Walker, Not the Texas Ranger

Meet the newest member of the Snyder family... WALKER. No, not the Texas Ranger- our elf.

This year we began the fun tradition of using the Elf on a Shelf. If you are not familiar with it, he is a little elf that according to the story visits your house everyday to check on you and report back to Santa each night. So every morning we hunt for Walker to see if he is in the same place or if he really did leave to go see Santa. Walker is usually in a funny place, he is becoming quite a  naughty elf and Clark is loving it.

You get to name your elf and I suggested all kinds of fun names like Otis, Artie, Walter, Nolan but Clark chose Walker. We just spent some time in VA with Stuart's family and Clark LOVED Stuart's cousins Hunter and Walker. Walker was great with Clark and I guess it stuck. So Walker it is.

Walker was eyeballing Clark's gingerbread house!

Rub a Dub Dub. Marshmallow bath for Walker.

We remind Clark ALL.THE.TIME. that Walker is watching him in hopes that he will make good choices and I will say it works MOST of the time. We have even caught him talking to Walker and telling him what he wants for Christmas so Walker will tell Santa. So cute!

The number one elf rule is that you can't touch him or he will lose his magic. This was the hardest part the first few days because Clark was so curious about him. But now he tells us not to touch him. It is so much fun and I just love the idea that we get to do this every year! I just love that it is all so magical to Clark and know that Shepard and Sara Kate will love Walker one day too. (if the poor elf makes it that long!ha!)



We introduced Clark and Walker a few days before Thanksgiving in hopes it would curb a few 3 year old behavior issues we were having and I am glad we did. However, we still have quite a bit of time until Christmas Eve and I hope I can keep up with him and keep finding new spots for him. Thank goodness for Pinterest. I just pinned some good ideas tonight. If you don't have an elf and you have small children The Snyders recommend it. It is our newest tradition and one that I am hoping will produce many fun Christmas memories for our kiddos (and for us too!).

C was not too fond of this spot.
He was a little upset that Walker was playing with his toys.

Wonder where Walker will end up tomorrow?



Drum Roll Please....

And the winner is....HILARY from Caudill Collections.
Congrats Hil! You just won yourself 50 FREE cards from Tiny Prints. I sure do hope I get one! ;)

Thanks to everyone who played along. I love that you read this ol' blog and you put up with all the cute pictures of my sweet kids. I am working on another giveaway for the first of the year so make sure to watch for it too! Until then there will be posts about babies, going back to work, Christmas and all that fun stuff- maybe even some classroom posts too. I also hope to start Teacher Talk Thursdays back after the first of the year too! :)


Congrats again to Hilary. I'll be emailing you your code!
The rest of you should stop by her blog. Her sweet girls could not be cuter- I am a follower and you should be too.

So much to be THANKFUL for.

This year we celebrated Thanksgiving with my family at my mom and dad's house. It was extra special because it was the first one for the twins and they got to meet so many people including their great grandparents. My mom works non stop and I hate that she did all the work for this holiday too, but she is so darn good at it and maybe one day when I have my act together I will be able to take over the hosting duties, but until then I will enjoy her hard work. I did try to pay closer attention when she made the stuffing because I love it and no one makes it quite like she does but I don't think I quite have it perfected.

All my turkeys!

My mom- AKA Wonder Woman.

Yes, my dad helps too!



My nephew Kaden got in on the act as well.
He made pies and cakes for the meal- yummo!



Check out the DARLING cupcakes my mom and my oldest nephew Brant made!





This guy was the official icing taste tester!

We had lots of good food and lots of family. My grandma C (my mom's mom) and all of my mom's sisters and their significant others, my sister, her boys, our wild bunch and a few others here and there and we had a full table. I believe there were close to 20 counting the babies. Of course everything was delicious and the company was not half bad either! :) My children were spoiled and who am I kidding- so was I. It was nice to have so many people around that wanted to hold and love on my babies and even change diapers!! There is no doubt about the fact that they are loved.

SK & Uncle Bill- (aka- BEEL)

The Duo with my Aunt Jennie & Jodie.

Our dear friend Linda and Shep.

Yes, they put my baby in a basket. No, she did not mind. :)

It is not often that my mom and all of her sisters are together in one place so of course we took some pictures to remember the moment. They sure are a special group of women.



back row: Aunt Jeannie & Aunt Jennie
front row Lto R: My momma, grandma, and Aunt Jodie

On Friday, we packed up and headed to Chillicothe, OH to visit my dad's parents so the twins could meet their great grandparents and my dad's sisters. Yes, it was a lot of traveling with all 3 kiddos and we had been gone since Wednesday morning, but it was totally worth it. It was very important to us that the babies meet all of their great-grandparents and Clark visit with them too. We just recently lost Stuart's grandmother before she got to meet the twins and we really wanted to make sure they got to spend the holiday with loved ones while we still can. My grandpa has not been very well and I had not seen him since his 90th birthday this summer so I was very glad to make the trip.

Grandpa L and his sweet baby girl.

Grandma and Shepard.

Aunt Peggy LOVES babies!



Aunt Carol and SK.

It was a family filled holiday and I am so glad we were able to see so many members of our family since we are all so spread out. The twins have now almost met all of their aunts and uncles and have met all of their living grandparents.

We got home late Friday night and then enjoyed a Snyder Thanksgiving on Saturday. Stuart's parents came up and watched the kids and we went out to lunch and went Christmas shopping. It was nice to spend the day with him. We can officially say that Santa is done shopping for the kids and it was very fun shopping for all three of them!! Clark is really into Christmas this year and it was so much fun shopping for some of the things on his wish list. I can't wait to see him on Christmas morning.

We really do have way more than we deserve and so much to be thankful for. I thought about making a list of the things I am thankful for but I am not sure there is enough room on this blog. My cup runneth over and my heart is so full. We are truly blessed. We may not always have the best days and things may not always be easy but I am so happy with our little life, our growing family and the fact that God has entrusted us with all of these blessings and for that I thank Him everyday.

I hope you had a great weekend, ate too much, and found something to be thankful for.





DON'T FORGET!! I am hosting a giveaway for FREE Christmas cards and it ends TONIGHT at 6.
I hope you enter. It is a good one!

Who Wants FREE Cards? A Giveaway!!

Who wants to win 50 FREE Christmas cards?? Who doesn't right? Well here is your chance.

I am hosting my second giveaway EVER and I am pretty excited about it.  Earlier this season I blogged about Tiny Prints and all of their cute Christmas card choices well that blog post earned me free cards and some for YOU too! Yes YOU! They gave me 50 free cards to giveaway to you too. I have already created and ordered mine ($100 worth of cards for FREE!!!!) and I am sooooo excited to get them, they are super cute and I want you to have a chance to get some too.

So here are the ways YOU can win:

You can do ONE or ALL of these. For each entry please comment and let me know.
1. You must be a follower of my blog. Comment and let me know you are.
2. Go to the Tiny Prints website and let me know which card is your favorite.
3. Tweet, Pin, Blog, Facebook, or whatever you do about the giveaway and comment and let me know what you did. (Each way of sharing counts as a separate entry)
4. Grab my button and post it on your blog. Comment with your address so I can check it out!

So go, comment, share and GOOD LUCK.
You have until 6:00 pm on Cyber Monday to enter.  The winner will be chosen at random and you will have the code by Monday night to order your cards. If your email address is not on your blogger profile, be sure to let me know what it is.
Somebody is going to win FREE cards. Might as well be you!

Breakfast With Some Buddies

This morning I had a breakfast date with a pretty special 3 year old, some princesses, a pirate, a cowboy, a space ranger, an ogre, some superheros and many other of Clark's favorites. We were invited to a Character Breakfast at our good buddy Jack's school. Jack attends one of the Montessori schools in town and they held their annual character breakfast. It was my 3 year old's dream- Chick-Fl-A catered and meeting some of his favorite characters. In his mind it does not get much better.

Yes, the characters may have been high school kids dressed up in Halloween costumes, (yes, Dora might have had a lip ring...) but Clark did not know the difference. He thought it was pretty spectacular. He knew who more of them were than I did- it was a hoot. He was so funny. He did pretty well talking to all of them and he even got a little shy around some of the princesses and was a little intimidated by Spiderman. I of course was armed with my camera and just loved watching him interact with it all and loved spending the time with just him doing something he enjoyed.

I loved this. He told Bo Peep he hid her sheep!
It made me laugh. i.just. love. this. kid.

Our buddy Drew LOVE Princess Fiona.
He told her she was beautiful!

This morning made me want to take C to Disney even more. I just know he would LOVE it and I do hope we make it there while it is all still so magical to him. But until then, we will enjoy high school kids and Chick-Fl-A!

Thanks Jack & Ginny for the invite!! We had a great time.

Happy Birthday Mickey!

Today one our beloved family members celebrated a birthday. We had a good time celebrating him because he has been such a faithful friend and he goes everywhere we go. Today he turned 83, but if you ask Clark he says he is 7. No, I am not talking about a grandfather- I am talking about our buddy Mickey!
November 18th is Mickey Mouse's birthday. Clark loves birthdays and since learning that today was Mickey's day he wanted to know what kind of cake we were going to have.  So this morning we said happy birthday to Mick, dressed in all our Mickey gear and even made some simple Mickey cupcakes and let Mickey make a wish. I am pretty sure Clark loved it and I'll admit- it was kind of fun!  He loves his buddy and I think it is pretty darn cute!

Best Buddies!

Shep sporting his Mickey gear.

Sara Kate looking so cute in her Minnie shirt.

C helping with the birthday cupcakes.



The Birthday Boy!
(Cupackes with Oreo for face and mini Oreos for ears- a last minute idea)



The Birthday Boy needed a little help with the candle.

Happy Birthday Mickey!! Here's to 83 more!! Thanks for making my little man so happy.