This was one of the pools at our resort we stayed in. The kids loved it and had so much fun!! We stayed in the Port Orleans Riverside Resort. Highly recommended!!

There is a show/song and dance before each park opens in the morning. This was from the Animal Kingdom park. It really got you ready to "go do DISNEY". It was so fun!!

Disney World!!!

2011-06-06T21:44:00.024-04:00

This ride was called the Kali River Rapids. The kids said that there was a waterfall too! This was a favorite!! I have to stop now, but will blog more tomorrow. I still have a couple more days to share with you.

We went into this Bird Forest and you could pick up a guide and look for the birds. When I took this picture Cate was smiling but then gasped because she had found a bird she loved! Caitlin is our bird watcher. She know lots of kinds of birds. This picture is worth 1,000 words!! It's priceless.

I love this one of the kids!!

This was a cool Lion King show! There was a guy dancing with fire....Guys on stilts (above) and people dancing around in costumes that looked like animals. We really liked that there were rollers coasters, and shows so we could cool down from the heat and relax. It was so great!!

Jordan's third grade teachers' name is Mrs. Mickel and she calls her class the "Mickel's Pickels" so we had to take a picture of Jordan by the barrel of pickels. :)

My wonderful cousin, Angela, is doing an internship in the Animal Kingdom Park. So, we were able to see her in action and also play with her a couple of evenings. It was so fun and the kids loved being with her. It was very impressive with all that she knows. It was so great to see her!

We went on a Safari ride! Definitely a hi-light! We looked at real animals and they were wild and the road did not have a track under the car. It was cool!!

Of course, Thunder Mountain was a favorite by all. (Below)

Really fun Buzz Lightyear ride. You sat in spacescars and got to shoot targets at aliens! The boys loved this one.

Had dinner with characters. It was super fun!

Epcot! What a few huh?!

Clink!

2011-06-06T21:31:00.006-04:00

My parents came to visit us last week after we got back from Disneyworld. Tommy had been talking about making a stuffed animal and Grandma B. came to the rescue! Tommy really wanted to make a stuffed Anklasaurus dinosaur. Mom got him started and ready to stuff. Tommy got to stuff him and then he sewed the small opened part by himself. He was so happy and excited!! Thanks Grandma xoxo His name is Clink. We call those half marbles that you put in vases for flowers, clinks. So, Tommy and my mom put one in his tail so the dinosaur could have a "strong tail." Tommy tells us that this dinosaur's bone in his tail is "the strongest bone in the world!"

Hopefully

2011-06-06T21:29:00.001-04:00

I am going to try really hard to get some pics added to the blog from Disney. We had a fabulous time and the kids were soooooo SHOCKED!! It was the best surprise ever and the trip was so great!!! So, hang in there and hopefully our computer will let me....stay tuned.

SO EXCITING!!!!

2011-05-22T06:06:00.005-04:00

We have had a crazy last few weeks....I have much to blog, but it will have to wait a week because we are suprising our 3 kids with a trip to DISNEYWORLD today!!!! Mike and I have kept it a secret for 5 months! Along with school teachers, family and a few friends.....good job everybody!!! They STILL don't know!!! I will blog in a week in a half and share all that went on!!!

I AM SOOOOO EXCITED TO TELL THEM! I can't believe we are going and I certainly cannot believe, we didn't accidently let it slip out!!!

Florida here we come!!!!

The Soccer Kid

2011-04-28T16:29:00.004-04:00

This was Tommy's first soccer game. It has been raining so much here, that games and practices have been canceled. With the field still REALLY muddy, the game must still go on!! Tommy loves it and is learning quickly! He played Sweeper (goalie) and defense. The teams names are countries. His teams name is Italy! GO TEAM ITALY!!!!

Lancaster, PA.

2011-04-28T13:58:00.031-04:00

When Cate and Jord stands next to the huge cow, it gives you a perspective on how gigantic this cow really was. We stopped here to eat when we got to Lancaster. The food was d-e-l-i-c-i-o-u-s

Jordan really wanted to hold the huge cow! HOLY COW JORDAN, you are so strong!!! Mike wanted to milk the huge cow. You go farmer Mike.

We decided to take the kids to Lancaster, PA where the Amish live. It was about 4 hours away and so much fun!! We all learned a ton of things and made a lot of memories, that's for sure!

I really liked this bridge....

This is what a Amish school would look like. The kids really liked these desks.

I can't imagine cramming us all into this buggy to go to market or church. It was very crowded for just the 3 kids. But they sure like sitting in it.

We went to a grocery store and saw this buggy parked. They had parking for the sweet Amish carriages. I was really impressed about how accepting the local s were. They share a town so they might as well help one another.

Lot's of farm land and the yards by the homes were amazing and sooo taken care of.

We went to a pretzel factory where they show you how they make them. There was also a little store to buy the pretzel products, which we did....and then there was this little antique shop that the kids loved looking at and found some fun "trinkets" for souveniors.

Look at our pretzels we made....are you soooo impressed?

We saw a lot of these our second day....buggies on the side of the road going somewhere........

As we were driving to the chocolate factory, Mike saw this car come onto the parkway and loose control and spin out!! NO ONE was hurt and thank goodness we were further behind. So, Mike and another guy jumped out to help push the car off the parkway (freeway). It was crazy that no one was hurt or no other cars involved. The skid marks on the side guard are his!

Wilbur Chocolate is the first company to ever make the chocolate kisses, but they are called Wilbur chocolate buds. They are just like a Hershey Kiss, but (I think yummier....if that is possible.) It smelled like cholcolate and we wanted to buy everything....

Jordan and Caitlin liked the Easter Bunny, but Tommy just looked at the ground and walked right into the chocolate factory. ;)

You know when I see "Pennsylvania" all printed out like that, I still can't believe we live here. But we are happy and thankful to be a "Pennsylvanian".

This is a train car that pushes the snow off the tracks! It has a huge nose that cuts its' way through the snow. Caitlin loved this one. :)

After we saw all the HUGE trains they had this interactive train set divided up so kids could control the trains and connect them. The kids loved this, so did Mike and I.

Peace OUT!

2011-04-17T16:10:00.003-04:00

Mike did it all yesterday! He spent quality time with ALL 3 kids! Right after the fish derby Mike and Cate got ready for the Girl Scout Father/Daughter Dance. The theme was 70's. Look at those 2 hippies and to think they are all mine!! I thought the VW Bug in the background was pretty appropriate. (That wasn't even planned.) PEACE OUT!

Fishing Time

2011-04-17T15:59:00.007-04:00

It's that time again....the Joey Gombosh Scouting Fish Derby! And yes, it was cold, but NOT as cold as last year. It rained a lot this time, though. The rain didn't stop the kids from having fun and catching those fish!!! Tommy caught his very first fish and Jord caught one too!! Every time the boys yelled, "I CAUGHT ONE!" Caitlin would yell from the background...."Don't hurt it, throw it back!" She was very concerned about the fishes welfare.....with every single fish yesterday. She doesn't like to go fishing but she did try to at the end. She had quite the stance at the end of the day....I had to take a picture. Enjoy the pics....these are definitely worth 1,000 words.

33 SECONDS!

2011-04-15T08:30:00.002-04:00

Yesterday, Cate had a track meet and I recorded her racing in the 200 meter dash. She did it in 33 seconds!!! WARNING!! To watch this video you will need to turn down your volume quite a bit. I was shouting along with the boys and it is really loud! So, enjoy watching Caitlin coming in 1st, but remember, I warned you....I am super loud cheering on our girl!!

A moment in my life

2011-04-13T16:44:00.003-04:00

It's 4:45p.m. Tommy has one of his best friends over, Michael, and his gecko is soaking in a little bit of water because his shedding needed a little bit of help to come off. Yes, I said, "come off". So, I have a washcloth in my right hand while I am holding Tuck, the gecko. I am peeling off the shedding and Tuck is squirming all over in my hand. He doesn't like it when I help him get his shedding off, yes, I have done this many times before. EWWWW! Anyway, Tommy's friend comes in to use the bathroom, Tommy's shoe comes off and he needs help putting it back on. So, the super mom that I am, (wink-wink) I hold Tuck in one hand with the washcloth and help Tommy put his shoe back on. With Tommy's hand on my head so he can have leverage. I said to Tommy, "Never in a million years did I think I would be holding a gecko, taking off his shedding AND helping my son put his shoe back on, ALL at the same time!" Tommy and I laughed. It was quite the picture I am sure. Just thought I would share a after school moment. Being a mom NEVER get boring!! =)

Belt loops, Awards, Patches, Beads, and Acknowlegement

2011-04-05T09:18:00.003-04:00

We had another eventful scouting night a couple of weeks ago. Both Jordan and Tommy got beads, belt loops, patches and acknowledgements. They have been working hard on things and excited for scout camp this summer!! It is a huge Pack! GO PACK 213!!!!

A Tommy Moment

2011-04-05T08:51:00.002-04:00

I'm putting Tommy to bed last night and he asked me, T: "Mom, are Catholic's Christophers?" M: "What do you mean buddy?" T: "Well, we are christophers right?" M: "Do you mean Christians?" T: "Yea." M: "Christians are people who believe in Jesus Christ" T: "Oh, Michael and Camryn (good friends of Tommy's) are Catholics and they are christophers." M: "That's good, that means they believe in Jesus too, and it's "Christians", honey." T: "It's hard to say mom." M: " okay, buddy I know what you mean." Every age has great moments, don't they?! This was one of the best.

Tommy's "Bird Model"

2011-04-05T08:42:00.006-04:00

This is Tommy's Science and Art Project he is turning in to show everyone at the school for their Science and Art Night, this Friday night. He is very excited and can't wait to show everyone!! The is what he wrote to explain how it works.

"This is a demonstration of how birds fly. The paint sticks are like bones and the papers are the feathers. The joints are the bead and the piece of raquetball. If you move the "bones" the feathers will move too. That's how birds fly. The air that goes over the wing travels farther. The air under the birds' wing travels shorter." By Tommy Snow 1st grade

Not too bad for a 7 1/2 year old huh? He came up with all of this completely on HIS OWN!! Here are some pics to show you what it looks like.

BIRDS!

2011-03-31T17:32:00.004-04:00

Above: Mourning Dove

I love birds! For Science Olympiad one of my events is ornithology, the study of birds! It is fun!

It is spring time because of the animals, not because of the weather, it is still really cold... =(

can you raed tihs?

form citailn sonw

Apple Cresants

2011-03-31T17:15:00.008-04:00

YUMMY!!!!!!!!!!!

I like to cook! It is fun! I made this today in FACS class. That stands for Family and Consumer Sciences. It is a fun class. I made lots when I got home, they are about two bite sizes, they contain cinnamon, sugar, apples, butter, and dough! They are fun and simple!

Science Olympiad ROX!

2011-03-31T16:50:00.002-04:00

Okay, so science Olympiad isn't really a club. It is like an extra curricular thing/competition! It is really fun! In previous months we posted the test(egg dropper) to get into science Olympiad. Well, I have been working hard and studying, and we had our first competition on March 30! It was at CAL U OF PA. California University of Pennsylvania. I love going to college campuses. It was very fun. Each student that makes the A Team is a student that actually competes. On the B Team you are a backup which is still good, and you walk around campus, watch competitions, I am(still!!!) on the A Team. Each student gets three competitions they have to work hard in, study in, and know. Each student has a partner. I am in with a partner Ecology, Ornithology(study of birds), and Junkyard Challenge. Ecology and Ornithology were studying events, so I studied with my wonderful partner Jillian. It was fun because we were in both together! She is a great friend. At the competition there were set times where we had to be in certain buildings and for these two events we answered questions on an answer sheet, like a test with stations, a question at each station. For my third event, Junkyard, we had to bring a bunch a items in a box such as paper plates, bowls, cups, straws, tape, Popsicle sticks, golf balls, tennis balls, etc. Basically a bunch of Junk! With all of that we had to build a bridge. It was fun! My partner is my neighbor Conlon, Jillian is also my neighbor! Also, for junkyard you HAAAVVVVEEE to wear goggles, I don't know why, but if you don't you will be disqualified. Well, Conlon made me take one for the team, (JK) and I wore GIANT goggles. Literally, they went from my cheeks to the top of my forehead. I looked weird, and it was humiliating. I am glad I wore them though because a team next to us one of the partners forgot his goggles, and they wouldn't let him compete. He went a long ways to get them, came back, and started while everyone else was half way done. Well, it was really fun! We went to the awards ceremonies after all of our events, it was the best part! We won 12 medals in all! For ecology Jillian and I each got the fourth place medal! For junkyard Conlon and I got the second place medal! All in all you had to be in the top five to make it to states, and well, our team did! We made fourth which is still really great! We get to go to another competition! The state wide competition! Yeah! The first place winner was Shady Side Academy. They are a private school and they have science Olympiad as a class! As part curriculum! Well, they are sort of our rivals. We were the happiest bus ride home!! It was tons of fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I loved it! If you have any questions please ask me! Thanks, Caitlin Snow

Pics above

P.S. Sorry it is so long,=)

Our Cute Kiko!

2011-03-31T16:33:00.005-04:00

Above: Watching Birds... FUN! Our cute little Kiko kitty! We love her tons. She has tons of funny moments and she is just adorable and a good cat. Here are some fun pics...

Sleeping on Caitlin's arm... TIRED =)

Intent with the toys! What are you pointing at me?

Basking in the sunlight, RELAXING. *She is adorable when she does this.*

In the dishwasher? She is a special kitty... WE LOVE HER!

By: Caitlin From: A Kiko point of view

TA-DA!!

2011-03-30T08:40:00.002-04:00

This is our basement bathroom. It needed some updating, and after painting Cate's room I still didn't have the "painting bug" out of me. So, I attacked this bathroom. This is the before...... AFTER.....Now I am done painting. Well, as Mike would say, "atleast for this week." :) All of you that know me, you know how I love to paint and get it done quick. :) Isn't it nice how somethings don't change? :) We did get our basement all cleaned up and painted too, thank goodness for great home insurance!!! So, that ooched the painting bug, in me too. :)

A Volcano Cake !!!

2011-03-30T08:35:00.004-04:00

The cub scout troop did a bake off! The boys and there dad were the only ones that could bake it. Tommy wanted something "science" related and Jord was just glad to be making it. So, they all came up with the idea of a Volcano cake. So, here a some pictures on how it was made. It was yummy and it looked cool!! All 3 boys were pretty proud of it!!

March 23rd HAPPY BIRTHDAY CAITLIN!!!

2011-03-30T08:24:00.005-04:00

Cailtin's Young Women leader came over and totally decorated our front door for Cate to home to! Caitlin loved it and was so EXCITED AND HAPPY about it!!! Thank you! Thank you Lindsey!!!

For her big 13th birthday this year, we redecorated her bedroom. So, she picked everything, right down to the apple green paint on her walls! And wonderful IKEA was the place to find bedding and the great desk!! She kept saying, "I love my room mom!!" We can't believe she is 13!! She is such a sweetie and such a hard worker. She is busy in Science Olympiad (a science club that meets in the morning before school and after school sometimes too.) She is also involved in 2 book clubs, track (she does the triple jump and the 100 and 200 meter dash, girl scouts and her church youth group, called Young Womens. She is doing it ALL this year! That Caitlin is amazing and we are sooooo proud of her!

Tuck eating worms!

2011-03-04T17:22:00.003-05:00

This is a video taken by Caitlin. Tuck is eating worms, EWWWWW!

BE AMAZED!!

2011-03-04T17:13:00.002-05:00

Tommy, once again, really wanted to show "the world" his invention he made! So, be impressed and amazed!!

It all started with a drip!

2011-03-04T16:20:00.007-05:00

It all started with a drip. Well, Tommy saw the drip and it was coming from our ice maker. It was above the ceiling in the basement. So, Mike did some handy work and fixed it. Well, Sunday morning, before church, Mike checked it and all was well. He stuck it back in the ceiling and we went to church. As we got to church, Mike had realized that he had forgotten his bag. He NEVER forgets his bag....so he ran back home to get it. As he came into the house he heard a "waterfall" and went downstairs. The icemaker had broken again and the tube had filled up our ceiling with water, then the ceiling collasped with the weight of the water!!! It was everywhere and it was a good thing Mike had forgotten his bag because the entire downstairs was soppying wet!! And it had only been about 30 minutes since Mike had checked it last. So, needless to say we made a claim with our homeowners insurance and we are taking care of it! Everyday this week we have had the clean-up crew come in and check their super jet fans and it is all dry! The kids and Mike took a shop-vac and sucked up as much water as they could. Mike said it over 20 gallons of water!! If Mike hadn't of put it back up in the ceiling (the white tube thing hanging down) then it would have sprayed all the walls and pictures!! It could've been ten times worse, so we are very thankful it was only the floor and ceiling.

The rest of the week was a bummer. I went to the eye doctor and found out I have to get bi-foculs (sp), she even asked if I was 40 yet? I said, "no, not until June." She said that it is very common for eyesight to get worse around then. That was an ego booster, thank you very much! Actually I grew up with glasses and bi-foculs, so it will be better I know, it's just hard to grow up. :) THEN one more thing....I know the mind whirls with amazement on what else could happen....but now both my "automatic" sliding doors in our van do not work. That happened Tuesday/Wednesday, so now the boys have to climb through the trunk door and then get into their seats. Jordan asked me, "mom what if this back door didn't work, what would happen?" I said to him, "I am trying not to think about that buddy", he said, "I am." Thank you very much.... :)

Well, there you have it, the week from the depths of a volcano!! But we are healthy, safe and warm in our home. Thanks for reading this and letting me babble and share. I have faith next week will be better. :)

The Spring Book Fair at Sloan Elementary....

2011-02-17T19:24:00.007-05:00

This is our Spring Book Fair at the school the boys go to. I loved doing it!! I got to talk to each class when they would come in, there are about 5 classes in each grade K-5 and they would have time slots that they would come in. Then I would share with them the books that the Librarian thought that grade/age would like. I loved every single second of it!! I had a TON of help and lots of parents came in to help with the classes too. I am bumbed though, my good friend, Hillary, that co-chairs with me won't be able to do it with me next year, because she is having a baby boy!! She has 2 girls so it is exciting, but she said she would help with the money part of it, which I am very grateful!!! It's amazing the great people I have met and how willing they are to help. Hillary and I sooooo appreciated their help! The theme this time was "Your ticket to read"/Carnival. A couple of days ago the librarian at the Murrysville Public Library came over to see our decorated wall and asked if she could have the wall decor for the Library? We said, of course!! We were so excited and flattered that she would want to use it. I guess they are doing a "carnival" theme for the summer reading program this summer. So, pretty cool huh?! It's all over now, and I am super tired but it was so great to get to know the teachers better and the kids are so great to see! Jord and Tommy liked seeing me too.....it was good for my little ego.

Tommy's Driving Dragon! (He titled this himself)

2011-02-17T19:18:00.004-05:00

Tommy stuck our camera on his remote controlled truck and drove it around the house. You can see the ceiling great! Enjoy...He really wanted to put this on the blog.

Tiger Den Field Trip

2011-02-02T11:27:00.005-05:00

This is the story...Jordan and I went with Tommy's Tiger Den on a "Go see it" field trip. It was the NBC News affliate, WPXI channel 11. Here is the Helicopter, the boys thought that was great! We took a tour of the building too. Okay, so here is a "Kris Story" for you. We are walking by the green room, which by the way.....it was NOT green. It's the room where the news achors get ready before they need to be on TV. The tour guide is walking into the small room and who should walk around the corner but a women that is the big news achor lady here in Pittsburgh. Her name is Darieth Chisolm. (she is like Hope Woodside in Utah) Okay, so she walks around the corner and I look up, and I mean "up"! She was sooooo tall and so beautiful! The first thing I say is "you are soooo tall!" I couldn't just say, " I enjoy watching the news on your channel" OR "you are really good at what you do." No, I have to mention the obvious fact that she is so stinkin' tall. She had to be atleast 6'4". (what a geek am I to say something like that) She laughs and says, "I don't even have my high heels on". And then smiles at me. Another lady says to her, " you are so beautiful". She smiles and starts talking to the 6-7 year old boys and they are just as shocked as we were of her beauty. Darieth asks, "what troop are you from?" the boys just stare at her and I say, "troop 213". Then we all chat a little and then we leave because she is on soon. (by the way, I really miss Hope Woodside. Is she still doing the news on channel 13 in Salt Lake City?) So, I thought I would give you a good story to laugh out aloud about. Nice that even though I am miles of away from my family and dear friends, in Utah, I still have goofy "Kris Stories".

HERE WE GO STEELERS, HERE WE GO!!!!

2011-02-02T11:05:00.006-05:00

Jordan's very good friend, Liam, got him this Troy Polamalu hat. He is a great player for the Steelers. Troy also has very large and long hair so that is why this hat is so funny! The boys love to wear them!!!

It was Mike's birthday last week and he and I went to the Strip District in the city. It is such a great place!! It has a ton of markets and lots of different kinds of food to buy, sample, and look at. Now, along this strip are also a ton of Steelers shops and vendors. ( Whenever you all come visit us, we will take you there. (It's full of cultures and lots of things to look at and buy!!)So, Mike finally bought himself a football jersey with his favorite players number on it. Hines Ward is THE man! #86!!! I was so happy that he got himself one!! Everybody wears jersy's, everywhere and anywhere! He is one handsome boy, that Mike of mine! GO STEELERS!!

Our handsome boys

2011-02-02T11:02:00.001-05:00

Aunt Julie got these "grown up" ties for the boys for Christmas. Don't they look so grown up? They wanted ties that "looked like dad's". m-m-m-m- what good looking snow boys.

"ON YOUR MARKS, GET SET, GO!!!"

2011-02-02T10:36:00.016-05:00

IT'S PINE WOOD DERBY CAR TIME!! HERE ARE THE WINNERS! ( in our books anyway)

Jordan's car. "Sponge Bob" (I only helped a little with the face and tie. He did everything else.)

Tommy's car. "the Lightning Streak"( I only painted the lightning bolt and Tommy came up with everything else and painted it)Caitlin's car "the hornet"

Here are some other cars that were racing. It was amazing the ideas the kids came up with and made. We all had a good time!!

Tommy's is the dark Blue one on the left.

There is Jordan's Sponge BOB on the left.

Here are just a few of the "outlaw" cars and what they looked like. Cate's is on the far right.

Tommy won 4th place with the fastest car. Cate won 3rd place with the fastest car in the "Outlaw Race". (that's a race with cars that don't have regulations and are done by siblings) Tommy felt so bad that Jordan didn't get a trophy, so did Jordan. It was quite the afternoon....but we all survived and praised all 3 of our kids! Jordan got 11th fastest out of 45 cars!!! WAY TO GO SNOW KIDS!!!

This is the District level for the Pine Wood Derby. Tommy got to go and race. It was held at a mall and it was so fun for the kids!

Washington D.C.

2011-01-05T07:01:00.040-05:00

These following 5-6 pictures are from the museum we did very last. I forgot to add them at the end so here they are in the beginning. There were airplanes hung everywhere and it was so amazing!! This is the museum by the airport in Dullas.

These are helicopters that landed on big cruisers in the ocean. They would fold the propellar like this because they needed to store them down below the ship sometimes. It was a HUGE helicopter!

This little plane was NOT a plane at all! It was a bomb and a person would actually sit in it, direct it where to hit and die when the bomb would hit it's target. The kids and I couldn't believe this one.

We took the kids to Washington D.C. the day after Christmas. We live only 4 hours away, so we packed up and drove and had a fabulous time!! Lots of memories were made and amazing things were learned that is for sure!!! We did a ton and saw even more!!! Here are just some of the things we saw and did.

This is at the Natural History Museum and these are crystals. This is actually how they were found! Doesn't look like a giant mound of Golden Grahams, the cereal? Just my interpretation.

Cate! LOOK OUT!! There is a giant Grizzly Bear behind you!!

I thought how amazing this was, that giraffes can't bend their front legs. This is how they would drink or reach down. That is pretty tricky looking....

Mike was so great! He was a great tour guide, he knew a ton of stuff when we went to the Space and Air Museum. Here is explaining to the kids about how the astronauts fit in this and come back to earth. How it detaches. It was so informative and we all learned a TON! IT was cool to actually be there and see it for ourselves. This museum was so amazing!!! The boys loved it!

An actual piece of the Berlin Wall. It was so amazing to be standing there and looking at it!! Now were are in the American History Museum! It was a big museum, we didn't do the whole thing...but Caitlin is coming with her Girl Scout troop in June and I get to go too. So, hopefully we will be able to see more of it. This was my favorite museum.

This is a cast of Abraham Lincoln'd hand. The boys compared..

Here is a sculpter that reminded us of the Higgley Town Heroes. We were laughing so hard at this one. This is outside of an Art Museum. I was trying to teach the boys about "perspective" and "intrepretation" when they are looking at art. Tommy was really getting into giving me his "perspective" on the art we saw. It was so fun! This is the subway in D.C. The kids got so good at sliding their card in to go through the gate. They loved this part each day. There was a shuttle from the hotel to the subway and then we would take the subway everywhere! We did a TON of walking too, that is for sure!!!

It was a beautiful day but it was sooooo COLD AND WINDY!! The kids huddled by the monument to keep warm. It was very sweet.

A view from at the top of the Washington Monument!

It was so windy went went to the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial. Below is a video of just how windy it was.

This is the President's helicopter. It was HUGE!!!

This is the HUGE Christmas tree right infront of the White House. They had train displays all around it. Christmas music was playing loudly and a helicopter was going back and forth to the White House, practicing landing and taking off, we guess. It was so neat to be there.
Now here is another Airplane museum. It was right by an airport in Dullas. It was a great museum!! It actually had the Stelth Airplane!

This propeller is so big compared to my little family. They had planed displayed all over like this.This is the plane that stopped World War II by dropping a Nuclear Bomb on Japan, after they attacked Pearl Harbor. It was HUGE!!

It's time....

2011-01-05T06:43:00.002-05:00

Caitlin is growing up....Just before Christmas she had asked me to put her Felicity Doll away. She is a wonderful American Girl Doll that Cate has gotten many wonderful playing hours with her. So, I placed her downstairs and yesterday I finally put her away in storage. I am sharing this with you because, I couldn't belive what I did next.... So, I wrapped her body up in a pillowcase, then wrapped another pillowcase around her head. It looked kindof weird to have her head wrapped up, because Felicity wouldn't be able to breath, yes, I truly thought this.... ;) So, I untucked the bottom part around her mouth, so she could "breath" if she needed to. ( I just have watched ToY StorY 3 so I am thinking all about how toys come to life.) So, now I felt much better that Felicity is safe in her container with a tight lid, with all the other baby dolls and if she "needs" to breath it will be okay for her. After I got done, I couldn't believe I had just done that for Felicity, but you just never know when a toy is going to come to life and want to breath. :) :) ( I wanted to share this with you because it really cracked me up that I had done this.)

Tommy's "friend", Camryn

2010-12-25T20:07:00.002-05:00

Tommy borrowed my camera and video taped himself in his bedroom. He really wanted me to put it on the blog. So, here it is as per Tommy. Enjoy.....His friends name is Camryn. One more thing....he made her a bracelet out of some beeds Caitlin had, and then Camryn sent a Hot Wheels Airplane back to him in the mail. When he opened it up in the kitchen, he saw her note to him, looked at me and ran to his room asking me to come with him. It was so cute! Mike couldn't believe Tommy's face when he opened up the envelope! It was priceless.....

Merry Christmas Everyone!

2010-12-25T19:42:00.009-05:00

Merry Christmas everyone!! We are soo thankful for another blessed year of memories, experiences, learning and growing from our challenges. We are all healthy and happy. We hope all of you, our dear friends and family have a wonderful Christmas too.

Jordan wanted a drum set. Santa came through.

Caitlin and her stylin' scarf she got and a wonderful book from her Aunt Julie. She even said, "oh, I love this scarf and I am going to tie it just like Julie taught me." :)

Jordan got a new robe to keep him warm. That cute boy is always cold! He loved it!!

Tommy got his microscope....Okay, I have to tell you the funny thing that happened with this. The kit came with blank slides that you could put other "specimens" on it. Well, Caitlin and Tommy had this great idea to get a blood sample. I volunteered to prick my finger and give him a drop. I turn around and he is holding this vile. It's small, but come on, I am NOT going to fill that up with my blood. So, Tommy says to me, " just put your blood in here mom." I said to him, "buddy I cannot put my blood in there, I am only going to be able to give you a drop and that's all. I cannot fill that thing up. "(Tommy was really bumbed to hear this.) So, Mike heard all this and here I am trying to prick my finger with a safety pin, my index finger is starting to hurt by now. I finally get a drop, Cate is in the background going, "OH mom! Stop, I can't believe you are doing this, I can't handle shots...I am not looking. MOM STOP POKING YOURSELF!" So, Mike comes to my rescue. Pricks his finger really quick, gets a big enough drop of blood to stick on the slide, because my drop was itsy-bitsy. Tommy then says, "thanks dad, that was a sacrafice." I then said, "that's what mom's and dad's do for their kids." It was definitely a moment to remember. Okay, if you are still laughing about this whole experience, you can keep laughing because the way you are picturing it, is exactly the way it happened.

Mike and Cate decide to make homemade Perrogies. Remember, they are stuffed pasta shells with mashed potato, cheese, onion. They are so yummy and we all love them. Homemade ones are even better!! Good Job Caitlin and Mike. We surprised the kids with one more thing....We are taking them to Washington D.C. tomrrow for a few days! They have never been there, and since we have Christmas Break and we only live 4 hours away, we are going for it!! I will definitely take notes and lots of pictures. LOve you all~~

PPG PLace...ICE SKATING

2010-12-25T19:24:00.010-05:00

This is Pittsburgh at it's best! I just love this city!! And we are only 25 minutes away from this amazing place!!! This place is called PPG Place. They put up this rink every winter and you can skate OUTSIDE around this beautiful Christmas Tree. PPG stands for Pittsburgh Paint and Glass. That is what all the glass building are....complete GLASS! There are 7 of them and it looks like a crystal castle. Everywhere you look, there is glass and peaks on top of them. It was so beautiful!! So, as you look at the other pictures you will see other views of the buildings. They are commercial buildings but it looks really like a castle. We decided we were going to do this every year too. AHHHH....traditions!~!! They are so great to have especially when new ones are made. Enjoy the pics......

Santa took off on a motorcycle sleigh. It was cool!

They even had the Zamboni machine come out every hour or so. The kids loved that.

One of the larger glass buildings.

Another Santa helper even got in the action and skated with us for about a half an hour. Tommy saw him and said to me...."I hope he has already made my mircoscope." (that is what he was asking for, for Christmas)

A really neat ball, glitter tree. It was all lit up, I bet it is gorgeous at night. The video below is great.....

Look at the Gingerbread House!!

2010-12-25T19:18:00.008-05:00

This was Thursday of this week. Mike was home and we decided to make a Gingerbread house from scratch. This was Mike's first attempt and let me be the first to tell you, it was so fun and I was so impressed with Mike's design!! YOU GO MIKE! We had to let the frosting harden for 2 hours and then the decorating began! It was great and lots fun and by all the snow people! This will definitely be a tradition at our home now. :)

The shiny animal on the side is a chocolate deer. Cate said, "we have to get it mom, then let's get chocolate covered raisins and have deer poops." That is exactly what it looked like. he!he!ha!ha!

WOW CATE!! YOU GO GIRL!!!

2010-12-19T17:44:00.005-05:00

So this is the deal about this contraption. This is Caitlin's "Egg drop device". She needed to build this for trying out for the Science Olympiad. Now, I will turn the writing and explaining over to Cate. Heeerrreee's CATE! Okay, first of all, Science Olympiad is a club. It is throughout my middle school. You can try out to make the team. I tried out, and I made it!!! About 60-70 students tried to make the team. Almost half of them were my friends! The teachers in charge could only take twenty. There were two parts to make it into the club. A written part and a hands-on part. For the written part they gave me 14 subjects to study. I tried to study all the subjects, and then I took the test. I was surprised because I thought it would have questions on all of the subjects, but it only had about half of the subjects. Oh well. As in the picture, for the hands-on test, I had to build a device that would sustain a raw egg dropped from about 12 feet. You got one egg, and there were three trials. For each trial the height got a couple of feet taller. My egg machine sustained the egg for all three trials, for the students that did that they called them "good eggs". Ha ha ha... get it? Well, I am going to a meeting this Tuesday to get all of the information! That is all for now.
By: Caitlin Snow
P.S. My mom is just a tiny bit weird.

Oh Christmas Tree....Oh Christmas Tree....

2010-12-19T17:33:00.005-05:00

We went to chop down our own Christmas tree. It was so fun and the kids got really into it. I love Christmas time.....

Here is a video of the kids chopping down our Christmas tree. I am sorry I videotaped it sideways in the beginning and then realized I needed to turn it around. But the video is still worth the viewing. :)

Columbus, Ohio Temple

2010-11-07T17:38:00.006-05:00

This was a wonderful weekend! Our ward did a Ward Temple Day yesterday, Saturday, and the Snow family all went. The Young Women did baptisms for the dead on Friday night and then babysitting was provided for the kids while the grownups did a session. There is a church building right next door to the temple....infact they share the parking lot. It is a HUGE parking lot.

So, while Mike and I were walking out of the temple it was about 12:45 in the afternoon. I knew my parents, they live in Indiana, were heading to the EXACT same temple to help in the bapitistry. (Yes, we are now in the SAME temple district, but Indiana is getting a new temple in a few years....) So, I thought "wouldn't it be great if we could see mom and dad?" Well, I called my dad's cell phone and he answered and I asked where he was...... My dad said, "we just parked in the parking lot and are getting out." I said, "NO WAY! We are at the entrance of the temple and we will wait for you guys!" So, Mike and I are standing there wondering when my parents would be in view....remember I mentioned it was a HUGE parking lot! And then my wonderful mom and dad came into view! I will never forget it!! I hurried over to them to "welcome them to the temple." :) he! he!he! It was so great to see them!! Mike and I were so glad that we caught up with them before we left! My parents are coming for Thanksgiving this year.....so is one of my sisters and cousin, so we will see them again a couple of weeks. We love to have visitors.... ;)

It was such a great weekend and definitely a memory maker.....we Burdett's and Snow's are all about making memories! Enjoy the pictures of the Columbus Temple. It is very, very small but still just as wonderful and still has an incredible spirit about it! As we were leaving along the side of the road on both sides were a TON of Canadian Geese! They were everywhere.....

Mother and Daughter

2010-11-04T22:55:00.009-04:00

Caitlin and her Young Women group, planned a Mother Daughter Activity full of games! It was so fun!!! We potato sack raced, that's Cate in action. We did a 3 legged race and a egg on a spoon run! We won the egg/spoon game. Then......we played this final game where it involved a ladder, ice cream, ice cream cone, chocolate syrup, ice cream scooper and lots of laughing!!!! You are supposed to stand on the ladder and try and get ice cream scoops in the cone that your partner is holding in her mouth as she is laying on the floor! Yes, you heard me right.... Take a look at the pictures below. I even put a bag on my head! But it was so fun and Cate laughed so hard! It was definitely a memory making evening for me and her!!!!

Running Away

2010-11-04T22:42:00.002-04:00

Our Tommy was upset with me one night because I wouldn't read him another book, it was bed time. So, he proceeded to cry and go to his room. Well, he was in there for awhile and I went to check on him. He then starts to walk down the stairs and said (with a smirk, just like his dad's) "I need a suitcase, I am running away from home." We looked at each other and then walked him back to his bedroom and we talked. Then I saw that his soccer ball bank was open and all his money was out on his bed. I then asked, "why is all your money out buddy?" He then said this, "so when I run away I would have money to go to Wendy's (it is just down the street from us) and get something to eat." Then I asked, "then what will you do?" He then said, "then I would wait for some NICE people to take me home." And as he got to the word "home" he started to cry a little more. I assured him that we loved him very very much and we would be so sad if he ran away! He liked that, calmed down and he went to bed. What a night that was, and one I will never forget. Our Tommy is one sensitive, emotional, and funny 7 year old! Ahhhhh, to be in first grade again. :) ;)

"Kevin is a girl?" ....Line from movie "UP"

2010-11-04T22:24:00.003-04:00

Okay, so here is the scoop on our Tuck. The last month or so, Tuck had been acting a little sluggish and I was getting worried because our Tommy didn't need another death of a beloved gecko.

So, I took Tuck to the exotic pet store and had the owner look at Tuck. It's a store that is real close to us, where we get crickets and worms for this "beloved pet". The man looks at Tuck and then says, "well, he looks healthy, his tail is thick...." then he turns Tuck over and says, "you know your gecko is a girl?" I said, "excuse me, uh-huh!" Then the man continues to say, "yea, he is a she AND she has 2 eggs inside her, look"! (He showed me under her belly and I could really see 2 tiny little balls in her. I then said, "how can that be, I don't have another gecko...." The owner then continues to share with me that just like how chickens lay eggs every day, reptiles produce eggs all the time. There won't be a baby gecko inside, but "she" will lay 2 eggs and they will be about this big." Then he holds his fingers to a cirlce about the size of a very small ping pong ball. So, now I am thinking "how am I going to explain this to Tommy?"

Well, got home assured Tommy that Tuck is fine, and that HE is a GIRL! His mouth dropped open! :O :O Then I said that when he lays the eggs.....then Tom corrected me and said, "SHE mom." "Okay, okay, when "she" lays the eggs there won't be a baby gecko in there, because we don't have a daddy gecko." Luckily Tommy left that one alone and I told him we would give the eggs to the"lizard vet" and he would take care of them. He was fine with that too. Tuck should lay these eggs around Christmas time.

My life is so not normal! Atleast some aspects of it that is for sure!!

p.s. The line, "kevin is a girl?" is from the movie "UP" when the old man finds out that the exotic bird that the little scout boy named the bird "Kevin", is a girl. When I told my parents about all this fiasco about Tuck, that is what my mom said! It was hilarious and I had to share it with you. :) If you haven't watched that movie in awhile you need too.....it's a great one!

Girls Scouts in action

2010-11-04T22:19:00.002-04:00

Here is Cate and her dear friend, Gracie, and another friend from Girl Scouts getting people to donate food to the food bank. It's a cool idea....the girls would pass out a list of things the food bank needs and then those that are coming into the grocery store can buy what they want to contribute. Cate said she had a "FUN TIME" and like handing out the papers to people. They collected a lot and it was so fun to see her in action. It was called the "Fall Food Share".

Happy Halloween Everybody!!

2010-11-04T21:51:00.010-04:00

Everybody carved their own pumpkins this year!! And Caitlin even carved a cat out of hers. It's the front one, hopefully you can tell.! Way to go our 3 little punkins!!

Here are the 3 tricker treaters in the Snow family. We have a Harry Potter, a fashionable Lady Bug and a serious Draco Malfoy. Be afraid be very afraid!! (I am going to take another pic of Tommy as Harry Potter, he wasn't quite in the picture posing mood.) But we all had a great time and lots of candy was collected that's for sure!

This is our backyard tree and I get to see it every day through the kitchen window. The colors are so amazing and the leaves, oh how they just keep falling. Oh, hummm let the raking of the leaves begin...Job security huh? :) :)

Kiko Pics

2010-11-04T21:37:00.005-04:00

Here is a place where Kiko loves to sleep. On top of Mike's paperwork and bills. She really does sleep right on top of it. And then our Jordan LOVES this kiko and is very gentle with her. I love this picture Caitlin took of him holding her.

Here is our Halloween cat with a pumpkin and you can't beat that!

This is Kiko watching the "mouse arrow" on the computer. She is getting big quick and we all adore her. She is a great kitty!

Kelsey, this one is for you

2010-09-27T08:35:00.003-04:00

Kelsey, Tommy really wanted me to put this on the blog for you.....he had found the notes you had written him last year and he misses you. He wanted to send this to you....Everyone else can watch if you would like to. This was done first thing this morning, before school. Happy MOnday!

Raingutter Regatta

2010-09-26T21:12:00.009-04:00

Last weekend, was the troops Raingutter Regatta. Now, for those of you who, like me, who do not know what a "Raingutter Regatta" is, let me share it with you. The boys get a small boat kit and decorate it the way they want to and then race them down a raingutter by blowing into straws at the little sail. Here is Tommy's and yes, that is a recycle sign he has drawn on his sail. (Tommy is very concerned about the earth.) Then Jord's below. The boys had a great time and fun was had by all.

Mike doing what he loves....cooking and better yet in dutch ovens... YOU GO BOY! THAT'S MY MAN!!!

This is cool and I wanted to let you in on it. It's called "smore's on a stick and you just dip the gigantic marshmellow (which I have never seen before) dip it in chocolate and then cover the chocolate in crushed up graham crackers. The boys loved them! I myself, like the whole campfire experience with the stick and all. But it was very clever and easy!!!

GO TOMMY! GO TOMMY!! He was racing his good friend, Michael from school.

Jordan had lots of wind and had a great time! GO JORDAN!

More Kiko

2010-09-26T21:07:00.002-04:00

The Book Fair!!!

2010-09-26T20:46:00.010-04:00

This was my big project this past month in a half!! Me and my good friend, Hilary, we were asked to Co-Chair the elementary schools book fair. Well, we said, "sure" and this is the outcome! We had LOTS of great help and each other and we survived to tell the tale! The lady that co-chaired it the last several years was right there by our sides to hold our hands through it. Beth is the queen and we couldn't have done our 1st one without her....She was a crack up too and a good friend!!! Our theme for this one was "EVERYONE IS A HERO! READERS ARE HEROES!" Scholastic comes up with the theme and ideas and then we are supposed to run with it and do what we want with that idea. We have another one in the spring, but we aren't thinking about that right now. This room we had the book fair in, is called the LGI. It's right by the school library and a great big room for multipurpose things and it was dedicated to the fair this last week. Thought it would be fun to show the progress of the decorating and time that went into this project. It was a HUGE success and the kids loved it!! That's what made it worth it!! Oh, and I love to hear the kids walk by me now, and say, "hi, Tommy's mom" or "hi, Jordan's mom"(now that they know who I am, beside the book fair girl). The middle school is having theirs in a couple of weeks and I volunteered to help with that one too. I love the book fairs, but I am not co-chairing this one...I get to just be a good helper and cheer them on. :) Enjoy the pics...

Cate finds Kiko for the 1st time!

2010-09-15T18:38:00.001-04:00

2010-09-15T18:34:00.001-04:00

Here is the video I tried to download from the Irish Festival. You won't believe how huge these dogs are!!!

THE WINNER IS....

2010-09-15T18:29:00.002-04:00

Okay, Mike has just gotten home and looked at our sweet kitty and the winner is......
KIKO! Mike came up with it, just like he came up with Cee Cee (our old cat). He is so good at the name thing......Kiko totally fits...the kids like it and so, yeah team!!! The kitty has a name!
Mike just looked up what "Kiko" means. It means "to be glad or rejoicing." It is slang for "friend". That is perfect! WAY TO GO MIKEY!!!

New addition to the Snow's Nuthouse

2010-09-15T16:57:00.007-04:00

This is an 8 week old kitty that we just got today!!! Mike works with a lady that was trying to find a home for her kittens that she has. Yesterday Mike said, "I will have one." Looked at the pictures and chose this all black one. Then he came home and shared his surprise for us. The kids didn't know, but I did. The woman dropped this sweet little girl kitty off this morning. Cate didn't know yet because she was at school, but the boys were still home, waiting to get on the bus. Tommy's eyes got all big and asked, "do we get to keep it?" I told him, "yes, daddy got her for us." He was so happy!!! And so was Jordan! So, today she and I took a little nap together on the couch, she followed me around everywhere and she is fast! She does our stairs great and is already litterbox trained, and just a sweet little kitty! We still haven't named her yet, we will hopefully decide that tonight when Mike gets home. I will make sure we keep you all posted. Enjoy the pictures!

Our fun Caitlin

2010-09-12T22:42:00.003-04:00

I had to blog these! They make me smile so big. The woman that took our family pics, took these of Cate at a Young Women activity they had. It was on modesty and then she took their pictures....I love these of our Caitlin so I thought I would share them. Come on, you can't tell me they don't make you smile big!

Irish Festival in Pittsburgh, PA

2010-09-12T22:06:00.015-04:00

This is a neighborhood we drove through to get to the festival. I had to take a picture of how close the houses were built! You could just jump on the roofs one house to the other. It was crazy how CLOSE they really were.

We got some lunch and Cate and Mike wanted a turkey leg. Look how big this thing is. It was exactly what you would picture a king to eat in castle times! They shared it with me and it was delicious. Mike kept pulling parts off for his "ladies in waiting" to eat. (me and Cate)

Okay, these dogs are called "Irish Wolf Hounds". Now, notice the leashes, they are not normal thin leashes....they are actual sturdy, heavy duty, ROPE! I video taped these dogs and how HUGE they are. But I can't get it to download, so I will keep trying so you can see how huge these "hounds" are. They went almost up to Caitlin's shoulder! And their faces were bigger than the kids. But they were very gentle and kind. THEY WERE HUGE, MONGO BIG!!!

Caitlin and I loved these Setters the best. They were so pretty.

Here is Jordan with a type of Irish Setter. His ears were atleast 9-10 inches long....

Tommy loved feeding the sheep and Jordan and Caitlin loved seeing the dogs.

The boys in armor. This armor is like the armor the Irish wore about 1,000 years ago. The chain netting was super heavy. The man that was telling us about it all had a full body one that you would put over your head and it would drape down your body. The boys were way too short for it, but that alone weighed about 40 pounds! The boys couldn't believe how heavy the head gear was. It was neat to have them try it on.

The kids wanted a picture on this "huge, cool tree". Lookin' good Snow kids!!

This is an area called the "Water Front." It used to be a huge steel mill, but they knocked it all down except this Coke Stacks. There are about a dozen of them and they are HUGE and were used for the steam to be released from the steel mill. It was really cool. This area is where the festival was and a bunch of restaurants, shopping and conference centers. It's a neat area. If any of you come to visit we will take you there, any takers? :)

TOMMY TURNS 7 ON SEPTEMBER 7th!

2010-09-12T21:46:00.011-04:00

This last Monday, Labor Day, since there was no school we took the kids to a place called "Fun
Fest! It's the place we took Cate and all her friends when she turned 12. So the boys were thrilled that we went for their birthdays too. We did bowling, laser tag and, of course, we did the arcade. ;) Fun was had by all and lots of great memories!

So, here is Tommy's birthday cake. He wanted an "ice cream cake". So, I made a chocolate round cake, cut it in half and put ice cream in the middle. Put chocolate frosting on top and sprinkles and WA-LAH! an ice cream cake. Tommy saw it and said, "IT LOOKS LIKE A GIANT ICE CREAM SANDWICH!" He was very happy with it and that made me happy. Happy Birthday sweet boy! The BIG 7!!!!

Thanks to our dear friends, The Laytons, for remembering our crazy boys birthdays! These flashlights are perfect!! They love them!

Tommy opened a bunch of lego people for his birthday! "Now I can play with Cate and Jordan!", he said. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa B. and Julie.

Here is (L to R) Elder Haymore, Elder Brown, and Elder Taylor. It was so great to have them over. Tommy loved having them over for his shrimp birthday dinner. :)
What happened was, Elder Brown didn't feel well, and they were trackting in our neighborhood. They stopped by asking if Elder Brown could sit down for a minute and then we pleaded and begged for them to stay for Tommy's Birthday dinner. They shyly said, "sure, that would be great." Tommy thought it was so cool that they were there to sing Happy Birthday to him. What a great memory!!

Jordan's Birthday

2010-08-30T20:26:00.005-04:00

Happy Birthday our big 9 year old Boy!! He loved the cake, his bike, and all the lego people!! He was one happy 9 year old when he went to bed! We love our Jordan and glad he is in our family....

An idea for placemats....

2010-08-30T20:17:00.003-04:00

Hey, everybody!! I have to share the fabulous buy I found! See those striped pillows....I went to the thrift store, here by us....and found these 3 placemats hanging there for only $1.49. So, I thought, "I love these colors and I could really do something with these...." So, I got home and thought about it, and then came up with brand new pillows!! I cut one side a little bit, and then stuffed the pillow inside it and MADE it fit. Now, I just need to sew up the ends a little bit, and WAH--LA! New pillows for the living room. I am so happy that I have some new "splash" of color in the room and it only cost me $1.49!

1st Day of School

2010-08-30T14:06:00.005-04:00

Here are all the kids that ride the bus with the Snow kids. Everyone was so excited to go.....Tommy couldn't WAIT to get on the bus!! Then here are the 1st day of school outfits underneath. The first 3 days have gone great and things are good. Everyone still likes it. It is sooooo nice to know what to expect and it is so nice for the kids to know the schools and know people already. I think we are adjusted now to PA. Well, atleast for now.... We will see what the winter holds for us....

birthday cake

2010-08-30T13:58:00.002-04:00

So, I had to blog this cake I did and came up with! It is supposed to be a Lego piece. This is Jordan's Birthday cake! Today, August 30th, is Jordan's birthday and he is the big 9!!!!!!! I asked him what kind of cake he wanted and he said, "a surprise one". So, SURPRISE!! I can't wait for him to see it! The little figures are new from family. It's a little lopsided and not quite as smooth as I would like, but it kindof looks like a Lego piece and that is what I was going for. In a week, it is Tommy's 7th birthday, so we are partying hard, here in Murrysville, PA.

Look who's knee boarding now!

2010-08-19T21:05:00.003-04:00

Not only his big brother and big sister can kneeboard, but now TOMMY SNOW can!! YOU GO BOY!!! We are going boating again this weekend and he said today, "can I go first K-N-E-E-B-O-A-R-D-I-N-G?!!" He didn't spell it all out but he said it slow and excited!!!

New pics

2010-08-19T20:58:00.006-04:00

Some new pictures a friend of ours, took of us. Holy Guacamole! we have cute kids!!!