Claire's 7th Birthday

As I write out the title for this blog post it is still hard for me to imagine that Claire is SEVEN! What an incredibly FAST seven years this has been. We have watched Claire grow into a beautiful, smart, confident, hilarious, and all around fun little girl. This year Claire has learned to read fluently, has become more sensitive to others feelings, and become more independent through household chores like making her bed each day and tidying up her room. The most important accomplishment Claire made this year is in fact one of the most important she will make her entire life. Claire attends Good News Club on Tuesdays after school and on February 2, 2010 Claire asked Jesus into her heart. We are so proud of her and count being her parents as one of the greatest blessings in our lives.
For her birthday this year, we took a girls trip to the American Girl store in Atlanta! Nana, Mimi, Aunt Cayce, Cousin Reese, Camdyn, Claire and I all hopped in the van together and enjoyed the day trip together! The girls took their dolls to the doll hair salon and get them all prettied up! Then we did some shopping before enjoying a birthday lunch in the bistro inside the store! The girls even got food for their dolls which sat in special seats right next to them at the table! Claire got a special birthday cake and many special new doll outfits and a new doll, Lanie!
One of the sweet moments for me was later in the day when Claire exclaimed, "It came true!" Two weekends prior we were in Charlotte visiting Mimi and Pops and Claire made a wish with a penny in a fountain while we were out shopping. She wouldn't tell us her wish! Well, on her birthday she said," It came true! I wished for the best birthday ever and it came true!" Awesome!! The picture of us at the fountain was her making the wish! I'm so glad Mimi got this picture!

It was the best birthday ever!

Easter 2010

We enjoyed a wonderful Easter this year with a visit from Mimi and Pops and a trip to Pop Pop and Nan's house! We had fun watching the kids play "baseball" and I personally enjoyed Cayce's performance with the hula hoop! Be sure to watch the video!

Good times with my family

Cayce, Reese and Stu came to spend the weekend with us while Jason was out of town! We had a special treat on Friday night: dinner out just me, Cayce and Mom! This never happens! We actually got to hang out all together with no interruptions from little ones! It was a sweet time to just be together and of course - we didn't take a single picture....we've got to get better about that! A HUGE thanks to Nathan who agreed to hang with the four kiddos during our no TV week so we could go out to eat! I love you!! :)
Saturday was beautiful so we spent the morning at the Greenville Zoo and took a picnic lunch to enjoy at the Cleveland Park playground! Nana joined us there and we even ran into Will, Clark, and their grandmother who also had the idea of coming to the zoo that morning! Too funny! The cousins had a great time and it was good to be together. We hadn't been to the zoo in a while so we got to see a lot of new critters like the giraffes! It is great to have a family that you love and even better to have family you love being with! Love you Nate, Mom and sister!

Weather for Walking

Camdyn and I enjoyed a walked together with both Sarge and Sadie on Thursday afternoon! Here is a quick photo I took of Cam with Sadie on the soccer field! Camdyn I enjoyed spending this time with you! :)

TV Fast Update

Well, we survived! :) After church today, Daddy called a family meeting to talk about how everyone did during our week of no TV. We only had one exception - letting the girls watch a movie while at a friends house but other than that we all did so well. Claire mentioned that she liked spending more time playing with her cousins while they were here this weekend instead of just watching TV which she noted caused her to be lazy and tired. Camdyn said that she had more time to pray and to play with her friends and family instead of watching TV. I commented that books I had read, music from church on Sunday, and Scripture readings were resonating in my mind throughout the week and not being replaced so quickly with images from the TV. Today at church a short video clip was shown of Jesus during his trial before his execution. I was moved to tears quickly at the bold graphics and music of this short clip. I think that my week away from TV allowed this first exposure to TV to sink in deeper than it would have had I been watching a bunch of mindless TV all week. Daddy survived great and has been such a trooper with all the NCAA basketball games he has missed. He commented on how much he enjoyed having game nights with the family at night and how he was felt like he was sleeping better with a smaller amount of TV exposure.
We feel that God is really challenging us to take this week and apply it to our everyday lives. So at our family meeting we agreed on the following:
No TV during the week, only on the weekend.
No TV watching from Sunday at 5 pm to Friday at 3 pm. So that means Friday afternoon, Saturday, and Sunday afternoon we may watch TV. No TV will be watched on Sundays before church.
All shows are to be approved by Mommy and Daddy as usual and just because you can watch TV doesn't mean you can park yourself in front of the TV.
If there is a special something during the week (i.e. Clemson game, holiday special, etc.) Daddy and Mommy can make exceptions to the no TV during the week rule.
Mommy and Daddy do get to watch shows on Sunday night after the girls have gone to bed.

National Turn Off the TV Week is April 19-25. Try it and see what happens in your family when everyone is tuned into each other instead of TV!! :)

Snyder TV Fast - March 14 to March 21

These pictures show what our TVs look like this week. We had a family meeting on Sunday to talk about how much wasted time is spent watching TV and so we decided to cut it out for an entire week. The girls made "No TV - STOP!" signs to remind us and so far it has been AWESOME! NCAA basketball, Fox News, and Noggin shows have been missed but we are all doing much better than expected! More to report once the week is officially over!

First Lake Murray Trip 2010

Despite the torrential rain on the way down and the chilly temps we braved a trip to the Lake with our dear friends and the change of scenery and great company were worth it! :) Here are some pictures of our boat ride.....you can see how I spent most of the ride...bundled up! Thank you Temples for your hospitality and just being so generous with sharing your time away with us!