Christmas recap & a chicken treat

Well a belated Merry Christmas to All!
 Our family really enjoyed our Christmas Eve Canndlelight service...remembering the reason Christians celebrate Christmas afterall.
 That lil babe born in a manger that came so that we might be saved. It is a precious message and so much more powerful to me now that I am a mom, I couldn't imagine my son being the sacrifice for all.

So we Celebrated Jesus' Birthday and we enjoyed time with family! How fun is it to watch your kiddos open gifts and see the excitement on their faces? Every Christmas I'm reminded that I don't need anything...the joy of watching my kids is a wonderful gift!

We Celebrated first with Tim's family where my Mother in law Cooked up some very tasty Lamb for us

isn't that beautiful?

On Christmas day we ventured to My Parents where the food (Butt Cut & Crab) was equally as yummy!

Mom's table

lil birdies nesting in her Chandelier

....and her beautiful Christmas Mantle!

So now you know where I get the urge to dump the things I have and start over...there is literally something new every time I go to moms, it's like going to the pottery barn but getting to stay for dinner!

...and a lil gift for the girls this week a fresh baguette!

Big Momma in Flight

Blueberry savoring her bread

Barrel racing for the best piece of bread

Don't Leave...there's more!

Since I skipped what i wore wednesday..thought i'd show what Lydia wore this week!

Outfitted by both Grandmas...Rapunzel Dress, Hair & Crown!

Hope you're all enjoying lazy days in jammies like we are!

stocking stuffers

Please don't get your kiddos a puppy for Christmas .....here are 10 reasons why you should stuff their lil stockings with baby chicks instead!

1. Chicks are so cute!

2. You can mail order chicks and they'll arrive at your door.

3.  They only cost around $2.00....pure bred maybe $4.00

4. They won't tear up your carpet or shed in your house...they are outdoor peeps.

5. They don't wake you up in the middle of the night to potty

6. You can use chicken feathers as down or maybe make a sweater with them....can't say that for a dog.

7. When the love wears off in say a week...there are no hurt feelings. Chickens really don't care to sleep at the foot of your bed or with your kids...they want to perch & poop.

8.  Ya don't see people composting dog poop.....but Chicken poop works great in compost for your yard. 

9. Chickens lay eggs- a great return on your investment..i mean gift.

10. If the economy gets any worse....you can always eat em! (okay, that's Tim speaking...I wouldn't suggest this)

Here is our Chicken Nugget as a lil peep...the perfect stocking stuffer!

Pinning & Winning!

Yesterday my daughter came inside saying to me ..."mom I want to win too, tell Levi to let me win."  Wow don't we all feel that way as adults every once in awhile?

 I can tell you after a solid week of Christmas shopping, I'd like to win a good parking spot. Close parking spots are like gold this time of year. If I find a good parking spot at the mall, then it pretty much sets the tone for the whole shopping trip.  I feel like I'm "Winning"!

Here's what I've pinned lately ...... there wasn't a source attached, I'll just call her "brilliant mom"!

and here's my knock off monster jean hole man for my lil man....

more like abominable snowman- monster

This is the walrus look with a lil saliva (glue smear), and the finger is my 5yr old pointing out that this monster probably should only have 1 eye.  He's so right. Why did I not consult a monster expert...next pair of jeans needs to have a Mike Wazowski from Monsters Inc.

Interesting egg news...our chickens are laying larger than normal eggs lately .big. beautiful. eggs.  We have had them for about 1 1/2 years and they seem pretty happy. Maybe it's the pancakes or lately they've been eating leftover cuties...little oranges. hmmmm

Happy Friday!

Baby it's cold outside!

Baby it's cold outside and we are in the Christmas mood! We are decking the halls with a few less "decorations" this year and a little more greenery we brought home from our tree trip to the mountains!

a lil bird's nest works well with nearly every season

I went picking in our own barn and found this chippy white shelf...I cleaned her up with a TON of bleach water and set her up as a boot shelf in the sunroom.

a closer look at this perfect chippy-ness obtained by years of just sitting = love it!

okay now I'm just shoving branches in any old thing!

I finally found the perfect spot for the metal number from an old stadium scoreboard, it's a heavy beast and it will do fine if a coffee cup is spilled set on it!

Here's what we are reading for fun this Christmas

..........and a pin to pinterest that I had to copy!




how cute was that?
Tim wrapped our bike with white lights & I love it!

I'm enjoying the little moments that can't be planned like overhearing my kids tell baby jesus to "behave" or tell the wiseman they need a haircut ( when they're playing with the nativity set). And how about when the kids decorate the tree and all the ornaments end up on one branch! I hope this lil branch makes it until Christmas!

Hope you're enjoying the little moments that make the Christmas Season so Special!

Im linking up with The Inspired Room for her Christmas Home tour...so many fun homes to check out!

As promised...a pinterest knock-off!

Okay just one lil sample of fun I had copying a "virtually free" ..idea from pinterest into real life!

A lil sidenote for anyone who's new to pinterest...it is like an online scrapbook, it replaces the old way of storing things you plan on making, buying, doing, baking etc. instead of ripping pages from a magazine, you're now "pinning" them on an online sort of cork-board.

 Well it's addicting & the amount of creative people & ideas on pinterest are simply flabergasting. So now that you get the idea, I'm taking the things I've pinned & finally making them for myself!

here is what i've pinned....

I wish I could give credit to the crafty person who did this...but I don't know who it was.  I'm sure they wanted me to copy them. Yep, pretty sure.

Here is my Outdoor Christmas Decor version of this

Everything I had sitting around the house...rotten old window check....mason jars, tea lights, wire & cranberries check & done...the screw was already in the wall too. That WAS Fun!!! Oh so pretty at night too!

htgt.com

My mom & I saw this mossy saucy wreath and she made a mini for me!

For some reason, pinterest is by invite only, so if you'd like an invitation...leave a message in the comments with your email & I'll send you and invite. There is no $$ required or anything hokey they want from you!

More Christmas Decor to come....we still have to decorate our tree that my husband moved mountains to get to...seriously! We drove into the hills to get our tree...of course the road Tim wanted to take had these caution looking signs blocking the road. Apparently that doesn't mean STOP & DON'T GO THIS WAY...no,  to Tim it means the best trees are right this way. So we drove around the caution signs....with the big ole truck.  Until we reached this small obstacle..

Thankfully it was a small rock fall & didn't continue while he was moving the boulders. This was not smart. Do not try this yourselves.

later we both thought this may not have been a good idea...what if more rocks fell & we couldn't get back home. Again, not a good idea. But the sun was shining on us that day and we had a great time searching for our tree!

And you just can't beat this view of Mt.Rainier or Reindeer as Levi calls it!

Happy Friday & Happy "Pinning"to you and yours!



Those aren't Pillows!

Since becoming a Snyder….I’ve endured the movie “Planes Trains & Automobiles” so many times I cannot count them.

 You see, I married into a movie quote family.  I may carry the name, but I cannot remember what I watched on TV last night, let alone movie quotes from
  the 80's or 90's.

Sister on the move!

Some people are stayers and some people are goers (read go-er J)   ….my sister's a goer  drawn to the sunlight & sand and I guess that makes me a stayer rooted in the dirt and rain….

life lessons

Alrighty this is a long one so get a cup a coffee people! If you're not in the mood for long...skip to the bottom for some pics cause that's what we read blogs for right?  Well that's what I do anyway...if the pics are good, you go back to read & see what ya miss!

Here is a lil momma life lesson I experienced & wrote down awhile back...

(April, 2011)

Today I took the kids to swim lessons. Levi has had a fear of the diving board and has talked about it frequently over the past 2 weeks. It seemed like he really wanted to be brave, and he was really excited when we walked in the pool house, but when it came time to getting in the pool, it was very difficult. I really had a hard time being strong myself. Part of me strongly believes that these swim lessons could help him not be afraid and become an excellent swimmer. The other part of me just wanted to pick up my little boy, hold him until he stopped crying and take him home.  (for the record I did hug him, I just didn't let him quit)The whole time I’m wondering if I’m doing the right thing. Will this cause him to loose trust in me because I’m making him swim when he’s fearful of it. We prayed on the way to swim lessons, I have prayed for weeks and would you believe it, the swim instructor said there wouldn’t be time for jumping off the diving board, what a relief that was to Levi. Hopefully next week he’ll be strong enough to want to try the diving board and hopefully one day he’ll be thankful that his momma made him take swim lessons.

(May 2011)

6 weeks into swim lessons and it all clicked, Levi’s worries & fears of the diving board & slide just somehow disappeared and he did it! He went off the slide 7 or 8 times in a row, and loved it! The next week he conquered the diving board! What happened to this boy? I say: delayed answers to my prayers as a mom, it was a lesson both he & I had to learn, pray and do your best as a momma…as for him, pray and try, try again and that’s what we both did.

 Looking back on the experience, the pain was worth the end result. The uncertainty of the outcome brought me to pray & drew me closer to God…. and taught me that my children are watching and learning how I deal with the not so easy life lessons. As for my fish son, he loves the water & most likely won’t remember that there was a time in his life when he didn’t want to go off the diving board.

 This may sound wrong, but I plan on reminding him of the not so fun moments of swim lessons, because he ended up conquering his fears and he’ll need the strength to conquer new fears in the future…whatever they may be.

(Sept 2011)

“Mom, when do swim lessons start again? I want to go back!”

 

One more thing.....I can't help but share a few Halloween pics.

Tough lil Cowboy

Happy lil Shortcake

Hanging out at the watering hole





 

Giddy up!

A lil Twisp!

Wrappin up the summer fun, here are a few pics from a cute lil B&B in Twisp of all places…who stays in a town called Twisp? Apparently we do when we are on a motorcycle for 165 miles and Twisp is as far as I can make it for the day! I liked this B&B because it was clean, uncluttered and sweet, but with a twisp!

This door just makes me smile, surrounded by all the crisp white this baby shines!

hmm...makes me want to paint something & sand it down!

Who doesn’t love to sit on a big ole porch, I just about fell asleep on the swing in the evening…pretty quiet in Twisp except for the occasional Harley.

And here’s the Twisp….

The B&B owner had recently taken up iron working and repurposing found objects, this back yard art was an unexpected surprise!

 Tim waiting patiently for me as I searched for antlers in the woods!

Happy Trails To You!

let's talk manners....

Our fam has been working on table manners, ie: don't talk while eating, don't smack your lips while chewing (yuk) and wait your turn to talk at the dinner table. Pretty simple, yet I catch myself yelling across the table "close your mouth while you chew" all the while I've got an unfinished bite in my own mouth Yikes ( I quickly close my own mouth hoping the midgies at the table won't notice.)

Well, recently the midgies and I were excited to see the sunshine in the morning so of course we decided we were in need of a breakfast picnic....lets call it "breaknic"  with coffee, yogurt and a lil bible story on Samson (boys dig this story) anywho I was feeling very proud of our little house on the prairie moment when we were rudely interrupted by members of our family that lack manners....

Rule # 163:

 Never lick the bowl clean

 Lu Lu & Sweetie Bird

Rule # 349:

No Double Dipping

Lu Lu was offended by the double dip so she took off.

Happy Manners To You!

Chicken Scratch

Chicken Scratch…they love it! I’ve been giving the girls scratch, I throw it in their yard and they go crazy for it…kinda like catnip but not… maybe it should be called chickynip…doesn’t sound quite as nice! Actually it sounds dirty whoops!

Speaking of scratch….I’ve been blog watching since I seem to have no get up & go of my own! I found a cute project over at less than perfect life of bliss…she called this her blessing board.  I really liked the idea so I used some leftover fabric, paint and an old picture frame I was planning to get rid of. So I like to think I made it from scratch since I mainly used leftovers….aside from the lettering…not bad eh?      Here is what I started the project with....

 

I had fun making a few of these fabric flowers....



Here is the final product...our Thankful Board, I love that there is no chalk dust...just write on the glass with a dry erase marker!

My 5yr old helped me make the list, I plan to change it out each week & involve the whole fam! (Tim's rolling his eyes)

The letters came in a set complete with a nail file to "rough" up the edges!

This project was simple and will be a great reminder to us that we have so much to be thankful for!

If you like this project you'll enjoy Julie's blog that I recently found!

  

Happy Thursday!!