Clark- The Snyder Socialite.

This weekend has been another fun one. We have been doing all kinds of summer-like activities that make me smile. This kiddo of mine has been going non-stop. He has had a full agenda this weekend, and I have had fun following him around and keeping up with his social schedule.

Saturday, Stuart worked and Clark and I enjoyed some early morning yard saleing. It was a pretty uneventful yard sale morning. No major buys. I did find a retired teacher yard sale and bought lots of classroom books and (warning- teacher lingo about to be used!) scored an ENTIRE MILK CRATE OF MAILBOX MAGAZINES for $2.00! That was the highlight of the morning.

Later that afternoon we went to a birthday party. McKenzie turned 2. McKenzie is the daughter of college friends of ours. She had a Candyland themed party and it was super cute. Clark loved the giant sucker decorations and devoured the fully stocked candy bar! It made me very excited for his party in a few weeks, but also made me realize I need come up with some super cute decor. Tarra's decorations were so cute! We got home from the party in time to change clothes, pick up Stuart and head to a cookout with some dear friends and some more cute little boys. It was quite the toddler friendly cookout with baby pool, sprinkler, power wheels and all things little boy friendly. There might have even been adult beverages included for parents too! We had a great time catching up with friends and watching the boys interact with one another. Clark was non-stop until he finally went to bed at 10:00 that night. It was a BIG DAY.

Sunday we all slept in until about 9:00. I fixed French toast for breakfast and we went to church. Later that evening while Stuart played golf Clark and I met Jack, Ginny, Mindy and Drew at an elementary school playground and they were so funny! They are all getting so big and we all just laugh as we watch them interact with one another. After the boys were super hot, sweaty and dirty we took them for ice cream- because what is a little sticky ice cream on top of all that grime? Hey! They loved it and ate every bite. In case you did not know- LITTLE BOYS ARE SO MUCH FUN! If you don't believe me, below are about 20 pictures from our weekend to prove it to you! ENJOY!

Taste of Two

Yesterday I had my taste of what having more than one child was like. First of all I drove 3 boys to our Academic Team pool party after school. On the way there we stopped at Clark's babysitter to get my big guy. He was so excited when he got in the car and there were 3 boys waiting for him! He showed off all his tricks for them. He pointed out all of the things he knew on the way. He pointed out all the buses, cars, fire trucks, houses, even the grass. The boys kept laughing at him and he loved it. However, I did learn how hard it was to drive when 4 boys are talking to you at the same time. They were so funny. I had to turn the radio off to concentrate on the road! ha! It was quite an eye opener. So kudos to all of you who transport lots of kids around all of the time. Clark loved the pool party. He got to hang out with 4th and 5th graders, he ate 2 pieces of pizza and even tried a little Sprite! (shhhh!).

After the pool party our friend Jack came over to play! Jack's mom Ginny was awarded Teacher of the Year and got to attend an awards program, so Jack got to come hang out with the Snyders! This was my second taste of having more than one child. The boys were so much fun and played very nicely together. Clark felt the need to show Jack around and introduce him to all his toys. Stuart and I loved watching them together. Jack even let me rock him to sleep! Clark used to let me do that every night, but now he wants nothing of it! It was so sweet to hold a baby for longer than 5.2 seconds. We enjoyed the visit with Jack and this just made me more excited for this summer knowing there will be many Jack play dates and we can't wait!

Enjoy the pictures from our evening!

Stuart attempting to wrangle both boys!

" Hey Jack, if you are not going to eat that I will!"

No food is safe around Clark!

Two cute boys! (I am thinking another would be fun!)

Our buddy Jack!

Fridge magnets were a huge hit!

FINAL COUNTDOWN!

School is out in 10 days. 10 DAYS! Don't get me wrong, I love my kids, but they are done and I am close. Do you know how hard it is to get 25 eight and nine year olds to practice cursive and multiplication when it is 85 degrees and sunny outside? Well let me tell you, it is quite the challenge and I hope I have 10 days of it left in me. One thing that is keeping me going is the fact that in 10 days I will be able to do this all day...

So I may have 10 days of school left, but that just means that in 10 days I will get to spend close to every minute of everyday with this guy. We are going to have so much fun. Let the count down begin!

My WILD child

This week has been a another wild one. Yes, I realize that seems to be the common theme in the Snyder household, but that is how we like it! There is also a little wild monster running around this house saying all kinds of new words and phrases. Saturday we had Clark's 2 year pictures taken. I know she got some great shots and I am dying to see them. Clark wants to see them too. When she took his picture he said "I see me?". It was super cute. He wanted to see the pictures on the back of the camera. It was so cute to hear him ask. He is learning more and more each day and he is as wild as ever and making us laugh everyday!


Here is the wild one in action. This is him after a yummy meal of spaghetti and yogurt on his way to the tub.

Celebratory Weekend

This weekend was busy like every other weekend in the Snyder house. If we ever have a low key weekend, I feel like I am forgetting something and I cannot shake that feeling long enough to enjoy the calmness of the weekend! I love being busy though, I love going and doing with my boys. This weekend we did a lot of going and doing.

Friday night we went to MiMexico and ate dinner. This has become Clark's favorite place to go. As soon as we walked in he says "CHIPS!". We now have to ask for his own bowl of salsa. The child will destroy an entire basket while we are there. I have never seen anything like it...wait. Scratch that. I have, his daddy can put away the chips and salsa too. So I guess he comes by it naturally.

Saturday we went to the Louisville area for a wedding. Our friend Tyler married a lovely girl named Ashley and they were married Saturday night in an outdoor ceremony. We were so confident taking Clark because he was so well behaved at Amy's wedding last weekend. Well, Amy's wedding was indoors. This wedding was not! Clark thought we were outside to play. He was loud and ran around. Needless to say I had to take him inside during the ceremony and watch through the glass. It was an adorable wedding. I LOVED the color and decor. My camera died as soon as we got there (tear), but I did manage to play with the batteries all night and get a few good shots. We had a good time with Stuart's buddies. Clark fell in love with Sam's wife Liz. He did not want to come to me, only her. He was smitten. It was cute (but it did break my heart a little- I am not looking forward to real girlfriends.ha!). We stayed late and drove home that night. Clark was quite the trooper, even though he did not handle the ceremony well, he did great at the reception. He danced, ate ice cream and entertained us all.















Sunday was supposed to be take 2 of Clark's 2 year pictures. Well, they got rained out AGAIN! This is the second time. Hopefully we will get them done before he turns 3! So, because of the rain-out we were able to drive up to Chillicothe, OH for my grandma's 90th birthday party. It was a wild party let me tell you! Just kidding. It was nice though. The family threw her a surprise party. Most of our family and extended family was there. There was even a table of friends from her high school graduating class of 1936! YOWZA! My grandma was so happy we were there and that made the drive worth it. Clark was not very social, but he was well behaved. We stayed a few hours and then drove back home.









It was quite an exhausting weekend, full of car travel and celebrations. I enjoyed seeing our family and friends and very much enjoyed spending the entire weekend with my boys.

Books We Love!

Today over on Kelly's Korner -Show Us Your Life Friday her topic is FAVORITE BOOKS & CHILDREN'S BOOKS! I think she created this post for me. (not for her 6,000 plus other fans!ha!) So I am going to jump in and link up! I am also linking to another one of my favorites- The Other Mamma. She does a Friday Favorites, and I would say this post fits there too!

I LOVE children's books. I love to read, I love to read with my class and I love to read with my little man. He LOVES books and I am trying hard to instill a love of reading in him that will last his lifetime. Books are an awesome gift and can take you to so many places. My lifetime goal is to write a children's book- watch for it! :)

I have had a love for reading since I was a young girl. The first chapter book I can remember reading more than once is MATILDA by Roald Dahl. It is still on my top ten favorite children's books. I read it to my class every year that I taught 2nd grade. When I read it aloud to my students I read to them from the worn, yellow copy that I read over and over as a child. It is a special book to me!

In high school I loved To Kill a Mocking Bird by Harper Lee. It is a fabulous book that was assigned to me that I actually enjoyed reading. As I am writing this, I am thinking about how I should re-read it so that I can enjoy it all over again.

Since high school, I have fallen in love with many authors such as James Patterson, Nicholas Sparks,John Grishim, Jodi Picoult. I love a good vacation read and a book that takes little thought to read. I ADORE books that make me cry or books that have a mystery I have to solve. I don't read much non-fiction, but would someday like to add that genre to my list. But for now I enjoy a good love story that leaves me crying at the end! :) I have not had time to read a good book in a while. I just started 19 Minutes by Jodi Picoult and with my crazy schedule right now, I hope to finish it sometime this summer. I did however make time to jump on the ole' Twilight bandwagon this year (a little late, I know) and read all 4 books in a week and a half. They consumed my life and once I finished one I was scrambling to read the next. They sounded like NOTHING I would ever want to read, but I was hooked after about one chapter of book one!!

Clark my only be 23 months old, but he has many favorite books too. He loves anything from the Usborne "That's not My" line. A few of his favorites these days are That's Not My Train, That's Not My Pony & That's Not My Monster! He loves the touchy feely portions and he loves to find the mouse on every page! If you do not have any of these you need them!






The TOP 5 books I LOVE to read to Clark are:







I love the first three because like I said, I LOVE books that make me cry! Those really take all I have to hold back the tears. I have written in the covers and hope that one day he understands why mommy cries when she reads them. They are just so darn cute and so true to my emotions! I love the Animal Hide and Seek because I love that he can name all of the animals and he loves to find them, name them and make their sounds. I love The Very Hungry Caterpillar because it is one of my all time favorites and I love to hear him name the foods as we read!



I love this picture of him with the Very Hungry Caterpillar last summer at our local library! The children's section is to die for!!


Lastly, as a third grade teacher I have to make a list of books I LOVE to read aloud to my students. Those books would be:






Below is a picture of my favorite corner of my classroom filled with children's books! I have a growing collection and I love to share them with my kiddos!




















This was fun! What do you like to read? What do you like to read to your children? If you teach, what do you like to read aloud to your students? Please share, because I am always looking for new ones.
Happy Reading!!