Thanksgiving Plan B

Our Thanksgiving plans were derailed this year when six members of Kyle's side of the family came down with the stomach flu. Yikes!

So we spent our first ever Thankgiving at home...just us. No rushing around to get ready. No packing the diaper bag. No driving for an hour. Just a low-key day hanging out as a family.

Well...I guess it wasn't totally low-key. I still wanted my Thanksgiving dinner! I cooked all of our traditional favorites, substituting a chicken for the turkey. We feasted on roast chicken, cranberries, vegetables, mashed potatoes and gravy (my first time making gravy!), sweet potato casserole, dinner rolls and lefse.

In what I am still thinking was a Thanksgiving miracle, Rowan even ate the chicken!

Yummy... yummy... yummy!

Miles nursed through part of dinner, threw up on me and then promptly fell asleep, leaving me to enjoy my meal. (I only dribbled a few drops of gravy on his sleeper.)

After dinner, I snuggled with the boys while Kyle cleaned up.

Then we had some apple crisp with whipped cream for dessert.

And finally, Kyle got some time to watch football, snuggle with Miles and rest.

It certainly wasn't what we had planned, but it was a lovely Thanksgiving! I couldn't ask for three sweeter guys to spend my day with.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Trick or Treat 2010

Despite my love of quirky or homemade Halloween costumes, Rowan insisted on being "Iron Man 2" this year.

Yep. My kid asked to be a character from a sequel to a movie that he has never even seen. Man, those marketers are smart!

But he did make a pretty darn adorable Iron Man 2. Here he is before venturing out with some of our neighbors.

What a tough guy!

He felt so proud to be cruising the neighborhood with the big kids.

Meanwhile, we are still waiting on the arrival of our littlest pumpkin. I'm due on Tuesday!

Link your Halloween post, or see more cute Halloween pics, by visiting The Snyder 5!

Waiting for Bubsie

Some stuff I've been doing while waiting for our newest addition to arrive:

• Obsessing about what to name our new little one. (Rowan's top choices: Rowan Kyle, Kyle Rowan, Angie Kyle, Kyle Angie, Rowan Angie, Angie Rowan, Duckie or Bubsie)
• Astonishing Rowan's pre-k classmates with my hugeness. ("Whoa. That's big." has been the most amusing comment thus far.)
• Tackling projects that will have no real impact on our quality of life, such as replacing the felt floor protectors on our dining room chairs and dusting the top of the refrigerator.
• Astonishing kiddos at Target with my hugeness ("Oh. Man." has been the most amusing comment thus far.)
• Trying not to roll my eyes when people ask me if I'm having twins.
• Hoping that I will go into labor soon!
• Enjoying our remaining days as a family of three...

...and this weekend, that meant pumpkin carving!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Valentine's Day! (Did You Get Your Box of Candy?)

Happy Valentine's Day from our family to yours!


In what has become a yearly tradition, Rowan received a heart-shaped box of candy along with his valentine from us.


How could we resist? He love love loves Valentine's Day. And to him, a heart-shaped box of candy is the ideal gift.

Remember this video from last year around Valentine's Day?

We hope you have a love-filled day and receive whatever your little heart desires this year!

Home for the Holidays

I've decided that the only way to get my house clean is to host a party.

Seriously. Without a looming deadline and the risk of total embarrassment, we might never address that pile of clirty clothes that collects in our bedroom.

What? You've never heard of "clirty" clothes? Well, imagine a sweater that you've worn only once after washing it. It's not exactly clean...but it probably isn't dirty, either. You could totally wear it again...but if you needed to round out a load of delicates, you'd throw it in the washing machine while you had the chance.

The wishy-washy status of clirty clothes leads to some strange logic and behaviors at our house. We seem to believe that clirty clothes don't deserve to reside with the clean clothes in our drawers and closets. But we don't want such items mixing with the truly dirty stuff in the hamper, either.

So, naturally, clirty clothes end up on the floor.

Yup. We're weird.

What was I talking about again?

Oh yeah, parties! So far this fall and winter, we've hosted Rowan's birthday party, a Halloween party and — just today — a tree-trimming party!


Both sides of our family joined us for a day of Christmas fun! I served egg bake, caramel rolls and fruit for brunch. Mmmm.

I put a pretty poinsettia on the table, along with two rather bizarre electric candles that I got on clearance at Target. They flicker and smell like apple cinnamon. A little odd, yes, but at least they didn't singe the poinsettia leaves or burn the kiddos.


After each of us ate at least three caramel rolls, we trimmed the tree! Maddox liked to be lifted up high to reach the top branches, while Avery preferred the "every ornament on one branch" approach to decorating. Rowan made sure to comment on the beauty and significance of the ornaments, each of which he assumed was given to us a long long time ago, when he was very little.


When all the ornaments were up, Rowan placed the star on the top of the tree!

True story about our tree: I bought it when Rowan was just two months old. We were living in our first house at the time, and Kyle was being a bit of a grinch about Christmas (and, more specifically, about setting up a real Christmas tree). So we packed Rowan into the car and drove to Menards, where I picked out a perfectly lovely artificial model. When the salesman told us that the tree I had chosen was out of stock, I started crying. No joke. I was a total mess of frustration and new-mom hormones. In the end, the guy sold us the display model for 20 percent off and gave us the lights and garlands for free!

I bought a candelabra to put in our fireplace this year. Less messy than a real fire, that's for sure.

Our Advent calendar is Rowan's favorite Christmas decoration. Why? Because it's filled with chocolates, of course!

The finished room, all warm and cozy for Christmas!

And to conclude this post, I give you a gratuitously adorable photo of B-Rex and Chuckles (Kyle's nicknames for Breck and Charlie).

Here's wishing you a wonderful season filled with family, friends and fun!

Secret Santa

Today, I asked Rowan what he hopes Santa will bring him for Christmas. His response?

"I don't have to tell you that. It's a secret for Santa!"

Hmmm. This could be a problem. But considering that the last time I asked, he said he wanted "red paper, a rubber duck and a bigger scissors" my guess is that he isn't aiming very high. In any case, I will be listening very closely when we visit Santa this afternoon.

A Thanksgiving Interview

Rowan, What are you thankful for this year?

• Mommy
• Mama
• Treats
• Food
• T.V.
• Cleaning up
• My Lighning McQueen cup
• Love
• Daddy*
• Christmas
• Flowers
• Santa

What is Thanksgiving all about?

• Dessert
• Playing

What do you want to tell everyone on Thanksgiving?

"Once upon a time there was love. Love, love, love. The end."

Happy Thanksgiving!

*Kyle, don't be offended that you came after "cleaning up" and "my Lightning McQueen cup." You know Rowan loves that cup. And sweetie, please know that you'd be at the tippy top of my list!

Traditions Happen

I’m coming to terms with the fact that I can’t control what Rowan remembers about his childhood. Still, establishing some lovely family traditions is important to me.

Maybe I’m hoping to counteract some of our less desirable family traditions. Last weekend, for example, Rowan explained the following — in his sincerest little voice — to one of our guests:

“That’s our laundry couch, but we cleared it off for the party. You can sit there now if you want to.”

Yep. Family traditions sneak up on you when you least expect them.

A couple of weeks ago, I decided to start a tradition of having fancy dinners on Sundays. I like to cook anyway and had just found an interesting chicken recipe online. While the chicken and garlic braised, I whipped up some mashed Yukon Gold potatoes, sautéed greens and maple-glazed delicata squash. I even baked a homemade apple tart!

I was feeling quite proud of myself when everything came together just in time for dinner (no small feat).

Unfortunately, I forgot one thing: my kid doesn’t like food. Well, maybe that’s an exaggeration, but he sure is picky! His favorite foods all have the same ingredients, rearranged slightly: macaroni and cheese, cheese pizza, grilled cheese sandwiches, buttered noodles with — you guessed it — cheese (and NO spices).

My beautifully prepared meal did nothing to convert my little lacto-carbitarian. While Kyle and I ate and ate (and ate), Rowan picked at his plate and whined about how his chicken was too “skin-y” and his squash was too “smashy.”

Then he asked for a bowl of cereal.

You can imagine how frustrating it is to have your home-cooked meal snubbed in favor of Clifford Crunch.

Oh well. Until Rowan’s tastes broaden, I guess I’ll have to start a different family tradition. Or maybe I’ve already created one...? I can see it now:

“My mom only feeds me cereal on Sundays, but you can have something different if you want to."

Great. Just great.

(Don't be fooled. He only ate the whipped cream.)

The True Meaning of Halloween?

Last year on Halloween, I was appalled by a phenomenon that I had never before experienced or even considered: adults who go trick-or-treating.

Some of you are undoubtedly thinking, “Children need chaperones!”

I agree. But I’m not talking about adults who accompany young trick-or-treaters. I’ll happily dole out an extra Kit Kat (or three) to parents who brave the elements to give their children a once-a-year opportunity to take candy from strangers.

No, I’m referring to adults who hit the town specifically to collect candy for themselves.

Before moving to the city, I had never even considered that adults might go trick-or-treating. Rowan was 3 when we celebrated our first Halloween in this house. We were putting the final touches on his artist costume when we heard a loud knock. Excited, I quickly grabbed our candy bucket and rushed to the door to greet our first arrival!

You can imagine my surprise when I saw a 40ish-year-old woman standing on our front stoop. She was not with a child. She was not wearing a costume. She did not say "trick-or-treat." She did not even thank me after I gave her a bag of Skittles. Nope. When I wished her a happy Halloween, she quickly shook her bag and demanded more!

Um…Okaaaay…

(Upon recounting this story, I’ve actually had a few people tell me that they would have refused her. I don’t buy it. If some unstable stranger shakes a Cub Foods bag at you and brazenly demands more candy, I highly doubt you’d have the courage to say no. I sure didn’t!)

This year, I wasn’t surprised when a couple of adults stopped by the house well before dark. Did I think it was a little weird? Yep! But I had recently read an interesting factoid about Halloween that made me feel more at peace with the situation.

According to Wikipedia: “Trick-or-treating resembles the late medieval practice of souling, when poor folk would go door to door on Hallowmas (November 1), receiving food in return for prayers for the dead on All Souls Day (November 2).”

I obviously have no idea whether our adult trick-or-treaters were poor. Maybe they were just bored…or crazy…or in serious need of a chocolate fix. But clearly something wasn't quite right. So if I could brighten their day with a few packs of candy, so be it. And if they happen to say a few prayers for my deceased relatives, all the better.

My only real concern is safety. We live in a family-friendly neighborhood, but our close proximity to the bus line means that LOTS of our trick-or-treaters are complete strangers to us. But I never had to answer the door alone this year. Why? Because we hosted a Halloween party! (Kyle preferred to call it an “informal get-together” because that seemed like less work. HA!)

We had a great time! I wish we would have taken more pictures, but we're always so busy when people are at our house. Below are a few highlights.

My family!
(You can't see it under his coat, but Kyle was wearing a 1970s vest and polyester trousers. I would have feathered his hair, but we ran out of time before the party. Drat!)


Ghost cake. Cute and delicious!


Me and Shrek. We're tight.

Shrek and his lady love, Fiona.
(a.k.a., my dad and mom)

The kiddos: Paul as the red Power Ranger; Rowan as Lightning McQueen;
Avery as a bumblebee; and Maddox as Buzz Lightyear.

"Can we go yet?!"

Knock knock. "Trick or treat!"

Rowan and Paul watching "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown"
(Yes, this is our TV. Yes, that is a converter box below our TV.
Yes, we know that it's almost 2010. Yes, we are surviving just fine.)

Hope you had a happy Halloween!

Trip to the Orchard

We visited the apple orchard this weekend. Every year, I envision that we'll leave with bags of delicious apples to freeze and turn into yummy pies and tarts. But by the time we walk the grounds, take loads of pictures and play on the playground, my guys are usually tired and grumpy. So we at apple donuts, drank cider and called it a day!

The apple of our eye as the eye of their apple.

Rowan and Avery pose for the yearly height check.


Rowan climbs a giant pile of straw. I know what you're thinking: "Doesn't that seem dangerous?!"

Well, considering that older children were digging a tunnel through the hay...yes, I'd say it DID seem a bit dangerous.


Thankfully, Rowan stayed away from the tunnel even when the older children encouraged him to jump through it.

And he appeased his mother by flashing some half-hearted smiles for the camera.

Avery was a bit less compliant. A few seconds after I took this picture, she was throwing straw at me! ;) Hmmm...do we make these kids pose for too many pictures?

Breck thought that posing for pictures was yawnsville.

And clearly I was more interested in peoples' attempts to get Charlie to smile than he was.

Are we done yet? Seriously.

But then Charlie gave us this beauty! I caught him at just the right moment!

I even got one with Avery, Rowan and the grandparents. The kids are almost looking! Almost.

We had a great time and enjoyed a beautiful day.

Happy autumn!

Snapshots From the Cabin

Watching the boats go by.

Splashing in the cool water.

Contemplating a sand castle project.

Hauling buckets of water to wet the sand.

Practicing his casting.

How far did it go?

Fishing off the dock.

Waiting...

Being patient is hard!

Any tips, Grandpa?

Gramps offers some casting instruction.

Success!

Feeding the sunnies with Grandma...

...and Grandpa.

Silly boy!

Walking to the boat, fishing gear in tow.

First catch of the evening!

Say cheese!

"Can we keep it?"

"Hooray!"

"Just don't put it too close to me, Grandma!"

Mini golfer.

Prisoner!

Sisters.

Family.

Sweethearts.

Cousins.