Merry Christmas!

It's been a while...

And unfortunately, that's because I just haven't been feeling great. Like last time, pregnancy is just kicking me in the butt. I'm still very nauseated, plus I've begun to have some pretty significant contractions which have led my doctor to restrict me to "limited activity." Thankfully my parents have been here for the past month, and will be here another few weeks to help run the house and take care of Kevin.

We have managed to have a little bit of fun in the past month, and here are some photos to prove it!

My brother and his family came to visit us (along with my parents) and we all went to Pennsylvania for a weekend to see our family there.

Here's my brother Ryan playing a Pennsylvania game kind of like horseshoes, called Quates, with my cousin's husband Louie. You can see my nephew Kyle and my cousin's son Lorenzo (who's a few days older than Kevin) too.

It was my Dad's birthday the next day so we had a cake for him
Kevin enjoying the cake

Me and my cousins Adriene and Heather (with Adriene's little girl Hayley). All 3 of us are pregnant! Heather in the red is having twin girls and Adriene is newly pregnant.
Here's the entire Snyder side of my family, minus one cousin who couldn't be there. Pretty cool to have everyone in one room. There's 3 of my dad's siblings along with all my cousins and their kids.The next day we went to the Crayola Factory (Crayola is based in Easton, PA where my parents are from). Nicole, Kyle and Kevin all had a blast. Here's a few photos:

And a cute one of Kevin and Grandpa once we got home.

Halloween!

Hope everyone had a great Halloween! Here's a few photos of the festivities for you. First, our visit to the pumpkin patch on Tuesday night. It was raining! Then Daddy and Kevin carved a very cute pumpkin. Kevin didn't like the messy part at the beginning, but once Sam started the face he got into it.

And here's Kevin with the finished product.
For Halloween, Kevin dressed up as Handy Manny. Here's a picture of the real Manny if you're not sure who he is....And here's Kevin's version:

This is Kevin marching in the costume parade at preschool.

His class trying to pose for a group shot. Kevin wasn't interested.
Daddy took Kevin trick or treating, so this is the best photo we've got....
And here's their last stop: our house.

Crazy Halloween House

Some of you may have seen photos from our visit to the crazy Christmas house last year. Well, tonight we went to the same house, to see their Halloween decorations. We were not expecting it to be nearly as extensive as Christmas was, but wow - it was. It's really hard to capture in photos, but this guy has his entire yard, driveway and roof covered in inflatable decorations. There are probably about 50 of them at least. He has a pathway leading through his front yard, lined in all kinds of spooky decorations. There's things hanging from the trees, smoke machines - anything you can think of.

Here's a look down their front porch which is lined with life size scary people. They also have a bay window displaying the entire Halloween Village collection.

A look at the path in on the front lawn. Happy Halloween!

A bathroom update

I took a few photos tonight of the progress in our master bathroom. They're not the greatest photos, but I'm too tired to go back upstairs and retake them, so here they are...

Pretty much everything is in, except the baseboards and the shower. The toilet and the sink are both working.

The new travertine floor that Sam put in is beautiful.

Here's where the shower will be eventually. We need to try and finish it before next month, because I think one shower for the 12+ people who will be staying here over Thanksgiving isn't going to cut it!

A fun visit

We had a fun visit the last couple of days from my friend Lisa and her children Emily (6) and Jace (4). They live in North Carolina, where her husband Alex is in the Army. He's in the middle of a long deployment to Iraq, but was home for a quick business trip which ended in DC. Lisa and the kids drove up to see him off, and then spent two nights at our house. Kevin had a BLAST playing with Emily and Jace. Here's a couple shots of the three of them...

The Big News

Click below for a big announcement from Kevin!

Yes, in case you didn't already hear - we're pregnant with baby #2. No, it did not happen on our cruise, it was a couple of weeks later. That makes me due on March 24, 14 weeks along right now. That means I'm at the beginning of my second trimester, the time when you're supposed to stop feeling nauseous and have more energy. Not so much for me. I've been very sick so far. We think not quite as bad as I was with Kevin, but sick enough to be taking Zofran (anti-barfing medicine). Other than me feeling like crap, everything is great with the baby. We had a big ultrasound a couple weeks ago to look for possible birth defects, and everything checked out OK. Here's a couple pictures of the little alien:

Kevin is VERY excited about the baby. He completely understands that there is a baby growing in my tummy, and talks to it many times a day. He tends to yell into my belly button, but also likes to kiss and tickle the baby. He is proud about being a big brother, and takes the responsibility very seriously. He'll list all the things he is going to teach the baby when it "pops out." He says he's going to teach the baby to walk, play with toys, say words and eat.

I'm already showing, although if you didn't know me you'd probably think I'm just getting fatter. Here's a little belly shot my dad took today.

My dad, the hero, flew out here for 2 1/2 weeks to hang out with Kevin. With me being sick for the past 2 months, and Sam being completely swamped between work, a class he's taking at night, and trying to finish up our master bathroom, Kevin has been a little neglected. Mommy laying on the couch all day and watching hours of TV wasn't quite the stimulating environment he's grown to love. So for the next couple of weeks, Kevin has his own personal grandpa buddy, ready to take him for a trip to the park, or a ride on the train whenever he's bored. He's SO happy, and Sam and I are grateful for the break.

That's about it for now. Be sure to check back for updates, including new photos of the bathroom. Sam's up there starting to tile as I type this, so there should be some progress to show soon!

Fore!

Back in July, on our way back from the beach, we stopped at a golf outlet where Sam bought a couple of clubs. Since that moment, Kevin has not stopped asking daily for "Kevin-sized golf sticks." We went to a friend's house the other day, who had a toy golf set that Kevin loved. He loved it so much he cried when we had to leave. So yesterday we decided to buy him his own golf set. Needless to say, he loves it. Here's a few photos and a little video of his powerful swing.

School!

Yesterday was Kevin's first day at preschool. It wasn't a real school day though, it was a visiting day where you brought your child to check out the classroom and meet his teachers, but parents stayed the whole time. Tomorrow will be the first actual day of school. Kevin doesn't have much separation anxiety, so I don't expect there to be tears. He says he's excited.

We took a few photos yesterday. Here's Daddy and Kevin walking into school and the closest thing to a smile I could get out of Kevin....

Here's a shot of his classroom, and Kevin checking out the play kitchen. His classroom is called the Yellow Room for obvious reasons.



































Last we checked out the playground. Here's a couple shots of Kevin testing it out.

Shout out to the cousins

Kevin was in a talkative mood tonight, and decided that he wanted to make a video to say hello to his cousins Nicole ("Cole-cole") and Kyle. He then decided to throw in some of his signature junk grabbing. It's pretty funny.

Tomorrow is the first day of preschool, so be on the lookout for photos in the next couple of days!

Some Early Morning Snuggleyness

Here was Kevin watching TV this morning with his blankie on his head....























And a little breakfast burrito that Sam made a few days ago.

Our Current Project

Some of you have already seen these photos, but this is Sam's current project on our house. Off of our master bedroom, there is a useless little area which I guess you'd call a sitting area. Off of that were two small closets and the sort of small master bathroom. What we're doing is enclosing that sitting area to be a large walk-in closet, and making the bathroom bigger while totally remodeling it. Here's the rough plan (you may have to click to enlarge it to be able to read it):

And here's a before and during photo of looking back toward the new bathroom door.

And of course a cute photo of my boys.

The drywall is up now, and as soon as I take some photos, I'll post an update.

NUTS

I was making funny faces at Kevin this morning, which was making him laugh really hard. Every time I'd stop, he'd ask me to make more faces, which would make him laugh even harder.

After a few minutes of this he smiles up at me and says, "Making Kevin NUTS, Mama!"

A cute tooshie for you to enjoy

Thank goodness it's....





















Kevin has been wearing big boy underwear. These are some especially cute ones Grandma and Grandpa Snyder sent.