Wishful Wednesday

I have been reading a new blog and the blogger; Kelsey does a fun Wednesday activity and I thought I would jump on and link up. Her topic is:
'I wish' .... I could go back and spend one day working at a job from my youth, and it would be ______!
This was so interesting to me because I was just talking about this job recently. I have worked since I was legally allowed to. I have worked at Foodland,day cares, Bath & Body Works, The Gym, and I was an RA in college. After college I got my first full time teaching job and I still continued to keep side jobs. I can't sit still and I like to be busy. I think I get this from my mother. So during my first and second year teaching I worked at Hallmark on weekends, in the summer and in the evenings. This was before Clark and I was able to pay cash for my Master's degree and I am so thankful for not having that debt!! After Hallmark, I worked at a gift store called Suzanne's in downtown Georgetown where we live, however I think I made no money there I just worked for product. I also sold Pampered Chef. Since Clark I have quit Suzanne's, quit Papmperd Chef and I am still teaching. I now sell Rags Land clothing, which is easy, fun and I get cute clothes for my little guy. This also fills my need to stay busy! ha!

ANYWAY...Back to the topic. A few Sunday's ago our preacher was talking about asking for forgiveness. All I could think about was asking PAUL my boss from Community Foodland in my hometown for forgiveness. Silly right? Well....I worked at Community Foodland (which no longer exists) when I was 16. Most of my friends were cashiers and our guy friends were baggers. It was your typical corner grocery store. They had no scanners, we hand typed everything in and it only had 2 lanes. It was fun to work with friends and I had ALWAYS loved cash registers. I got so excited when there were big orders.

Back to forgiveness...The reason I picked this job for this post is,I would love to go back to my job for one day and pay for all of the gum I chewed, Dr. Pepper I drank and cookies I had from the deli that I never paid for or got discounts for. Everyone I worked with was my age. We had no worries, and many times we would help ourselves to a pop or some candy. Don't get me wrong. I paid for lots of stuff. I did not rob the poor man blind or anything, but I did enjoy a few packs of gum or pop now and then. So on this Wishful Wednesday I wish I could go back and do it over for one day and thank Paul for my first job, teaching me "IF YOU'VE GOT TIME TO LEAN, YOU'VE GOT TIME TO CLEAN", and slip him some cash for all of the refreshments he unknowingly provided while I worked!
So in honor of Paul I am going to do several acts of kindness today, pay for somebody's meal somewhere and teach my 3rd graders an ethics lesson so they do as I say and not as I do!

Big Talker Reads a Story

So as I was saying a few days ago, this kid is TALKING! It is the cutest thing. He has been telling us some cute stories at dinner. I just want to record everything he says. So after school I taped him reading his counting book.
Just a little something to keep you smiling this Tuesday night!
Enjoy!!

This picture slideshow personalized with Smilebox

That's her boyfriend? He's Gross!

Friday on Kelly's Korner- Show Us Your Life she is asking for stories telling how you meet your husband. So I am linking up to it, and here is how I became Mrs. Snyder! If you know me, you know this story or you have heard it before, but here goes.

Stuart and I are from different towns in Kentucky and lived different but similar lives growing up. He was an Army brat who has lived all over the United States and Germany, but spent his high school years in KY when his dad retired from the Army. I did move a few times growing up but only in the TriState area of Ohio, WV & Kentucky. We both decided on Georgetown College for different reasons, but I am glad we did!

I did not know Stuart until my sophomore year at Georgetown.
(But I must add- I had seen him before. Our freshman year he was tan, and had long bleach blonde hair and looks totally different than he does today. He was dating a girl I knew and the first time I saw him I said- "Ew, that's her boyfriend, He's gross...little did I know!) My freshman year I was dating a guy I had been seeing since high school and I had not met many guys on campus. (I did have one guy I knew from freshman orientation group named Seth. Seth has a whole lot to do with this story and was our best man in our wedding!)

So by the time my sophomore year came around I had joined a sorority, broken up with said boyfriend and was looking for a formal date. Last minute I asked a friend and fraternity brother of Seth's to our formal. (This friend today is one Stuart's best friends/co-worker/texting boyfriend) This was my first "PHI TAU EXPERIENCE". These guys were like nothing I had ever seen before. No, my momma had not warned me about guys like this...Pretty sure no one had! These boys were out of control! Needless to say I had a great time at the formal and did meet Stuart that night.

After the formal I began hanging out with these wild boys more often. Not sure if it was because I had a good time, or if I wanted to see what they would get into next. (many stories for many more days!) This was all happening in the year I turned 21. There were many late nights, and many interesting experiences that always included Seth and I having a good night and coming back to campus to Seth's roommate; not yet 21 year old Stuart. Stuart would hear all about our nights and he was always there when we got back. We would talk, hang out and observe the antics of the wild boys he called friends.

This went on for months! Junior year formal time came and I knew Stuart was going to ask me. HE DID NOT! He asked another girl and let me tell you I was confused. So I went with the previous formal date and had a good time, but was left confused by Mr. Snyder. I still continued to hang out with those boys, but was still a little confused by Stuart. Until one night he says to me, "If I were to ask you on a real date would you go?". I must have said yes. So we went on that date, and many more after that. Our official 1st date was December 13th 2002 and we have been together ever since.

We dated throughout the rest of our college career at Georgetown. We got engaged on my birthday September 25th, 2004, married June 25th, 2005 and this year we will be celebrating our 5 year anniversary. So needless to say I am thankful for Seth for introducing me to this bunch of wild boys, for Brett to taking me to that formal, and to God for leading me to Stuart.

That is our story (the condensed, cleaned up, what I can remember as of right now and blog worthy version), ENJOY!

Carolina in my mind...

The trip is booked and I am so excited!
June 25th is our 5 YEAR ANNIVERSARY, and Stuart and I love to travel. So on a whim, we booked a small trip to Charleston for an anniversary getaway. We are staying at a cute little Inn in the historic district. We we will be able to soak up the sun, the history, enjoy good food and each other's company and I CAN'T WAIT!! I have a lot going on between now and then like my kiddos have state testing starting next week, I have my National Board exam, Derby, end of the year at school, CLARK'S BIRTHDAY, two weddings and much more. But I must say, TONIGHT I have Carolina on my mind!

Mocking Bird

So I have always hated to be mocked. You know as a child when a kid wanted to get on your nerves they would repeat everything you said. My brother and I were pros at making each other mad and when he mocked me I would go at him like it was my job! I hated it. I have worked at daycares, babysat and taught school, so I know all about kids mocking one another. It is so annoying.

Well, I must admit my thoughts have changed!!
I have this kid who keeps mocking me. He repeats everything I say. If I say "It's raining", he says it too. It has become a daily thing! This annoying habit that has always gotten on my nerves now makes me smile. "This kid" would be my 22 month old and it is so stinkin' cute. He has become quite the repeater. He is learning new words daily and tries so hard to repeat what we ask him to. We went to visit my friend Alison who just had a baby, and he practiced her name the entire way there. He was in the back seat saying Ella, Ella. I say the alphabet one letter at a time and he says it back and it just melts my heart. He does not say everything I ask him to (like please and thank you), but he is learning more words each day and I LOVE IT!

My most recent favorites are: Frowers(flowers), sikle (motorcycle or bicycle), copter (helicopter), and I'm 2 (we are working on this for his birthday!). This little mocking bird is just so much fun! I could listen to his little voice all day!( and I hear him on the monitor as I type. He is talking to Mickey instead of sleeping) I can't wait to see what the word of the day will be tomorrow!






Meeting baby Ella!!





Just a few cute pictures of my little mocking bird!

Spring Break -Retirement Style

When you think about Spring Break what do you think about? Well Spring Break 2010 was a little different than say Spring Break college style. Very Different. There was no late night clubbing, drinking or girl drama. We were just the opposite. We were early morning coffee at the clubhouse while we heard the list of those celebrating 50 years of marriage, the only thing late night at the "village" was BINGO (that grandma did not tell me about until the next day- I would have been all over that!). We had early morning pool time, followed by naptime, lunchtime and Price Is Right (grandma's favorite!). It was truly delightful! I hope that someday I live that life. Those "senior residents" know how to live. They golf cart everywhere, have pool aerobics, luncheons and good times! It was a relaxing, slow paced week and I loved spending time with my mom and grandma.

We did take one day and drive 20 minutes to Downtown Disney. This was kind of like Clark's dreamworld. I think if Elmo would have been there too, he might have fainted! He did not know it was not Disney World and mom and I saved the $85.00 for tickets! He loved it. MICKEY MOUSE was everywhere, trains, dinosaurs, Legos I mean what else could a tot ask for! It was quite cute to see him point out ALL the Mickey Mouses he saw. AND HE SAW LOTS! Every time he saw anything Mickey it was like he was seeing him for the 1st time. SO EXCITED & SO CUTE!!

The trip was great, the flight was not bad and we did it. Clark had his first flight experience, I had NO AGENDA, & we saw grandma. While we were gone Stuart got to go to the practice round at the Masters. So lets just say my boys had a GREAT week. They both got their favorite fixes; Tiger and Mickey!

Enjoy the pictures!






Me and C on the plane. He was SOOO Good!



Just look at that smile!



Me and C outside of a yummy spot called Langs.


LOVIN' some PB&J!


Some of our "pool friends"! We looked for Sophia and Dorthy but we were not that lucky!


MY GRANDMA CAROLYN! (She wanted to buy this hat- REALLY!)


We had his handprint turned into a Choo Choo. So cute!


Speaking of ChooChoos...HE cried when we had to get off. LOVED IT.


Love at 1st sight-This guy came home with us.


A little Lego action.



JUST LOOK AT THIS!


SERIOUSLY- This made me laugh out loud. I think he knew we were on Spring Break!


We had to sit on the side and wait for water aerobics to finish before we could get in! Just waiting his turn.


I just love this kid- Have I mentioned that before?


Just a cute boy waiting on a plane!

A small delay can't ruin our day!

Spring Break has begun. I made it through a super busy day on Friday at school and my patience were tested and I survived. I was very impressed with myself and all I had accomplished on the Friday before Spring Break. Needless to say, when the kids were gone on Friday I was ready for a break. We had a wonderful Easter (will post pics later) and I was very ready to head to Florida on Sunday evening.

Stuart took us to the airport at about 5:00 on Sunday for our 7:20 departure time. I was a little nervous about flying alone with Clark and Stuart reassured me as he kissed us goodbye at the security checkpoint. I began to feel confident as we waited in line. The woman in front of me was also alone. She had a little boy about the same age as Clark and a ONE WEEK OLD BABY!! No, I am not kidding. She was a sight to be seen, bless her heart! I watched as she made her way through security and I kept telling myself if she could do it I SURELY COULD! So, we made our way through. Clark did not want to give up his car to be scanned which caused a little yelling, but nothing we could not handle. He did watch it coming through the belt on the other side. They searched my bag and found a juice box I was saving for later, after a quick "vapor test" we had all our stuff back (including the red car!), shoes on and we were free and clear. I was very proud of my big man. He was doing so well. Little did I know this was going to be the easy part! After security, we got to the gate. As we get ready to sit down the lady at the counter tells me that our 7:20 flight will not be taking off until 9:30 or 10:00!!! SERIOUSLY!!!!
I did not panic, but I was thinking about it! How was I going to keep him occupied from 6:00 until 10:00 and then on the flight too! My bag was packed with all sorts of treats, snacks, books, toys, but was there enough? I only had 4 diapers and a hand full of wipes! Then I looked over at the girl with the 2 year old and the ONE WEEK OLD BABY...and began to remind myself that I could do this. And of course we did!

We ate all of our snacks, read all of our books, watched the airplanes, watched the people, strolled up and down, up and down, up and down MANY MANY times, ate dinner, made new friends and survived! Once we finally boarded the plane at 9:55pm (2hours past bedtime) I was sure he would sleep the entire flight. I thought wrong. He watched out the window, played peek-a-boo with the baggage boys as they loaded the plane outside our window, read the in-flight magazine and picked out lots of things he wanted, read his books, drank all his juice and we made it! It was a true test of my patience and my confidence as a mommy. We arrived in Orlando at about 12:00 and found my mom and our luggage. I installed the car seat in my grandma's van and we were off. Our non-stop, 1.5 hour flight had turned into quite the adventure,but we survived, and neither of us shed a tear the entire time. We neither shed a tear or closed one eye. Clark finally went to sleep at 12:30 in the car once we had been picked up at the airport. We pulled into my grandma's driveway at 1:15 am. Clark slept in his clothes and did not wake up until 9:30 that morning. We SURVIVED and we are having a blast. We are hanging out with all the "senior residents" of my grandma's retirement village and enjoying our time. There were a few times on Sunday I did not think we would really see this place, but we did and LIFE IS GOOD! I will have plenty of pictures later, but for now enjoy these from our airport adventure!