Snodgrass Fam

Pumpkinlicious

Friday, November 19, 2010

Several weeks ago we made a trip to the pumpkin patch to pick our favorite jack-o-latern material. My over zealous husband, who was excited to spend his first holiday with the family since being back, told Manuel to pick not one, but two unnecessarily big pumpkins.

Turns out, we're not real big fans of carving pumpkins around here so we ended up with 5 pumpkins that weren't carved, including one that was big enough to become our new home. The thrifty side of me could not stand to see those pumpkins turn into pumpkin bowling material so, I spent an amazing amount of time slicing, steaming, and pureeing these pumpkins!

A slice of the monster pumpkin! (this is only a slice of a half of the pumpkin)

The mountain of chunks

My wonderful food processor

That is a lot of puree (one of many pans)

Now I know that the experts say that the bigger pumpkins have less taste, but honestly I didn't notice a difference. It wasn't stringy, it has the same texture, taste and color as pumpkin pie pumpkins. So, my labor might not have been in vain. We've already enjoyed some

That's a look of approval if I've ever seen one!

Pumpkin yogurt

and the all time fav...

Pumpkin Milkshakes!

I'm sure I'll have many more pumpkin recipes to try, as we might be enjoying this pumpkin for the next year. What's your favorite pumpkin recipe?

Thirty and one!

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Happy Birthday to the best guy ever!

One and One

Makes 11!

Yep, as crazy as it seems, Karmen turned 11 last week. I was crazy enough to take her and four of her friends out to dinner at Red Robin. They did pretty well until one girl could no longer stay in her seat and kept ending up on the floor. That's when I decided we should head home!

Karmen, You are definitely growing up. You have a sweet smile that matches your caring heart for others. I have loved watching your passions grow over the last year. It's been fun to watch you try so hard at soccer and do such a good job. You have also tried harder at school than ever before.

Karmen, we pray that God will continue to heal and comfort you. We pray that you would continue to fall more and more in love with Him and that you may find all your needs in the only one that can provide them.

We love you so much and you are our favorite daughter! We hope this year is filled with joy, growth, and more positive changes. We love you. Happy Birthday!

Famiversary

Monday, September 27, 2010

Four years ago we began the crazy adventure of parenthood. It's hard to believe that it's been four years. It's been four years of ups and downs, highs and lows. We are truly happy to have Manuel and Karmen as our children and know that their journey is far from done.

Three, Three, can it be?

G.K.,

I can't believe that it's been three years already. What a fun three years it has been.

You're crazy personality has continued to grow and you make people laugh all the time. You are so friendly and love to say hi to everyone you meet. You then scream something about trains to them but none-the-less you are still friendly!

You have a passion for life. Everything you do, you do with your whole heart. You love your family, even your little brother who you beat up mercilessly, with the same passion. You always want to make sure that everyone is included in everything and don't rest well until you do so!

You are so smart. You love books, puzzles, reading, and of course trains. I am not surprised that you remember every store you've ever been in, or the street that you saw a fire truck on, or the market that you got to get a cookie at. I think I passed my memory on to you!

Gage, you are an amazing little boy and I'm excited to see what God has planned for you. I love hearing you sing, memorize verses and pray to God in such a childlike manner and know that he understands "Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God hurt my tea" Thank you for being such an example of joy for our family. We love you!

God Bless Skype

Monday, August 30, 2010

So, if you are unaware of Jake's coming home at this point, then you probably are reading this by mistake. We've shared the pictures, we've uploaded video, and expressed our relief at having our family complete again. Before redeployment (them coming home) we had heard many remarks on how kids will respond. A lot of the books, videos, experts warn parents that your kids might take a while to warm up to you, especially if they were babies when you left. We knew that the older kids and Gage would respond well, but we're unsure of Boyce. Boyce often talked to Jake on Skype and would always come running when I said we were going to talk to Dad. He often approached men timidly questioning, "Dad?" At the welcome home ceremony another soldier came and stood next to us and Boyce dropped his trains and said, "Dad?" yet again. When Jake finally was released I walked towards him carrying Gage and Boyce in my arms. When Boyce saw Jake, it was clear that he knew that this was his dad. He began squealing, saying "Da-da, Da-da, Da-da" over and over again and practically jumping out of my arms to get to Jake. When Jake took him Boyce wrapped his arms around his dad and gave him a huge hug. It was amazing to watch and can only described by the following pics that are perhaps my favorite of the day...