The Snow Family

Maddie Ear Piercing

2010-12-12T13:36:00.007-05:00

Maddie decided she was ready to get her ears pierced! So we called ahead to make sure that there were 2 people there that could do the piercing at the same time. There was, so we were on our way before she could change her mind!

Here Maddie is snuggling with the teddy bear before the piercing.

She cried, but only for about 10 seconds. She did great!

Here she is smiling through the tears after seeing herself in the mirror.

She LOVES her earrings! Such a big girl!

Cheerleading Clinic

2010-12-12T13:23:00.010-05:00

Emily and Maddie went to a cheer clinic where Maddie takes gymnastics. They had a blast! They learned the cheer and the dance and then formed 3 teams for a competition! The girls had their hair and makeup done and got to wear uniforms for the competition.

Maddie with her sparkly makeup.

Emily and her group doing their cheer.

Maddie's group doing their cheer.

Baleigh and Maddie with their trophy's! We were shocked how big the trophy's were!

Emily and her friend Paige with their trophy's.

Snowy Day Fun!

2010-12-12T13:19:00.005-05:00

Our first snow of the season! So pretty!

The kids had so much fun playing in it! They had a snowball fight and made snowmen.

As I type this it is snowing again outside! I am sure we will have many more fun days in the snow this winter.

Santa Breakfast

2010-12-12T13:04:00.011-05:00

The kids had such a fun time at the Santa Breakfast at school! They enjoyed Chick-fil-a chicken biscuits and krispy kreme doughnuts to start the morning off!

Maddie told Santa everything she wants for Christmas. Hopefully he told her that Santa can't bring puppies and kitties this year!

The chorus group sang Christmas songs for everyone.

Baleigh & Maddie being silly! Pretty typical for these 2!

Maddie & the ornament she made.

Zachary picking out his ornament.

Emily & her ornament.

We really enjoyed ourselves. We absolutely love the kids school and all of their teachers.

Light Up LaGrange

2010-12-12T12:59:00.005-05:00

Emily's chorus group got the opportunity to perform at Light Up LaGrange again this year. They did a great job!

Sweet Emily! Growing up too fast!

A great time was had by all, even though it was SO cold outside!

Maddie and Zachary Indoor Soccer

2010-12-12T12:51:00.006-05:00

Both Maddie and Zachary wanted to play indoor soccer again this winter. They are both doing really well!

Maddie spends most of the games waving at us, pointing out what other people are doing, but she does occasionally chase the ball!

Maddie is the littlest player on her team. Look how big the goalie shirt is on her!

Zachary is a lot of fun to watch. He goes after the ball and is ready to make his move.

A few more games then the season is over. Then it is on to basketball for Zachary and cheerleading for the girls!

Nathan the Elf

2010-12-12T11:36:00.014-05:00

This year we got our very own "Elf on the Shelf." The kids decided he looks like a Nathan, so that is what they named him. During the day he watches the kids and reports back to Santa about their behavior. However, at night, he usually gets bored so he gets into a lot of mischief! Here are some pictures of his adventures in the Snow house!

The girls were so excited!

Nathan decided to t.p. the bathroom!

Here he took all of the canned goods and made a race track! He took Maddie's horses and they led him in the race.

He was tired and used marshmellows for his bed & pillow, and used wrapping paper as his blanket.

He made a snow angel out of flour.

He made a zip line from the dining room to the living room! The kids loved this one! They were able to pull the string and have him do it over and over!

Here he is playing a nice game of scrabble with Wall-E, Kitty, and Elizabeth.

He brought our 8 foot outdoor snowman into the living room! He is sitting on the snowman's arm, in front of the candy cane.

He made a gingerbread house.

He had a snowball fight!

He wore himself out with all the adventures, so he needed a few days of rest, and some peppermints to make him feel better!

We have had such a blast with our elf. The kids get so excited each morning to see what Nathan did while they were sleeping!

Thanksgiving

2010-12-12T11:16:00.009-05:00

I LOVE Thanksgiving! We had 21 people at my Mom's house this year! We missed Bill, Elisabeth, Abbey and Lexi though!

Dad and Victoria

Emily putting marshmellows on the sweet potato casserole.

Emily and Uncle Ken's dog Belle

Aunt Cindy, Maddie, Aunt Carol, and the two doggies, BJ and Ginger

Emily, Uncle Bob & Maddie

I didn't get too many pictures this year-too much visiting and eating I suppose!

Emily Chorus Solo

2010-12-12T11:01:00.005-05:00

Emily is in the chorus at school. This is her second year in chorus and she loves it! This year she tried out for and got a solo! We were so excited for her!

All smiles!

Here is the short video of her solo.

We are so proud of her!

70's Dance

2010-12-12T10:54:00.007-05:00

The kids had a 70's dance at school. We had such a great time! The girls were go go dancers & Zachary was a disco dude!

Emily & Brennan at the dance

Maddie got some peace sign glasses! Far out!

Group shot! I (Jennie) am wearing my Mom's going away dress she wore after her wedding. So glad she saved it!

Halloween

2010-12-12T10:46:00.006-05:00

We had a go-go girl, a baseball player, and a snow princess this year! Emily is actually wearing one of my Mom's (Jennie) dresses from the 70's! So neat!

Baleigh & Maddie (Cinderella & the Snow princess!)

Maddie, Emily, Zachary, Brennan & Baleigh

This was the coolest costume! One of our neighbors built this amazing helicopter. The Dad is inside carrying the helicopter. His son is the pilot. It even lit up when it got dark! It was amazing!

Pumpkin Carving

2010-12-12T10:38:00.007-05:00

The kids were really excited to carve the pumpkin this year!

They were not so excited about the pumpkin goo!

Yay! Finished pumpkin.

Ooh scary!

UK Football Game

2010-12-12T10:32:00.005-05:00

For Casey's birthday I gave him tickets to the UK football game. He and Zachary had such a great time! Zachary had never been to a football game before so he was very excited!

Zachary and Brennan enjoying the game.

I have a feeling there will be more games in the future!

Camden Fall Carnival

2010-12-12T10:24:00.006-05:00

We all had a great time at the school carnival. There were lots of fun games and things to do. There was a warm front that came through so it was unusually warm which was nice!

The kids got to paint pumpkins.

So much fun!

Zachary Cross Country

2010-12-12T10:12:00.013-05:00

Zachary did cross country through school this year. They met and practiced 3 days a week and had meets almost every week. Zachary did really well! It was really neat to watch him grow as a runner and improve his times every week. He is going to do winter training to prepare for next year!

Getting ready for a meet!

Action shot!

Maddie & Baleigh having snacks while waiting for the race.

Zachary and his friend Ben after a race.

So happy he got a medal!

We are so proud of Zachary!

Emily and Maddie Cheer Camp

2010-12-12T10:05:00.008-05:00

Emily and Maddie did a cheer clinic with the middle school and had the opportunity to cheer at a middle school football game the next day.

Maddie doing the middle splits!

Go team go! Yay Emily!

Maddie loved being a flyer!

Emily did great!

The girls had such fun and look forward to doing more cheerleading!

Camden Walkathon August 2010

2010-12-12T09:15:00.007-05:00

Maddie & her best buddy Baleigh

Zachary

Emily & her buddy Brennan

The kids did a walk-a-thon for a fundraiser for their school. They always have a lot of fun! There is great music playing and the teachers do a great job keeping the kids going!

First Day of School 2010

2010-08-12T08:32:00.010-04:00

First day of school!

Hard to believe we have 5th, 3rd and 1st graders!

Silly pose!

Zachary in his room.

Emily and her buddy Brennan in their room.

Maddie posing with praying hands in her room, and her teacher cracking up at her!?!

They all had a great first day. The house is much too quiet without them!

Emily Musical Performance

2010-07-24T19:52:00.001-04:00

Emily did a music camp this week. This was her third summer of doing the same music camp at Westport Road Baptist Church.

Here's a picture of Emily with Grandma and Grandpa after her performance.

And here's a picture of me and Emily at home after the show.

This year Emily felt like she wanted to try out for a solo part, and she got one! Here's a clip of her singing her solo during the performance. I think I was more nervous than she was, but she did a really fantastic job!

Panama City Trip

2010-07-08T15:44:00.000-04:00

We spent the last week at the beach in Panama City, Florida. We had an amazing time! We were so blessed that our best friends and their precious children were also there with us!

We stopped in Nashville for a few hours on our way down to see my brother Bill, sister in law Elisabeth and my sweet nieces, Abbey and Alexis. The cousins had so much fun together!

Zachary burning off some energy on their trampoline!

Elisabeth and I. I am so blessed to have her as my sister in law. She is an amazing lady and I love her!

We had dinner together at Panera before getting back on the road.

Maddie and Lexi

We made it to the beach the next day. The kiddos were SO ready to be out of the car and head down to the beach.

Beautiful beach! I sure do love my kiddos!

Casey, Emily and Zachary enjoyed boogie boarding.

Maddie preferred building sand castles, and seashell hunting.

The breathtaking view.

This is the building the condo we rented was in. We were on the 19th floor!

The girls spent hours looking for shells.

Taking a lunch break!

Emily, Maddie, Brennan and Baleigh

Maddie and Baleigh

Casey and Maddie

Emily and Zachary playing in the waves.

Maddie wanted to be buried in the sand. She loved it until she got up and had sand everywhere!

There were 3 pools at the condo building. We spent a lot of time in the pools too.

Maddie and Baleigh

Maddie and Baleigh being silly.

A couple of nights we went hunting for crabs.

Brennan, Zachary, Emily, Maddie and Baleigh

Maddie and Baleigh taking a snack break.

Brennan and Zachary being silly

All the kiddos

Stacy and I. She is such a sweet friend. I am blessed to have her in my life!

Brennan and Maddie

One of Maddie's many sandcastles.

There was a starbucks at the condo building, and everyday from 3-5 was happy hour for frappuccinos! So I took full advantage of that!

Stacy was kind enough to take some family pictures for us. She got some good ones!

Me and my sweetie

Me and my sweet girls

My handsome boys

Sisters

We had such a great trip! We were so sad to leave. We hope to go back there again!

Maddie's Musical Performance

2010-06-26T09:39:00.000-04:00

The kindergarten/first grade musical was so much fun to watch! Maddie had been practicing for weeks and was very excited for us to get to see the musical.

Maddie and JT giggling! This picture actually made it in the newspaper!

Not sure what Maddie was doing here other than being silly! This picture also made it in the newspaper!

The star performer and her proud Mommy!

Maddie and her best buddy Baleigh

After the musical we got to see Maddie's artwork. These are some cupcakes she painted.

Zacharys made this cupcake out of clay.

Emily made this cake. Beautiful!

Camden Field Day 2010

2010-06-26T09:27:00.001-04:00

The kids had such a great field day!

I was a volunteer at the sponge over/under game all day. The object was to pass a soaked sponge from one person to the next alternating going over and under and then the last person got to squeeze what was left of the water into a bucket. The team with the most water in the bucket at the end won.

JT , Maddie & Baleigh

So fun! It was warm outside, so the kids really enjoyed getting wet.

Zachary

Maura, Zachary & Malachi

Emily doing the baseball station.

Emily doing the sponge over/under game.

Emily and her friend Madeline

Trip to Dallas - April 2010

2010-05-13T10:51:00.000-04:00

For the kids spring break this year we traveled to Dallas to visit with friends and family. We had such a great time!

Here I am getting to meet precious Blakely! So tiny!

Kevin and Maddie

Maddie & Blakely. She was so excited to get to hold her!

Easter Morning

Happy Easter! We got to priviledge of visiting Prestwood Church on Easter. What an amazing worship service!

Jon, Lauren and sweet baby Sadie

Such a sweet baby!

We had a great time hanging out with family at Casey's parents house.

Maddie & Dolly
Maddie LOVED the dogs and loved playing dress up with them!

And dressing up herself!

Uncle Robby & Aunt Karen reading the book Maddie had just made.

Emily & Grams. Grams gave Emily this beautiful jacket from China!

Me and my sweet friend Melissa

The girls and I hit the Amercian Girl store and had so much fun!

While the girls were at the American girl store the boys were getting remote controlled helicopters. Casey and Zachary got really good at flying them.

Playing at the park.

The kids with Neal. He brought these balloons that made noise when they flew around the room. That was a huge hit with the kiddos!

The girls, Shelia, me, Barbara & Jami. They are amazing ladies and friends!

Matt & Whitney

Me loving on Matt & Whitneys new addition, Miles! He was so sweet!

The girls & I got our nails painted. They loved it!

Casey and the kids went to see a movie while I had lunch with my old coworkers.

Sarah Catherine and Madison. Sweet girls!

One my dearest friends Misty. We have been friends since 2nd grade I believe! She is an amazing lady and precious friend!

We went to the zoo with Casey's parents. It was the perfect day for it.

Riding the monorail around the zoo

Me and Maddie riding the monorail

The kids had so much fun riding the camel.

They got to ride on a pony too!

After the zoo we went to Malibu SpeedZone and rode go carts, played mini golf, and arcade games. So much fun!

We had such a great trip!

Emily's First Science Fair Project

2010-03-31T13:23:00.001-04:00

For the 4th grade science fair Emily chose to see which liquid helped grass grow the quickest.

She watered the grass with water, water with miracle grow, sugar free lemonade and coke.

She worked really hard on her project and even recieved an 3rd place ribbon.

We are so proud of her!

Visit from Bill, Elisabeth, and the Girls

2010-03-31T12:51:00.000-04:00

I have been truly blessed to be in such an amazing family. Here is a picture of everybody!

The Snows

All the cousins

Bill, Elisabeth, Abigail & Alexis

Bob, Meredith & Victoria

Emily & Abbey

Maddie & Lexi

Sweet Victoria

Love this sweet baby!

Maddie & Lexi

Abbey & Emily hamming it up for the camera!

We always have such a blast when we all get together!

Victoria's 1st Birthday Party

2010-02-22T15:47:00.000-05:00

Our precious niece Victoria was born on Valentines Day last year, so we just celebrated her 1st birthday! She really enjoyed opening her presents, especially the tissue paper!

A princess "whirlybird" was one of her favorite gifts!

Isn't she so cute?!?!

Maddie had a good time playing with Victoria and one of her birthday presents.

Zachary's 8th Birthday

2010-02-22T15:39:00.000-05:00

Zachary had his 8th birthday on February 16th. It's hard to believe he's getting so big! His birthday fell on a school day, but we got a whole bunch of snow so he got to stay home. All 3 kids got to have friends spend the night too!

He wanted to do "laser tag" for his birthday party so that's what we did. It was extremely loud and crazy, but he and his friends had a great time!

Here's a picture of his cookie cake:

All the kids had a great time!

Maddie wasn't old enough to play laser tag, so she and I played putt-putt golf while the boys played laser tag:

Emily at Mega Cheer

2010-02-22T15:15:00.000-05:00

At the kids' school they offer a cheerleading class after school one day a week and Emily said she wanted to do it! A couple of weeks ago all of the kids from the cheer classes got to go to a girls high-school basketball game and cheer at halftime!

Here's a picture of Emily "gettin' down":

Here's a video of the girls cheering:

Valentines Day 2010

2010-02-15T14:18:00.000-05:00

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

Presents from Mommy and Daddy

Group present from Grandma and Grampa!

More presents from Grandma and Grampa!

We all felt very LOVED!

Tea Party with Emily

2010-02-15T14:11:00.000-05:00

Emily and I got to opportunity to go to a Mother/Daughter Tea Party this weekend. It was a lot of fun. I even let her pick out what she wanted me to wear.

They made heart doorhangers as crafts.

All the girls.

Beautiful table! Each of the girls also got to pick out a porcelain doll to take home.

The goodies!

My beautiful girl!

Kids' Portraits

2010-02-13T21:34:00.000-05:00

We try to get the kids pictures taken around their birthdays. Since Zachary will turn 8 on Tuesday and Emily will turn 10- wow - next Friday we decided it was a good time!

Here are some of our favorites!

Father Daughter Dance 2010

2010-02-13T09:38:00.000-05:00

Casey and the girls got to go to a Father/Daughter dance at school. The girls were so excited! They love getting to dress up fancy and wear a little makeup!

Our beautiful girls!

Little Maddiecakes

Emily - such a beautiful young lady! Growing up too fast!

They sure do love their Daddy!

Dancing the night away.

Maddie and her buddy Ava.

Maddie and Emily making their crown craft.

They had such a great time!

Valentine Parties

2010-02-13T09:15:00.001-05:00

I was able to help out at both Zachary's and Maddie's Valentines parties. Emily's class didn't have a party, but did exchange valentines.

Zachary's class had an ice cream sundae bar. They also used it as their math lesson for the day. They each got $3.00 and each ice cream and topping were different amounts. It was fun watching the kids trying to decide what and how much they could get!

Zachary with buddies

Enjoying the ice cream!

Maddie's class had a pizza party! Here is Maddie making her craft.

Maddie may be the smallest in her class, but she has one of the biggest personalities! She makes her presence known!!

J.T., best buddy Baleigh, and Maddie

Maddie and her buddy Ava.

Snow Day - February 9th

2010-02-11T10:18:00.000-05:00

We have had quite a bit of snow lately. While it is pretty to look at I am ready for spring!!

We got about 8 or 9 inches this time around. The kids got to have 2 snowdays and stayed home from school.

Zachary and his snowman.

Zachary's finished snowman.

Emily worked hard on her snowman.

Emily's finished snowman.

Emily, Zachary and some friends sledding.

Perfect North

2010-02-02T10:12:00.001-05:00

This past weekend we had to opportunity to go to a place called The Perfect North to celebrate my good friend Stacy's birthday. It's about 2 hours away from us, but was well worth the drive.

We are all bundled up ready to go tubing!

All the kids. Brennan, Baleigh, Maddie, Zachary & Emily - so excited!

Riding up to the top

Maddie

We linked all our tubes together and had such a great time!

View from the bottom

Maddie on the kiddie slopes

Video of the five of us linked together. Maddie didn't like the snow spraying her in the face, so she covered her face every time! So much fun! We will definitely do this again!

Snow Day - January 30th

2010-02-02T10:00:00.001-05:00

We had more snow this past weekend. We walked up the street to a great hill and went sledding with our friends. Lots of fun!

Baleigh & Emily on the 2 person sled, and Zachary on the red one.

Emily & Maddie

My sweet friend Stacy, me and Maddie

Me - I love the snow, but I am still a Texas girl at heart!

Maddie and her best buddy Baleigh

Maddie rolling down the hill!

Will and Wade

2010-02-02T09:24:00.000-05:00

I have the privilege of watching 2 of the sweetest babies! They are twins and are now about 5 months old. I have been watching them since they were 3 weeks old. I love getting to spend some of my days with them while my kiddos are at school.

Wade & Will

We got the chance to keep the boys overnight not too long ago and had so much fun! It was great having babies in the house again. The kids loved having them at the house.

Zachary says when he gets married, he and his wife are going to have 10 kids! Pray for his wife to be!!

Snow Day - January 7th

2010-02-02T09:20:00.001-05:00

We got quite a bit of snow and because of that the kiddos got 2 snow days off of school! they were super excited!

Little Maddiecakes

Zachary

Emily making snowballs

Maddie Indoor Soccer

2010-02-02T09:12:00.001-05:00

Maddie & her best buddy Baleigh decided to play indoor soccer!

This is their first practice. We look forward to the watching Maddie play!

New Years Eve 2010

2010-02-02T08:40:00.000-05:00

We spent New Year's Eve with our good friends the LaBarbera's. They just live a couple houses up from us, so we just walked up the street.

Steven and Casey playing Guitar Hero.

Brennan, Zachary & Emily

Maddie & Baleigh - aka "the Littles" dressed up for the occasion!

Getting ready to blow their horns at midnight!

Casey & I looking tired!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Video of the serious Guitar Hero playing that was going on with Zachary and Brennan!

Christmas 2009

2010-01-11T15:45:00.000-05:00

Christmas 2009

Before

The kids with the birthday cake we made for Jesus.

Christmas morning about to open their gifts from Santa.

Santa was nice to me this year!

Opening stockings at Mom & Dad's house.

Emily modeling her new sunglasses!

Grandma Sis and Maddie

Zachary putting together one of his new toys.

Grampa in his awesome new shirt the kids gave him. It reads "Real men Love Armadillos!"

Sweet baby Victoria! so precious!

Breakfast with Santa

2009-12-14T09:30:00.001-05:00

At the kids school they do something called "Breakfast With Santa." There is yummy food - Chick-fil-A chicken biscuits and krispy kreme doughnuts! Doesn't get much better!

They also have Santa's craft room, where the kids got to make some neat crafts.

Then Emily's chorus group performed. Here is Maddie, being her normal silly self, sitting with her best buddy Baleigh getting ready for the performance.

Emily did a great job! The kids got to perform in their pjs which was a lot of fun!

Here is a picture of Emily with her AMAZING music teacher Ms. Hull! We LOVE her!

Emily at "Light Up LaGrange" Performance

2009-12-14T09:10:00.000-05:00

Emily is in a chorus group through school. One of their performances was at "Light Up LaGrange." She is really enjoying the singing and all the kids in the group. They have done some really neat songs, and gotten to do a lot of performances.

Here is a video of one of the songs Emily sang.

Trip to Indianapolis

2009-11-30T14:54:00.001-05:00

The day after Thanksgiving we drove up to Indianapolis for the weekend. We stayed at the indoor waterpark again and had a great time!

Zachary, Maddie and Emily ready to go swimming!

The waterpark

The girls, being silly!

Zachary, Casey and Maddie

Emily

Maddie

Zachary in the arcade

Maddie

Emily

On Friday night Casey and Zachary went to the Pacers/Mavericks basketball game. This has become a tradition for the two of them. They had a great time together!

Thanksgiving 2009

2009-11-30T14:12:00.001-05:00

Thankgiving 2009. We spent Thanksgiving at my parents house. We always have such a great time! There were 18 adults, and 4 children. It was loud, but so much fun. I feel so blessed to have such an amazing family!

Family shot

Aunt Carol and Maddie

Gigi and Emily

Zachary playing Guitar Hero.

Mom in the kitchen cooking up a storm!

Me and my sweet niece Victoria. She is so precious!

Gigi, Jonathan, Jeffrey, Uncle Ken, Aunt Carol, Aunt Gretchen - LOVE them!

Bob, Meredith, and Grandma Sis

Uncle Tim, Dad, Uncle Bob, and cousin Scott

We had such a wonderful time visiting and eating with our family. We missed Bill, Elisabeth and the girls this year!

Zachary Indoor Soccer

2009-11-30T13:55:00.000-05:00

Zachary is playing indoor soccer during the winter months. He is really enjoying it. He especially enjoys playing goalie.

Zachary Fall Baseball

2009-11-30T13:52:00.001-05:00

Zachary played Fall Ball this year. This was his first year playing where it was machine pitch. It definitely took some getting used to. He did really well with it though. We enjoyed cheering him on.

An action shot.

Camden Fall Carnival

2009-11-30T13:33:00.000-05:00

The kids enjoyed their school fall carnival. There were lots of fun things to do.

They got to paint pumpkins.

Throw darts at balloons.

There were lots of fun games to play.

First Day of School!

2009-11-30T13:12:00.000-05:00

The kids started attending a new school this year. They were all very excited! Here are a couple pictures of their first day of school.

Emily - 4th grade

Zachary- 2nd grade

Maddie - KINDERGARTEN!!

Off to school!

Maddie and her teacher Ms. Bebelaar. There were definitely some tears on Maddie's part, and she begged me to stay with her! I cried too! I can't believe my baby is in school. Where have the last 5 years gone?

A successful first day of school. Maddie's first bus ride!

Chicago Trip

2009-11-29T17:56:00.000-05:00

I know this is LONG overdo, but here are some pictures of our trip to Chicago in July. We had a great trip!

Legoland

Maddie and her first American Girl Doll

Emily and her American Girl dolls

View from the top of the John Hancock building

Shedd Aquarium

Field Museum

Children's Museum

Ferris wheel at Navy Pier

Riding on the ferris wheel

View from the ferris wheel

We had a great time as a family. We got to see and do lots of things!

Long time no post

2009-07-05T14:18:00.000-04:00

Sorry it has been so long since I have posted a new blog. The last month was a very busy month for us. We celebrated Maddie's birthday, finished packing up the old house, moved to the new house and have been settling in. So I posted 5 new posts today to catch up. Keep scrolling to check out all the updates.

New House Pictures

2009-07-05T14:04:00.001-04:00

Here are some pictures of our new house.

This is the entryway.

View of the entryway from upstairs.

Living Room

Dining Room

Kitchen

Family Room

Master Bedroom

Master Bathroom

Emily's Room

Kids Bathroom

Maddie's Room

Zachary's Room

Casey's office

Fourth of July

2009-07-05T13:51:00.001-04:00

We had a fun night on the 4th of July. We spent the evening with my parents and our good friends Kevin and Bethany. My Mom cooked some great burgers and hot dogs and all the sides!

The weather was definitely not ideal for fireworks! It was about 67 degrees and rainy! But we made the best of it and had a blast!

Here is Emily snuggling with Miss Bethany.

Maddie is quite smitten with Mr. Kevin -and did not leave his side the whole night!

Zachary anxiously anticipating the fireworks.

Dad getting ready to do the fireworks. The kids always say "light it up Grampa" before each firework.

Zachary and Jennie huddled under an umbrella watching the fireworks.

Dad with a firework.

The grand finale - a jumping jelly bean firework. It was great!

Fossil Park

2009-07-05T13:47:00.001-04:00

This past week my Mom and I took the kids to a really neat fossil park. The kids had a blast exploring. Here are some pictures of our adventure.

Kids Portraits

2009-07-05T13:39:00.001-04:00

We had the kids portraits taken on June 26th. They are all getting so big! Here are some of the best shots.

Emily is 9 now and is getting ready to start the 4th grade! She is becoming quite the little lady!

Zachary is 7 now and getting ready to start the 2nd grade. He is such a handsome little guy!

Maddie is 5 now and getting ready to start kindegarten! She is such a sweetiepie!

Maddie's 5th birthday

2009-07-05T13:13:00.000-04:00

Maddie turned 5 on June 10th! It is SO hard to believe she is already 5 and will be starting kindergarten next month.

For her birthday she had her party at a place called Kazoing. They spent the first hour playing on inflatables.

Then they had craft time. The "princesses" made and decorated tiaras and wands. The "princes"made and decorated swords.

Then they danced for a bit. Here is a picture of Maddie dancing with one of her best buddies, Donnie.

Maddie and Mommy

Emily and Maddie had fun dancing too!

Then it was time for cupcakes!

After the cupcakes the kids played musical chairs.

It was a great time!

New House Pictures

2009-05-24T15:38:00.000-04:00

Here are some newer pictures of our house.

Fireplace in the Family Room

Master Bedroom

Up-close picture of the backsplash in the kitchen.

We now have a driveway!

Floor in the kitchen

Master Bathroom

Floor in the Master Bathroom

Kids' bathroom

Floor in the entryway

Carpet being installed in the Living Room

Kitchen sink

Carpet being installed in the Family Room

Maddie's Dance Recital

2009-05-24T14:41:00.000-04:00

Maddie had her dress rehearsal and dance recital this weekend. They don't allow us take pictures or video during the actual recital. All of these pictures are taken during the dress rehearsal. Maddie had not had her hair cut yet for the rehearsal, but did for the recital. She did such a great job, we are very proud of her!

Sorry the pictures from rehearsal are a little dark.

Maddie got to skip out holding a teddy bear.

This is before the recital. I signed up to be one of the room moms. I had NO idea what I was getting myself into! We were there almost 5 hours, over dinner time. So let me just say the 3 and 4 year olds we had were not too happy! It was complete chaos most of the time. Before the kids danced, we brought activities to try to keep them occupied. We brought some games, coloring books and colors, and little crafts to make. Fortunately we also brought cheese crackers and fruit snacks, which helped A LOT!

Here are a few of the girls coloring and making crafts.

Maddie getting ready to go up on stage. She did such a great job! All the girls did!

This is a video of Maddie at the dress rehearsal. All of the girls did much better during the actual recital. It was a lot of fun to watch!

Field Day

2009-05-24T14:29:00.000-04:00

Friday was Field Day at Emily and Zachary's school. The kids had a great time!

Emily is quite good at hula hooping.

Zachary was really good at the hula hoop too!

Here is Zachary "Crossing the Jordan."

Zachary and Maddie. He is SUCH a good big brother!

Maddie

Emily got a flower painted on her face.

Zachary got a cross painted on his face.

Maddie got a flower painted on her face.

Girls Summer Haircuts

2009-05-24T14:27:00.000-04:00

With the warmer weather finally arriving, the girls wanted to get their hair cut. They both went a lot shorter. They also wanted to look alike. Here is a picture of their new cuts.

Maddie's Preschool Graduation

2009-05-24T13:42:00.000-04:00

Maddie had her preschool graduation this week. I cannot believe she will be going to kindergarten in August. She has grown up a lot this year and we are very proud of her.

Maddie getting her "diploma."

After the graduation the ice cream truck came to the school and gave all the kids free ice cream! They were very excited!

Emily's Piano Recital

2009-05-17T16:32:00.000-04:00

Emily has been practicing for the past several months, and this afternoon she had her piano recital! She did a fantastic job, and we are very proud of her!

Spring Break Trip to Dallas

2009-05-03T21:41:00.001-04:00

For the kids spring break we took a trip back to Dallas. We always have such a great time in Dallas!

Some of our Kentucky friends moved to Dallas last year, and it was so good to see them!

Jon and Lauren

Mi Cocina and Braum's - 2 of our favorites!

Breakfast at IHOP with Casey's family

Maddie and Aunt Karen

Maddie and Matt

Matt and Whitney and us at Jakes - another favorite!

Dayne, Carson, Zachary, Maddie and Emily playing.

Kevin and Ashley and us

Pump it Up

Catherine and Jennie

Playing Putt Putt

Playing at the park with the Carter's

Ty and Zachary

Zachary and Maddie

Maddie and Bradford

Madison, Emily and Maddie eating pizza.

Maddie, Ty and Zachary being silly!

Misty and Jennie.

Melissa and Jennie watching the kids play in the play area at the Frisco mall. Great fun!

Dinner with Jon and Lauren at Fuddruckers. YUM!

At Northpark Mall. The kids loved the turtles and ducks!

Maddie, Zachary and Gramps.

Emily and Grams

Braving the arboretum. Cold but beautiful.

Sweet Shelia and Jennie.

Barbara and Jennie

Jami surrounded by the crazy kids!

The Snow Family

The craziness in the car on our 13 hour drive!

We had such a wonderful time!

Trip to Indianapolis

2009-05-03T07:05:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago, we spent a long weekend in Indianapolis. We had such a great time! We stayed at a hotel that had an indoor water park. Casey and Zachary got to go to a Mavericks game together while we were there.

We enjoyed going to the Children's Museum.

Here are some pictures of the indoor water park.

Little Maddie

Getting ready to go play!

Emily going down the waterslide.

Casey and Maddie floating in the lazy river.

Zachary floating in the lazy river.

The girls!

We had such a great time hanging out together.

Soccer

2009-05-03T06:53:00.001-04:00

Soccer has started for the Snow family. This is Maddie's first year to play. She enjoys it! Although, she spends a good part of the time looking for butterflies!

Maddie as goalie - or butterly watcher!

Zachary did a GREAT job as goalie!

This is Zachary's 4th year to play. Zachary has such a strong kick - it's amazing!

New House

2009-05-03T06:41:00.000-04:00

Yesterday we accepted an offer to sell our current house. That is such a relief for us since the new house is almost done! Our closing date is July 2nd - but it is looking like they might finish early. Here are some recent pictures of the new house.

The kitchen has cabinets!

Family Room

Going up the stairs.

The back of the house.

We are so excited to move into the new house. It has been so much fun watching it being built from the ground up!

Enough

2009-05-01T20:04:00.000-04:00

I promise a real post soon, but I saw this on a friend's blog and thought it was powerful. Enjoy.

I have a few friends going through tough struggles at this time and another friend sent me the following story in an email today and I wanted to share it. Hope everyone has a great weekend.ENOUGH:Recently, I overheard a mother and daughter in their last moments together at the airport. They had announced the departure. Standing near the security gate, they hugged, and the mother said, 'I love you, and I pray you enough.' The daughter replied, 'Mom, our life together has been more than enough. Your love is all I ever needed. I pray you enough, too, Mom.' They kissed, and the daughter left.The mother walked over to the window where I was seated. Standing there, I could see she wanted and needed to cry. I tried not to intrude on her privacy, but she welcomed me in by asking, 'Did you ever say good-bye to someone knowing it would be forever?' Yes, I have,' I replied. 'Forgive me for asking, but why is this a forever good-bye?' 'Well...I'm not as young as I once was, she lives so far away & has her own busy life. I have some challenges ahead, and the reality is - her next trip back will be for my funeral,' she said.'When you were saying good-bye, I heard you say, 'I pray you enough.' May I ask what that means?' She began to smile. 'That's a prayer that has been handed down from other generations. My parents used to say it to everyone.' She paused a moment and looked up as if trying to remember it in detail, and she smiled even more. 'When we said, 'I pray you enough,' we wanted the other person to have a life filled with just enough good things to sustain them.'Then, turning toward me, she shared the following as if she were reciting it from memory.I pray you enough sun to keep your attitude bright no matter how gray the day may appear.I pray you enough rain to appreciate the sun even more.I pray you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive and everlasting.I pray you enough pain so that even the smallest of joys in life may appear bigger.I pray you enough gain to satisfy your wanting.I pray you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess.I pray you enough hellos to get you through the final good-bye.Then, she began to cry, and walked away..They say, it takes a minute to find a special person, an hour to appreciate them, a day to love them, but an entire life to forget them.TAKE TIME TO LIVE..... To all my friends and loved ones, I PRAY YOU ENOUGH.......

Emily and Maddie - Superstars!!!

2009-02-26T19:34:00.000-05:00

Here is a video of the girls singing Jessica Simpson's song "Come On Over." Enjoy!

Zachary's 7th Birthday Party

2009-02-26T13:19:00.000-05:00

Zachary had his party at a place called Kazoing. First, the kids got to bounce in a variety of inflatables for about an hour.

Zachary and Mommy

The birthday cake bouncer

The big slide

The castle

Little Maddie

Racetrack

Then we had pizza and cupcakes.

Happy Birthday ZACHARY!

Then it was time to make the rockets!

Grampa and Maddie

Emily

Here is a video of the rocket launch. They took a plastic film canister, put an Alka Seltzer tablet and water in it, closed it up, stuck it in the bottom of the rocket, and started the countdown! It was a great party! We can't believe Zachary is 7!

Emily's 9th Birthday Party

2009-02-22T21:11:00.000-05:00

Emily wanted a "Dancing Diva" party for her 9th birthday, so that's what she got!

She and her friends got to pick out their costumes first.

Then, they each got to have their makeup...

and their hair done!

Mommy and Emily all dressed up!

Maddie got into the action too!

They even had some boy costumes for Zachary. He looks thrilled, doesn't he?

Here's a picture of all of the Divas together!

And here's a video of the dancing divas in action!

Mother/Daughter Dinner

2009-01-25T21:11:00.000-05:00

Emily and I got to go to a mother/daughter dinner at our church called "Moments with your Girl." We had such a great time. Emily wanted us to wear matching shirts so we went out on a search to find some. One of the advantages of being petite is that I can still sometimes shop in the kids section. So that is where we found our shirts!

Emily found some of her friends once we got there.

Emily is turning into such a beautiful young lady, inside and out.

We did a game where Emily had to answer my favorite things like flowers, food, shopping spot, and I had to answer hers. We got 18 out of 20 correct!

We got to decorate cookies after our dinner. YUM!

Then for our craft we made a scarf together.

Emily modeling her new scarf.

Emily and her friends being silly!

We had such a great night together. I can't believe she is growing up so fast. She will be 9 next month! I am blessed to be her mom.

Snow Day

2009-01-25T20:27:00.000-05:00

Last Monday we had a great day playing in the snow. There wasn't too much snow, but enough to have some fun in!

We attempted to sled down the driveway. With a running push, the sled almost went all the way down the driveway.

Little Maddie made a great snow angel.

I tried to stay as warm as possible by staing in the garage.

Mister Zachary getting SO big!

We ended our snowy day with a trip to the pie kitchen for some yummy treats.

WICKED

2009-01-25T20:15:00.000-05:00

We had the priviledge of going to the show Wicked. It was an amazing show. We were lucky enough to have box seats with a fantastic view.

We went with some great friends of ours, Kevin and Bethany.

Here we are in our seats waiting for the show to start.

Hopefully if the show comes back to town we can go see Wicked again. It was fantastic!

Christmas

2008-12-29T19:15:00.001-05:00

We had such a wonderful Christmas!

Every year the kids start at the top of the stairs and walk down, in age order youngest to oldest, while being video taped and photographed. If you can believe it, we actually had to wake the kids up! They NEVER sleep in on Christmas!

Then the kids see what Santa filled their stockings with.

Next we open presents at our house.

Then we head over to Mom and Dad's house to open presents over there. Here is a picture of the kids ready to dive in!

Bill, Elisabeth, Abbey and Lexi

Every year my Mom buys Elisabeth and I Christmas socks. You can barely see mine, but they are black with jingle bells on them.

My Dad got Emily and Abbey one of the coolest gifts. He got them each real pearl necklaces. The cool part was that they each got the oyster and he opened them up to see what color pearl they had. There was a chain and pendant to put the pearl in afterwards. The girls LOVED the necklaces. Emily hasn't taken it off since!

Emily loves her Grampa!!
There was a lot of Guitar Hero going on after the presents were opened.

Bill and Bob rocking out.

Casey and I rocking out! Casey is amazing! I didn't know it was possible for fingers to go that fast!

Zachary played his new Mario cart game on the Wii. He is a pretty good driver!

The girls played with playdoh.

The couples. Bill and Elisabeth, Casey and I, and Bob and Meredith (and baby Victoria who will be here in February!) We are excited for Bob and Meredith and the kids are excited about having another cousin.

Then the kids decorated a cake to celebrate Jesus' birthday. We all sang Happy Birthday to Jesus and enjoyed some yummy cake.

The grown ups, if you can call us that, played some fun board games too, and my sides hurt for 2 days after from laughing so hard!

We feel so blessed to have such an amazing family. We really enjoyed our time hanging out together.

Glasses for Zachary

2008-12-29T19:08:00.001-05:00

We knew it was bound to happen to at least one of our children given the fact that Casey's vision is terrible. So Zachary is the first! He had to get glasses this month. Fortunately he can see so much better that he doesn't mind wearing them too much. He looks very handsome in his new glasses!

Visit with the Houston Cutrers

2008-12-29T18:47:00.000-05:00

We had so much fun getting to hang out with the Houston Cutrers for a whole week. My brother Bill, his wife Elisabeth and their two girls Abigail (Abbey) and Alexis (Lexi) came up to Louisville for the week of Christmas. The cousins all had so much fun playing together. Here are a few pictures of our adventures!

Here are the girls, eating and playing with jingle bells.

We all went to see the movie "The Tales of Despereaux". There were 11 of us total. It was a great movie and the kids enjoyed the popcorn and candy.

We got to decorate cookies. I think by the time they were decorated there was more icing and candies than cookie!

Even Uncle Bill got in on the cookie decorating action!

One night we had a movie night/pajama party at Grandma and Grampa's house. My Mom bought matching Christmas pj's for all the kids, so they decided to wear them. We all watched Home Alone together.

Grampa snuggled up with Emily, Abbey and Maddie.

For Christmas Bill and Elisabeth gave Emily and Maddie matching sweaters. Abbey and Lexi already had them, so the girls all wore them together!

Emily and Abbey playing the piano. Lexi and Maddie enjoying a snack.

Zachary wore his blue striped sweater to go with the girls pink stripes.

We went to Graeter's and had some yummy ice cream!

Then tried to get a group shot - after filling them with sugar!

We had a great time hanging out with all of them! We miss them already.

Emiliy's Baptism

2008-12-29T18:42:00.000-05:00

On December 14th Emily got baptized. She had asked Jesus into her heart last May and went through a new christian class at church to make sure she understood everything.

Something that made that day even more special for us was that my Dad, Bill, was the one who got to baptize her. He did a great job. Emily was very excited and thrilled that her Grampa was the one doing the baptizing.

Sorry the pictures aren't really clear, but the lighting in the church didn't do very well with the flash on the camera.

We are so thrilled that Emily has accepted Christ. We are very proud of her!

Christmas Plays and Parties

2008-12-29T18:22:00.001-05:00

This was such a busy month for school performances and Christmas parties. We had a blast at all of them!

First up was Emily and Zachary's school play. Emily was an angel and Zachary a shepherd. They sang Christmas songs and did a fantastic job!

I got to be one of the parent helpers at Emily's class Christmas party. A room full of 21 3rd graders! It was loud!!

Here is Emily playing Pictionary.

Here is Emily and one of her best friends at school, Ariana.

Here is Emily playing the snowball game. They put vasoline on the kids noses and they had to stick the snowballs to their noses and drop them into a bowl. That was so entertaining to watch! They also made chocolate covered pretzel sticks and decorated them.

Up next was Maddie's Christmas party and performance. I got to be the parent helper for her party too. I believe there were 13 4 year olds!

We played pass the present until all of the kids had a present. Then we enjoyed yummy cookies and juice boxes. They also made a fun reindeer craft.

Here is Maddie with a picture of her best friend at school, Garrett. We hear about Garrett - all the time! They are pretty much inseparable. After the Christmas party they got to go to lunch together - with their Mommies supervising of course!

Maddie was a cow in the Christmas play. She was such the little ham. It is so much fun to watch her sing and dance.

Long time no post!

2008-12-29T18:18:00.001-05:00

On December 16th, Emily had her Christmas piano recital. She played Jingle Bells and did a great job! We were afraid the recital would be canceled because we had some bad weather - but we made it!

Pajama Party

2008-12-13T11:00:00.001-05:00

Pretty much every Friday night we have a pajama party/movie night at the Snow house. The kids get into their pajamas early, we pop popcorn and usually they all bring their sleeping bags and pillows into either the family room or Zachary's room. Then we watch movies. Last night we watched, Frosty the Snowman and The Flight before Christmas. The kids then get to all sleep in the same room together. It is always a good time. My Mom got the kids matching Christmas pajamas, so the kids all wore them. Here are some pictures of the kids in their pj's.

A one horse open sleigh!

2008-12-07T14:10:00.000-05:00

We got the opportunity to ride with Santa in his sleigh at two different places. It is amazing how Santa can be in so many places at the same time!

We went with my parents to their subdivision clubhouse and had the kids picture taken with Santa and got to ride on his sleigh. Oh my goodness was it cold! But a blast!

Dad (Grampa) with the kids

Mom (Grandma) with the kids

On the sleigh ride, being driven by Jack the horse.

Bundled up!

A few nights ago Emily and Zachary had their Christmas program at school. Zachary was a shepherd and Emily was an angel.

They did a fantastic job!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

2008-11-29T18:37:00.001-05:00

Our Thanksgiving celebration started on Wednesday when we got to hang out with some of our family.

We went to a place up in Indiana that had turned half their store into "Santaland." The kids had so much fun.

They had pretend bow and arrow sets, and laser guns with targets that the kids had a blast playing with.

Maddie enjoyed driving the remote control cars in the fake snow - and crashing them too!

My Dad was brave enough to ride as a passenger in back to back races with Emily and Zachary driving. He was a little green when they were done. The love of a Grampa!

We all got to have lunch together after all the playing. It was so great to hang out with family!

Now, on to the Turkey!

Mom and Dad (so cute) Emily is the marshmellow girl every year and did a great job!

The boys visiting and Zachary making some origami.

The kitchen was THE place to be!

My Mom and I and little Maddie and I

Getting ready to hit the dessert table!

Maddie and her Gigi playing with the animals. Maddie being her usual silly self!

We had such a wonderful Thanksgiving with family. We missed those that couldn't make it this year. We have so much to be thankful for.

Mother/Daughter weekend

2008-11-10T18:07:00.001-05:00

Emily and I had the priviledge to go to a Mother/Daughter conference this weekend in Lexington. We had such a great time together. The conference was called "You and Your Girl." It was a conference designed to teach Mothers how to raise godly young ladies and to teach young ladies what it looks like to be a godly young lady. Here is a little information from the Lifeway site about the conference.

It’s not easy today to be a mom of a tween/teen girl!
LifeWay and Vicki Courtney know it all too well. You and Your Girl is a mother/daughter event that gives you spiritual encouragement and practical tools to navigate through this generation. God has placed you where you are “for such a time as this.” Moms, you have the opportunity to invest in, equip, and mentor your daughter through these unsure times. Tweens and teens, you can be an “Esther”, relevant yet God-minded, to your peers.
What are the challenges today for moms? What are the challenges today for girls? You and Your Girl helps you define and equips you to combat those challenges through a fun and informative event for moms and their tween and teen daughters.
Vicki Courtney and others brings eye-opening messages covering
• The “mother/daughter dynamics” from a biblical perspective • What every girl wants her mom to know and moms want to tell their daughters • How to talk about God’s Word and your personal walk with your daughter in relevant terms
Vicki Courtney is a an author, speaker, and founder of Virtuous Reality Ministries, which reaches more than 150,000 girls and mothers a year through books, speaking engagements, virtuousreality.com (for teen girls) and virtuealert.com, her blog for moms. A mother of three teens, she seeks to provide both teens and their parents with the tools necessary to navigate today's promiscuous culture.
In addition to Vicki’s messages, moms, daughters, and their friends will also hear from a variety of breakout leaders (Jackie Kendall, Sissy Goff, Melissa Trevathan, Shannon Brasel, Carrie Hopkins, and Becky Loyd) and worship leader Lindsey Kane.
Moms, don’t miss this weekend opportunity to connect or reconnect with your daughter while she can be encouraged to stand up for Christ.

Since the conference started early on Saturday, Emily and I decided to get a hotel room and stay the night. We started our girls weekend by swimming in the hotel pool and hot tub. Emily is growing into a beautiful young lady!

Then we decided to wear our matching pajamas and go into Starbucks for hot chocolates! We got a few strange looks! I figured we wouldn't see these people again and it was great bonding time for Emily and I.

Here we are at the hotel getting ready to go to the conference.

They had amazing praise and worship music. It was so neat to see a room full of women worshipping God with their daughters!

Here we are getting ready to leave :(

What a wonderful time! It isn't very often that Emily and I get so much one on one time together and I treasured it! I know she will be grown before I know it. I am so thankful that the Lord blessed me with her. She is beautiful on the inside and out. She has such a caring spirit. As most of you already know she accepted Christ as her savior earlier this year. She is currently going through the new christian class at church and once that is completed my Dad will get to baptize her. He baptized me, my precious husband and now my daughter. How awesome is that!

Fall Festival

2008-10-31T20:58:00.000-04:00

Tonight we went to the Fall Festival at our church. We all had a great time. Emily was Princess Jasmin. Zachary was a cowboy. Maddie was Sleeping Beauty.

There were lots of fun games to play. The kids got a lot of prizes and candy.

The girls got their faces painted.

We enjoyed popcorn and cotton candy too.

There was a firetruck that the kids could look inside.

There were lots of bounce houses. The kids had a blast!

There was even a hay ride!

So You Think You Can Dance???

2008-10-26T13:01:00.001-04:00

My dear friend Lauren came in town this weekend. We drove up to Cincinnati to go to the So You Think You Can Dance show. We went last year and had a blast and thought we would go again. We decided since the show didn't end until almost 11:00, we would just stay the night in Cincinnati. We had SO much fun together.

We had dinner at Buckhead's overlooking the river. It was very rainy, but it was still a pretty view.

We had one of the security guys take our picture together - he seemed SO thrilled to be there!

Casey got us GREAT seats!

I took so many pictures of the actual show while we were there. These are just a few of the group shots I got.

By the end of the show we were a little loopy!

I am so glad Lauren made the trip. It was also her birthday, so we celebrated that as well. We always have such a great time together!