Zookeeper Toma

Toma loves going to the zoo. Luckily we have a few different ones close by. We got a membership to the Roger Williams Zoo in Providence, so we most often go there, but we got free passes from the library to the Southwick Zoo (which is actually closer) and decided to go there. Toma had a ball. They have a little petting zoo with turkeys, goats, sheep, and a few calves (Jersey calves, I may add) Toma wanted to spend the whole time in there. I was able to coax her out to see more animals, and she enjoyed it. They also have a deer forest where you can walk in among the deer and feed them (you can also feed the animals in the petting zoo) She was in heaven. She has no fear of any of the animals and thinks she should be able to pet them all. Maybe we have a future zookeeper on our hands.

Summertime

Yeah, I've been a slacker at posting anything this summer. We have done a couple fun things. The Tall Ships were docked in Boston for about a month so we went up for a day in July. It was a lot of fun. We took a boat around the harbor and got to see a lot of the ships as well as the local water sights. The tall ships, for anyone who doesn't know (I didn't) are a bunch of ships that go around the world and they are the old ships with the huge masts and sails (like pirate ships). They come from all over the world too. You can get aboard some of them. We got on one from Russia (yeah!) named the Krusenstern. It was really cool seeing all the writing in Russian and hearing it from all the crew and a bunch of the "tourists" too. I miss the Russian language. It was along day and Toma was a bit cranky by the end, but we had fun.



We've had a couple trips down to NJ for various stuff. a good friend of ours, Jared Stanley, finally tied the knot, so Tia and Toma were able to go down to NJ for that. We decided to get a membership to a zoo in Providence and it's one of Toma's favorite places to go, so we hit that and the Children's museum fairly often. Other than that, we've just spent our vacation enjoying the outdoors, each other, parks, water, and anything else we can think of doing. It's been a fun, although very rainy, first summer in Massachusetts.

rain, rain, SUN, rain, rain . . .

I don't know how it's been everywhere else, but we've had rain galore here the last few weeks. And the 10-day forecast doesn't give me any hope, rain every day. Yesterday and today are the only good days, and it even rained yesterday morning. If anyone has any good inside/rain day activities for toddlers, please let me know!Today was beautiful! Toma and I decided (well, I decided and Toma had to go along) to check out another zoo. There are a couple nearby and we've gone to one, but someone from John's work said this one was better. I have to agree, it was! (but still not as good as the one in VA we went to)On the way there, I told Toma we were going to the zoo and she started asking, "Milt? Tim? Cami?" I told her that we weren't going to see them for awhile. Then she said, "I want Cami!" I hate not being able to live close to family! We had a lot of fun. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera, but I'll take it next time. Toma and I had fun playing with the sidewalk chalk too. She cracks me up, I drew a hopscotch and showed her how to do it, and she is SO cute trying. She loves to jump, so that is just the greatest. And she's into rainbows right now, so I drew a rainbow and she loves walking over the rainbow. She's at such a fun age!

Trip to Virginia - "Beware of Squirrels"

Last weekend we got to go down to Virginia to see my brother Milt and his family for a few days. John got off of work Thursday and Friday. Since it is a 10+ hour trip, we decided to go down Wednesday after work and stay the night at John's family's house (isn't that convenient that it is about halfway?!) So we got there on Thursday. It was great seeing them all again. Toma LOVED playing with her cousins, Elli and Shawn. Unfortunately for Milt, she couldn't get his name right. . . she kept calling him Tim (our other brother). I don't think they look THAT much alike, but you know kids. We'll have to work on that one. We went to a lake and fed some ducks and squirrels. Toma had a ton of fun, except for when she went to feed a squirrel and didn't throw the bread fast enough, and the squirrel went to bite it . . . and bit her finger instead. Thus the heading to the post. It held onto it for a awhile (at least it seemed like it to me) before I went to do something and it finally let go. In reality it was probably only a few seconds, but it didn't seem like it. Cami got a picture Toma of the culprit before it happened. It drew blood, but no real damage done. But Toma will still show me her finger and say, "squirrel."
We also went to the zoo. It was cool, you can feed a lot of animals there, and I got to feed and pet a giraffe! That was something new for me. Toma loves the zoo and all the animals. To quote her, "Anmals. Anmals. more anmals?" We also bought Disney Dance Dance Revolution while we were there and had a great time playing it on the Wii, as well as some other games. We had a great visit, but wish it could have been longer. Thanks Milt and Cami for a great time. Here's some of our favorite pics from the trip.

Chris Got Married!

John's brother Chris got married on May 16th in New Jersey. He married Jessica Ashford. We are way excited for them. The wedding was very simple and nice. John was the best man and their "little" brother Benny was a groomsman. Jessica's sister Jennifer was the maid of honor and I was a bridesmaid and then two cousins, Kenny and Gabbi were the ring bearer and flower girl. I wanted to find a cute dress for Toma to match the colors, but couldn't find anything that I liked, so I decided to make her one. It turned out way cute, and I got some great pictures! Congrats out to Chris and my new sis-in-law Jess!!!! I'm excited for some more female company in the Snodgrass/Ward family!

Toma is 2!!!!!

Wow, does time fly or what? Our little Toma Rose turned 2 last Saturday, on the 9th. We took her to the Providence Children's museum (which she just loves) and then to the mall. We walked around for awhile, ate lunch, rode the carousel, and then let her play in the little playground there (while John went and got me a Mother's day gift, a Willow Tree figurine of an angel holding a child) And later that night we had our neighbors over for cake and ice cream. We definitely missed having family around for it.
We feel so blessed to have this beautiful little girl in our lives. We still consider her our little miracle. We love her so much. The sound of her laughter is the best sound in the world. I just can't believe it's been two years already!

Lots done, Lots to do . . .

Well, it's been a little while since I last posted. I was out in Utah from April 7th-29th, and didn't have great Internet access there, so didn't post. The trip was a ton of fun. We'd planned to go out for Easter for a couple of reasons. First of all, we just wanted to see the family (and friends). Secondly, my little bro, Tim, got home from his mission in Argentina in March, and my bro Von's wife had their baby, Tavin, in March, so we wanted to see both of them. We all flew out together and John got to spend a week there. We had some new family pictures taken, thanks to my talented friend, Abby. I had a little get-together with some of my friends from high school and their families. It was a ton of fun. I realized after everyone left that we didn't take any pictures. . . next time. It was a good thing that we'd taken the Wii out with us. . . it entertained all the husbands while the girl sat around chatting and reminiscing. It was awesome. Thanks for coming girls!!
It was so great seeing all of my family. Tim hasn't changed much. Tavin is a cutie. I couldn't believe how strong he was for just a month old, practically holding his head up already. I went to the zoo and children's museum with my mom and Chandra and her kids. We all had good time. It was a great trip! I'm sure I could write a ton more, but I don't want this post to be too long, and I don't want to bore anyone reading it, so I'll just add some pictures and sign off.

Crazy and Cute Toma

I swear I have the silliest daughter. Okay, since I started babysitting I set the baby swing back up for Cat. Toma was entralled by it, always trying to get in it if I left the tray down. I kept getting after her, taking her out, and telling her she was a big girl and the swing was for babies. I then made sure to lock the tray down when I took Cat out. So Toma took her stuffed animals and put them in it. (unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of that one) But then, she decided that she still wanted to get in. She couldn't get the tray up, so she went behind the swing, leaned on it to tilt it down, and climbed in the top and sat in just the top of the swing and tried to put her legs down under the tray. It was so hard to laugh, especially since she was stuck and couldn't get out ("stuck" is her new word, by the way)
Then today I am upstairs in the office working on something when John yells up that I've got to see something. He very carefully brings Toma up and she has chocolate all over her mouth and hands and down her shirt and pants. John had found her in the kitchen,sitting on the ground with little chocolate bars all around her. She'd torn one or two open, more like shredded one into little pieces to get it open and went to town. The funny part is that I don't really like chocolate, I had bought them for my primary class and had them in a drawer in the kitchen. Toma had been emptying the drawer (it has all my spatulas, spoons, and stuff like that) and playing with them, so I put them on the counter. . . and the little buger somehow pulled them off the counter. . . as well as some scissors and stuff. Silly, silly girl. . . and this isn't even half of her crazy, silly antics.

My New Job

So, starting this past monday, I have a new job. I am babysitting for a friend's kids while she goes to work. There is almost 18-month old Charlie and not quite 3-month old Cat. It's kind of interesting having three kids under 2 each day, but so far so good. Here's a picture of the three of them together.

I am actually surprised at how easily everyone has transitioned into it. Toma and Charlie have a lot of fun playing together, at least most of the time. When Toma wakes up from her nap she wants nothing to do with him. If he even gets too close or touches her she cries and runs to me. And he seems to know she doesn't like it, and does it even more. (typical boy, huh) But the other day they were playing together and just giggling. It was so funny to watch and listen to. I couldn't tell what was so funny, but they thought it was a hoot. I got a kick out of it when they were playing once and Toma ran at him with her arm outstretched, grabbed him and tackled him to the ground. Then they both started crying, but it was funny. Tom amazes me at how good she is with Cat. She is so gentle with her and wants to help her when she cries. She always goes over and talks to her, and it's funny because it's in a different voice than her normal voice. . . you know how there's that "baby voice" people use when talking to a baby, kind of higher pitched or something. It's so cute!
It definitely does come with it's challenges, like when both the "older" kids want to be held at the same time I'm feeding the baby, or when one decides to get into something they shouldn't while I'm changing the other's diaper. And having to change 3 kids diapers a day. . . I feel like I'm changing someone all the time. But so far, I'm enjoying it.

A Lot Going On

The past few weeks have been pretty busy, and this week is no exception. As I'm typing, my sis-in-law, Michelle, is in labor. So I'll have a new nephew, Tavin, before the day is out. Her water broke last night, so they'll only let her go so long before they'll take him. Unfortunately, I don't get to see him until next month, but that's okay . . . only 3 weeks away. . . YEAH!!! Then my brother, Tim, gets home from his mission in Argentina tomorrow. . . again, I don't get to see him for 3 weeks, but I can talk to him for the first time in 2 years. . . i was never able to talk to him when he called since we live out here. Last week (I'm not exactly sure when) my bro-in-law Chris got engaged to Jessica. . . YEAH!!! I'm really excited about that one. . . no longer the only girl (other than my mom-in-law and Toma, but that's a little different) plus I love Jess. She's awesome! John has been working a lot lately, which I don't love. . . I tell him just about every day that I don't like his job. . . but I can see that he's much happier at this job than his last, and there are some other benefits, so I deal with it for now. I joined a book club from our Relief Society and hosted the meeting last week. It was fun to just chill with other ADULT women and talk about the book (you know me, I hate reading (yeah, right) and about life in general. It was really nice to get to know some of the other women in the ward and branch. This week we have Enrichment, so that will be nice too. . . I'm slowly finding ways to escape by "myself" for a little at a time. . . it's nice to have a break. Speaking of having a break, I'm going to be in Utah for 3 weeks in April. I'm really excited. We're all flying out on the 7th. John has to come back on the 14th, but Toma and I are staying until the 29th. I'm sure we'll miss John, but it will be nice to have a long visit with my family and friends . . . and get to see my new newphew and my bro!!!!! Yep, I'm excited.

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!!!

Sorry, no fun pictures from on this post today. . . just wanted to wish everyone a Happy St. Patty's day!

Picture Tag

I was tagged by my sis-in-law, Chandra. So here it is . . .

The rules are:
1. Go to your picture folder
2. Find the 6th folder
3. Then the 6th picture
4. Blog about it
5. Then tag 6 people to do the same

Von came out to visit us shortly after he got home from his mission. sidenote: He spent half the time with us either talking to or about Michelle :) While he was out we decided to take a trip to the Washington DC Temple. Von hadn't been inside before (he'd done baptisms there once when my family all came out to pick me up from being a nanny) and John and I hadn't gone since Toma was born. She was about 4 months old. So we went down and went through 2 sessions. John and I took turns staying out with Toma. Von took this picture of the temple's reflection looking into the windows of the visitor's center. I liked it so much that I got a copy of it. I love how you can see the Christus too!

I tag: Bri, Bekah, Rachel, and whoever else wants to do it!

About Time I Post Something

Okay, I haven't posted anything for awhile, so I figured it was about time that I posted SOMETHING. John is out of town (in Indiana) for work and Toma is sleeping, so I have no excuse. Things have been pretty low-key around here lately. I've been busy painting the past two weeks. I now have a tan-ish kitchen/dining area and a red living room. I'll post pictures once I get the rooms put back together. Right now they look like a tornado blew through. I think that I like it! Before every room in the entire house was the same color. We put up a border in Toma's room (the same Noah's Ark border we had in the NJ house) but still have to decide what we want to do in the rest of the house. The carpets are all blue, so we are a little restricted if we want it to look decent . . . anywhoo, John and I were finally able to go to the Boston Temple last weekend. It was awesome. It's been WAY too long since we went. It was beautiful and I really needed the spirit that was there
. Our awesome neighbors took Toma for us so we could enjoy the night out. That is one thing I have to comment on, our neighbors. We were a little worried buying a duplex because you never know what kind of neighbors you'll get, but we totally lucked out. They just moved in during December. Pat and Crissy are about our age (just between John and I) and they have three boys. Kye (11), Liam (3) and Charlie (7mos). Toma just loves their kids. Almost every time we go outside she goes to their door wanting in. Pat is a stay-at-home dad, at least for the time being. Their plan is to switch roles shortly. That will be great. Nothing against Pat, but it is a little awkward having play dates with a guy . . . so we haven't. But we do have them over often and vice versa. They are awesome. They have volunteered to babysit anytime. They have tons of family around and Chrissy's mom has "adopted" Toma as a granddaughter, even bought her a porcelain tea set. I feel very grateful to have such great neighbors. Speaking of Toma, she is getting so big, and SOOO independent. She has a great sense of humor and loves to make me laugh, which makes her laugh, which makes me laugh . . . and so on. I'll post a picture or two of her.
Okay, this post is long enough. I'll do more soon. . .

Toma's antics

Toma is definitely growing up and her personality is showing through, a lot! She has a new favorite word (can you guess?) "NO!". And she doesn't just say it once, she says, "No, no, no, no!" And lately she started trying to hit us while she does it. I think she got it from us slapping her hand while telling her no. . . I think we need to rethink ways to teach and discipline her. . . Sometimes it's so hard not to laugh when she does it though. I have struggle to keep a straigh face quite often. We also discovered a hidden talent that Toma has, she loves to dance. She hears music and just starts dancing. It is hilarious. . . I've posted a video to show you what I mean. She is also becoming very independant. The last few days she has wanted to pick out her clothes for the day. If I pick something out, she says, "no, no, no" and puts it back. If I try to put it on her, she screams, runs, and tries to pull it off. But if she picks it out, then she's okay. So far I've been impressed, no major clashes. We'll see how long that continues. Then today, she wanted her shoes on. She let me put one on, but she wouldn't give me the second one to put on because she wanted to put it on herself. I was able to catch that on camera too. She finally gave in and gave it too me. She's been getting all 4 of her 2-year molars. The two on the right are in, but the left ones are still in the process. She's been a little grumpy, but that's it. Her teeth have come in very odd, she still doesn't even have her incisors, but she IS a Snodgrass, so of course she's wierd. (ha ha)Also, I can't seem to keep my house clean anymore. She's go into the kitchen and empty out the cabinets she can get into and pull everything onto the floor. Does she want to play with the stuff? No, just make a mess. Then while I'm picking that up, she'll go into the living room and pull the DVDs off the rack, empty out her toybox, dump her puzzles on the ground, etc. Ugh!! It's a constant battle. I'm sure some of you know what I'm talking about. I look at her and think, "where is my little girl?" She's growing up so fast, and I'm not sure I like it. She's only about 20 months old, but she's starting to be an adorable (sometimes) little terror. . . But then she can make me laugh so hard, and her smile just melts my heart. Yeah, I guess I'll keep her awhile longer.

Holidays

Yeah, I've been a slacker and haven't posted anything about the holidays. . . so here's the rundown. John's work closed from the 22nd until the new year, so we went down to NJ on the 23rd to spend the week down there. Toma was much funner this Christmas than last. We bought her a tricycle and had it sitting out. When we went into the front room that was the first thing she saw and she LOVED it. She climbed onto it and started pushing the buttons (it has turn signals that light up, a horn, and a "radio" button that plays a few songs) Her legs are still a little to short to reach the pedals unless she is all the way up to the front, but she loves playing with it. Also,she turned into a Grandma's girl. She just loves her Grandma Ward. She sat on her lap all Christmas morning and really enjoyed opening her presents. I think she had more fun tearing off the paper than playing with what was inside. But she definitely was spoiled. She got the tricycle, megablocks, puzzles, a truck, a toy vacuum, a train, some stuffed animals, a teaset, books, a bunch of cloths (definitely needed) and some other stuff. Everyone loved spoiling her, I wasn't guilty at all(yeah right) We had a good Christmas too. We got a Wii and have had fun playing with it. John's wanted to get a game system, and I told John it was the only one we could get, and I have to admit that I'm enjoying it too. That was our main present to each other. We also got some Cd's, DVDs and of course, I got a book or two. (YEAH) We also got a fun game from John's parents called the Train Game and we had a lot of fun all playing it. It was good seeing all John's family again. We had Christmas dinner at his Grandparents with all the aunts and uncles. I miss not being close to some family. We came back to MA on the 30th, wanting to miss most of the traffic and the crazy New Year drivers. So we had a quiet New Years at home with another snow storm raging outside. But it was nice. . . that was until John had to go back to work on the 2nd and Toma and I got sick, but you can't have everything perfect I guess.