Can you see????

Our poor children are headed to Nerd-dom. That's not only because their parents are nerds (which we fully admit) but also because both parents had braces, both parents never lettered in athletics, but did letter in band/choir, one parent was salutatorian (I'll let you guess) and the other was 5th in class and well, we both have glasses. 

So I guess I wasn't too surprised today when this letter came home stating that Riggen (whose 8!) needs to have his eyes checked. He didn't do very well on the vision screening-they checked him twice. So we are now off to make an appointment and he's off to Nerd-dom at an early age. But that's okay, Mathew and I turned out pretty well and those nerds end up ruling the world !!

Date Night! All "lawless" like!

Tonight Mathew and I had planned a date! I've been hungry for some Mexican so we went to the Mexican restaurant in INdianola, which Mathew declared had "stepped up their game." I happen to agree and the margs weren't bad either! :

Then we headed to the Indianola theatre to see Lawless and were THE only ones in the theatre! What fun...we could talk and make funny noises to our heart's content!

And then we came home to a nice suprise--Kate made us treats! and left us this darling message! What a great 12 year old I have!

Oh yeah, and Mathew brought me flowers for my date.

Ah, such a good life.

Wednesday, September 26--Jesse's bday celebration and Snyder's off to Europe!

Tonight we celebrated Jesse's 20th birthday!!! She attends Simpson College and so dropped by Grandma Sally's for dinner. She requested roast beef! yum!!

 The Brennan's came over, sans Pete and Ben, and April and Seamus made it as well. It was a nice, relaxing evening--minus the 2 trips to the soccer field!

Also, Jim and Sally were headed out to Europe on Thursday afternoon and were still gracious enough to celebrate the night before they leave!!! THANK YOU!

The wait is finally over!!!!

The wait is over!!!!!!

The new MUMFORD & SONS album is here!!!!

I have only waited nearly 2 years for it! I couldn't contain my joy today at school when I knew I was picking this up after work today!!! It is FANTASTIC!

So far my favorites are "I Will Wait" and "Ghosts That We Knew."

The heart-shaped leaf in the picture is what Riggen gave me when I picked him up today. He said it was the shape of a heart and he wanted to give it to his mom as a "present." Isn't that the most darling thing you've ever heard?

Ah, my cup runneth over!

Now off to watch New Girl and Parenthood--and yes, my cold is nearly gone!

Saturday, September 22..I'll sell my firstborn to the person who finds the cure for the common cold.

Ok, I knew it was coming; I just didn't know how BAD it would be.

My head hurts, my back hurts, my nose hurts, my ears hurt, my eyes hurt, my face hurts!

I refuse to take a picture of myself because I spent the entire Saturday in my pajamas. 

I spent 99% of the day on the couch.

I wouldn't sell Kate to the person who cured the common cold, well, maybe not, probably not.

No, no I wouldn't do that, would I? Of course in my drugged up, Vicks-state I could always say I didn't know what I was doing.........

Curse the common cold.

Friday, September 21....sore throat, this can't be good

Ok, I've been dealing with a mildly sore throat all week but have attempted to ignore it. Well, I can't ignore it any longer. It has me wiped today. I'm not even going to Kosama. I'm going home to relax and  have pizza and cure this sore throat. Because a sore throat means one thing: a terrible cold followed by an ear infection for me!

And hey, who wants to take a pic of themselves when they are sick? I thought this pic from the 50s was hilarious!

Thursday, September 20...FAC with Christine and some shopping!

Thursday I had a haircut after school which I wasn't impressed with...but then I got to meet Christine at Greenbriar for some apps and drinks (sorry, i once again forgot to get a photo of Christine!) and then I did some shopping...Loft had a sale, and well, I bought some stuff! So excited to wear my new digs!

Wednesday, September 19...Homecoming Cheer!

The girls have been very excited to create their homecoming tshirts! We got some T's from Hobby Lobby, some puffy paint and a little creativity. I'm really not sure why Hannah is sitting inside the box to decorate Kate's tshirt, but well, it makes for a good picture!

Tuesday, September 18...A little cheer...

My parents travel often during the year in their RV and I get the fortune of having to watch their plants and flowers. This makes me a bit nervous because I'm worried I'll kill them off, but they have done really well this time. Look at how pretty this flowery plant is! I might have a hard time forcing it over when they return!

HOt ChOcoLaTe! (with some Bourbon Whisky)

Today was a busy Monday. I had Kosama after a full day at work, then came home to turn around and take Riggen to practice, then a shower, then back to pick up Kate, then have something for dinner and then finish up some work from school. It's chilly out which I don't mind right now but I will tell you I LOATHE Iowa winters (last winter was an exception). But I do ENJOY a nice cup of hot chocolate and well, I made my first one tonight. and then I spiked it with a little Iowa Bourbon...and it's sooo yummy! and I'm soooo relaxed!

Sunday, September 16

Ok, I have to admit I cheated on this one. These pictures are from Saturday, but I wanted to post riggen's silliness and I didn't get these uploaded until Sunday. So Saturday after Riggen's game Matt took me shooting with his new .22. I knew I would love it and I did! My dad used to have me practice shooting with a pistol when I was teen and I liked that so I think Matt already knew he was in trouble! Now I want my own gun! I'm not really great at hitting the target because, yes, dear Mathew, I'm admitting it in public, I can't close my left eye...so I have to use a little eye patch thingy so I can focus. But the little eye patch worked and well, I had a few bulls-eyes! 

If shooting wasn't romantic enough, Matt and i had a date Saturday night! We went to the bookstores and Best Buy--yes, we are dorks! But we both found a few books and we are excited to get started on them! Then we went to Trostel's Dish which serves tapas! We had lettuce wraps and pork flautas--so VERY yummy! This place is expensive, but SO worth it! Then a flight of wines and some flourless chocolate cake! Good thing I ran saturday morning! 

Thanks for a terrific day, Mathew!!!

...and also on Sunday (although I have no pic to record), Kate got a goal at her soccer game and TIED the game!!!! She is the ONLY one on her team to score a goal so far this season!!! Way to go, Kate! I'm so proud of her!!!!

Riggs

Riggs had a soccer game at noon today in Indianola; he played really well!

 And then we headed to Hy-Vee to get some groceries and well, he had to be a turkey through the shopping experience! Love this guy and how he makes me laugh!

Friday, September 14--What's for Dinner Club? night with Susan!!

Last night was What's for Dinner Club? ladies night out so Sue and I met in Ankeny at Olive Garden and shared a yummy bottle of wine and sat and chatted for 4 hours about everything and anything! Susan is so smart, witty, funny and just a cool young woman; we never run out of things to talk about! Thanks for a great night Susan!

(and yes, my camera was dead so this photo is from a previous Olive Garden session!)

Thursday, September 13

Riggen has been a trooper attending Kate's volleyball games, but to pass the time he wanted to work on taking photos with my phone so he took this one of me. He says there is not enough photos of me on my blog; what a sweet kid! 

Wednesday, September 12-Caleb's Birthday!

So glad my sister sent this up to me today! This is my nephew, Caleb, eating his birthday cake on Wednesday! He turned 10!! Happy Birthday, Caleb!!!!

September 11, 2012

My thoughts for the blog today ranged from pictures of my children, to watching my students write reflections on Toni Morrison's The Dead of September 11, to pictures of the Twin Towers and the memorial.














But instead I decided that today a picture was NOT worth a thousand words. My choice to not have a picture today is deliberate and it stands for the moment of silence(s) we should all take today. My soul goes out to those bearing a more direct burden of this day; may they find peace to carry on.

Kate and Volleyball!

Kate had her first home volleyball game tonight. She's been a bit discouraged starting out the season, but she's done really well! Tonight she was the serving ACE! and earned 14 points for her team! way to go, Kate!

She also had to dig in a few times and slide to bump that ball! Way to go Kate!

Are you ready for some football?

There's just something about hanging out at home and watching some football! I was excited that the Steelers were on the Sunday night game! too bad they lost! But it was great to get cozy and watch some football! Now if only Hines Ward still played.......

Saturday-Sis and Jenn

I had a terrific Saturday! I went to yoga in the morning, then cleaned house, watched Riggen play his first soccer game and then Jenn and the girls came over to watch the Iowa game. We made chicken salad, had hummus and pita chips and other snackies for the game! It was a beautiful day! My sis came over later after work and (unfortunately for her) she's an Iowa State grad! So we had some good girl team rivalry going on! Too bad Iowa lost!!! They almost had it! 

Then we decided to at least go out downtown so we sat out at Dos Rios patio, ate guac, queso and chips and shared a pitcher of margs! It was a beautiful night to people watch and just hang out!

Thursday, September 6--Riggen and soccer!

Riggen started soccer tonight! He's very excited to show off his U10 moves!

Toilet Paper!!

So, as most of you know, Mathew suffers from Crohn's disease. Lately, the Crohn's disease is proving to be mightier than my husband's stomach. He's on another rounds of steroids which is never a good thing, but at least he's able to make it through the day. It is a terrible, silent disease that I loathe. passionately. But today, it ended up making me laugh because we received this ad in the mail from Hyvee:

Who gets mail from Hy-Vee like this? I should not have torn it, because it was a 5x7 piece of paper advertising the "plushiness" of Cottonelle! And it was addressed to Mathew C. Snyder--apparently they've figured out what he buys at Hy-Vee with his debit card and are now marketing directly to him! It made me laugh, because what else should you do when  you get a HUGE ad in the mail for toilet paper? Too bad they don't know us well enough, or they would have sent a coupon for Quilted Northern! :)

Exercise and Swedish Proverbs.

Fear less, hope more; Eat less, chew more; Whine less, breathe more; Talk less, say more; Love more, and all good things will be yours. ~ Swedish Proverb

Today I received my heart rate monitor from Kosama. I was pretty excited to start using it and now I'm researching all the crazy amounts of information you can get from it! But what I was really impressed with was the quote above from the monitor's website. I've been determined to lose some weight and build muscle for awhile now. I  obsessively research and read about this stuff. I feel that I could be a nutritionist or a "caloric expert" now with all the crazy stuff in my head. I subscribe to 4 different magazines that focus on wellness and have been through Weight Watchers, Snap Fitness, "fitbiting", earning a black belt in TKD, taking on an Atkins diet, a vegan diet (just for 4 days--couldn't stand it beyond that) and now I'm doing Kosama. Oh yeah, and I've mastered about every ap there is about weightlifting, workouts and diet. What's my point? Do what the proverb says and I will feel healthier. I have to admit, I've never felt healthier--well, minus when I was 20 and competed in TKD tourneys--but I haven't felt better since then. I exercise regularly, eat pretty healthy (ok, a few too many carbs) but I need to work on attitude. It seems like I'm supposed to feel stressed, anxious or upset about something because life around me is that way. Like somehow I'm "missing" something if I'm not. ridiculous, I know. 

So, now I'm going to focus on exercising, eating healthy and well, enjoying life a little more.

So here's to taking a deep breath, smiling at my kids (more), loving my husband and finding peace.

Pillows

Matt and I bought a new bed a few weeks ago-it has been wonderful! But I've had some neck pain because I'm a pretty serious side sleeper and our Target pillows are no longer doing the trick. So I gave in and bought an expensive memory foam pillow--can't wait to use it! This one is specially contoured for side sleepers and matt's is contoured for, well, people who don't sleep well! Hopefully our neck and sleep time will be extended!

Sunday, Grandpa's Farm

Sunday we made a fast, short trip to Marengo, Iowa where my parents grew up. I visited the cemetary to say hello to my grandmothers and granpa, then was off to my Grandpa Mac's farm. It's so lovely, even in 90 degree weather. Riggen had a great time playing with all the cousins! and there was much good food to be had!

 Part of my grandpa's farm from "the hill."

 The cousins and aunts readying to eat!

 I think Grandpa was enjoying the time alone at his picnic table, but no worries, I interrupted his alone time to talk Sayers family history!

Dueling TV's

Today was the beginning of college football!Yay! How I love football season! My in-laws are ISU fans (but I still like them) and so we had two tv's going today because the games were at the same time! The downstairs, BIG tv showed the Hawkeyes!! and the won by 1 point!

The upstairs tvs showed the ISU game--they won by more than 1!

I suppose if we had a 3rd time we might have put on the UNI game too since it was at the same time. Nah, actually, I didn't know UNI even had a football team!!! :)

Thursday, August 30--Busy, Rush, Rush!

So, we started off our day very early. Matt had to be in Boone by 7 and Kate had to be at volleyball practrice by 6:20. Then, I had Kosama until 5, rushed to pick up the kids to take Kate to soccer by 5:30, then change clothes and head to Parent Night at Riggen's school. This is the time we ate dinner:

Not sure if I am ready for these busy nights again!